450 
ISLE of SKY E. 
a very confiderable divifion of Skye, on the eaft fide. From 
this opening to the northern extremity, a courfe of twenty 
miles, the fhore is one continued line of lofty rocks, where 
no /hip can find refuge in the mildeft weather, and where 
inevitable dangers await the mariners in rough weather. 
James V. of Scotland and feveral of his nobility landed 
here, when they made the tour of the Hebrides in 1535 ; 
from which circumftance, this fine bay got the ho¬ 
nourable name of Portree. Two fairs are held annually 
at Portree, to which almoft every part of Skve fends cat¬ 
tle : the firft at the end of May, the iecond at the end of 
July. Each fair commonly continues from Wednefday 
till the Saturday following. The commodities are horfes, 
cows, /keep, goats, hides, butter, cheefe, fifn, and wool. 
The cattle fold in thefe fairs fwim over to the main land 
through half a mile or a mile of fea. Thoufands of thefe 
are yearly 'exported, at from 2I. to 3I. each Many of 
them are driven to England, where they are fatted for the 
market, and counted delicious eating. Lat. 57. 24. N. 
Ion. 6.7. W. 
Mr. Knox tells us, “ that the country round this village, 
though mountainous, is well inhabited; it raifes much 
grain, and many cattle. Here the late fir James Macdo¬ 
nald had marked out the lines of a town ; and govern¬ 
ment, it is faid, promifed to alfift him in the work with 
500I. but the death of that gentleman put an end to thefe 
promifing appearances.” We have to add, that lord Mac¬ 
donald, the prefent proprietor, has refumed the undertak¬ 
ing ; and, we underftand, has made fome progrefs in build¬ 
ing a town, befides introducing various other important 
improvements in this and other parts of the iflandf 
The lofty mountains of this ifland are, for the moll 
part, formed of granite, of a grey or browni/h-gtey co¬ 
lour, confufed and /battered, and compofed of cryftals 
rudely comparted. Thefe granite malles are commonly 
inverted with micaceous rock, varioufly interfedted with 
veins of bafalt, trap, and limeftone, frequently running 
in one direction, but fometimes decuflated, and irregularly 
infle&ed. Some of the Skye mountains are compofed of 
porphyry, the frafture of which is fmooth, and of various 
intenfity and colours. This /tone is here intermixed with 
felfpar, having its ufual rhomboidal fhape ; and is alfo 
much interfefted with veins of trap-. Immenfe beds of 
landftone-rock, varying in hardnefs and colour, abound 
throughout the whole of this ifland, particularly on the 
fouth-eaft. Thele veins are often furmounted with vaft 
rtrata of bafalt, in many places affuming the columnar 
form, and rifing to a very confiderable height above the 
furface of the fea. Some of thefe ba/altic rocks appear 
with huge diftortions, detached from each other in con¬ 
fufed blocks, and elevated pyramids. The difintegrations 
of thefe craggy precipices, have, in many inftances, over- 
fpread the plains, which are covered with fragments that 
have rolled down the declivities, in the manner of the 
alpine avalanches. This ifland has alfo been lately noted 
for extenfive bodies of lime-lpar, or marble, which were 
difcovered in different places. Some of this marble is of 
great beauty, and of various /hades, not inferior in white- 
iiels to Parian, but neither fo pure, nor of a texture lo 
compact, as that of Carrara. 
But the principal objeft of cifriofity which this ifland 
poffelfes, and which has lately been made the fubjebt of a 
pamphlet, is the Lime-Spar Cave, lately difcovered on the 
fouth-eaftern fhore. This phenomenon will neither be 
deemed unworthy of notice, nor uninterefting to the tra¬ 
veller, who purfues his courfe to contemplate nature in 
her grand and complicated operations. The cave is fitu- 
ated in that divifion of Skye called Strathaird, on the farm 
of Glaflinakill, and near'the cape or promontory of Rhu- 
na-hefkan, or the Point of Eels, in approaching to Loch 
Slappen, which runs up among the mountains in a north¬ 
erly direction. It is iff lat. 57. 6. N. Ion. 6. 20. W. of 
London, and 3. 2. W. ofthe meridian of Edinburgh. From 
the point of Atdnamurchan, the molt werterly part of the 
main-land of Scotland, it lies north-and-by-eaft, diftant 
about twelve leagues. 
