1
10
2
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/c61a86f870924e44e6744c3c36cd61b1.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=vaOiHaRteIvzZxt7kmIqBdNsOuQ-Mc7lyE-TlXL-3SA8SJQWVyRzILe4S8UTdNplUo-8aRRdLcTVzljeuiz0rWGEoW5Pxd9IdE2CnYnBUHM%7EjYStThKVvlCXPAhXbtJaMNDwq1k0n0T2Kv2qB-eCyIlbV6dhUl-2EPUcrCh3D6row8DtYfbiAeUqjbHwO49VzOu7V%7ECNuAdU4wEq4QxkJHFovpMX2p3eSCzH7zjHb2O%7EtdOPFt0Ec7xp5YmVSPXx2oIiGhp18xdYqZDFilCRNakC5wBNDIlqs03VdLh1UIQ3XBT81MP35jtYZY3RIOigzzLnEycVFB6rxiBUswqC5w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
f97fa2c546d2b50af91cc57d206100b5
PDF Text
Text
’NATIONAL SECULAR' SOCIETY
THE
NATURAL HISTORY OF INSTINCT.
By G. J. ROMANES, Esq., F.R.S.
------------*-----------
-
NSTINCT is a wide subject, presenting many
different sides of interest. To the naturalist
who studies the forms and habits of animals,
the phenomena of instinct are of interest
on their own account. Again, to the psychologist, who studies the phenomena of mind, the facts of
instinct are of interest as proving the possibility of know
ledge inborn or antecedent to individual experience.
Lastly, to the philosopher, who studies the mutual relation
of things in general, the facts of instinct are of interest
just because they prove the possibility of such inborn or
innate knowledge, and therefore because these facts bear
upon any theory of knowledge in general which his other
studies may lead him to form. This evening I propose
to restrict the subject of the lecture to the first of these
sides of interest, or the interest instinct presents to the
naturalist: the interest which the phenomena of instinct
present on their own account; therefore I have termed
the subject of the lecture “The Natural History of
�2
The Natural History of Instinct.
Instinct.” I shall endeavour to take a bird’s-eye view,
as it were, of all the instincts known to us, and I shall
select for special description those instances of animal in
stinct which appear to me most remarkable, or otherwise
most deserving of our attention. You wifi, then, under
stand that I shall have nothing to do with either the
psychology or the philosophy of instinct. Nevertheless,
it seems desirable at the outset that we should so far go
into the psychology of the subject as to understand exactly
what it is that we mean by instinct; because within the
limits of the English language there is perhaps no term
which has been used in a greater variety of meanings. In
ordinary conversation and in general literature we find in
stinct used as a term to name all the mental qualities of
animals taken collectively, to distinguish them from the
mental qualities of man, which are termed rational. This
popular classification, however, will not do, because there
is now no doubt in the mind of any competent naturalist
that the mind of an animal is constructed on the same
pattern as the mind of a man, the difference between the
two consisting merely in the difference of relative degree
in which instinctive faculties predominate in the animal
and the rational faculties in the man. What, then, shall
we use as a scientific definition of instinct 1 After a great
deal of consideration, I have myself put forward such a
definition. In the first place, instinctive actions are mani
festly adaptive actions. But not only are they adaptive:
they are likewise consciously adaptive; for if they were
not consciously adaptive, we should not be able to dis
tinguish between them and such adaptive actions as are
merely vital—such, for example, as the beating of our
�The Natural History of Instinct.
3
hearts. Instinctive action, therefore, differs from vital action
in not only being adaptive, but in being likewise consciously
adaptive. Again, instinctive action depends upon knowledge
which, as I have said, is inborn or innate, anterior to- in
dividual experience, and in this respect, you will perceive,
differing from reason, which always depends upon knowledge
gained by individual experience. Again, the knowledge
on which instinctive action depends is knowledge which
may not be knowledge of the relation between the means
employed and the ends attained. Innate, inborn knowledge
may not involve any rational acquaintance with the re
lation between the means employed and the ends attained.
And, lastly, instinctive actions are actions which are
performed by all individuals of the same species when placed
in similar circumstances. To gather up all the points in
this definition, therefore, we may say that instinct is a
term which is used to designate all those faculties of mind
that are concerned in conscious and adaptive actions
antecedent to individual experience, without necessary
knowledge of the relation between the means employed and
the ends attained, but similarly performed under similar
and frequently-recurring circumstances by all individuals
of the same species.
Now, I have taken the trouble to go into this definition,
partly for the sake of circumscribing the area which the pre
sent lecture is to cover, but partly, also, because my attention
has just been drawn to a very friendly article—friendly in
tone, and intelligent in its spirit—which appeared in the
Newcastle Daily Chronicle, of November 21st, 1885. The
writer of that article, after quoting this definition from
myself (which I have cut out of the newspaper)—quoted
�4
The Natural History of Instinct,
from a work of mine already published—remarks that if
I were in the position of a political candidate, instead of a
scientific lecturer, he would bother me with a few questions
on the subject of that definition. Well, I do not wish to
take any unfair advantage of my position as a scientific
lecturer, and therefore I will answer the question which he
has so courteously put. After quoting this definition, he
frames his question upon the concluding portion of it.
He asks, if it be true that actions called instinctive are
those *• similarly performed under similar and frequentlyrecurring circumstances by all the individuals of the same
species, ’ how do I account for the fact that in the case of
almost every instinct we meet with individual exceptions 1
My answer is, that in all these cases which he gives as
examples, and in all such cases it is possible to give as
examples, the individual exceptions are of the nature of im
perfections of animal instinct. But, obviously, if the instinct
is imperfect, it does not fall within my category of instinct.
It does not fall within my definition of instinct, simply
because as an instinct it is imperfect j or in other words, as
far as it is imperfect in individual cases, so far does it fail of
being an instinct, and so far does it fail to be covered by my
definition of instinct. The work of my own, from which
he quotes this definition, is a work on “ Animal Intel
ligence, and the object of that work is expressly stated to
be that of rendering only the natural history of instincts
without going in for the psychology of the subject. That
is to say, it merely states the facts of animal instinct,
without entering at all into any theory, either of origin,
correlation, or anything else of the kind. But that work
was only antecedent to another which has since been
�The Natural History of Instinct.
5
published, and which is called, “ Mental Evolution in
Animals.” In that work I have gone fully into the whole
psychology and philosophy of instinct, and if my kindly
critic will do me the honour of turning to the pages of
that work I fancy he will find, not only his own question,
but also every other question that it is possible to suggest
in the way of difficulty, discussed with as much elaboration
as I think he is likely to care to pursue. I mention this
not only for his benefit, but also because I hope that any
of you who may not have seen that work, may likewise
do me the honour of getting it out of some of your circu
lating libraries; and I mention this, not because the work
happens to be written by myself, but simply because it is
the only work hitherto published which deals with the
whole philosophy of instinct from an evolutionary point
of view.
Trusting I have now made clear what it is I mean by
instinct, I will devote the rest of the lecture to selecting
those instances of the special display of instinct in the
animal kingdom which, as I have said, appear to me the
most remarkable. For this purpose I think it will be con
venient to further restrict myself, looking to the great
abundance of the materials, to those classes of animals in
which the phenomena of instinct occur with greatest richness
and abundance. I mean the invertebrate animals.
Taking first the case of larvae, or insects which have not
yet attained their perfect development—such, for instance,
as caterpillars—the instincts manifested by larvae are of
interest because they often display higher elaboration of
instinctive mechanism than occurs in the perfect condition
of the insect. There is a kind of larvae called the caddis2
�6
The Natural History of Instinct.
worm, which lives at the bottom of fresh water streams.
At the bottom of fresh water streams it constructs for
itself a tubular shell, fitting close to its worm-like body.
