BARRA, IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 
By Thomas Gray, H.M.C.S. 
HE following Jottings by 
the Way will, it is hoped, 
not be altogether without 
interest. Their language is 
unstudied, and the arrange- 
ment is perhaps rugged ; 
but withal a few points 
are suggested that may lead 
some of us to fresh doubts 
whether our country has 
altogether attained that state of civilization in which 
we would so willingly and fondly believe it. They 
may remind tiiose interested in missionary labours 
of work to be done near home ; and landed pro- 
prietors, of the advantages as well as of the duty of 
residence on their estates. But, above all, they 
will inform the tourist desirous for a time of leaving 
civilization, its luxuries and comforts, of a sure 
means of gratifying his inclinations thoroughly and 
readily. 
After an uncomfortably wet passage by sea from 
the Thames along the East coasts of England and 
Scotland, and after a few wet days on the West 
coast of Scotland and in Glasgow, the writer took 
a passage on board the steamer Clydesdale, be- 
longing to Messrs. Hutcheson 4 Co., for the purpose 
of visiting officially certain of the islands on the 
western coast. These islands are naturally divided 
into two groups. The inner group consists of 
Skye, Bum, Mull, Jura, Islay, Coll, Tyree, and 
several smaller islands and rocks ; and the outer 
group, known as the “ Outer Hebrides,” “ The 
Western Islands,” or “ The Long Island,” consists 
of Lewis, Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South 
Uist, Watersea, Barra, and some smaller islands 
and rocks. 
The cruise down the Clyde past the isles of Bute 
and Arran, and round the head, or mull, of Kintyre, 
is known to most visitors to the western part of 
Scotland ; it is therefore unnecessary to introduce 
here extracts from memoranda respecting it. We 
just notice the solanders darting down from aloft, dis- 
appearing below the surface of the sea with a splash 
and a shower of spray, each to return above it with 
a fish striving and vainly wriggling in its grasp. 
We pass by Ailsa Craig, rearing itself about 
1,500 feet above the waves, where it has rested 
VII. 
since Fin McCoul, the Irish giant, threw it over 
from the north of Ireland. We take no more 
than a glance at the petrified packmen, and at 
Bob Bory’s head, chiselled by nature out of the 
solid rock : and we hasten onwards. We cannot 
afford now to loiter : our business is not to admire 
Nature’s freaks in the inanimate world, nor to 
describe “ glowing sunsets,” “ roaring seas,” “ natural 
curiosities,” and “ show ” places. Descriptions of 
these may be found in novels, and in guide-books. 
Our business and our thoughts are now with the 
people of the Outer Hebrides and their wretched- 
ness. 
Leaving, then, the many and vailed beautiful 
islands, rocks, ruins, lochs, and bits — each with its 
legend, and each the delight of the naturalist, the 
artist, the geologist, and the antiquarian — to be 
admired at the proper time, as they deserve to be, 
we must make a rapid stride northwards, whither 
we are bound peremptorily, picking up on the 
road two travelling companions (one a returned 
Indian, and the other an officer who has been in 
action before the enemy upwards of twenty times], 
both well capable of observing and judging accu- 
rately ; we run up between Kintyre, and J ura 
and Islay, that paradise of topers ; northwards, 
again, through the sounds of Mull, Islat, and Baza, 
the latter sound separating the beautiful little 
island of Baza, with its woods and cairn, from 
Skye, with the Cuhulen hills, the most grand and 
Alp-like of all the grand Scotch ranges. Still 
northwards and westwards across the treacherous 
“ Minch,” we reach Stornoway, in the island of 
Lewis, the most northerly and most important of 
the “ Outer Hebrides.” 
Our interest will be concentrated on Barra, the 
southern island of the group ; but as we were 
obliged to proceed to Stornoway in the first in- 
stance, we implore our readers to put up with a 
little trouble and perhaps tediousness, by taking a 
short practical survey of the country between the 
northern and southern extremities. The general 
impression of the whole group will be recorded 
further on ; but our short preliminary survey 
of the islands will be of use and add force to our 
conclusions, as it will enable our reader to realize 
the extent of country over which it is hoped he may 
o 
