Mr. Macgillivray’s Account of the Outer Hebrides. 247 
among them. Yet in the Forest of Harris, there are scenes hardly 
surpassed in grandeur in any part of Scotland. The Pass of Mia- 
vag presents a precipice 1000 feet in height, and in the Glen of 
Ulladil there is a rock of not much less elevation, perhaps one of 
the finest masses to be seen in the kingdom. From the geological 
nature of these islands, however, there are comparatively few pre- 
cipices in them of any great elevation ; and rounded outlines, with 
only occasional ridges and crests, and some corries, or rounded ex- 
cavations, are all that present themselves. Yet ina humid climate 
like this, where the clouds exhibit every diversity of form and ele- 
vation, one may easily imagine what magic effects they produce 
upon the landscape. 
A considerable portion of Lewis, the greater part of North Uist 
and Benbecula, and much of South Uist, consist of low swampy 
ground, covered with peat moss. The whole eastern parts of the 
islands, participate more or less of this general character. The 
coasts there are rugged in the highest degree, but they are rarely 
precipitous, although in a few places rocks of great elevation are 
seen. They are greatly indented by lechs and creeks, and present 
multitudes of small islands, the principal groups of which occur off 
the northern portion of Harris, in the mouth of the sound of that 
name, between North Uist and South Uist, and about the island 
of Barray. Hardly any beaches or sands are met with on this part 
of the coast. But along the whole of the western coast, which is 
generally lower, there extends a belt of sand, interrupted by tracts 
of rocky coast, forming the bottom of the sea, extending into the 
sounds, and constituting the numerous fords which present them- 
selves upon this coast. This sand will form the subject of a sepa- 
rate section. 
Along the whole of the eastern coasts, there are excellent har- 
bours and anchorages in abundance, of which the more remarkable 
are the South Loch of Stornoway in Lewis; the harbonrs in the 
parish of Lochs in the same district ; those of Scalpay and East 
Loch Tarbert in Harris ; Loch Maddy in North Uist ; Lochski- 
port, Lochunort, and Lochboisdale, in South Uist; Ottirvore, 
Flodday Sound, Tirivay, Kisamul Bay, and the harbour of Vater- 
say, in Barray. The western coasts, on the contrary, present very 
few safe harbours, in this respect resembling the eastern coasts of . 
Great Britain as compared with the western. In Lewis, however, 
there are several excellent harbours on the west coast, of which 
those furnished by Loch Rog may be particularly noticed. 
The predominant soil is peat, fhe upon the mountains occur 
only in patches, but in the lower grounds covers large tracts conti- 
nuously toa great depth. The vegetation of this soil consists prin- 
eipally of heath, carices, and eriophora, with lichens and mosses. 
These islands may, in a general sense, be said to be destitute of 
wood, although, botanically speaking, this statement is by no means _ 
correct, the number of ligneous vegetables, exclusive of willows 
and such diminutive shrubs as the Arbutus, Vaccinium, Rose, 
