May 24, 1858.] 
ADMIRALTY SURVEYS— SCOTLAND. 
261 
sarily slow progress of the survey of fhese intricate coasts will be 
better understood perhaps from this single fact than from any 
general description that I might give. 
In Inverness-shire Commander Wood and Mr. Forbes have sur- 
veyed 15 miles of the open coast of the Isle of Skye, from Loch 
Eishart westward to Loch Breatal, including the Soay isles and 
the remarkable lochs Scavaig and Coir-uisk (so admirably described 
by Walter Scott), and sounded over 83 square miles, reaching six 
miles off shore, and into a depth of 140 fathoms ; while Mr. Jeffery 
has examined 40 miles of coast between Malag and Eu Arisaig, 
including the shores of Loch na Gaul. 
In the Hebrides Captain Otter in H. M. S. Porcupine , with 
her tender the Seagull , assisted by a good working staff, com- 
posed of Messrs. Dent, Stanton, Stanley, and Cramer, has examined 
the shores and islets of the Sound of Harris, comprising, with all 
their indentations, 155 miles of coast line, in addition to sounding 
over an area of 435 square miles. This is an important service 
rendered to hydrography, as with this chart and the accompanying 
sailing directions before him, the mariner may safely run for the 
passage between Harris and North Uist, which has hitherto been 
avoided by all who could possibly escape from it. The chart is in 
the engraver’s hands, and will be issued to the public in the course 
of the summer. At the same time Lieut. Thomas and Mr. Clifton 
have surveyed the rocky estuary of East Loch Tarbert, in Harris, 
and completed a chart of that remarkable inlet of the sea. 
In alluding to these and other charts of the coasts of Scotland, 
I have real pleasure, as one acquainted with the value of detailed 
land surveys, in expressing my admiration of the maps on the six- 
inch scale, exhibiting all the physical features, which Captain Otter, 
Commander Wood, and their associates have laid down for three 
miles inland. Such terrestrial coast surveys may enable geologists 
to come to accurate conclusions respecting the general structure of 
Scotland before the geographical details can be worked out on 
Ordnance maps representing the interior of the country, and which 
will probably not be published for many years to come, even 
under the vigilant superintendence of Colonel James. 
In the Orkneys no new survey has taken place ; but six plans of 
the most important anchorages, surveyed in the year 1850 by the 
late Commander Thomas, have been published by the Admiralty 
during the past year ; they are Otterswick, Pierowall, Stromness, 
Deer Sound, Long Hope, and the approaches to Kirkwall, all on a 