This tubular or cylindrical shell is constructed of a large
number of small particles of gravel, sand, bits of leaf, and
so forth, all glued together by a secretion from the animal’s
body. Now, it has been quite recently discovered by a
very competent observer, Mr. W. MacLachlan, F.R.S., and
principal entomologist in this country, that when the
caddis-worm finds its tubular shell becoming too heavy, so
that it has a difficulty in dragging it about the bottom of
the stream, it will glue into the structure small splinters of
wood, in order to cause the tubular dwelling to have less
specific gravity, to make it lighter, and therefore more easy
for the worm to drag about the bottom of the stream. On
the other hand, if the worm finds it has placed too much
wood in the structure, so that it is liable to the catastrophe
of floating to the surface, it will then search about for little
masses of sand or pebble, wherewith to increase the specific
gravity of its dwelling, and so adjust it to the specific
gravity of the water. There is a kind of caterpillar,
eight or ten of which live in company inside the fruit of
pomegranate. They eat out the fruit of the pomegranate
by degrees, and as they do so, the pomegranate is apt to
wither; when it withers, the stalk of the pomegranate is
apt to break, and allow the pomegranate to drop. Now, it
has been observed that in order to prevent this possible
catastrophe—it is not a necessary catastrophe, it does not
always happen that the pomegranate drops—these cater
pillars, before they begin to eat out the inside of the fruit,
carefully make a web, extending from the fruit to the
�The Natural History of Instinct.
7
branch, so as to act as a stalk in the event of the
natural stalk withering and allowing the fruit to drop,
were it not for the artificial stalk supplied by
the web. This foresight is very remarkable. There
is in the south of France, and also on the north coast
of Africa, a species of caterpillar which afterwards turns
into the Bombyx moth. The instincts presented by this
species of caterpillars are highly remarkable. In the
first place, they are gregarious. Colonies of some five
hundred or one thousand caterpillars live on the same tree.
They are pretty large, about as long as one’s little finger.
When they have eaten bare the leaves upon one tree, they
migrate to another, and they do this in what we may
call military order. That is to say, one caterpillar acts as
leader, and all the others follow him in Indian file, one
behind the other. So they march off, a long line of cater
pillars, yards in length. The head of caterpillar No. 2
touches the tail of caterpillar No. 1, and the tail of cater
pillar No. 2 touches the head of caterpillar No. 3, and so
forth, all the way down the line. Now, I had myself an
opportunity of observing these caterpillars, and found that
if I knocked out any one of the series, so as to cause an
interruption in this continuous line, the caterpillar in front
of the interruption immediately stopped, and began to wag
his head. Then the caterpillar in front of him likewise
stopped, and began to wag his head, and so on until all the
caterpillars in front of the point of interruption were at a
standstill, and all wagging their heads. Meanwhile, the
caterpillar behind the point of interruption continued his
march, and all the train behind him continued their march,
and as soon as the head of the caterpillar behind the point
�8
The Natural History of Instinct.
of interruption joined up, so as to touch the tail of the cater
pillar in front of the point of interruption, so soon did that
caterpillar cease to wag his head and begin to move, and then
the next ceased to wag his head and began to move, and so
on till the whole line was again in motion. The time re
quired for this to take place I found to be at the rate of about
one second per caterpillar. Now, if I removed the leader of
this kind of follow-my-leader train, the next one in the
series very rarely felt himself competent to undertake the
task of leadership, but he would fall back upon the rest of
the line, and the rest of the line, having lost their leader,
would double back as they came, and in the result the
whole line was thrown into helpless confusion—confusion
so hopeless, indeed, that eventually, from having been
an orderly line, they became a chaotic heap. After a
varying period, some one member of this republic seemed
to suppose it was time to begin to restore order, and
assumed the leadership; as soon as they found a leader,
like republics in general, they all followed in the wake.
I now tried the effect of removing the last member
of the series. The effect here of course was that there was
no other caterpillar left to join up the interruption; con
sequently, we ask how long the whole line will remain
stationary, wagging their heads'? Well, they remained
stationary for a very long time, but not for an indefinite
period of time. I think after a lapse of four or five
minutes they began to say, “ There is no use waiting any
longer,” and they gave up wagging their heads, and went on
again. But I thought it would be worth while to see
under these circumstances whether I could deceive the
caterpillar into supposing that I was a caterpillar. After
�The Natural History of Instinct.
9
removing the tail member of the series, I took a camel’s
hair brush and began gently to tickle the tail of the last in
order, and I found that the delusion succeeded. I was
able to deceive the caterpillar into supposing that I was
the caterpillar behind him, and he immediately stopped
wagging his head and began to move on, and I could keep
the whole line in motion so long as I continued to tickle
the tail of the caterpillar. There is another very remark
able instinct manifested by these caterpillars which has
only recently been observed by Lord Walsingham ; and by
his kindness I was able to see one of the extraordinary
structures produced. It is not a European, but an African
species. Here, when all the colony of these caterpillars
have occasion to pass into the pupae condition—the crysalis
state—they form what you may call a collective cocoon, to
accommodate the whole number. It is about the size of
a good large melon, and of the same shape ; at one end of
the melon there is a minute hole, in order to allow of the
exit of the moths when they come to maturity inside this
melon-shaped cocoon. Now, a remarkable feature of this
structure is, that if you dissect the melon-shaped mass, you
find inside that each caterpillar has weaved for itself a
separate cocoon. They all unite to weave the general, or
enveloping cocoon, while each one constructs a separate
cocoon for itself within the melon-shaped mass; and the
extraordinary fact is, that all these separate cocoons are
arranged around branch passages or corridors. All these
branch passages or corridors converge to the general
entrance hall, as it were, which leads out to the orifice,
or the door. So that you may liken the whole thing to
the state-rooms on board ship—rows of them along the
�10
The Natural History of Instinct.
corridors, and all opening out into the common exit. You
will agree with me in regarding this as one of the most ex
traordinary instincts that has ever been noticed when you
consider that if any one of these caterpillars should make
the smallest mistake, and build his cocoon slightly out of
its proper place, with relation to the others, he would
block up one of the corridors, and thereby prevent the
exit of any of the moths behind him, when those moths
came to maturity. Yet so perfect is the collective instinct
of all this mass of caterpillars, that in this complex
structure not one of the separate cocoons is built out of its
place so as to obstruct any one of these corridors. So
much for the intelligence of larvae.
Coming now to the order of animals where instincts occur
in the greatest profusion, and are of the most extraordinary
kind—you know, of course, that I refer to the ants. In
the first place, all the ants of every nest know each other
personally. This is a very remarkable fact when you
remember how many ants there are in a nest. It is still
more remarkable in the case of the so-called American ant
towns. In these ant towns there may be as many as from
1000 to 2000 nests, and each nest may be as much as four
feet or five feet high. Therefore, in each nest there are
thousands of individuals, and in the whole ant town the
individuals are to be numbered by millions. Well, every
one of these individuals know each other personally, so to
speak. Because if you remove any individual from one
part of the ant town to deposit him in another part, he is
recognised as a friend; whereas if you take any ant from
another ant town at a distance, and place him in this ant
town, he is immediately fallen upon and slain. Now, this
�The Natural History of Instinct.
II
seems to be a most remarkable fact. Suppose we parallel
it in the case of ourselves. We should find it a very diffi
cult and precarious matter to distinguish a Frenchman
when he landed here, if we wanted to fall upon and slay
him. Even if there were no moral repugnance to such an
act, we should not be willing to take the responsibility of
killing a man from his personal appearance. The ants,
however, experience no difficulty. Something more remark
able still has been observed by Sir John Lubbock, a very
competent observer. He found that if you take away the
pupae or crysalis, or so-called ant eggs, out of the nest, and
hatch them away from the nest, and if you then return to
the nest the ants so hatched, these ants are recognised as
friends, although you will understand none of the ants in the
nest could ever possibly have seen them. More remarkable
still, he found that if you take away the queen ant before
she lays her eggs, and allow her to lay them in any other
place, and then return the ants so hatched to the original
nest, all the ants immediately recognise the progeny of the
queen as friends. Therefore, we must suppose that it is
blood relationship which these ants are in some way or
another able to distinguish. Another very interesting
feature of ant intelligence of an instinctive kind is the
power of communication. There is no doubt at all about
ants being able to communicate up to a certain point. You
can see them communicating by rubbing their antennae
together. The extent to which they are thus able to com
municate has also been investigated by Sir John Lubbock,
and he found that they could tell each other not only that
there was food to be found somewhere, but also the place
where the greatest amount of food was to be fallen in with,
�12
The Natural History of Instinct.