This portion of Strathaird is more limited in its extent 
than the other divifions of the ifland, and not of extraor¬ 
dinary elevation near the fliore, which is fteep and rocky. 
From the coatt, the land converges by a gentle declivity, 
which, at fome diltance, is fuddenly broken off by a ridge 
of bafalt, forming a hill of confiderable eminence, but 
which foon falls off by a gradual delcent towards the high 
land. Behind this hill, to the north and north-weft, rife 
the fable mountains of Cuthullin and Blavin, rearing their 
ragged pinnacles to the clouds, and frowning in awful 
majefty over the herds, wdio, heedjefs of their dignity, 
broufe the fcanty herbage from their fides. The whole 
coaft of Straithaird is bold and precipitous. Rifing di- 
reftly from the fea, it prefents, along its entire courle, an 
almoft unbroken line of perpendicular rock, but of un¬ 
equal altitude. The arrangement is the molt romantic 
that can be fuppofed, the whole fhore being indented with 
caves and grottos of many forms, and rocks piled into 
various grotefque and elegant ftructures: and, if this 
country afforded no other lotirce of amufement, the prof- 
pect of this fliore alone will amply repay the traveller’s 
toil. 
The mouth of the cave has been known to the people 
in its vicinity time out of memory; but it was not till 
June i 8 o 3 that it was explored, by the perfevering zeal 
of Mrs, Gillefpie at Kilmoree. This lady i3 not a native 
of Skye; but, from the marvellous ftories fhe had heard 
of this cave, Hie was defirous of examining it. She ac¬ 
cordingly took with her a boat and hands, and fucceeded 
to her utmoft wifli. The account which fhe gave of it, 
afterwards induced the proprietor, accompanied by this 
lady >id her hu/band, to vifit it; and the farther they ad¬ 
vanced, the more were they gratified and aftonifhed at 
W'hat they faw. The cave has received the name of Slockd 
Altrimen, which, in the language of the country, fignifies 
the Nurfling Cave, or the cavity where the child was pre- 
ferved. An ancient tradition furnifhes the tale from which 
we may fuppofe the cave has derived its name : but for 
this we fhall beg to refer our readers to the pamphlet we 
have alluded to, written by Dr. Mac'eay ; while, from the 
fame entertaining little work, we extraff a fhort account 
of the cave itfelf. 
The opening into the cave fronts the fouth-eaft, and 
is in a line about north-weft from the point of Sleat, the 
molt foutherly point of Skye. The land immediately 
above it is not high, being the feite of the farm-ftead of 
Glaflinakill, and conftantly under tillage. The fhore 
being entirely formed of perpendicular rocks, it is at low 
water only, and that with great difficulty, that the entrance 
can be reached on foot. It is, however,eafilyapproached 
by fea, unlefs there be, a ftrong breeze of foutherly or eaft- 
erly wind, when the fvvell is fo high as to render it ha¬ 
zardous for a boat to venture near the fhore, which is full 
of funk rocks, and large blocks of ftones broken from the 
cliffs. The diflocation of the fand-ftone into apparently 
vertical ftrata, and the intervening trap which are both 
abruptly broken off to form the coaft, have their fraftured 
edges conftantly expofed to the aftion of the waves. From 
the lamellated texture of the fand-ftone, it is very fran¬ 
gible, while the whin-dykes are disjointed into numerous 
feparable portions, fo that, by the incefl'ant impulfion of 
the fea, together with the attrition of loofe ftones and 
fand, thefe rocks are undermined, and frequently giv,e 
way in large fragments. 
The portions of this freeftone-rock, which conftitnte 
the grand approach to the cave, jut fomewhat forward 
into the fea by two immenfe prominences, feparated from 
each other about thirty feet; and into this reparation the 
tide flows at high water. The paifage to the cave is be¬ 
twixt thefe cliffs, which rife perpendicular above a hun¬ 
dred feet, and appear as two flupendous walls of folici 
ftone^ extending from the fliore in a ft might,, line about 
1 five 
