CORRIEVRECKAN-THE SLATE ISLANDS. 279 tants. The eastern declivities descend | ing short and high in all directions and more gradually, are skirted with green displaying a "hell of waters. slopes and a belt of plain, and present throughout a pleasing scene. Ferries communicate at Feoline, in the south, with Islay; at Lagg, in the middle, with Keills; and at a place in the north with Craignish. A small village at Lagg has a post office under Bowmore, and a large inn. There are two mansions-Jura House and Ardlussa; the former belonging to Campbell of Jura, the latter to the representatives of the late Lord Murray. The population of the island in 1851 was 1064. 839. CORRIEVRECKAN is the strait between Jura and Scarba, and lies 2 miles west of the steamer's course. Common belief represents it as generally or always a terrible whirlpool; old legends have peopled it with great seamonsters; and the effusions of Campbell, Leyden, and Scott have given it poetic interest. It shares, with many other straits among the Western Islands, the rush of a strong tidal current, and is beset by a huge, steep, pyramidal rock, rising from its bottom, at the depth of about 100 fathoms, to within 15 feet of its surface. The central current is split by this rock into a tortured mass; the side currents, especially on the Scarba shore, are flung back or inward by projecting points; and the collisions of the waters tumble and gyrate in gigantic whirls. A repose of about an hour occurs at the change in neap tides, and of about half an hour in spring tides; and this is accompanied by no other appearance than a profusion of smooth, small, whirling eddies. Even the rush of the tide, in all ordinary weather, is not stronger than at the western extremity of the Pentland Frith, and would probably have long ago been divested of its terrors to seafaring men, but for the passage being seldom used by boats, and never by ships. Yet, when opposed by a high wind, during a tempestuous state of the sea, it becomes truly awful, break 840. SCARBA measures 3 miles from east to west, and 2 from south to north. Most of it is a single mountain, of oblong, conoidal form, rising to the altitude of 1490 feet above the level of the sea. Its south, west, and north sides are bare or heathy, and fall precipitously to the water, in some places with cliffs several hundred feet deep. Its east side curves inward like an amphitheatre; rises in a graduated manner; shows a fine mixture of wood, verdure, and rock; and presents altogether a picturesque appearance. A strait of similar character to Corrievreckan, but narrower, separates its north side from Lunga. This latter island extends 2 miles from south to north, and rises slowly, in rock and moor, to an altitude of nearly 1000 feet. The Garvelloch Isles, 24 miles west of it, are a slender pastoral group, 44 miles long. They were a possession and residence of the ecclesiastics of Iona, and are therefore often called the Holy Isles; and they contain vestiges of a dwelling-house, a church, and a cemetery. The piece of sea around all these islands, and others, from Jura northward to the Sound of Mull, bears the name of the Frith of Lorn, and is famous for the brilliance and grandeur of the views all round its shores and waters. 841. THE SLATE ISLANDS form a group 10 miles long from south to north, 31⁄2 miles broad, and are separated from one another and from the mainland by narrow straits. They commence opposite Scarba, 4 miles north by west of Craignish Point, and terminate 7 miles south-south-west of Oban. Their shores and surfaces, their mixtures of rock and wood, their dispositions of hill and hollow, and the narrow, intricate, rocky straits amongst them, abound in picturesque features, and display, in every direction toward the sea, a series of charming views. The chief are Luing, on the south-west, 6 miles long; Shuna, on the south-east, 2 miles long; Tor-westward along the southern sea-board, say, in the central east, 3 miles in cir- is 30 miles; its next greatest extent, cuit; Seil, in the north, 4 miles long; which is in a north-westerly direction, Easdale, on the north-west, less than a nearly through the centre, is 25 miles ; square mile in area; and Balnahuaigh, and its circumference, measured along in the west, about a mile in circuit. All the indentations and sinuosities of its take their name from consisting largely coast, is upwards of 290 miles. Its surof fissile clayslate, well suited for the face for the most part is mountainous, purposes