He did this by taking three glasses, and connecting them
with an ant nest by means of three tapes to act as road
ways. In one glass he put a large number of larvae, in
another of the glasses a very small number of larvae, and in
the third glass he put no larvae at all Then into each
of the three cups, or glasses, he placed a marked ant.
All three marked ants immediately went back over the
tapes to the ant nest. The one that came from the empty
glass brought out no friends, the one that went co the glass
containing the small number of pupae brought out a small
number of friends, while the one which went from the glass
containing a large number of pupae brought out a large
number of friends. If ants are able to tell each other
where the largest amount of food is to be found, however,
they are not able to tell each other the precise locality.
That is to say, it was necessary that the marked ants should
be allowed to act as guides or pioneers of their friends on
the way back, for if, while they were half way back, Sir
John Lubbock suddenly removed the marked ant, all the
others were at once bewildered, and did not know where to
go, so that we may say that they are able to tell each other
where there is a large quantity of food to be found. It is
a kind of “ Follow me; there is a quantity of food or eggs I
have found.” But they are not able to tell each other
where the eggs are, such as “ the first to the right, and the
second to the left,” and so on. There is another verv
remarkable instinct displayed by a large number of species
of ants that, namely, of keeping other insects for the pur
pose of furnishing them with a sweet secretion, of which
they are very fond. These other insects, or so-called aphides,
are somewhat larger than the ants. They regularly keep
�The Natural History of Instinct.
13
these aphides to serve the function of milch cows. They
always milk these milch cows by striking them with their
antennae—a peculiar tickling action, which causes the aphides
to exude a sweet secretion, which the ant licks up. These
aphides the ants keep carefully in their own nests; some
species keep them outside, on the plants, and then they
build round them little mud chambers, or stables, or stalls.
These stalls have openings large enough to allow the ants
to go in and out, but not large enough to allow the aphides
to go in and out. They are, therefore, kept prisoners—or
in stables if you like. Now, Sir John Lubbock has made
the highly remarkable observation that there is one species
of ant which goes out in the month of October to seek for
the eggs of the aphides, which are laid upon daisies. Having
found the eggs, they take them into their nests, cherish
them there during the winter months, and hatch them out
in March. As soon as the young aphides are hatched out,
the ants convey them to the daisy plants again, for them to
feed. This is one of the most extraordinary instincts on record.
Another highly remarkable instinct displayed by ants is
the keeping of slaves. Three species of ants are in the
habit of enslaving other species of ants. The slave-making
species are of a red colour, and have a very avaricious
temper. The ants which are submitted to slavery, on the
other hand, are very properly of a black colour, and are
not so warlike in spirit. Now, when the nest of a red slave
making species have occasion to replenish the number of
their slaves, they send out scouts in various directions, in
order to seek for the slave nests. When the scout has
found a nest of these black ants, he goes back to the rest of
the red ants, and then the whole nest of red ants turn out
�14
The Natural History of Instinct.
in a swarm. They march in regular military order, naturally
following the lead of the scout until the scout brings them
to the nest of the black ants. As soon as this is the case,
the red ants fall upon the black ants in enormous numbers,
and a regular melee begins. Usually this battle terminates
unfavourably for the black ants. When it does so, the
red ants put a garrison into the nest of the black ants, and
take away all the eggs that belong to the black ants. These
eggs are conveyed home and hatched oq| in the nests of the
red ants, to act subsequently as slaves. The slave-making
ants become so dependent upon the services of these slaves,
that they not only do no work for themselves at all, beyond
the capture of slaves, but one species has gone so far in
their indolence that they are actually not able to feed them
selves, and require to be fed by their slaves. That is to
say, if you deprive these ants of their slaves, they all die of
starvation, even though at the same time you supply them
with their habitual food.
Still more remarkable, I think, than the habit of keeping
slaves, is the habit of keeping beasts of burden. This habit
has been discovered by the naturalist Audubon, a very great
observer, and he vouches for the fact that in the Brazilian
forests there is a species of ant which has occasion to
convey leaves from trees to its nest, as we shall see sub
sequently. Audubon declares that he has repeatedly seen
this species of ant enslave another and a larger kind of
insect, which is not an ant at all, but a kind of bug. This
large, strong bug is regularly driven by the ants to carry the
loads of leaves from the trees to the nest.
Another highly remarkable fact about the domestic
economy of ants is that they not only enslave other animals
�Ths Natural History of Instinct.
15
for the purpose of doing work, but they also keep a number
of other slaves which serve no function at all in the economy
of the hive, and therefore appear to be kept by the ants
merely for the sake of gratifying some kind of caprice.
That is to say, ants have power to keep these other kinds
of insects just for the same reason, or absence of reason,
that we ourselves keep domestic pets. There are thirty or
forty different species of beetle that are made pets by the
ants.
Another set of habits exhibited by ants are very, I
think very, interesting, as showing a resemblance to the
social condition of man; or, perhaps, some of us may
think, as not showing such a resemblance. I mean in
habits of personal cleanliness. All insects, as you are
aware, are very scrupulous about keeping themselves clean.
You can always see the blue-bottle assiduously at work
when it seems he is already as much polished up as there is
any occasion for. The remarkable thing about the ants is
that they clean one another. The ant that feels in need of
a brush-up goes to a companion ant and makes a gesture of
supplication, which is very expressive. He kneels down
and puts up his fore-legs, and the supplicated ant immedi
ately sets to work and brushes him down. When the
cleaning process is over, the relations are reversed, on the
principle that one good turn deserves another.
Another point in which ants resemble ourselves is that
of requiring sleep. The sleep lasts for three or four hours
at a time; and during the time they are asleep they have
been observed by Belt, who is a good observer, and by
McCook, in America, to move their jaws, and feelers, and
mandibles in the same way as we see a dog twitch his mouth,
�16
The Natural History of Instinct.
nose, and feet, when asleep. Therefore these motions are
very suggestive of the ant dreaming. Upon awakening,
also, these ants have a habit of stretching their limbs as we
do, and often of opening their mouths and gaping. In all
these respects there is a wonderful similarity to ourselves.
Again, as to habits of play or recreation. These ants
have habits of play and recreation, just like ourselves; and
when they play thus, they run about and chase each other
round grass stalks, stand on their hind-legs, and have
wrestling matches ; they play hide-and seek, and have mimic
fights, and in all sorts of ways behave just like athletes.
Lastly, under the head of the general habits of ants, I
may notice perhaps the one which is most remarkable—
namely, that of conducting funerals. All the ants have a habit
of taking away the dead ones from the nest and dragging
them a long distance, but it is only some species which have
the habit of conducting regular funerals. It has been
alleged by two or three very good observers, that the ants
will form regular processions, whereby to do, as it were, due
honour to their dead. And these processions are always
destined for one particular locality, which is the ants’
cemetery. Here the dead body of the ant is deposited in
its last resting-place with all due honours apparently. I
say with all due honours, because in the case of the slave
making species, great care is taken not to bury slaves in the
same cemetery as the masters.
So much as to the general habits of ants. Taking one
or two species which display special instincts of a highly
remarkable kind, I will first consider one which was noticed
longest ago, by a naturalist who seems to have shown
himself a good authority—Solomon.
He is a good
�The Natural History of Instinct.
