Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

Different Routes, 1.—Kerrera Island; Lords of the Isles; Alexander II.'s Expedition and Death; Haco's Invasion, 2.—Island of Mull, Appearance and Geology of, 3.—Iona or Icolmkill, Names, General Appearance, Size, Soil, Cultivation; Village of Threld, 4.—Antiquity of the Religious Edifices; Description of the Buildings in the order they are usually visited, 5.—The Nunnery and its Chapel; Isle of Nuns; Streets; Stone Crosses; Library and Chartulary, 6.—St. Oran's Burying-Ground and Chapel; Cathedral; St. Martin's Cross,7.—Tombs; Druidical Circles; Features of the Culdee Worship, 8.—Innis Kenneth; Suggestions for further Accommodation and Facilities in Iona, foot note; Dr. Johnson, 9.—Staffa, General Appearance of; Caves; Eastern Side, 10.--Clam Shell Cave; Bouchaillie Islet; Grand Causeway, 11.—Fingal's Cave; Columns, 12.—Boat Cave; Mackinnon's Cave, 13.—Geological Phenomena, 14.—Grand Island View; Mingarry Castle, 15. —Tobermory; The Spanish Armada; Drimfin, 16.—Sound of Mull, 17.—Aros Castle, 18.—Situations and Style of the Hebridian Castles, 19.—Ardtornish and other Castles, with Churches, Crosses, and Tombs in Morven; Loch Sunart, 20. Duart Castle; the Lady's Rock, 21.—Lismore; Anchindown Castle; Cathedral of Argyle, 22.—Return to Oban, 23.

"That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."

....."Perhaps, in the revolutions of the world, Iona may be sometime again the instructress of the western regions."—Dr. Johnson's Tour.

1. THE above mentioned distances are quoted for the use of the tourist who can command time to go to Staffa and Iona through Mull, and is resolved to see everything more leisurely than he could do by the ordinary steamers. We are glad to inform him that the roads are now good, and passable for vehicles, throughout the route above indicated. Until within the last two or three years, the common course by steam was through the Sound of Mull to Tobermory, and thence westwards. Nov, the outer passage by the south-west promontory or Ross of Mull, first, to Iona and Staffa, is preferred, returning by the Sound to Oban in the evening, and this trip is generally accomplished in about eleven hours. In summer it is almost a daily one by special steamers, but, besides, all the others on this coast rendezvous at Oban, and the tourist will find several boats going up the Sound, by which he can be landed at Tobermory and elsewhere. [One of the Messrs. Burns' steamers, and the "Maid of Lorn," belonging to another company, now sail once every week from Glasgow to Aros and Tobermory, besides the others which make the daily circuit of Mull. Should the traveller prefer it, he can first cross to Kerrera, then take the ferry-boat to Achnacraig in Mull, and proceed by land by Duart and Aros to the inn on the Island of Ulva, where he can procure a boat to the adjoining Isles of Staffs and Iona. The Skye steamer also proceeds through the Sound of Mull, and calls at Aros and Tobermory. These different boats also proceed to Salin, on Loch Sunart, giving easy means of visiting this long and fine, and hitherto little visited inlet.]

Puffins Don't Get Closer Than This!
A Remarkable Boat Trip to The Scottish Isles (Staffa and Lunga)

2. Kerrera forms a natural breakwater to the safe Bay of Oban, which is the securest haven on the west coast for vessels, whether intended for the northward voyage or the passage of the Caledonian Canal, and will be found already noticed p. 77. Kerrera was the place of rendezvous where Haco of Norway, in the year 1263, met his island chieftains, who, crowding with their galleys to assist him in his descent on the coasts of Scotland, augmented his fleet to 160 sail. Partly of Scandinavian origin and independent power, the Reguli, who ruled the Western Isles in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were dangerous neighbours to the then unsettled kingdom of Scotland. Owing a slight allegiance to the Norwegian crown, in consequence of the conquests of Harold Harfager, King of Denmark, in the end of the ninth century, and of Magnus Barefoot of Norway, about 1090, and thus politically opposed to the Scottish monarchs, then harassed on all sides by the descents of sea kings and pirates of the north, it became the interest of our sovereigns to attach and win over, or subject to their dominion, the lords and chieftains of the Isles by every means in their power. Bribery and negotiation, open force and secret fraud, were resorted to ; and even large tributes were offered to the King of Norway by Alexander II. if he would resign the sovereignty of the Isles. Irritated by the contemptuous replies of that monarch, Alexander at length declared his resolution of conquering the Danish settlements in Scotland, and boasted that "he would plant his standard on the cliffs of Thurso." He got no further than Kerrera with his fleet and army, when a fever seized him, of which he died; and the same hostile policy being pursued by the governors of his son and successor, Alexander III., then but a boy, and especially manifested in the attempts of the Earls of Ross, and other mainland chiefs, to conquer the isles, Haco roused himself, and sailed forth for the defence of his injured vassals. Sailing from Norway with the largest fleet that ever left his country's ports, it was at Kerrera he met the great body of the island chieftains, who thence accompanied him on the ill-fated descent on Ayrshire, where a tempest, and the Scottish host headed by the Steward of Scotland, and encouraged by the presence of their youthful sovereign, broke his mighty power and effected the consequent cession of the Hebrides to this country. Haco, from fatigue and anxiety, died on his way home at Kirkwall, in Orkney, on the 14th of December 1263.—(Chronicle of Alan. Torfa us.)