of roofing, and similar in heathy, and bleak. Lord Teignmouth quality to that of the great Welsh slate- pronounced it to be, "with exception of works. Other rocks occur, in variety of some patches of arable land, a vast interposition, junction, and lithological moor ;" and several other writers, with character, very interesting to geologists; higher pretensions to accuracy, have rebut the clayslate predominates. Luing garded it in a similar light. Yet it really contains the villages of Toberonochy, has grand outlines, and presents some Millbuy, and Colipole, and a post office noble features. It is a heaving, rolling, of its own name under Oban; Seil con- | broken mass, shot into cones, heaped tains the village of Balvicar and the man- | into pyramids, reared into cliffs, cloven sion of Ardincaple, the latter long inhabited by Dr. Archibald Smith, the writer on Peru; and Easdale, together with an islet called Ellan-na-beich, con-mantic; rises in much variety of contour tains the village of Easdale. by sea-lochs, and dissevered by glens. Its south-eastern district shows a picturesque coast, variously beautiful and ro to an average altitude of upwards of 2100 feet above the level of the sea, and culminates, at the distance of 8 miles or more from the coast, on the summit of Benmore, with an altitude of 3168 feet. The northern district rises from the sea, variously in grassy slopes, rocky cliffs, and naked terraces; and displays in some parts denuded, weathered basaltic veins, starting vertically upward like walls of masonry or ruinous ancient castles. The western district, between Loch-na-Keal 842. EASDALE village consists chiefly of snug, slated, one-storey houses, and has a post office under Oban. The strait around it, between Easdale island and Seil, is all narrow, contracts at one part to 400 feet, serves as a good harbour, and has been entered in the course of a year by so many as about 400 sailing vessels, principally sloops. Easdale island is all low-all a quarry, and has been worked in one place down to a depth of 120 feet below the level of the sea; but is pro-and Loch Scriden, shows terraces of trap, tected from the billows by the accumulated debris of the slate-works. Its quarries have been in operation for about two centuries; they employ at present upwards of 200 men, and yield from four millions to five millions of slates in the year; and they have, for some time, been worked with the aid of steamengines and railroads. The population of Easdale village is about 820. Queen Victoria was brilliantly received here on her way to Ardverikie. receding upward in a pyramidal pile to an altitude of nearly 2000 feet, and goes thence to the shoulders of Benmore in alpine table-land. Even some parts of the interior, as along Glenmore and around the head of Loch-na-Keal, contain stretches of imposing scenery. The population of Mull is about 10,000. 859-884. See 844. KERRERA extends 43 miles from south-south-west to north-north-east, is separated by only a narrow strait from 843. MULL is the largest of the He- the mainland, and has a mean breadth of brides, excepting Lewis and Skye. Its about 2 miles. Its surface is hilly, greatest extent, which is west-south-broken, and confused, showing little natural beauty, yet containing some fine | Macdougalls of Lorn, and captured, in fertile land, and commanding a gorgeous 1647, by a detachment of General Leslie's view of the Frith of Lorn. Its rocks are army. Alexander II., when preparing a strange mixture of schists, traps, and his expedition against the Hebrides, colconglomerates, and offer a curious study lected his fleet at Kerrera, but died on to the geologist. A promontory in the the island, on a spot still called Dalree, extreme south, around Gylen Castle, dis- or "the king's field." Haco of Norway plays a romantic range of ivy-mantled also held a meeting on Kerrera with the cliff. Gylen Castle is a strong, tall, Hebridean chiefs, to engage their assistroofless tower, probably dating from the ance in his ill-fated descent on the Scot12th century, long a stronghold of the tish coast. LXIX. FROM CAMPBELTON TO OBAN. This is not a route from Campbelton as a starting-point, but the middle part of the route from Glasgow and Greenock, round the Mull of Kintyre, to places north of Oban, and the extreme part of the route from Glasgow and Greenock either to Islay as the turning-point, or by way of the Mull of Kintyre and Islay to Oban. Steamers to places north of Oban go midway between Kintyre and Islay, and thence through the Sounds of Jura and Scarba; while steamers calling at Islay, and proceeding on to Oban, go through the Sound of Islay, and between Jur. and Colonsay. We shall 847 miles to the right........ 