The rain, which poured in a deluge during the whole of this walk,
attended with a moft violent gale, prevented' us from going aboard:
but we found a moft comfortable lodging under the hofpitable. roof
o f the good minifter.
narrow door, to pais thro’ which one is obliged to ftoop much j but, perhaps, the
ground may have been railed iince. the firft ere&ion.
£3 When one is got in, and placed in the centre, it is open over head. All.
r.ound the lides of the walls are ranged ftone ihelves,, one above another, like,the
ihelves in a circular beaufait, reaching from near the bottom to the top. The
11 ones which compofe thefe ihelves are fupported chiefly by the Hones which form
the walls, and which projeft all round juft in that place where the-ihelves are, and
in no others: each o f the ihelves is feparated into feveral diviiions as in a book*
cafe. There is fome remains of an aukward ftair-cafe. What ufe the ihelves
could be applied to I cannot conceive. It could not be of any military ufe from
its fituation at the bottom o f a Hoping hill; which wholly commands it. The moft
learned among the inhabitants,, fuch as the gentry and clergy, who all fpeak the
Irijh language,.could give no information or tradition concerning its ufe, or the
origin.and meaning of its name. But fome years iince I happened,, at an au&ion
o f books in Londdnt to look into a French book, containing Gaulijh antiquities, and
there I law a print o f the remains of a Druidic temple in Francey which greatly re-
fembles the tower I am fpeaking of, having like ihelves in it. And; reading a
late pamphlet on the antiquity of the Irijh language, I think I can partly trace the
origin of the name Dornadilla* At page. 24, the author fays, that Dorn means a
roundJione, fo that ahdorn would mean the round ftone-of the priefts; na is of, and
Dt is God: at page 45, he fays, in the laft line, ulla means a place of devotion ;
ib that Dor-na-Di-ulla will iignify the round ftone place of the 'worjbip of Godj or
perhaps it might allude to fome round ftone preferved within as a facred emblem of
divinity. As I am not acquainted'With the Irijh language, i f any o f your corre-
ipondents can give any better account, either of the nature o f fuch Druidic tern-*
pies, or of this name in particular, it will, perhaps, be acceptable to others, a*
well as to your humble fervanu” ,
The:
The whole morning continued wet and boifterous. In the even- hvc. 5.
ingcrofs over to Skie : fee,, near the ihore, cut on the live rock, an '
infcription in rude characters. It mufthave been of great antiquity,
as it was difcovered by the accidental digging o f peat at the- depth
of four feet.
Weigh anchor at eight o’clock in the morning, and turn out with Auo. 6.
wind and tide adverfe. After a ftruggle o f three or four miles,
put into Loch-Jurn, or the lake of hell, on the Invemefs coaft, and L o c h - J u r n .
anchor about two o’ clock near a little ifle on the South fide,
four miles within the mouth. . Land on the North fide, three miles :
diftant from our ihip, and vifit Mr. Macleod, of Arnifdale: I
ihall never forget the hofpitality o f the houfe : before I could
utter a denial, three glaffes of rum cordialized with jelly of
bilberries, were poured into me by the irrefiftible hand of good
Madam Macleod. Mefirs. Lightfoot and Stuart fallied out in high
fpirits to botanize : I defcended to my boat to make the voyage
of the lake.
Steer S. E. After a fmall fpace the water widens into a large
bay, bending to the South, which bears the name of Banifdrale: turn
fuddenly to the Eaft, and pafs through a very narrow ftrait, with feveral
little ifles on the outfide ; the water of a great depth, and the
tide violent. For four miles before us the loch was ftrait, but of an!
oval form ; then fuddenly contrails a fecond time. Beyond that
was another reach, and an inftantaneous and agreeable view o f a
great fleet of bufies, and all the bufy apparatus of the herring
filhery ; with multitudes of little occafional hovels and tents on the
ihore, for the accommodation of the crews, and of the country
E e e z people,.