3. In taking the outer passage the steamers usually skirt along the rocky iron-bound coast of Mull, in crossing to which magnificent views are obtained of its high dark mountains, and of the islands to the southward, and the varying chains of mountains on the mainland. The greater part of the south coast of Mull presents a dull wall of rock, unbroken save by the inlet of Loch Buy. Approaching the south-west, the shore becomes lower and more rugged, while white foaming breakers keep up the interest of the passage. Of Mull, we may remark in passing, that its surface is extremely uneven and mountainous; its soil is both deep and fertile, and it is thus better adapted for pasturage than Skye, to which island it otherwise bears a strong resemblance. The rapidity with which its rocks decompose, prevents the island from having much picturesque beauty, and the tourist will be but ill rewarded in searching for fine scenery at any distance from the coast. With the exception of the granitic promontory of the Ross, which is skirted by quartz rock, clay slate, and mica slate, the whole upper portions of this island consist of trap rocks, covering has and oolitic deposits of stratified rocks, and which are visible in a comparatively small number of places at the base of the superincumbent mass. To the north of Aros and Loch-na-Keal, the surface of the country, though hilly and irregular, cannot be called mountainous. It presents everywhere, as remarked by Dr. Macculloch, that aspect so characteristic of trap countries, in the terraced forms rising by numerous stages from the shore to the highest elevation, which here seems not to exceed 1200 to 1500 feet. The southern and western divisions of the island present the trap rocks similarly disposed; but in the districts of Gibon and Torosy they attain a much greater altitude; Ben More, the highest mountain, being 3097 feet; and the next to it, Benychat, 2294 feet by barometrical measurement. These mountains, on their western slope, are flanked by cliffs nearly 1000 feet high; and all round the island, columnar precipices of greenstone and basalt are to be seen on the shore, while the rocks in the interior are greatly concealed by rubbish and vegetation. Towards the east and south, the trap terraces shelve down to hills and cliffs of moderate elevation ; the asperities of the shore being caused chiefly by protruding dykes and veins, of which there is an abundance in all parts of the island; but even these, although very hard, do not produce a coast line so rocky and indented as that formed by the primitive masses.

The eye is occupied alternately in scanning the face of the cliffs of Mull, and in tracing the faint outlines of Colonsay and Islay, and more near the peaked mountains of Jura and the island of Scarba, between which lies the whirlpool of Corryvreckan.

4. Iona, or Icolrnkill.—Ey, the Island—Iona, Ithona, "the Island of the Waves"—Icolmkill—the Isle of Columba's (St. Callum's or Malcolm's) Cell —that "illustrious island which," as Dr. Johnson remarks, "was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion," is situated about nine miles to the south-east of Staffa, and is separated from Mull by a narrow but navigable sound. Its history has now become nearly as familiar as its name ; and it has been with truth observed by Dr. Macculloch, that the descriptions and remarks which have been published of it, have given it an importance to which it scarce possesses a sufficient claim, either from the simple extent, the beauty, curiosity, or even antiquity of its architectural remains, apart from the associations connected with them. "In any other situation," says the same author, "the remains of Iona would be consigned to neglect and oblivion; but, connected as they are with an age distinguished by the ferocity of its manners, and its independence of regular government, standing a solitary monument of religion and literature, the mind imperceptibly recurs to the time when this island was `the light of the western world,' 'a gem in the ocean,' and is led to contemplate with veneration its silent and ruined structures. Even at a distance, the aspect of the cathedral, insignificant as its dimensions are, produces a strong feeling of delight in him who, long coasting the rugged and barren rocks of Mull, or buffeted by turbulent waves, beholds its tower first rising out of the deep, giving to this desolate region an air of civilisation, and recalling the consciousness of that human society, which, presenting elsewhere no visible traces, seems to have abandoned these rocky shores to the cormorant and the sea-gull."

Iona is about three miles in length and one in breadth, being placed nearly in a north-easterly direction. The surface is low, rising into numerous irregular elevations which seldom exceed 100 feet. Its highest hill may be about 400 feet, and it is situated at the northern extremity of the island. Generally indented with small rocky bays and promontories, it, however, possesses at the north-western side a large plain, terminating in a flat shore, composed chiefly of broken shells. Another sandy and low plain, to the east, into which flows the Bay of Martyrs, where the bodies of strangers intended to be buried in the holy isle were received, contains the ancient remains and the modern village called Threld. The soil of this plain is light (chiefly sand and sea-shells), and is applicable almost only, arid that by the assistance of sea-weed, to the cultivation of barley and potatoes, of both of which, however, it yields very abundant crops.

The upland is a chequered mixture of rock and pasture, with here and there a few ridges of corn; it is chiefly occupied by black cattle, which, with the kelp prepared on the shores, and fish, in the taking of which the inhabitants display great industry, form the disposable produce of the island. The land, which till lately was held in runrig, is now divided into distinct crofts, and supports a population of about 500, the whole rental being £300. On the approach of strangers to the island, one-half of the inhabitants, bare headed, and with matted uncombed hair, especially the younger portion, collect in groups along the shore to gaze on their visitors, to tender their services in showing the ruins, and troops of children importune the purchase of their little stores of felspar and serpentine pebbles, which have ever been regarded as charms and choice relics of the isle. One unacquainted with the condition of the tenantry in the Hebrides generally will, perhaps, be disposed to express his astonishment at the uncouth and squalid appearance of these people—sure tokens of the poverty and wretchedness under which they live.

5. Referring to our account of the early ecclesiastical history of the Highlands, and of St. Columba's mission (page 20 to 22), we may remark that a very remote antiquity was once assigned to the religious buildings, the ruins of which still impart so much interest to this distant island ; but the assertion had not the advantage of any probability to support it. If religious edifices were at all erected by Columba, when he took up his residence here towards the middle of the sixth century, they were composed, most probably, of no better materials than wickerwork, of which many churches in England, almost down to the Norman conquest, were formed, or they may have been stone-houses thatched with heather, examples of which are still to be seen in the Highlands.

The smallness of St. Oran's chapel, which is only 40 by 20 feet, the general poverty and rudeness of its style, with the perpetual repetition of the chevron moulding in the low circular arch which forms its doorway, points it out as the oldest building now standing, and would perhaps stamp it as of the Saxon age ; but it is in all probability of Norwegian workmanship. The chapel of the nunnery is the next in order of antiquity, the arches being also round, but without ornament ; while the structure of St. Mary's church, which was at the same time the abbey church and the cathedral of the diocese of the Isles, bespeaks a much later origin, and refers it to a date not more distant than the early part of the thirteenth century, if it be even of an antiquity so high.

6. The nunnery is the first in order of the ruins which strangers usually visit. The chapel was dedicated to St. Oran, and was possessed by canonesses of St. Augustine. Its dimensions are 60 feet by 20 ; and it contains the tomb of the last prioress, Anna, dated in 1511, with an inscription in the Saxon character. Previous to their establishment here, the nuns are said to have lived on a small isle, near Iona, still called the "Isle of Nuns." They wore a white gown, and over it a rotchet of fine linen, and lived here together a long time after the Reformation (Keith 458); but their presence in Iona was, of course, a deviation from St. Columba's rule, as he is known to have steadfastly opposed all female interference in his religious institutions.