846 845. SANDA, three-fourths of a mile | vian fleets during the times of contest from the south-eastern extremity of Kin- for the Hebrides, and is still much used tyre, is an island 1 mile long, half a by small vessels as a place of shelter. mile broad, and about 300 feet high. Its Sanda was probably a retreat of the Culshores are cliffs, and one part of them dees; it contains vestiges of an ancient has a very large, picturesque, natural church and cemetery; and it was long held arch. A light-house stands on the island, in superstitious veneration. built in 1850, showing a fixed red light, visible at the distance of 15 miles. A small, good, natural harbour, on the north-east side, covered by two islets, was a common station of the Scandina 846. DUNAVERTY, on Carskey Bay, 3 miles north-west of Sanda, was an ancient stronghold of the Lords of the Isles, visited by Robert Bruce at the ebb of his fortunes, and captured, in 1647, 282 THE MULL OF KINTYRE-ISLAY. by General Leslie. Scarcely a vestige of it now exists. Its site is a pyramidal headland, with cliff toward the sea, and was defended on the land side by fossé and concentric walls. The tract around it contains some Caledonian standingstones, traces of Scandinavian forts, vestiges of three ancient churches, the modern church of Southend, the village of Newton-Argyle, and the modern residences of Carskey, Levenstrath, Keil, and Ballyshear. 847. THE MULL OF KINTYRE, at the south-western extremity of Kintyre, is a bold, broad promontory, crowned by a light-house with a fixed light at an elevation of 297 feet, and making a wildly grand appearance during a storm. A mountain called Knockmoy rises behind it to an altitude of 2036 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a magnificent panoramic view. 848. ISLAY lies about 17 miles west of Kintyre, approaches within a mile of Jura, and measures 25 miles from south to north, and 20 miles from east to west. Its southern part is split to the centre, in a north-north-easterly direction, by Lochindaal; while its northern part converges to a point somewhat like the two sides of an equilateral triangle. Most of its coast is variously sandy beach, low diluvial land, and abrupt rock, the last seldom higher than about 100 feet; but a circuit round the Mull of Oa, in the extreme south, rises in cliffs to the height of 750 feet, and contains a cavern; and a stretch at Saneg, on the northwest, is pierced with several large caves, one of which ramifies into a labyrinth. The interior differs much from the prevailing Highland type of glen and mountain, rises nowhere into alpine altitudes, and sinks little into low expanses; yet exhibits considerable diversity of rock and contour, and contains a fair amount of pleasing landscape. A rugged ridge, with summits of from 800 to 1500 feet in height, goes along most of the east; smoother uplands, of lesser elevation, spread through the north; and a mixture of hillock, slope, and flat, forms the centre and the west. Fresh waters, both lake and streamlet, afford excellent trouting; the hills abound with game; and the arable or improvable lands comprise fully one-half of all the acreage, and are in fine condition. Bowmore, on the east side of Lochindaal, near the head, is a modern town, with two chief inns, and about 1300 inhabitants. Bridgend, 3 miles further north, in the vicinity of Islay House, the seat of James Morrison, Esq., is a considerable village. Port-Charlotte, on the west side of Lochindaal, near Sunderland House, the seat of W. Campbell, Esq., is a village with an inn, and about 400 inhabitants. Portnahaven, at the southwestern extremity of the island, adjacent to the islet Oversay, crowned by a light-house, is a fishing village of about 60 slated houses. Port-Ellen, on the south-east coast, 6 miles north-east of the Mull of Oa, is a modern sea-port, with a good harbour, a neat inn, and about 1000 inhabitants. Port-Askaig, on the north-east coast, opposite Jura, is a sea-port village, with a good inn, and about 500 inhabitants. The steamers to Islay call both at Port-Ellen and PortAskaig; and an occasional steamer, for the shortest line of communication with Glasgow, up West Loch Tarbert, and by portage thence with Loch Fyue steamers at Tarbert, sails from Port-Askaig. Tourists who wish to get a good knowledge of Islay should land at Port-Askaig, go south-westward, thence to Bridgend, make a circuit round the western districts back to Bridgend, and proceed south-eastward to Port-Ellen; but they will need to do most of the excursion either on foot or on horseback. Islay contains 14 distilleries, and carries on large exportation of whisky and black cattle; and it has two banking offices, and a fair amount of postal communication. Its population in 1851 was 12,334. Islay was early and long in the posses KILLEAN--WEST LOCH TARBERT. 