At this place we very happily met Mr. Donald Maclean, a young gentleman, the eldest son of the Laird of Col, heir to a very great extent of land, and fo defirous of improving his inheritance, that he spent a confiderable time among the farmers of Hertfordshire, and Hampshire, to learn their practice. He worked with his own hands at the principal operations of agriculture, that he might not deceive himself by a falfe opinion of fkill, which, if he fhould find it deficient at home, he had no means of completing. If the world has agreed to praise the travels and manual labours of the Czar of Muscovy, let Col have his fhare of the like applaufe, in the proportion of his dominions to the empire of Ruffia.

This young gentleman was sporting in the mountains of Sky, and when he was weary with following his game, repaired for lodging to Talifker. At night he miffed one of his dogs, and when he went to feek him in the morning, found two eagles feeding on his carcass.

Col, for he must be named by his poffeffions, hearing that our intention was to vifit Jona, offered to conduct us to his chief, Sir Allan Maclean, who lived in the ifle of Inch Kenneth, and would readily find us a convenient paffage. From this time was formed an acquaintance,

which

which being begun by kindness, was accidentally continued by constraint; we derived much pleasure from it, and I hope have given him no reason to repent it.

The weather was now almost one continued ftorm, and we were to fnatch fome happy intermiffion to be conveyed to Mull, the third if and of the Hebrides, lying about a degree fouth of Sky, whence we might easily find our way to Inch Kenneth, where Sir Allan Maclean refided, and afterwards to Jona.

For this purpose, the most commodious ftation that we could take was Armidel, which Sir Alexander Macdonald had now left to a gentleman, who lived there as his factor or fteward.

In our way to Armidel was Coriatachan, where we had already been, and to which therefore we were very willing to return. We ftaid however fo long at Talifker, that a great part of our journey was performed in the gloom of the evening. In travelling even thus almost without light thro' naked folitude, when there is a guide whofe conduct may be trufted, a mind not naturally too much difpofed to fear, may preferve fome degree of cheerfulness; but what must be the folicitude of him who fhould be wandering among the

craggs

craggs and hollows, benighted, ignorant, and alone?

The fictions of the Gothic romances were not fo remote from credibility as they are now thought. In the full prevalence of the feudal inftitution, when violence defolated the world, and every baron lived in a fortrefs, forests and caf tles were regularly fucceeded by each other, and the adventurer might very fuddenly pass from the gloom of woods, or the ruggedness of moors, to feats of plenty, gaiety, and magnificence. Whatever is imaged in the wildest tale, if giants, dragons, and enchantment be excepted, would be felt by him, who, wandering in the moun/tains without a guide, or upon the fea without a

pilot, fhould be carried amidst his terror and un certainty, to the hofpitality and elegance of Raafay or Dunvegan.

To Coriatachan at last we came, and found ourfelves welcomed as before. Here we ftaid two days, and made fuch inquiries as curiofity fuggefted. The houfe was filled with company, among whom Mr. Macpherson and his fifter diftinguished themselves by their politeness and accomplishments. Fy him we were invited to Oftig, a houfe not far from Armidel, where we might easily hear of a boat, when the weather would fuffer us to leave the Island.

OSTIG IN SKY.

At Oftig, of which Mr. Macpherson is minifter, we were entertained for fome days, then removed to Armidel, where we finished our observations on the island of Sky.

As this Ifland lies in the fifty-feventh degree, the air cannot be fuppofed to have much warmth. The lorg continuance of the fun above the horizon, does indeed fometimes produce great heat in northern latitudes; but this can only happen in fheltered places, where the atmosphere is to a certain degree ftagnant, and the same mafs of air continues to receive for many hours the rays of the fun, and the vapours of the earth. Sky lies open on the weft and north to a vast extent of ocean, and is cooled in the fummer by perpetual ventilation, but by the fame blasts is kept warm in winter. Their weather is not pleasing. Half the year is deluged with rain. From the autumnal to the vernal equinox, a dry day is hardly known, except when the showers are fufpended by a tempeft. Under fuch fkies can be expected no great exuberance of vegetation, 'Their winter overtakes their summer, and their harvest lies upon the ground drenched with rain. The autumn ftruggles hard to produce fome of our early fruits. I gathered goofeberries in Sep

tember;

tember; but they were fmall, and the hufk was thick.

Their winter is feldom fuch as puts a full stop to the growth of plants, or reduces the cattle to live wholly on the furplufage of the fummer. In the year Seventy-one they had a fevere season, remembered by the name of the Black Spring, from which the.ifland has not yet recovered. The fnow lay long upon the ground, a calamity hardly known before. Part of their cattle died for want, part were unfeasonably fold to buy fuftenance for the owners; and, what I have not read or heard of before, the kine that survived were fo emaciated and difpirited, that they did not require the male at the ufual time. Many of the roebucks perished.

The foil, as in other countries, has its diverfities. In fome parts there is only a thin layer of earth spread upon a rock, which bears nothing but fhort brown heath, and perhaps is not generally capable of any better product. There are many bogs or moffes of greater or lefs extent, where the foil cannot be fuppofed to want depth, though it is too wet for the plow. But we did not obferve in thefe any aquatic plants. The vallies and the mountains are alike darkened with heath. Some grafs, however, grows here and there, and fome happier fpots of earth are capable of tillage.