To the north of the nunnery, beside the chapel, are the remains of a causeway leading to the cathedral, called the Main Street, which is joined by two others, called the Royal Street and Martyr Street, leading to the hay of that name. On the west side of the last street is Maclean's Cross, a beautifully carved pillar, and one of the 360 votive crosses which at one time adorned the island, and which, by a sentence of the Synod of Argyle, about the year 1.560, were all hurled into the sea. Much has been said of the Library and Chartulary of Iona. If they were ever of the value imputed to them, this same Synod contributed more to their destruction, and to our vain regrets, than did all the ravages of Danes and barbarian warriors.

7. We arrive next at the Reilig Ourain, or St. Oran's burying-place, a large enclosure, in which, according to Martin, Dean of the Isles, the Kings of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway had separate cemeteries, as well as the Lords of the Isles, and the chiefs and principal families throughout the Highlands. We refer to Pennant, and to Mr. Howson's valuable paper in the Camden Society's Transactions, Part iii., formerly quoted, for some of the inscriptions in "this resting-place of saints, and kings, and warriors, which is literally paved with tombstones."

To dispel the smile of incredulity apt to gather on the face of visitors when listening to the words of the honest chronicler who marshals the motley parties whom the steamers now land in such daily recurring numbers, over the ashes of the dead, while narrating how many kings lie buried underneath, we transcribe what an eye-witness, Dean Monro of the Isles, who wrote in 1594, says on the subject:—"Within this isle of Kilmkill there is an sanctuary also, or kirkzaird, callit in Eriche, Reitig Oran, quhilk is a very fair kirkzaird, and tiwweill biggit about with staine and lyme. Into this sanctuary there are three tombes of staine, formit like little chapels, with ane braide grey marble, or quhin staine, in the gavil of ilk of the tombes. In the staine of the ane tomb there is written, in Latin letters, Tumulus Regum Scotice—that is, the tombe ore grave of the Scottis Kings. Within this tombe, according to our Scottes and Erische cronikles, ther laye fortey-eight crowned ,Scotts Kings, through the quhilk this ile hes been richly dotat be the Scotts Kinges, as we have said. The tombe on the south side foresaid, has this inscription, Tumulus Regurn, Ilibernice--that is, the tombe of the Irland Kingis; for we have in our auld Erische cronikells, that ther were four Irland liingis erdit in the said tombe. Upon the north syde of our Scottes tombe, the inscription bears, Tumulus Regum Norwegim—that is, the tombe of the Kings of Norroway. Ahd als' we find in our Erische cronikells, that Ccelus, King of Norroway, commandit his nobils to take his bodey and burey it in Colmkill, if it chancit him to die in the iles; hot he was so discomfitit, that ther remained not so maney of his armey as wald hurey him ther, therefor he was eirded in Kyles, after he stroke ane field against the Scotts, and was vanquisht be them. Within this sanctuary also lye the maist pairt of the Lords of the Iles, with their lynage; twa clan Leans, with their lynage; MacKinnon and MacQuarrie, with their lynage; with other inhabitants of the haill iles, because this sanctuary was wont to be the sepulture of the best men of all the iles, and als' of our Kinges, as we have said."

Macbeth was the last Scottish King buried in Iona, Malcolm Caenmore having changed the place of royal sepulture to Dunfermline. In Pennant's day, there were only discoverable "certain slight remains, that were built in a ridged form, and arched within, but the inscriptions were lost;" but they were still called the Ridges of the Kings. Excavations were made in 1833 by the Iona Club, which demonstrated that there were no subterraneous vaults or chambers, but brought to light many interesting tombstones. In Oran's Chapel the inscription is quite legible of Angus Og, Lord of the Isles—the friend of Bruce, and who fought with him at Bannockburn—in these words-

"Hic jacet corpus Angusii, fila Domini Angusii MI'Domhuil de ilay."

This Angus died in 1325. "Mr. Frazier," says Pennant, "son to the Dean of the Isles, informed Mr. Sacheverell, governor of the Isle of Man, who visited Iona in 1688, that his father had collected there 300 inscriptions, and presented them to the Earl of Argyle, which were afterwards lost in the troubles of the family."

To the north lies the cathedral, which Mr. Howson thus describes: "The Abbey Church of the Cluniac Monastery of Iona, and Cathedral of the Isles, is a cross church, measuring internally 115 feet from east to west, and 70 from north to south. The choir and nave are of equal length, and about 23 feet in breadth. The transepts are 17 feet in breadth. At the intersection is a tower. (1.) This tower (which once possessed a fine peal of bells) is square and plain, without any panelling, with a string running round at about half its height, and a plain cornice above. Between these two parts are windows, one on each side, which are among the most remarkable parts of the

church. They are strictly square openings, filled with beautiful, but each with different, tracery, which seems to indicate their date to be in the Decorated period. That to the south is peculiarly beautiful. The square is described about a circle, in which, from a sexfoil in the centre, six volutes run off in a Flamboyant form, enclosing six others in the intermediate spaces. At one corner of it is a detached window of very small dimensions, with two quatrefoil lights. In the interior, the opening for the windows is divided by a shaft, with a capital and two bands, not unlike those which are thought to characterize Saxon churches. It might be conjectured that the tower and its openings are of very early date, and that the tracery was introduced in the fourteenth century, more especially as the shafts from which the transept arches spring have an ancient appearance. (2.) Of the transepts, the southern has the remains of a Decorated window ; in the northern, Pennant's sketch exhibits two Early English ones. There are no aisles, but, in the north transept, the remains of a semicircular arch. The capitals of the above-mentioned shafts are ornamented with grotesque figures—one group said to represent an Angel weighing souls, and Satan crouching near. The arches are pointed. (3.) The nave is very much dilapidated, with a trace of a round arch in one place, and buttresses which (as those in the south transept) are narrow, and lie upon the wall at a small elevation. The western doorway is small and plain, having a dripstone, and moulding running continuously to the ground. (4.) It is not easy to ascertain the original appearance of the choir. At the east end is a good Decorated window, and there are Decorated windows in the north and south wall, on each side of it. There is no other window in the north wall, which in one part exhibits two Early English arches, with the toothed ornament, springing from round piers with somewhat rude capitals. These arches are quite built up in the wall, which, however, shews marks of recent work. Below them is a doorway of elaborate but singular form, semicircular, and trefoiled. On examining the engravings of Pennant, I find that in his time these arches were free, and seem to have opened into a chapel which was attached to the north side of the choir. This prepares us for considering the south side, where there seems to have been something of a similar arrangement. Here are three round piers, about 10 feet high and 9 feet in circumference, with capitals covered with grotesque figures, and pointed arches, with several mouldings. The easternmost pier is square, with a square abacus. To these piers are attached overarching buttresses (if so they may be called), which formerly have been roofed over. thus constituting a species of quadrantal aisle. The whole is walled round, with an elegant window apparently Decorated, to the east; and a breast-wall is built between the piers themselves. It is probable that what at first sight seems to have been an aisle has really constituted one or more chapels; and that Dr. Sacheverell speaks accurately when he says that 'on each side of the choir are two little chapels, the entrance to them opening with large pillars, curiously carved in basso relievo.'