*7
authority as a naturalist, because his observations, though
long supposed in the matter of ants to be what the
Americans call “ bunkum,” have turned out to be perfectly
true. I hope you all know the passage in Proverbs—“ Go
to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise;
which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her
meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
This observation was long discredited, and was especially
denied by a great naturalist, Huber, who paid more atten
tion than anybody else to the habits of ants and bees. But
both Solomon and Huber were right. The difference or
discrepancy in their statements arose merely from the
difference in their geographical positions. It is only in one
part of Europe that the ants display this harvesting
instinct at all. They display it in Palestine, and no doubt
Solomon saw it. It has also been noticed now that there
is a species in the New World which displays it. In all
these cases, the instinct is very much the same. It consists
in the ants first of all cutting roadways from the nest to
the ant fields. These roadways diverge in various direc
tions, and along these roadways the ants run in a double
line. The line outgoing is empty-handed ; the line incoming
is laden with grain. When the empty-handed line reach
the grass fields, they disperse and pick up the grains which
have fallen from the grass ; or else they run up the stalks,
cut away the grains which have ripened, and then either
carry them down the grass stalks themselves or throw
them down to their comrades beneath, thus showing an
appreciation of the principle of a division of labour. The
incoming train carry the grain in their jaws, and when
they arrive at the ant-hill, it is put into a regular granary,
�18
The Natural History of Instinct.
excavated below the ground for the purpose. In some way
which is not at all understood, in these granaries the grain
does not sprout. It is exposed to all the conditions
favourable for sprouting—in a damp or moist soil not far
below the surface. Well, as a matter of fact, it does not
sprout. If it did, the ants would be deprived of nourish
ment. But what it is that the ants do to prevent the
sprouting nobody has yet been able to discover. It is
certain, however, that they take great pains to prevent the
seed from getting too wet, thereby being rendered more
apt to sprout. This is certain; because it has been
observed that if the grain become too wet, the ants take it
out of the granary and sun it, in order that it may be
dried. Moreover, it is noticed that if for any reason one
particular grain does begin to sprout, the ants immediately
stop the further progress of the sprouting by nipping off
the tip of the radical. This is a very remarkable fact,
because although it is well known to botanists and hor
ticulturists that by nipping off the tip of the radical you
prevent the further germination of the seed, I doubt if it is
known to anybody here who does not happen to be a
botanist or horticulturist. Yet it is well known to those
ants. A species of the harvest-ant in Texas, in America,
exhibits a further refinement of this instinct, so to speak.
Because Dr. Lincecum, who was the first to observe ants in
that continent, positively declared, as the result of his own
observations, that the harvesting ant begins by cutting
down the prairie grass as a clearing, just as a colonist does.
He declared that the ants go forth into the prairie to seek
for the seeds of a kind of grass of which they are par
ticularly fond, and that they take these seeds to the clearing,
�The Natural History of Instinct.
19
and there actually sow them, for the purpose six months
afterwards of reaping the grain which is the produce of
their agriculture.
• Of course this is one of the most remarkable instincts on
record, and it was thought desirable that it should be con
firmed. Consequently, McCook went to Texas for the
express purpose of corroborating Lincecum’s observations.
Well, he corroborated all his observations with one ex
ception—of the sowing of this plant. The reason why he
did not confirm that observation was because he went to
Texas at a time of the year when the sowing did not take
place. He went to Texas at the time of the year when the
ant-rice was growing, and he confirmed Lincecum to the ex
tent of saying that he saw the ant-rice growing on the
patches here and there, and growing nowhere else in
patches like that throughout the prairie. Therefore we
cannot say Lincecum has been actually corroborated in his
observations as to the sowing • but at the same time, it is
not fair to Lincecum, who is now dead, to say, as has been
said in some quarters, that McCook has contradicted his
observations. He has only gone there at a time of the
year when it was not possible for him to corroborate the
observations. Therefore I think Lincecum’s statements are
entitled to credence, because he was fully aware of the ex
traordinary nature of instinct himself, and he wrote to
Darwin letter after letter on the subject, always insisting
on the sowing of the plant rice. If this is the case, it is
said the ant is entitled to be called not only a harvesting
ant, but an agricultural ant.
Again, there is another species of ant we may similarly,
with as much appropriateness, term the horticultural ant.
�20
The Natteral History of Instinct.
This is the one which, as I have said before, cuts leaves off
the trees. They bite off the grass and throw it down,
knots below receiving it. This they convey to their nests,
and then lay it in folds one above the other, in order to
constitute a kind of soil upon which there subsequently
grows a kind of fungus, upon which they feed. Their
object in collecting the leaves is to supply a soil for the
growth of the fungus.
Lastly, there is another kind of ant which we may call
the military ant. One species belongs to the Amazon,
and another species is found in Central Africa. These
animals display some of the most remarkable instincts in
the animal kingdom, and which are all in the direction of
military organisation. They have no fixed abode, but go
about in enormous armies, comprising thousands of in
dividuals, and they march in regular military order—one
species in the form of a phalanx, and another in the form
of a column.
On each side of the column there are always
running backwards and forwards a comparatively small
number of individual ants, somewhat different in shape,
and these evidently serve the functions of officers. They
run about along the outside of the column, and give
directions for dressing up, and so on, whenever they see
there is any want of order, and generally conduct the
movements of the host. From each side of the host there
proceeds a number of scouts, who scour the country on all
sides for a certain distance ; and when they come upon any
kind of booty, such as a wasp’s nest, they return to the
main host to give the information. The direction of march
is altered, the hordes of military ants swarm upon the
wasps’ nest, or ants’ nest, or whatever it is, and there is no
�The Natural History of Instinct.
21
animal in the creation that can withstand the assault.
The only chance is to cut and run.
The instincts manifested by these animals are highly
remarkable—so much so, that the whole lecture might have
been devoted to this one species alone. But I will only
mention one other fact in connection with them, and that is
their habit of making bridges when they come to a stream ;
I do not mean a wide stream, but a rill, which they might
think it desirable to cross. They make a sort of raft to
begin with, and a clump of ants floats upon the surface of
the stream. They join hands with the ants on shore, and
thus allow themselves to be carried across the stream by
the action of the current. This is a desperate resort, of
course, because if the communications with the shore were
to break off, they would all be drowned. They do not
adopt this course if they can help it; they run up and down
a long way to see if there is not any natural bridge,
accidentally constructed by the fall of a piece of timber
across the water. If they find such, which is not wide
enough to admit of the column advancing except in single
or Indian file, they save time—and it is a very remarkable
thing, as showing the military organisation—by increasing
the width with their own bodies; that is to say, they stick
three or four deep upon each side, so that the other ants
may run over their backs.
Coming now to bees, this branch of the lecture will not
take very long, because the instincts of bees are closely
analagous to those of ants. The cell-making instinct is the
greatest exception; but without describing the exact method,
I may say that Mr. Darwin has proved that the cell-making
instinct depends upon certain mechanical principles. Buffon
�22
The Natural History of Instinct.
Iona: ago sought to account for the hexagonal form of the
cells by an hypothesis of mutual pressure. This hypothesis
was sustained by such a physical analogy as the blowing of
a crowd of soap-bubbles in a cup. Buffon said that the
hexagonal cells of the bee are produced by the reciprocal
pressure of the cylindrical bodies of these insects against
each other. This turns out to have been not very wide of
the mark. Darwin has proved by experiments that this
hypothesis was the true one—that the bees eat out the cells
from the solid cake of wax, and the instinct is concerned in
the bees standing at sufficient distance from one another.
