302 S C 0 T L A N D .
SCQTISH
I s l e s .
Rons.
;Hïrta.
northern o f this clafs i pillars pentagonal, and about twenty feejflngh
Dr. Johnfon, and his attendant Mr'.: /Bófweiy* havo.yreft dieVfitw^Bip
ftate of life- and manners in Skey. m The houfcs are c h i e f l y furf, ”eo-
■ vered with grafs. jj ■; T h e face of. the country wild, heathy, and * deluged
with continual rains. §j 'T o the. fouth of Skëy are the ifles R ïü tn
and .Eig: the firft ftill produces red -Seer, an animal now rare in I the
ifles; and in Eig is a curious cave, with forty fkelétons, remains o f the
people here flain by a Macleod. T o the N. E. of Skey afe Raza and
Seal pa ; the Harbour o f Portree is protected by the former ifle;. and has
.a villageiof the fame -name, the only one in the èÖuntry;' The other
ifles m this groupe- offer. little memorable. Cannaf:an'd* Eig-contain
bafaltio pillars, and in the former is Gompafs Hill, which ftrongly
affedts the needle.
; I t now remains to give fttto o ld ó a fo f
Wéfiéfn forming, as it* were, a barrier, agairift ‘’the Atlantic.
Two fmall and remote ifles have attracted confiderable notice. The
firft is that o f : Rona, about twelve leagues to the N. W. o f Gape
Wrath, and about thirty: leagues/W. from the.GrkrieyS,c ..This, d|file
ifle,, witli its companion Sulilka, or Bara, has aloio^n efcaped-.framftfhe
Scotifh maps, being little known and rarely vifited. In the laft century,
Sir;’.George M‘Keuzie,' o f Tarbat, afterwards. Earl of Cromarty, drew
up a ftiort account of R ona, from the-oral information o f inhabitants, at
that time confiftifigohly of five, families P. , As, th é ' jftet could tonly fup-!
port thirty inhabitants,' i any fuperhumeraries were fent to Leuis, to
their lórd, the Earl :of Seaforth, to whom they paid yearly a -fmall
tribute of meal and feathers: Drift timber fupplied their only fuel:
he adds, that th e wool of their fheep was bliiifh, and aferibes The. fame
colour to thofe of Hirta, or St. Kilda:
The fmall ifle. o f Hirta, or St. Kilda, muft have attraóted much notice,
even in Lelley’s time, for in his map he has reprefented it' as about fix
times the fize of Skey, while in truth it is only- two Hillesrincla half
-lorig, by one mile in breadth. St. Kilda is about twelve' leagues to the
weft -of North .V ift; and has been repeatedly deferibed, .the Angular
* On th e 'éppofitë fide o f the ifle, - near -Port Ree. -is;ai®8M Tmrltic rock, bf'to^aWiiiwFi.
Stat. Acc.' xvi. 140.;: In Portree parilh is a l a r g e [j lb . f47.
‘5 Monro’ s Defcript. o f the W . Ifles, in 1749. Edin> 1774. Duodecimo, j . . 63. The
T t a t .A c c . xix, 271, adds-nothing. *
I X m a n n e r s
C H A P . IV . N A T U R A L G E O G R A P H Y.
planners iJjfiits; inhg^t-^tf,.;hdv];'pg-,ex.cit0l confiderable attention, and
for a minute ae'cSfet;! the reader muftbe referred- to- M artin and Macau-
leyr:5§iieep. ah©und?J^e%. and inTth Af fifth r^ ^ ^ a c te t^p ro ^ ab ly ^ -Q fth e
fanie^i#d with -Chofei ©j|f> h etla'ritffb a t „-the jatfe amounts* fay nothing o f
theTolours an,d plA^fpcak of the-'fecundity^ v
Hayirigtfthus- briefly mentioned'.’ifitefiAemotA-,and. little vafited > ifles, Le
th e , plan 'here, fallowed muft he ‘refil'med* by feme account,of Leuis -
tholpriricipal iflahd*’ of fh e Wefternuclaain.* f it- is abo-i^t fifty Oldie'S,in
lengthy.by t^afety ifi b readthT The’Taoet.6f the cpyAfey ’.bdnfifts of a
h e a th ^ d |y a t,e d .ridge full '.of' moftaftasliS; ’ .Wf E.i^but; near th e
fliorcs are feveral verdant vales capable .of.cultivation. The Harris, o r '
end"-©£. thin ifle,' is fl^ill more mountain,ousj an d preftrfts what is,
calledra fbreft, becaufbfionte- deer areIther^foilfid. "Jaines VT attempted: |
fo introducefed-riftry iritd 'th e Hebrides, bysfglanting a Dutchlfcoldny at :
Stornaway fin Leufef extirpated^|^>tbe inhabitants.*"
Storiiaway is however now a’eonfid'erable and flb|fHifiingi.it-o^,' ,with:
an. exMle.nt j Ji'arhgjif; the''y-iew from which, fk f i f d fifth <Aft, pref^nt^
thArugggdJfihountalftsT)f SM-fte/iand and Ritfs; "and n ^ j i t i‘s the leaf o f
the Earls of Seaforth, formerly proprietors of the ifland/6 1 Bkftd'dSiCot&':
tagefifthdre afe^ p ^ fevefityAijfa'fe^ eotferfed with’ ftate.V feafons '-
ih Eeur^AeiBp^reflecl'with' ram, as- ufual in the Wefter#:ftlgMknds',
and ifle s b ift^ h f e e ',ii>htco‘nfiderahli3,fiih^y|,t '.^ h ,@i|;ropsia#e^%ts,i,M,g 3 ,
and petafdes^no'frees' will thrive except alder,-and m^nsitdin aftf;. a n d :
Hardly a fhrub appears : but there are many black cattle and; flveep; nor
is thereiahy w ant of fmalf horfes;: But the chief refource-of'Leuis muft;
r6^-the- fifhery, till inuuftry ftiaU have found the'meahs-:o f draining the ■
upland marfliesj.arid ^ re ad in g an exuberance' of lime asTnamife.. -At
■ Glaflernes ik a remarkable judicial circle, confifting -of an avenue of thirtygj
Mr. MarflVall, in,InVTravels in.jHdjfand, See. vol. i. p;- 175, o ferv es tha-t, in the 'opinion (o £ t'•
the only mean pf'e^ab|[fhang a fifhery'in the weft o f Scotland} 'would be I'p^uild a city, .
^nd make it the'featWthe- whpl||ndeitaking^as he there''explains | f . But fuch"a city *
^Qula be far better fituated on the weflern coaft o f ^coitlamlv as the example o f S torn a way proves . >
!B i l f 3 n d , ThpnWfa fpaee t%re>feems -» .
t6 . PXJ. been oneVnrXDch Tpng.,' ^ ^ ^ 8 ? 473, -
16 Sint. Acc. xi^'. 241. '
2 0 '3 )
SCOTISH
I sl es .
D D -2 ’. n in e '