"There remain three well-worked sedilia, of Early English appearance, formed with trefoiled ogee arches, under connected dripstones, which run out afterwards into a horizontal tablet, and have at each apex the remains of what seems to have been a sculptured head. The principal altar seems to have remained until a late period—Sacheverell, who saw it in 1688, says it measured six feet by four. Martin, whose tour was written in 1702, uses these words: — `The altar is large, and of as fine a marble as ever I saw.' And it must have existed in 1772, since Pennant says that he and his companions contributed to diminish it. He says it was of -white marble veined with gray.

"Pennant merely notices the remains of the Bishop's Palace; and now, I believe, there are but slight traces of it. Sacheverell tells us that it consisted of a large hall, open to the roof of a chamber, into which he supposes it must have been necessary to ascend by a ladder, and under this chamber a buttery. The offices were probably, according to custom, outside. He says it put him in mind of the inscription on Bishop Rutter's tomb in the Isle of Man:

''Tide et ride Palatium Episcopi!'

The abbot's house stood to the 'Westward. It is so obvious that this church has been patched and blocked up in many places since it became a ruin, that a minute examination would be necessary before a confident opinion could be pronounced on the date of all its parts. But when the windows in the tower and in the choir are considered, there can be no doubt that a great portion is of the fourteenth century. Some Norman work to the north of the church—possibly also the piers, the buttresses, the shafts in the tower, and the toothed ornaments in the choir —might indicate that the shell of the building was a century earlier, or even more. Nothing can be more probable than that the Abbey Church was originally erected by some of the island chieftains in their days of power, that it was dismantled during the troubles at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and repaired in more tranquil years which concluded it—perhaps about 1380, when it became an Episcopal as well as a monastic church." Mr. Howson, from an entry in Dean Mylne's Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld, afterwards saw reason to believe that the age of the cathedral may have been forty or fifty years older than what he mentions above.

One of the finest of the ancient crosses of Iona, taller (about fifteen feet) and richer than Maclean's, has been set up on a basement of granite, opposite the entrance to the cathedral, and within the enclosure now very properly formed around it. The cross is exquisitely carved in high relief, with Rhunic knotting' of great freedom of design, on mica slate.

8. The earliest tomb actually bearing a date is that of Lachlan Mackinnon, in 1489, and the next in point of antiquity, as yet discovered, is Abbot Mackinnon's, near the altar, dated in 1500. The inscriptions in the Gaelic alphabet are not dated; swords, ships (some of them exhibiting the ancient forms of the Hebridean galleys, with the stern and prow both alike, and curved upwards like the Roman vessels, and provided with a single square sail), and armorial bearings with ill-executed bas-reliefs of warriors, form the chief objects on the sculptured tombs.

As already mentioned, most families of distinction in the Highlands had burying-places here, and many erected votive chapels in different parts of the island. Besides the veneration of the place, a prophecy was currently handed about, that, "seven years before the end of the world, a deluge shall drown the nations; the sea at one tide shall cover Ireland and the green-headed Isla; but Columba's Isle shall swim above the flood:" thus the notion of protection mingled with that of the sanctity of the isle in making it the resort of strangers to bury their dead. Out of the last Government grant for erecting additional places of worship in the Highlands, a church and manse have been built, and a resident minister has been appointed to Iona, and the free church has also erected here a place of worship and residence for a minister.

The cairns and circles throughout the island, and the black stones, or stones of fate, are most probably Druidical, and give countenance to the traditions and early Irish writings, purporting that St. Columba found the Druids in power here on his arrival, though doubtless many of the details are fabulous, and many mere monkish inventions of later times.

The distinguishing features of the religious system introduced into Scotland by St. Columba (according to Mr. Skene, Scot. Highlanders, I. 194), were, that the monks were ordained elergynzen, not laymen, as was common on the continent of Europe under the Romish church—that they dwelt in monasteries, whence they issued, as occasion presented, to convert by their preaching the neighbouring savage tribes—that they had abbots over them, "possessing the same character, exercising the same functions, and in every respect occupying the same position with the bishops of other churches," and enjoying a territorial jurisdiction as bishops did. As in Ireland, so also in Scotland, the abbots were sometimes styled "Bishop Abbots," and sometimes "Presbyter Abbots;" but the great peculiarity, according to Mr. Skene, of the Culdee Church, " was the union of the clerical and monastic order into one collegiate system, where the abbot and the bishop were the same person, and the inferior orders of presbyters and deacons formed the monks who were under his control." The attempt to assimilate this state of things to modern Presbyterianism, as has sometimes been tried, can only succeed by confounding and altering the meaning of words in all ancient authorities. In the middle of the seventh century, the primacy was removed from Armagh, in Ireland, to Iona, which had previously been of the subordinate class - which was ruled only by a Presbyter Abbot; but subsequently, in consequence of the ravages of the Danes, the primacy was transferred to Dunkeld, and soon after to St. Andrews, where the Romish clergy early succeeded in totally altering the constitution and government of the church, David I. having introduced the establishment of regular parochial clergy, thereby superseding the missionary system of St. Columba. He erected monasteries, with lay monks, on the Romish plan, placing over both bishops, whose jurisdiction, and the number of their dicceses remained unaltered, " being just those who had previously existed among the Culdees."

9. We are glad to say that a small party can now be accommodated with tolerable, though homely lodgings in the island, so that tourists—a few at a time--can leisurely examine the whole ruins, and afterwards, if the weather be steady, take a boat to Staffa and Ulva, and after resting at the small inn at the latter place, regain the main coast of Mull, or rejoin the steamers.