The sense of direction is a very interesting fact. It has
always been supposed that bees and wasps have some sense
of direction, but that it is of some mysterious nature, and
did not depend upon the recognition of land marks. This
idea is the foundation of the popular saying that the quickest
way is the bee-line. It occurred independently to Sir John
Lubbock and to myself, last year, to try some experiments
on the subject, and we both got the same results, though
working independently. The way I worked was to place
a bee-hive in a room with a window which I could open or
shut. I then allowed the bees to get well acquainted with
the locality; and after they had been in the room for about
a fortnight, one night I shut the window—after all the bees,
you understand, had gone home for the night. Then in
front of the exit-hole of the bee-hive I slipped a glass shutter.
When I came down in the morning, all the bees were im
prisoned in the hive ; they were buzzing about the inside of
the glass shutter, as if they could not think what the dickens
was the matter with the hive, as they could see through
the glass shutter well, and could not get out. Then I
�The Natural History of Instinct.
23
opened up the glass shutter and allowed about twenty bees
to escape, and then shut it down again. The twenty bees
that escaped immediately flew to the window, but it was
closed. I was, therefore, able to get these twenty bees and
place them in a box. I then spread a lot of bird lime on
the front of the hive, where the bees would come home, and
left the glass shutter closed, and the window open. I took
my twenty bees in a box out to sea—the house being near
the sea—a good way from the land, and let them go. Now
you understand that if any of these bees came home, they
would be caught upon the bird lime, and I should see them.
As a matter of fact, none of the bees came back. Then I
tried another lot in the same way, but let them go nearer
home, on the sea shore; but none came back. I found
they never could come back unless I let them go in the
flower garden, near the house. These bees were always in
the habit of going to the flower garden, and they knew
their way back, and were caught on the bird lime. If I
took them anywhere two hundred yards in the direction of
the sea, where they were not accustomed to go, they could
not find their way back, proving that the bees find their
way back by observation of land marks, and not by any
mysterious sense of direction.
I have tried the same experiments with ants in England
and in Germany, with the same result, that they are
completely lost if you take them more than a certain
distance from the nest, beyond the distance that they know
by personal observation.
To give an example of only one other instinct, I think I
will mention what appears to me to be the most remark
able instinct in the animal kingdom. A species of wasp,
�24
The Natural History of Instinct.
or wasp-like animal, called the sphex, lays up for its young
a store of insects for them to prey upon when they are
hatched out. The sphex insect stings the insects which
it lays up for food in order partly to paralyse them: it
does not kill them, because if they were killed they would
decay before the eggs are hatched out into grubs, and
would be no use as food to the grubs. The sphex insect
therefore stings the prey only in a certain part of the body,
where there is a large accumulation of nerve centres. It
stings the spider, for instance, in the part of the body
where there is the largest supply of nerve centres. The
effect of stinging the nerve centres is to paralyse without
killing him. It is a very remarkable fact that the sphex
should have discovered this peculiarity. Still more re
markable, however, is that species of sphex which preys
upon grasshoppers. It is needful to sting the grasshopper
in three different parts of the body in order to produce
this effect, and this is done. Lastly, there is another
species of sphex which preys upon caterpillars; and here
the nervous system is still more elongated, and it is actually
necessary that the sphex should pierce the caterpillar in
nine different parts of the body, each one very localised,
and yet the sphex actually stings the caterpillar in those
nine particular points.
This, I think, is the most remarkable instinct in the
animal kingdom, because it appears to display some know
ledge—or something which serves the same purpose—both
of the anatomy and of the physiology of the insects on
which they prey.
Printed by Walter Scott, “ The Kenilworth Press," Felling. Newcastle.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The natural history of instinct
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Romanes, George John [1848-1894]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Imprint supplied from British Library record. Printed by Walter Scott, "The Kenilworth Press". Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[Sunday Lecture Society]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1886]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N554
Subject
The topic of the resource
Natural history
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The natural history of instinct), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Animal Behaviour
Instinct
NSS
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/75cdb1e54b5b0dae85bdb9b41b1de7d1.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=RcJonx8MHUryOnKJ6jzHIDJ8P92EIJtIPvKBe0dxVfK%7EVeHs%7EPbcjhIZWyrqX-%7EVRhynHKxnhS24JxMcHm73hMRXWTFps0GCzLYQ8P7rjYhMMK%7EYfrhfS5W1ipTygXWjxoFP5TkLW3HklDxkQoA5zyaYhBbgOhu%7EO9B%7Eky8sOlDrdmM66U1HS-i9FvmnqcOHwRIFKaENUFZBxFkBKd%7EojgQ5aZNViBFHu9E722uyFZEIXsGXrsWLl5HBl9e1I6gwllYTBUa0pZNLnqZwg6fKcezzuWPTnjegcpjRtVyNn8mlO1Cj-mImzMgMMSOy1KtAJg20cv3gL0nXGTvR1VD3ag__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
709babf509076f92aeba592124428f82
PDF Text
Text
hshed. by Mach
�CT73
Highland Route.
No.11.
OBAN TO Staffa & Iona
by
The Sound of
Mull and Tobermory
With Notices of the Geology and Natural History of the District and Authentic information for Tourists as to Conveyances, etc.etc.
BY
"WILLIAM
KEDDIE
Secretary to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow and Lecturer on Natural Science in the Fre Church Col ege, Glasgow
WITH MAP AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
Enteredin
Glasgow
Lithographers to the Queen
Stationer's Hall
�/& N T E N T
Oban to Staffa & Iona
page 5
...... .8
Staffa ...
Iona ........................................................................................................
26
Mull................................................................................................................... 36
Duart & Ardtornish Castles- ............ .
...
37
APPEND IX -Note of Conveyances to and from Oban........................... . .43
Index
*LU
'X
I
II
STRATI 0 N5
a
~ -
Map of Route from Oban to Staffa 3cIIona
Staffa..........................f.................
in Fingal’s Cave, Staffa.........................
IV Staffa, from the summit...........
(Iona,from the landingplacel
V (MllII, from Staffa
j
VI
............
W
„ ...25
Cathedral of Iona............................. ............. „... .32
vn Carsaig Arches, Island of Mull....... ............. ... 38
�I
��HIGHLAND ROUTE,
No. II.
OBAN TO STAFFA AND IONA.
“--------- And led
To where a turret’s airy head,
Slender and steep, and battled round,
O’erlook’d, dark Mull, thy mighty Sound,
Where thwarting tides, with mingled roar,
Part thy swarth hills from Morven’s shore.”—Scott.
“ Tradition, be thou mute! Oblivion, throw
Thy veil in mercy o’er the records, hung
Round strath and mountain, stamped by the ancient tongue
On rock and ruin darkening as we go,—
Spots where a word, ghost-like, survives to show
What crimes from hate or desperate love have sprung;
From honour misconceived or fancied wrong,
What feuds, not quenched but fed by mutual woe!
Yet, though a wild, vindictive race, untamed
By civil arts and labours of the pen,
Could gentleness be scorned by those fierce men,
Who, to spread wide the reverence they claimed
For patriarchal occupations, namedYon towering peaks, Shepherds of Etive Glen ? ” *
Wordsworth, Sonnet on Sound of Mull.
All tourists in the Highlands, whether coming from the south or
returning from the north, pass through Oban ; and many of them,
attracted by its charming bay, picturesque shores, and mild climate,
make this their temporary rendezvous, or their summer quarters.
It is a favourable centre for all who intend to make excursions
whether by sea or land—to the famed islands of Staffa and Iona, which
no tourist in the Highlands leaves unvisited—to Skye and Lewis, to
Fort-William and Inverness, to Glencoe, Loch Awe, and the other
parts of the Highlands and Islands resorted to on account of their
romantic scenery or their historical interest and traditional asso
ciations.
In a sketch of a tour in the Hebrides, by Mr. William Chambers
of Glenormiston, published in Chambers's Journal, occurs the fol
lowing merited tribute to the enterprise of Mr. David Hutcheson,
* Buachaille Etive.
A
�6
HUTCHESON’S STEAMERS.
to whose taste in planning, and energy and skill in maturing the
system of steam navigation which has opened this region to
travellers, the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and all who
frequent them for pleasure or business, are under lasting obligations.