283 sion of the Scandinavians; and it retains | of it, 3 miles in circuit, and 167 feet high, memorials of their sway, in the remains breaks short on the south in mural rock, of many military strengths. It passed pierced with two long caves, and contains from them to the Kings of Man and the a small old chapel with a Gothic door. Isles; it next became the residence of the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles, the seat of their court, the scene of their pompous exercise of authority over their island commonwealth; and after their deprivation of independent power, in the reign of James III., it continued to be the residence of their descendants. The picturesque ruin of their palatial castle, and the ruin of a chapel connected with it, stand on an island in Loch Finlagan, a lake of 3 miles in circuit, 44 miles west of Port Askaig; and the ruin of one of their fortalices, called Claig Castle, which served also as a prison, stands on Freuch Island, at the south-east entrance of the Sound of Islay. The ruin of an ancient church, connected with an extensive burying-ground, containing curious, wellcarved, ancient grave-stones of clayslate, stands on Island Nave, or "the Holy Isle," on the north-west coast. The Sound of Islay, dividing Islay from Jura, is 9 miles long, with a mean breadth of 9 furlongs, and is swept by rapid tides, and by cross, short, whirling seas. 849. KILLEAN parish comprehends all the west side of Kintyre, from the vicinity of Campbelton to the mouth of West Loch Tarbert. It shows little interesting scenery, but contains ancient barrows, Caledonian standing-stones, Druidical monuments, a vitrified fort, traces of a castle of the Macdonalds, vestiges of an old abbey, the mansions of Glenbarr and Largie, and the village of Tayinloan-the last situated opposite Gigha, with a ferry thither, and a post office under Greenock. 850. GIGHA lies 3 miles west of Kintyre; is 7 miles long, and 23 miles broad; and contains a parish church, a ruined ancient chapel, and about 550 inhabitants. Its west side rises to heights of from 300 to 400 feet, and falls down to the sea in cliffs. Cara, a mile south 851. ORANSAY AND COLONSAY lie 14 miles north-north-west of Port Askaig in Islay, and are reached from the steamer on the passage thence to Oban. They form a slender oblong, extending northnorth-eastward, Oransay 2 miles, Colonsay 8 miles; and are separated from each other only by a narrow chaunel, dry at low water. Their surface is rugged and hilly, but not high. Columba, at his first arrival in the Hebrides, made trial of them for his missionary college, but soon passed on to Iona. A priory for canons regular was founded on Oransay by one of the Lords of the Isles; and the ruins of its church and cloister include ranges of small arches, both round and pointed, and possess much curious interest. A side chapel contains a sculptured tomb of an abbot of 1539, and a stone with figures of dogs, a stag, and a ship under sail. An elegant ancient cross, 12 feet high, with a sculpture of the crucifixion on one side, stands on a pedestal adjacent to the church. Several cairns occur in other parts of Oransay; and remains of several ancient chapels in Colonsay. There are two modern mansions, the one in Oransay, the other in the northern part of Colonsay; the latter a seat of the Lord President of the Court of Session, Lord Colonsay. The popula tion of the islands in 1851 was 837. 852. WEST LOCH TARBERT penetrates north-eastward, between Kintyre and Knapdale, to the narrow isthmus of Tarbert. Its length is 11 miles; its mean breadth, about three quarters of a mile. Its flanks consist of slopes and gentle hills, adorned with wood and culture; and its general appearance resembles that of a charming fresh-water lake.' The residences of Kintarbert, Kilcummaig, Grassfield, Stonefield, and Dippen, the inn of Whitehouse, and the village of Laggavoulin, stand on its south-east side; |