[Were more commodious accommodation provided, and this generally made known, a few days' sojourn in Iona could not fail to become a fregnent occurrence, and the speculation remunerative. Few intelligent tourists turn their backs on Iona and Staffa, without the wish that circumstances had permitted a more leisurely examination of the very wondrous works of the Creator in the one, and in they other of relics of remote antiquity, so impressively heaped together in these distant isles of the sea. To other spot in Great Britain stands so extensively associated with the past as Icolnikil; while Staffa is unrivalled in its own peculiar and wonder-inspiring style; and as the flocks of visitors attest the force of their combined attractions, it is high time that suitable provision were made for the full gratification of the public curiosity, by means of a good inn, or of several proper lodging-houses. There is hardly a point in the kingdom more frequented, though at present merely for a flying visit, and we hope the want experienced will he speedily removed. It is gratifying to understand that Bishop Ewing, of Argyle and the Isles, is engaged in having a work compiled, which will embrace numerous delineations and descriptions of the antiquities and scenery, along with all the scattered historical notices connected with them and with the island, collected into one—a work which cannot fail to he highly acceptable. But it is matter of surprise that no movement is now made to do all that may be practicable in the way of removing rubbish, and rendering all discoverable inscnptions legible. Were subscriptions opened at sight of any body or person in whom confidence would be placed, on board the Staffa and Iona steamer, and at the Oban Caledonian Hotel, most tourists would readily contribute to a fund for investigation and further protection. It might also not be amiss that something more were done, but under proper superintendence in the way of ensuring dry footing iii wet weather for the parties from the steamers visiting the ruins. Let the Messrs. Barns but direct a portion of their characteristic spirit and energy to these matters, and all difficulties will disappear.]

If they take the course by Ulva, they should not omit a visit to Innis Kenneth, rendered classic ground by Dr. Johnson, and of which he observes, that "Romance does not often exhibit a scene that strikes the imagination more than this little desert isle, in these depths of western obscurity." Here was a seminary for many centuries dependent on Iona, and here the great moralist was hospitably and politely entertained by Sir Allan Maclean and his two young daughters, "the elder of whom read the English service" on Sunday. "The chapel (says the Doctor) is about sixty feet in length and thirty in breadth. On one side of the altar is a bas-relief of the blessed Virgin, and by it lies a little bell, which, though cracked and without a clapper, has remained there for ages, guarded only by the venerableness of the place. The ground round the chapel is covered with gravestones of chiefs and ladies, and still continues to be a place. of sepulture."—(Journey.) Sir Allan's house, in ruins, now adds to the desolation, and, in the language of Dr. Macculloch, "the cemetery is unenclosed, unprotected, and forgotten—the haunt of the plover and the curlew."

10. Let us hasten on to our tour round Mull. Staffa and Iona have nothing imposing about them when seen from a distance. The former appears as a round lumpish rock, and the latter, in nearing it from the north, is so low, that at first it seems as but a dark speck of cloud resting on the surface of the ocean.
As the steamer holds on her course towards Staffa, the attention is occupied with the outlines of the Treshnish Isles, and of the more distant forms of Coll and Tiree. But as the vessel draws nigh her destination, all eyes are directed to the rocky mass a-head, so known to fame.

It is only, however, when we have approached pretty close that the beauties of Staffa begin to unfold themselves. Let the visitor—if, like Maclean at the flood, he have "a boat of his own" —be in no haste to reach the landing place, but let him rather first sail along the whole eastern side of the island. He will thus pass the entrances of all the most celebrated caves, will become familiar with the general characters of the colonnades, and, as he approaches the south-western extremity, will have a most imposing view of the main entablature of the island, supported by the continuous cliffs of basaltic pillars. A very good general survey is also to be had from the steamers' decks.

Staffa is of an irregular oval shape, about a mile and a half in circumference, presenting an uneven table-land, resting on cliffs of variable height. The greatest elevation lies towards the south-west, and appears to be about 144 feet. The island is composed of a fundamental ledge of rocks of conglomerated trap or tuffa, to which succeeds a grayish black, hard, and compact columnar basalt, which is covered by a mass of shapeless basalt of the same description, with small columns interspersed through it. The whole facade of the island, the arches and floorings of the caves, strongly resemble architectural designs, and have been described by terms taken from works of art ; and even the surface of the summit of the island, presenting in several places the ends of small columns jutting up from the amorphous basalt, has much the appearance of a tesselated pavement. So numerous are the caves, that the rock may almost be described as perforated with them all round, but the wonders of the spot are concentrated on the eastern side, and the surge which constantly beats on the other parts of the island renders the examination of them both difficult and dangerous.

Inclined a little from the horizontal position, the beds of rock dip towards the north-east, which is the lowest part of the island, and where a landing can be effected in almost any state of the tide. Proceeding along the base of the cliff from this point, the objects the visitor has to examine succeed one another in the following order :-1. The Clam or Scallop Shell Cave. 2. Bouchaillie, or the Herdsman. 3. The Great Colonnade and Causeway. 4. Fingal's Cave. 5. The Boat Cave. 6. Mackinnon's Cave ; which last occurs close by the south-western extremity of the island.

11. (1.) Approaching the Clam Shell Cave, an increase in the size of the basaltic columns is perceived, and on one side of that opening they are beautifully bent or curved, presenting an appearance like the ribs of a ship; while the wall on the opposite side is made up of the projecting ends of horizontal columns, having a resemblance to the surface of a honeycomb.

(2.) Detached a few paces from the shore, is the very singular and beautiful islet of Bouchaillie, or the Herdsman. It is about thirty feet high, and seems to rest on a series of horizontal pillars, visible only at low water. Composed entirely of small columns, which are closely attached to one another, and inclined as to a central nucleus, it possesses a conical form, and, from its symmetry and regularity, is altogether one of the most interesting objects about the island.

(3.) From opposite this rock the pillars become erect, and extend, in one continued colonnade, along the whole face of the cliff to the entrance of Fingal's Cave. An inclined space, formed of irregularly protruding, horizontally fractured remnants of broken columns, intervenes between the base of the cliff and the sea, and composes the grand causeway.

12. (4.) Increasing in breadth as it proceeds, this pavement at length brings us round a projecting abutment of the rock; and the splendid entrance, deep recesses, and clear green water of the Uaimh Binn, the Musical, or Fingal's Cave, bursts upon our view. Description has long been exhausted on the wonders of this cave. " Compared to this, what are the cathedrals or the palaces built by men ? Mere models or playthings! imitations as diminutive as his works will always be when compared to those of nature. Where is now the boast of the architect? Regularity—the only particular in which he fancied himself to exceed his mistress, Nature—is here found in her possession, and was for ages unknown and undescribed."