There is an obvious propriety, and we feel a peculiar gratification,
in transferring the remarks of Mr. Chambers to these pages :—
Of course this immensely convenient system of steaming attained comparative
perfection in the Clyde before it was extended to the western islands; and but for
the enterprise of one individual, to whom the world owes something, it would in all
probability not have yet gone that length—at least to an extent worth speaking of.
I allude to David Hutcheson, one of the remarkable men of his time, who lives to
enjoy the reputation of having opened up the Hebrides to a course of modern
improvement. Mr. Hutcheson’s life, like that oi Bianconi in Ireland, shows in a
particular manner what one thoughtful and energetic man may do to advance the
interests of his country. A notice of his projects embraces little else than an
account of the existing Hebridean organisation of steamers.
Beginning his commercial life about forty years ago as a junior clerk to one of
the earlier steamboat companies on the Clyde, Mr. Hutcheson was afterwards for
many years connected with the firm of J. & G. Burns, a large shipping concern
in Glasgow and Liverpool, and principal proprietors of the Cunard ocean steamers.
Among other places on the coast, Messrs. Burns sent steamers to the western isles;
but this branch of their trade, it seems, did not pay, and was willingly resigned to
David Hutcheson, who had formed his own opinions on the subject. With an
enthusiastic, and we should almost say a poetic, admiration of the West Highlands
and Islands, and desirous not only to make tourists acquainted with their scenery,
but to develop the resources of their immeasurable solitudes, he entertained the
notion, that by giving large and finely-appointed steamers, and doing everything
on a liberal scale, the intercourse with the Hebrides might be established on a solid
and prosperous basis. Animated with this idea, he began his operations about
1851, assisted by his brother, Mr. Alexander Hutcheson, and Mr. David
MacBrayne, a nephew of the Messrs. Burns, under the firm of David Hutcheson
and Company.
Passing over Mr Hutcheson’s initiatory attempt to establish an enlarged traffic
between Glasgow and the Highlands, we come to what more immediately concerns
tourists—the present arrangement of his steamboats, which is in peculiar adaptation
to the nature of the waters to be traversed- Looking at the map of Scotland, we see
that the long peninsula terminating in the Mull of Cantyre cuts off the lower part
of the Clyde from any ready access to the western coast, butthat to accommodate
the transit of small vessels, the Crinan Canal has been formed across the neck of
the peninsula—this very useful canal, about nine miles in length, commencing on
the east at a place called Ardrisliaig, on Loch Fine. Carrying the eye northward
on the map, we perceive that, having got into the western sea and as far as the
top of the Linnhe Loch, a transit can be made by the Caledonian Canal to Inverness.
Now, independently of sea-going vessels to go round the Mull, here are several
kinds of vessels in requisition to sustain the intercourse of a line of route which is
awkwardly broken into distinct parts. All, however, is provided for. The
Hutchesons possess altogether fourteen vessels of different classes, consuming in the
aggregate per annum 24,000 tons of coal, which for convenience are placed in
depots at various leading ports.
To begin with the largest in this effective fleet, we have the Clansman and
Clydesdale. These are strongly built for sea, broad in the beam, and with power
ful engines. Both are fitted for carrying goods and passengers; and as a night
has .to be passed on board, they can each make up fifty sleeping-berths in
sep&rate cabins and on sofas. One of them leaving Glasgow every Monday and
Thursday, proceeds round the Mull of Cantyre, calls at Oban, Tobermory, Portree,
and other places, their regular destination being Stornoway in the Lewis. They
�nUTCHESON'S STEAMERS.
7
however, make more extended calls beyond Stornoway; as, for example,
Lochinver on the mainland, a favourite residence of the Duke of Sutherland and
family, likewise Ullapool, and Gairloch in the western part of Ross-shire. Over
this wide range they ply unitedly from March till November, and one alone plys
once a week in winter. Twice a year, for the special accommodation of herring
fishers, they go round the North of Scotland to Thurso. Unless one were to
visit the strangely indented west coast and islands, he could scarcely realise the
importance of these voyages of the Clansman and Clydesdale, which, after passing
Islay and Jura, pursue first a sinuous course through the Sound of Mull; then
rounding the extremity of Ardnamurchan, enter that narrow and intricate channel
between the mainland and Skye called the Sound of Sleat; lastly issuing into the
more open Minch, they take a route direct for Stornoway—throughout their long
and devious course among the islands, landing and taking in passengers and
goods, and, as it were, sowing the seeds of civilisation and prosperity in places
which, but for their periodical visits, would be as difficult to reach as if situated
in another hemisphere.
The next class of vessels described by the writer have undergone
several improvements since the period of Mr. Chambers’s tour, which
render a supplementary statement necessary. These are the vessels
designed exclusively for passengers on the route from Glasgow by
Ardrishaig and the canals to Inverness. They are all remarkable
for their handsome structure, light draught of water, rapid sailing,
and comfortable accommodation. The Iona, first in order, is un
rivalled in the fleet of Clyde steamers for elegance and speed. The
first part of the voyage from Glasgow to Ardrishaig is performed in
the Iona. This beautifully moulded steamer was built in 1861, by
Messrs. J. & G. Thomson of Glasgow, at a cost of about .£19,000 ;
she measures 255 feet in length, with 25 feet breadth of beam, and
draws only 4 J feet of water, along the surface of which she skims
with a speed of nearly twenty-one miles per hour. This vessel has
repeatedly run between the Cloch and Cumbrae light-houses on the
estuary of the Clyde (the distance usually selected for testing the
speed of steamboats, and measuring fifteen miles and two-thirds) in
less than 46 minutes ; and it may be doubted if a like velocity has
been attained by any steamer of the same dimensions in Europe.
Her spacious and luxurious accommodations are such as ro secure a
comfortable passage in all conditions of the weather. From the Iona
the passengers are transferred at Ardrishaig to a handsome little
steamer on the Crinan Canal, in which they proceed across the
country to Port Crinan, where they embark for Oban in the
Chevalier, one of the powerful sea-going steamers of the Company’s
fleet. In noticing the arrangements made by the Company for
the convenience of travelling in the West Highlands, it is only
due to add that the persons in charge of the different vessels are
uniformly characterised by their civility, courtesy, and attention to
their passengers.
�8
THE QUEEN’S ROUTE.
In obedience to the necessities of time if not of tide, the tourist
sojourning in Oban for the night, and meditating an excursion on
the morrow, behoves to practise the virtue of early rising. Betwixt
six and seven o’clock the spacious bay resounds with the ringing
of steam-boat bells. Two of Hutchesons’ steamers are roaring and
panting at the pier with their steam up, and tourists are pouring
from the Great Western and Caledonian, straggling out of the
minor hotels, and hurrying on board in their strangely diversified
costumes, in which one seldom fails to detect the modes, even
before he hears the speech, of different nations. One of the vessels
has just arrived from the north, with the Inverness passengers, and
on receiving a fresh accession at Oban, proceeds on her voyage
southward. The other is destined, on alternate days, to carry
excursionists to Glencoe, and to Staffa and Iona. We join the
last expedition, and respectfully offer our humble but not
inexperienced services as cicerone on the truly interesting and
delightful excursion round the Island of Mull, trusting to be able
to furnish, in the smallest practicable space, the quantity of
information which the tourist may be supposed to desiderate at the
moment, leaving him, if so disposed, to seek for further details from
other sources, when he is more at leisure.
And now, “ Dark
Mull,” for “ thy mighty Sound I”
The course of the steamer round Mull is determined by the state
of the wind. Sometimes she steers by the outer passage, leaving
Oban bay by the Sound of Kerrera, and sailing south-west along
the rugged ironbound coast of Mull, visiting Iona first and then
Staffa, returning by the Sound of Mull. When the wind is
favourable, the vessel ploughs her way directly through the Sound,
in which case she arrives first at Staffa and then visits Iona,
returning by the southern coast. The latter route brings us
without delay into contact with an unrivalled succession of
picturesque objects, and when the weather is suitable is greatly
to be preferred. This was the Queen’s route in the autumn of ’47.
