P i l l a r s a n d
CAIRNS.
A V O Y A G E t o t h e
Breakfaft with the minifter, who may truly be faid to be wedded!
to his flock. The ocean here forbids all wandering, even if inclini l
tion excited : and the equal lot of the Scotch clergy is a ftill ftronger!
check to every afpiring thought: this binds them to their people J
and invigorates every duty towards thofe to whom they confide
themfelves conneited for life ; this equal lot may perhaps blunt tie
ambition after fome of the more fpecious accomplifhments • but)
makes more than amends by iharpening the attention to thofe con.]
cerns which end not with this Being.
Vilit the few wonders of the ifle : the firft is a little well of a moli]
miraculous quality, for in old times, if ever the chieftain lay here]
wind-bound, he had nothing more to do than caufe the w e ll to be]
cleared, and inftantly a favorable gale arofe. - But miracles are no»
ceafed.
Examine the ruins o f a church, and find fome tombs with]
two-handed fwords,. the Claidh-da-laimh 'o f the- hero depofircdj
beneath.
A little farther, at Kil-chattan, is a great rude column, iix te e n feet]
high, four broad, and eight inches thick, and near it, a cairn. On a!
line with this, at Cnoc-a’ -chore,, is another, and ftill higher in the
fame direction, at Cnoc-a’crois, is a crofs and three cairns; probably]
the crofs, after the introdudlion o f chriftianity, was formed out oft]
pagan monument fimilar to the two former.
In a bottom a little eaftfrotn thefe, is a large artificial mount ofi
fquare form, growing lefs and lefs towards the top, which is fla t, and
has the veftige o f a breaft wall around. The mount Rowclboyg h
Sweden, engraven by M. DaMberg, No..325, is. fomewhat fimilar:
this
H E B R I D E S .
L s probably was the work o f the Banes, the neighboring
| Return to the ihore : obferve a vaft bed o f moft pure and fine
L d ufeful in the glafs manufafture : the fame fpecies but defiled
L h a mixture of fea fand, appears again on the oppofite coaft of
wCûntyW' 1t
I The birds that appear here at prefent are the common gull, com-
■mon fandpiper, and fea pie. The great artlic diver, of the Britijh
L ÿ , fometimes vifits .thefe feas : and is ftyled in the Erfe, MarmiMchaille,
or the herdfman of the ocean ; becaufe, as is pretended, it
[ e v e r leaves that element, never flies, and hatches the young beneath
Its wing. ^3, r
I T h e weather extremely fine; but fo calm that Mr. Thompfon is
■obliged to tow the veflel out of this little harbour, which is of un- lequal depths, but unfit forvefiels that draw more than fourteen feet
■water. Pafs under Cara, an ifle one mile long, divided by a narrow
■channel, S. of Gigha, is inhabited by one family, and had once a
■chapel. At the South end, it rifes into a hill exaftly formed like a
■oaf of bread. The property of this little place is in Mr. Macdonald
■ofLa'i'w:
I Attempt to. fteer for the illand o f llay, but in vain. Am enter-
■tained with the variety and greatnefs o f the views that bound the
■ channel, the great found of Jura ; to the Eaft the mountains of
I Arran over-top the far-extending ihores of Can is re ; to the Weft lies
■ yara, mountanous and rugged ; four hills, naked and diftinft, afpire
■above the reft, two of them known to the feamen by the name of the
I Paps, ufeful in navigation : far to the North, juft appears a chain of I fmall ifles ; and to the South, the ifland of Ratkry, the fuppofed
■ G g 2 Ricnea,
F i n e s
A r c t i c