The dimensions of this cave were minutely taken by Dr. Macculloch, from whose very valuable scientific paper on Staffa we make the following extract:—

The causeway on the eastern side continues on from the entrance—but very narrow—almost to the extremity of the cave, formed of broken pillars, on which a precarious and slippery footing, aided in part by a rope to hold by, is got by those who have nerve to venture in without a boat. We have seen ladies attain the very extremity; but it is hardly worth the somewhat trying effort, as the effect is most striking near the entrance.

The sides of the chasm are columnar, and for the most part perpendicular. A deeply channelled fissure, parallel to the sides, extends along the whole length of the ceiling, which is ornamented by pendant clusters of columns, whitened with calcareous stalagmite. As the sea never entirely ebbs from this cave, having indeed a depth of eighteen feet at low water, it forms its constant flooring, along which a boat may be pushed, if the waves are not breaking too fiercely at the entrance to admit of its approach. The average diameter of the basaltic columns, throughout the island, is about two, but often they extend to three and even four feet. Their general forms are pentagonal and hexagonal, but the number of sides is sometimes increased to seven and nine, and they are rarely found rhomboidal or triangular.

In position they are sometimes erect, sometimes oblique, and not unfrequently horizontal, while they are often curved, and variously jointed and implicated.

13. (5.) The next opening we have to notice is called the Boat Cave ; and between it and the Great Cave is the highest portion of the columnar cliff, the upper surface of which is about 112 feet above high-water mark. This cave derives its name, we may suppose, from its being accessible only by sea ; and, though itself insignificant in size, the symmetry of that part of the columnar range under which it lies, is even greater than near the Cave of Fingal. The height of this cave is from fourteen to fifteen feet above high water, and its breadth is twelve feet, the length being at least 150 feet. Both the sides and roof are smooth, like the gallery of a mine, without interest or beauty.

(6.) Still further to the south is Mackinnon's, or, as it is sometimes called, the Scart or Cormorant Cave, and is the last we have to notice. Situated in the lower conglomerate rock, its sides are smooth ; and although in many respects, grand and powerful in effect, it is deficient in that kind of beauty resulting from order and regularity, so remarkable in Fingal's Cave. In height about fifty feet, and breadth forty-eight feet, it presents a large square opening, which is of easy access, there being no protruding rocks at the entrance. The length is 224 feet, and its interior dimensions are, throughout, nearly equal to the external aperture, except at the extremity, where the roof and walls approach a little, and a beach of pebbles is thrown up. Parties from the steamer are not in the way of visiting these two last caves. But a ladder of steps has been formed at the Clam Shell Cave, giving access to the top of the island.

We have now described all the most interesting objects in this island. None of the other caves on the south and north sides are remarkable either for beauty or magnitude, but only for the loud beating of the waves within their dark recesses.

14. Finally, if the visitor be a geologist, to the ample food which the basaltic rocks of this island will afford him for speculation, we beg to refer to an additional phenomenon, which may escape his notice, but is not the least perplexing of the wonders of this place. We allude to the shingle bank, composed of substances very different from the trap rocks of the island, which occurs near the landing place. Though a green and fertile island, Staffa has no trees on it, and presents no rare or peculiar plants. Like its name, the interest with which it will ever continue to be regarded must proceed entirely from the peculiar features of its geological structure, and from its mineral products, which, were there any accommodations on the island for the visitor, would occupy many of his leisure days fully to explore and comprehend. At present, there is not a but of any description to take shelter in during a storm.

15. Hastening on now towards the Sound of Mull, passengers, after quitting Staffa, will in most weathers feel, as they will also have experienced in the first part of the voyage, the heavy swell of the mighty Atlantic, rolling on towards the Scottish coast. They cannot but admire the curious castellated forms of the Treshnish Isles, like so many fortifications, especially of the extraordinary rock called the Dutchman's Cap, backed by the distant masses of Tiree and Coll; and the grand mountain screens of Rum, and to the northward the abrupt Scuir of Eig. When past the bluff point of Caillich, and opposite the long headland of Ardnamurchan, we may reckon ourselves as within the faeces terns, and will soon be hurried on to the snug haven of Tobermory seven miles distant, surveying as we pass the ruins, on the northern shore, of Mingarry Castle. Its walls rise from the edge of a small projecting rock, about four-and-twenty feet in height, defended on the landward side by a dry ditch. Its form is hexagonal, with every alternate side smaller than the others. The castle, which occupies two of the landward sides, is of three storeys, each containing two rooms, the staircase being in the centre. The remaining sides are formed by a dead wall, nearly as high as the highest wall of the castle. On two of these sides are outhouses confining the court to a small triangle. Surmounting battlements extend round the whole. The length of the main building is fifty feet, and the total circumference somewhat more than two hundred. With the exception of a few loop-holes, there is no external opening. Two small cannon still remain, but it is difficult to imagine how any use could be made of ordnance on such narrow battlements. The roof is nearly entire, and part of the joists and flooring remains. Mingarry was anciently the residence of the Mac Tans, a sept of the Macdonalds, descended from Ian, or John, a grandson of Angus Og, Lord of the Isles. The last time that Mingarry was of military importance, as detailed in the Red Book of Clanranald, was during the great Montrose's enterprise of 1644, when it was besieged for him by Allaster Macdonald of Colkitto, who commanded the Irish auxiliaries, and took it after a considerable resistance.

16. The principal village in Mull is Tobermory—"the Well of our Lady St. Mary." It is beautifully situated at the extremity of the inner recess of a close bay, encircled by high precipitous banks, and in front protected from the winds and waves by a low island; thus rendered one of the most secure havens on the coast. Shrubs and brushwood adorn the face of the steep sides of the bay ; and above them the ground rises into a gently sloping amphitheatre. The village stretches along the base and the brow of the acclivity. The excellent quays, frequently crowded with shipping, give to Tobermory a gay and lively character, especially when approached from the sea, while its very sheltered position and picturesque accompaniments are quite enticing. It has not yet got into much repute as a sea-bathing quarter, for which it appears very eligible. Let the inhabitants but study to lay themselves out for visitors, by suitable accommodations, and they cannot fail to have an influx, now that so many steamers come the way, affording facilities of communication in all directions. The town derives its name from a celebrated well, which, with a small chapel now in ruins, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Near the chapel, also, are the remains of a fortification said to have been Norwegian.