The steam-boat emerges from the land-locked bay, at the portal
where Dunolly Castle proudly holds watch and ward “ ’mid sylvan
pomp and rocky majesty.” The space closed in here by a little
rocky islet betwixt the point of Kerrera and the promontory of
Dunolly may be noted as excellent dredging-ground, having yielded
the largest portion of the Mollusca catalogued in Part I. of this
series of publications.
On clearing the coast and crossing the
entrance to Linnhe Loch, a prospect of unequalled variety and
magnificence opens to the view. Sir Walter Scott describes it as
�CASTLED CRAGS.
9
one of the most striking scenes which the Hebrides afford to the
traveller. The rugged and mountainous shores of Mull rise to the
left; on the right extends the lofty range of “ dark Morven,”
with its coast line successively indented by lochs or arms of the
sea running inland for several miles.
A scene of alpine grandeur
closes in the view to the north-east, pre-eminent amidst which
springs the granite bulk of Ben-Cruachan. The lofty and fretted
peaks of the Ardnamurchan hills terminate the vista in the north.
“ In fine weather (says Sir Walter) a grander or more impressive
scene, both from its natural beauties and associations with ancient
history and tradition, can hardly be imagined.” From another
point of view, Christopher North, in a poetical mood, exclaimed—
“ Morven and morn, and spring and solitude,
In front is not the scene magnificent ?
* * Beauty nowhere owes to ocean
A lovelier haunt than this.”
The shores are studded with picturesque old castles, which give a
human interest to the scene, although that interest is derived from
the “wild tales of Albyn’s warrior day.” Dunolly the bold we
have left behind.
Dunstaffnage the regal is seen where Loch
Etive joins the Linnhe Loch. Glimpses may also be caught in
the same direction of Castle Stalker, situated on a small rock, in
the channel that separates Lismore from Appin; and of Castle
Shuna, on the island of that name, to the north-east of Lismore.
On the opposite coast of Kingairloch, perched upon the summit of
a conical rock close to the shore, is the Castle of Glensanda.
Tirefoor Castle, in Lismore, the most ancient of these structures,
is seemingly of Scandinavian origin, being built of dry stones without
mortar, and in a circular form, and was probably intended for a
watch-tower or beacon, as it commands a most extensive view.
The boat is bearing down upon Duart Castle ; and Ardtornisli
Castle, the most picturesque and poetical of them all, will speedily
appear, along with the Castle of Aros; and if we could diverge
from the Sound, and enter the inviting waters of Loch Aline, on
the Morven shore, we should find its copsy banks overlooked by
the old tower of Kin-Loch-Aline, esteemed by Dr. Macculloch
“one of the most picturesque of the Highland castles ;”* and the
geologist would be delighted to discover amidst the birches and oak
* This castle, tradition says, was built by Dubh-Chal, an amazon of the Clan
MTnnes, who paid the architect with its bulk in butter! The keep was occupied
by the celebrated Colkitto and his detachment of Irish troops in 1GG4, by whom
it was set on fire.
�10
THE LADY’S DOCK AND ITS LEGEND.
and rank equisetums which clothe the shores of the loch, beds of
Lias limestone, literally crammed with the characteristic Gryphoea
incur?a.
Lismore lighthouse is passed where the green slopes of the
“ great garden,” as the name of the island imports, terminate in a
dangerous reef at its southern extremity ; and before descending to
the cabin for breakfast, the tourist should look out for the Lady’s
*
Rock, which is left bare and black at ebb tide, but over which the
waves break at high water. This wild-looking islet was the scene
of a meditated act of cruelty in the early part of the sixteenth
century, upon the basis of which Joanna Baillie constructed the
tragedy of the “ Family Legend. The story also gave rise to Campbell’s
poem of “ Glenara." It is less poetically and tragically related by
the late 3Ir James Wilson (the brother of “Christopher North ’), in
his entertaining “Voyage round the Coast of Scotland and the
Isles“Lauchlan Catenach Maclean of Duarthad married a daughter
of Archibald, Second Earl of Argyll, with whom it may be pre
sumed he lived on bad terms, whatever may have been the cause,
although the character of the act alluded to depends, in some
measure, on that cause. No man has a right to expose his wife,
in consequence of any ordinary domestic disagreement, upon a
wave-washed rock, with the probability of her catching cold in the
first place, and the certainty of her being drowned in the second;
but some accounts say that she had twice attempted her husband’s
life, and so assuredly she deserved to be most severely reprimanded.
Be this as it may, Lauchlan carried the lady to the rock in ques
tion, where he left her at low water, no doubt desiring that at
high water she would be seen no more. However, it so chanced
that her cries, ‘ piercing the night’s dull ear,’ were heard by some
passing fishermen, who subduing their fear of water-witches, or
perhaps thinking that they had at last caught a mermaid, secured
the fair one, and conveyed her away to her own people, to whom,
of course, she told her own version of the story. We forget what
legal steps were taken (a Sheriff’s warrant probably passed for little
in those days, at least in Mull), but considerable feudal disorders
* Mr. Chambers, not unmindful of the art of living by the way, as studied in the
arrangements of Hutchesons’ Highland fleet, says—“ I may here add once for all,
that in all Hutchesons’ vessels, particular attention is paid to the alimentary depart
ments. These, indeed, are conducted by the respective stewards on their own
account, but according to certain terms as to quality and charge; and the good
principle is followed of allowing no gratuities to be asked or taken by any one
whatever. The usual charge is 2s. for breakfast, and 2s. 6<Z. for dinner: at each
meal, besides the ordinary fishy delicacies, there being a profusion of dishes, and
water with ice.”
�ARDTORNISH CASTLE.
11
ensued in consequence, and the Laird of Duart was eventually
assassinated in bed one night [in Edinburgh], by Sir John
Campbell of Calder, the brother of the bathed lady. We hope
that this was the means of reconciling all parties.”
Duart Castle crowns a green but rocky promontory at the
easternmost point of Mull commanding the entrance to the Sound.
It consists of a strong square tower, the walls of which are ten and
fourteen feet thick, with a prolongation of buildings overhanging
a precipitous cliff, rendering it inaccessible on the side next the
sea. The tower is the most ancient part of the edifice. Some of
the accompanying buildings, which were preserved for the accom
modation of a garrison till a not remote period, bear the date of
16G3, with the crest of the Macleans, of which warlike clan this
was in ancient times the principal stronghold.
The present
proprietor is Campbell of Possil and Torosay, whose modern
mansion is snugly ensconced in the shelter of a wooded recess at
some distance.
Ardtornish Castle is the next relic of Highland antiquity,
occupying a headland on the Morven or mainland shore of the
Sound. Its position is most romantic, having on one side a lofty
and precipitous chain of rocks overhanging the sea, and on the
other the narrow entrance to Loch Aline (Anglice, “ the beautiful
loch”). Sir Walter Scott says:—“ The ruins of Ardtornish are
not now very considerable, and consist chiefly of the remains of
an old keep, or tower, with fragments of outward defences. But
in former days it was a place of great consequence, being one of
the principal strongholds which the Lords of the Isles, during the
period of their stormy independence, possessed upon the mainland
of Argyleshire. Here they assembled what popular tradition calls
their parliaments, meaning, I suppose, their cour plcniere, or assembly
of feudal and patriarchal vassals and dependents.” Sir Walter
adds an incident of historical interest:—“From this Castle of
Ardtornish, upon the 19th day of October, 14G1, John de Yle,
designing himself Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, granted, in
the style of an independent sovereign, a commission to his trusty
and well-beloved cousins, Ronald of the Isles, and Duncan, Arch
Dean of the Isles, for empowering them to enter into a treaty
*
* It is difficult to trace in the records and remains of those turbulent times any
indication of ecclesiastical influence being employed otherwise than in political
transactions of the nature here referred to. Mr. Wilson observes—“ In regard to
the County of Argyll, it has been remarked that the only kind of Tories not
found here are ora-tories, there being no chapels attached to the strongholds of the
Hebridean chieftains ”
�12
LOCH ALINE—MULL MOUNTAINS.
with tlie most excellent Prince Edward, by the grace of God, King
of France and England and Lord of Ireland.” The result was a
treaty by which the Lord of the Isles became a vassal to the
crown of England, and agreed to assist Edward IV. and James,
Earl of Douglas, in subjugating Scotland.
