STAFFA. 
tend three miles together without interrup- 
tion. The basalt pillars of Glockenberg in 
Snefialdsnas, exhibit a very different appear- 
ance from those of any other part of Ice- 
land, as the pillars on the summit ot that 
mountain lie liorizontally, those on the sides 
incline, and the lowest stand erect. In 
some places they are found as if bent, 
when heated, into a semicircular form, an 
effect which seems to confirm the idea that 
violent fires have prevailed either at their 
formation or subsequently. 
The substance of the pillars of this island, 
resemble those of Staffa in some pans ot it, 
but in others they are more porous, and 
Incline more to a grey colour. This circum- 
stance induced the Doctor to think it would 
be an easy matter to trace all the gradations 
between the most perfect basalt pillar and 
the coarsest description of lava, and he even 
saw some at Videy of a fine grain, extreme- 
ly solid, of a blackish grey, and consisting 
of many joints ; some porous glassy kind of 
stone, which he found at Laugarnas, near 
the sea, was so indistinctly divided, that he 
was undecided whether to class it with the 
lavas or basalt pillars ; but the opinion of 
his friends determined him in favour of the 
latter. 
We have been the more particular in 
noticing the peculiarities of the basaltes of 
Iceland, as that island is situated in the 
vicinity of Staffa, to which we shall now 
turn our attention. The gentleman we 
have just mentioned was one of the first 
persons who had the good fortune to exa. 
mine the latter with any degree of accu- 
racy, nor indeed had the public been in- 
formed before of the distinguishing marks 
which render it so highly interesting. Buch- 
anan being then the only author that had 
noticed this beautiful work of nature, though 
very slightly. Mr. Pennant, who possessed 
every requisite talent 'for informing the 
world, was disappointed by an adverse 
wind, from visiting Staffa in the year that 
proved more favourable to Dr. Von Trod, 
who would have been exactly in the same 
situation in all probability, had not the tide, 
which flows with great strength between 
the western isles of Scotland, compelled the 
captain of the vessel employed to take him 
to Iceland, to anchor, on the night of the 
twelfth of August, in the sound between 
the Isle of Mull and Morvern on the conti- 
nent, and precisely opposite to Drumnen, 
the seat of Mr. Maclean, by whom the 
Doctor and his friends were immediately 
invited on shore to breakfast, with the cha- 
racteristic hospitality of the Highlanders. 
Mr. Banks, now Sir Joseph, being of the 
party intending to visit Iceland, eagerly 
accepted, with the Doctor, and others, the 
offer of Mr. Maclean to conduct them to 
Staffa, to which they were conveyed by 
the ship’s long boat the, same evening, about 
nine o’clock. “ It W'as impossible,” says 
the Doctor, “ for our surprise to be in- 
creased, or our curiosity to be fuller grati- 
fied, than they w'ere the next morning, 
when we beheld the no less than beautiful 
spectacle which nature presented, to our 
view. If we even with admiration behold 
art, according to the rules prescribed to it, 
observing a certain kind of order, which 
not only strikes the eye, but also pleases it, 
what must be the effect produced upon us 
when we behold nature displaying, as it 
were, a regularity which far surpasses every 
thing art ever produced. An attentive 
spectator will find as much occasion for 
wonder and astonishment, when he observes 
how infinitely short human wisdom appears, 
when we attempt to imitate nature in this 
as well as in any other of her grand and aw- 
ful productions; and though we acknow- 
ledge nature to be the mistress of all the 
arts, and ascribe a greater degree of per- 
fection to them, tile nearer they approach 
and imitate it, yet we sometimes imagine 
that she might be improved, according to 
the luies of architecture. How magnifi- 
cent are the remains which we have of the 
porticos of the ancients, and with what ad- 
miration do we behold the colonnades that 
adorn the principal buildings of our times ; 
and yet every one who compares them with 
Fingal’s cave, formed by nature in the Isle 
of Staffa, must readily acknowledge that this 
piece of nature’s architecture far surpasses 
every thing that invention, luxury, and taste 
ever produced among the Greeks.” 
A small cave on the west side of the 
island affords a convenient landing place, but 
there are no regular basalt pillars to be met 
within its immediate vicinity. On the south 
side of it are some narrow pillars, which 
are inclined, and resemble the springs of 
the ribs of an arch ; beyond those is a small 
grotto, on the right hand, not composed of 
pillars, though they appear above it dis- 
posed in the manner of the interior parts 
of the timbers of a ship. Af a few yards 
distance, and opposite to the grotto, ex- 
tends the peninsula of Bo-scha-!a, consist- 
ing of regular, but smaller pillars, which 
are all of a conical figure. Some of these 
diverge as from a centre, some inciipe, 