The Spanish ship Florida, one of the invincible armada, was sunk here by an emissary of Queen Elizabeth. This vessel is supposed to have contained a great deal of specie, and attempts have been made, by diving-bells, to get at the stores, or to raise the ship. Guns of brass and iron have been brought up, one or two of which are still to be seen at Dunstaffnage Castle, and some of the former had the mark of an English founder on them, with the date 1584. A portion of the ship's plank was presented to his Majesty George IV. on his visit to Edinburgh in 1822. The country tradition regarding this vessel is, that a daughter of the King of Spain having dreamed that a young man of particularly engaging figure had appeared to her, determined to sail the wide world in search of the living prototype of the vision. Maclean of Duart realized in the young princess' eyes the creature of her fancy. His lady became jealous of his attention to the fair stranger, and sought counsel of the witches of Mull, by whose agency the vessel was sunk, with the object of her resentment.

Tobermory was commenced about sixty years ago, under the auspicies of the Society for the Encouragement of the British Fisheries, to whom it still belongs. Its advantages as a fishing-station are not great, owing to its distance from the banks of cod and ling ; and the village was thus for a long time stationary. Its chief dependence is on the victualling of ships navigating the Sound, or which may be obliged to run to its harbour for protection when overtaken by storms among the Hebrides. From the convenience of its situation in this respect, Tobermory has of late years sprung up to be a flourishing seaport. In its immediate vicinity is Drimfin, better known by the name of St. Mary's Lake, a romantic spot well worthy the notice of the tourist, situated between two finely wooded hills rising precipitously from its banks. Drimfin is the property of Hugh Maclean, Esq., of Coll, who has built a splendid mansion-house on the banks of the lake, and has otherwise greatly improved the place. There are several fine cascades near it, one of which is worthy of attention. By visiting it the tourist will also be rewarded by a magnificent view of the lake, the romantic beauties that surround it, the harbour and shipping, the village and Sound of Mull, the hills of Morven, and the picturesque shores of Loch Sunart, with the Ardnamurchan hills in the distance.

17. Taking now Sir Walter Scott's Lord of the Isles in hand, the tourist will greatly enjoy the sail down the Sound of Mull, the winding strait which divides that rough island from the mainland of Scotland. The channel is deep enough to bear vessels of the largest burthen; it sweeps in beautifully curved lines through shores, mountainous on the one side, and on the Morven coast comparatively low, of gentle inclination, and indented by deep salt-water lochs, running up many miles inland.

On each cape and promontory, as we wind along, the fragments of the dark gray walls of the ancient Scandinavian burghs, and the shattered and picturesque battlements of the more recent castles, of which we are presently to speak, rise up before us, recalling the thoughts of the stern olden time, when the whole of these shores were exposed to continual warfare and invasion. In fine weather, a grander and more impressive scene, both from its natural beauties and historical associations, can hardly he imagined. When the weather is rough, the passage is both difficult and dangerous, at least to sailing boats, more particularly from the " conflicting tides that meet from strait and lake,"—and from the sudden gusts of wind that issue from the mountain glens.

In clear moonlight, also, the sail is most delightful, and then,

"Awaked before the rushing prow
The mimic fires of ocean glow,
Those lightnings of the wave;
Wild sparkles crest the broken tides,
And, flashing round the vessel's sides,
With elvish lustre lave."

18. At Salin, in the Bay of Aros (different from Salin in Sunart), eight or nine miles distant from Tobermory, and eighteen from Auchnacraig ferry-house, opposite to Kerrera, there is a small public house where the tourist can put up, and where also, should he have come along the coast of Mull from Auchnacraig ferry, he can get post horses to conduct him to the head of Loch-na-Kcal on the opposite side of the island, a distance of four miles, and thence to Laggan-Ulva, seven miles farther, the usual point of embarkation for Staffa and Iona. Aros was one of the residences of the great island kings. This castle occupies the summit of a high rocky peninsula, at the mouth of a streamlet falling into the sea, by the side of a wide-spreading bay. It is a massy oblong, measuring thirty paces by twelve, and about forty feet high, and appears to have comprised but a single apartment, lighted by a few large sharp-pointed windows. A spacious esplanade extends from the front of the rock, round which there seems to have been an enclosing wall. Only two walls of the castle and part of a third are standing; but they present an interesting memento of the rude and gloomy grandeur of former days.

19. The series of castles here alluded to, which form such interesting objects in the landscape, and the many others throughout the west coast, were most of them, probably, erected by the island chieftains, after the downfall of the Norwegian influence, when some of them began to arrogate to themselves an independent sway. The round Scandinavian fortresses were erected without the use of mortar; but the mixture of stone and lime, and the arched doorways and windows, show that the Gothic style of architecture was known when the square-shaped castles were commenced, and that they are of a comparatively recent period. On the accession of the Hebrides to the Scottish crown, Alexander III. set vigorously to work, in repairing and increasing the number of the strongholds of the kingdom; and the recorded accounts of the sheriffs and public officers of the day still remain, to attest the expenses they cost him. Not content with treaties, he encouraged his subjects to extend and strengthen these defences, and those on the west coast were peculiarly styled "overbands against the Danes." At that period the French and foreign artisans introduced into the kingdom the accommodation and provisions for defence, displayed by them on a more magnificent scale in the English garrisons; and hence, in the buildings in question, an obvious imitation of the Normanic castles; while those of the island chieftains themselves partake of the like peculiarities.

It is remarkable that we perceive very few oratories or chapels in the strongholds of the Hebridean chiefs; and with the new improvements introduced into their stone and lime buildings, they retained many of the ruder and more savage features of the Scandinavian burghs.

Nothing could be more wild than the situations chosen for these fortresses : sometimes on detached islets or pinnacles; more generally on promontories surrounded on three sides by the sea; and on high precipitous rocks commanding an extensive view, and a ready communication with the water. Straight and narrow stairs, little better than stone ladders, and arched vaults, were a frequent mode of access ; and in some cases, between the top of these stairs and the main building, yawning chasms intervened, across which, as occasion required, a slender drawbridge was lowered. Rude but strong buttresses propped up the walls, which occasionally were continued to a distance from the principal keep—so as to form a court or ballium. But great extent is not to be looked for in these buildings. Their dimensions are small, and their accommodations slender and simple, compared with the edifices which in the south remain to attest the warlike propensities and state of ancient times.

