H E B R I D E S .
I Hear this place was pointed to me the fpot where an inceftuous
Lir (a brother and After) had been buried alive, by order of the
■chieftain. • ,
I In the rocks are abundance of finali comprefted Ammonita, and
L the ihores-faw fragments of white Quartz, the hebiic ftone fo
■often mentioned by Martin.
I Skie is the large ft of. the Hebrides, being above fixty meafured
■miles long ; the breadth unequal, by reafon of the numbers of
■lochs, that penetrate far on both Ades. It is. fuppofed by fome to
lave been the Eaftern Mbudce o f the antients ; by others, to have
ken the Dntma. The modern name is of Norwegian- origin,, derived
from Ski, a tnift ; and from the clouds (that almoft con-
ftantly hang on the tops of its lofty hills) was ftyled, Ealand
¡Hmch, or, the cloudy iftand *. No epithet could better fuit the
[place,; for, except-in the fummer feafon, there is fcarcely a week
of fair weather : the fummers themfelves are alfo generally wer,
knd feldom warm.
The Wefterly wind blows, here.more.regularly thair any other,
¡and arriving charged with vapour from the vaft Atlantic, never
fails to dafti the clouds it wafts on the lofty fummits of the hills
¡of Cuchullin, and their contents deluge, the. iftand in | a mannerr
Lknown in other- places. What is properly called the rainy
feafon commences in Augujt : the rains begin with moderate winds ; -
¡which grow ftronger and ftronger till the.autumnal equinox, , when ■
they, rage with .incredible, fury.
The huftiandman then Aghs over the ruins of-his vernal - labors':
35«
N a m e o f
S k i e *-
C l i m a t e ;
f I f l
D i s t r e s s ^
* Do&or Mac-pherfon, ztz i
fe e s
■