20. Almost due east from Aros, on the opposite or Morven shore, frown the remains of the rugged walls of Ardtornish, one of the principal seats of the Lords of the Isles during the period of their stormy independence, especially during the fifteenth century, in the times of Donald, Alexander, and John, the three last Lords of the Isles, and Earls of Ross. Prior to this age, Islay and Cantyre were the chief places of residence of the island princes; but Islay came to be occupied by John Mor, brother of Donald, and his descendants. The situation of Ardtornish is low, but wild and romantic, having on one hand a chain of rocks overhanging the sea, and on the other the entrance to the beautiful salt-water lake called Loch Alline, which is in many places finely fringed with coppice-wood. The ruins of a single keep and outer defences much broken down, are all that is now to be seen of the ancient castle. Here the old lords held their courts, or parliaments, as they have been called; and here John d'Ile, in 1461, assuming the style of a sovereign prince, granted a commission for entering into a treaty with Edward IV. of England. The conferences ended in an agreement, by which the Lord of the Isles became vassal to the crown of England, and engaged to assist Edward and the Earl of Douglas, then in banishment, in subduing the realm of Scotland.

Killundine, on the Morven coast, and Kin-Loch Alline Castle, at the head of the sea loch of that name, may be added to this catalogue of strongholds, as worthy of examination while the tourist is in this neighbourhood. The former is quite decayed, little better than a heap of rubbish; the latter, though only a square tower with turrets and a corbel table, as being perched on a bold rock overhanging the sea, and surrounded with pretty fields and birch copses, and from being uncommonly fine in its proportions, forms, according to Dr. Macculloch "one of the most picturesque of the Highland castles." In the adjoining church-yards of Kilintuintaik, (St. Winifred's cell), and Kilcolumkill, (St. Columba's), are several beautifully carved crosses, some broken and some entire, and in the latter an elegant south porch in the earliest pointed style; besides several broken tomb-stones, with mitred effigies, which we suspect have been stolen from Iona. The tourist will he gratified with a boat sail up Loch Sunart, now visited as far as Salin by two weekly steamers, and by a general exploring expedition through Morven, the scenery and antiquities of which are as yet but little known.

21. On the south-east promontory of Mull stands one of the most entire, though among the oldest, of the castles we have to notice in the present excursion—that of Duart. It belonged to the chief of the clan Maclean, and stands on the brink of a high cliff at the extremity of a long and elevated peninsular headland, and within a gunshot of the sea. It is four miles and a half distant from the ferry-house of Achnacraig. The main building is a large and nearly square tower, with walls of the unusual thickness of twelve and fourteen feet, reputed to be of Danish construction. In the thickest part is the staircase. Two buildings, one bearing date 1663, the other more recently added for the accommodation of a small garrison stationed here till a no very distant period, with a high wall on the fourth side, form, with the tower, a parallelogram measuring forty paces by twenty-six. The shell of the structure is entire. The windows of the tower are large and wide, and rounded at the top inside, but externally they contract to a small oblong. A few cannon, fourteen-pounders, are still lying in the court. Off this castle we pass the Lady's Rock, visible at low water, where Maclean of Duart caused his wife, a sister of the Earl of Argyle, against whom he had conceived a violent aversion, to be placed, in the expectation that the rising tide would drown her. Having been fortunately observed and rescued by some of her father's people, who were passing in a boat, Maclean was allowed to go through all the hypocritical ceremonial of a mock funeral ; but was shortly afterwards sacrificed to the vengeance of the infuriated Campbells, being assassinated in Edinburgh by one of her brothers, Sir John Campbell, who, by his marriage in 1500 with the heiress of Cawdor in Nairnshire, became the head of that house.

22. Farther north, but close on the left hand, will be observed the fertile island of Lismore (the Great Garden), which is a mass of limestone about ten miles long by two broad. On the north side, perched on a high rock, stands Auchindown Castle, the ancient seat of the bishops of Argyle. This castle forms a large square of twenty-eight paces on each side, with walls about forty feet in height; the area being divided by a cross wall into two unequal parts, of which the smaller alone seems to have been used as a dwelling-place. From Auchindown, another pretty entire square keep is seen on the coast of Morven, in the opening of Glen Sanda, .called Castle-en-Coer; and there are the ruins of another, on the same side of Lismore as Auchindown, about four miles to the north, called Balmackilchan.

Iona always contained the cathedral church of the diocese of the Isles, at least of the Hebrides or North Isles, as Dian did of the Sudories or South Isles, while the mainland of Argyle of old pertained to the see of Dunkeld; but about the year 1200 John, Bishop of Dunkeld, who appears to have been an Englishman, applied to and obtained permission from the Pope to erect the western portion of his great diocese into a separate one in favour of his chaplain Ereldus, who understood the Irish tongue, with Lismore as the cathedral scat; whence the bishops were subsequently styled Episcopi Lismorenses, or Episcopi Ergadienses, the latter title being assumed, we suspect, after the donations by King Alexander II. of lands on the continent of Argyle. The cathedral, now converted into the parish church, stands in a bare place near the centre of the isle, on the verge of an elevated burying-ground, and commands one of the most extensive and grand views in the British dominions. The choir alone remains—it had no aisles; and Mr. Howson thinks (Camden Society's Transactions, Part ii., p. 99) it never had a nave or transept. "The door-ways," he says, "are two—one to the west, with a pointed arch; the other to the south, with a semicircular arch and dripstone, and behind the latter a small enclosure, which seems to have been a chantry. The piscina is a plain recess, having a pointed arch, the further end being pierced in a very small trefoiled arch, apparently for a shelf. The sidelia are remarkable. They are in their usual position, immediately, to the west of the piscina: the arches are semicircular, without mouldings, the eastern one wider and higher than the other two; with the roll and fillet moulding, which, perhaps, may be taken as indicative of the Decorated period." Hence Mr. Howson conjectures that the date of the church, which is only fifty-six by twenty-eight feet, and which does not possess any peculiarly beautiful parts, may be the middle of the fourteenth century; and he says, "it cannot be earlier." It was dedicated to St. Muluag or Molochus, a saint of the seventh century. The bishop's crozier is still in existence, in the possession of the hereditary keepers, a family of the name of Livingstone. Until a few years ago, a Roman Catholic collegiate seminary was kept up on Lismore, but which has now been removed to Braemar in Aberdeenshire.

23. There is now a lighthouse at the southern point of Lis-more. Crossing hence over the fine breadth of Loch Linnhe, we soon enter the bay of Oban by the north-east end of Kerrera, and after passing the guardian tower of Dunolly (Dunolave), repose at the village whence we set out; and he must be a dull and unimpressible observer, who, if the day have proved favourable, does not acknowledge that the route he then traced was among the finest things his eyes have ever been gladdened with, and if he does not find his mind stored with many new and precious ideas.