*
On the right the steamer passes Loch Aline House (Mrs. Madeline
Patterson); and on the opposite shore the opening up of the
Bay of Aros discloses the little village of Salen, with the Castle of
Aros, another fortress of the Island Chieftains, pitched in a pictu
resque manner on the summit of a rocky hill. The village is the
property of Lord Strathallan. From this point an imposing view
is obtained of the two loftiest hills in the interior of Mull, namely,
Bentallach, distinguished by its saddle-shaped summit, 2800 feet
above the level of the sea; and Benmore, 3000 feet. Further
onwards, on the Morven shore, amongst young plantations, is
descried the estate of Drimnin (Lady Gordon), where there is a
Roman Catholic Chapel, built by the late Sir Charles Gordon,
Secretary to the Highland Society. This edifice occupies the
site of the old Castle of Drimnin, which was pulled down by the
* The sight of the beautiful ruin of Ardtornish Castle recalls to every reader of
the “ Lord of the Isles” the animating lines in which Sir Walter Scott celebrates
that ancient seat of feudal power:—
“ Wake, Maid of Lorn!” the minstrels sung.
Thy rugged halls, Ardtornish! rung,
And the dark seas, thy towers that lave,
Heaved on the beach a softer wave,
As ’mid the tuneful choir to keep
The diapason of the Deep.
Lull’d were the winds on Inninmore,
And green Loch-Aline’s woodland shore,
As if wild woods and waves had pleasure
In listing to the lovely measure.
*
*
* “ The turret’s airy head,
Slender and steep, and battled round,
O’erlook’d, dark Mull! thy mighty Sound,
Where thwarting tides, with mingled roar,
Part thy swarth hills from Morven’s shore.”
And again, where the vessel containing the Bruce is described approaching the
castle through a dark and tempestuous sea, and the festal radiance of Ardtornish,
“ ’Twixt cloud and ocean hung,” is set in contrast to the terrors of the night—
“ Beneath the castle’s sheltering lee,
They staid their course in quiet sea.
Hewn in the rock, a passage there
Sought the dark fortress by a stair
So straight, so high, so steep,
With peasant’s staff one valiant hand
Might well the dizzy pass have mann’d,
’Gainst hundreds arm’d with spear and brand,
And plunged them in the deep.”
�TOBERMORY.
13
late proprietor to make room for the chapel. (Statistical Account.)
In the neighbourhood is seen Killundine Castle, a place of little
note, and evidently of comparatively modern origin. On the
Mull side, the coast now becomes lofty and precipitous, and is
enveloped in natural woods. Nothing on the voyage exceeds the
approach to Tobermory in sylvan beauty and maritime grandeur.
When the tide is favourable, the steamer enters the bay by a
narrow channel, opening between the wooded beach and a sweet
little island named Calve or Colay. This green island land
locks the bay. The town, with its white houses, curves round the
shore, and straggles with picturesque irregularity up the verdant
braes behind. The steeps and terraces to the left are adorned with
copsewood, and studded with the plantations of Drumfin, a charm
ing residence of M'Lean of Coll. The waters of Mary’s Lake are
precipitated over a lofty cliff, and descend in a shining torrent,
which disappears amongst the umbrageous woods below. Ranges
of lofty mountains all around close in a scene of exquisite loveliness.
Tobermory, or “ The Well of Mary,” is so called from a well
near the town, named in honour of “ Our Lady.” The place was
commenced in 1788 by the British Society for Extending the
Fisheries. At that time it consisted but of two houses. The popu
lation at the census of 1861 was 1,566, being chiefly employed not
in fishing but in the coasting trade. The County Buildings occupy
a prominent site overlooking the lower part of the town ; a branch
of the Clydesdale Bank presents another conspicuous feature in the
principal street. A commodious quay, completed in 1864, has been
constructed by F. W. Caldwell, Esq., the proprietor of that part of
the town where it is situated. Another chief proprietor in Tobermory
is Captain Campbell of Aros. The terraced walks seen stretching
along the face of the heights behind the town, and extending to the
northern extremity of the bay, were formed by the townspeople
during a period of famine, when the benevolence of the Lowlanders
was invoked on their behalf, and the money contributed was
judiciously expended in providing productive labour. An extensive
view, including some of the remoter islands of the Hebrides, is obtained
from the heights overlooking the bay. Tobermory is the metropolis
of Mull; law and justice are here dispensed by the Sheriff-Sub
stitute to Ulva, Iona, Tiree, Coll, and misty Morven; and the
Parliamentary voters resident in these distant localities also repair
thither on the occasion of a county election. One of the vessels of
the Spanish Armada was blown up and sunk off the harbour of
Tobermory, under the direction of Maclean of Duart. Several of
B
�14
MINGARRY CASTLE—POINT OF CALLIOCH.
her guns have been brought up. About two miles north from
Tobermory is Bloody Bay, the scene of a great sea-fight about the
year 1480, betwixt two contending factions in the isles.
The
lighthouse, named Buna Gal (Ruenagael), completed iD 1857, is
built upon a dangerous part of the rocky coast in this quarter.
When Dr. Johnson and Boswell visited Mull, in 1773, they landed
at Tobermory, took up their quarters at the inn, and thence pro
ceeded to Dr. Maclean’s, about a mile from the village. They
afterwards rode across the island on little Mull horses.
The steamer now reaches the mouth of Loch Sunart, at the north
point of Mull; and the tourist, if he has not made the discovery
earlier, now finds himself vaulting over the long rolling waves
of the Atlantic. On the right is the Point of Ardnamurchau, the
westernmost extremity of the mainland of Scotland. About five
or six miles from the Point, on the same shore, is observed the
Castle of Mingarry, the ancient stronghold of Mac Ian. It is of
irregular shape, being broadest on the land-side, where it is protected
by a fosse, over which a drawbridge was thrown ; its narrowest
part fronts the sea, which it overhangs, the rock here having been
scarped and rendered perpendicular. The Castle thus skilfully
constructed, and
* * * “ sternly placed,
O’erawed the woodland and the waste.”
So lately as 1644 it was held by the garrison of Sir Donald Camp
bell, who surrendered to Montrose’s general, Alaster Macdonald,
by whom the place was threatened with fire. Alaster had on his
voyage captured a vessel in which were three Covenanting ministers,
who, after preaching in Ireland, weye returning to Scotland, and
whom he shut up in Mingarry Castle, where their sufferings were
terribly aggravated by the Marquis of Argyle’s unavailing attempts
to liberate them. Two of the three perished in consequence, and
the third regained his liberty after a dismal imprisonment of ten
months.
The Point of Callioch is here seen on the north-eastern shore of
Mull. The house of Sunipol stands out conspicuously upon the
beach, occupying the centre of a bay immediately before doubling
the stormy headland where Staffa first comes into view. It was
at Sunipol House that Thomas Campbell, the poet, lived for some
time as a tutor, in his College days, when he was seventeen years
of age. Writing to a friend, he said, “ The Point of Callioch
commands a magnificent prospect of thirteen Hebrid islands, among
which are Staffa and Icolmkill, which I visited with enthusiasm.”
�CAMPBELL THE POET—TRESHINISH ISLES.
15
The impressions produced upon his youthful imagination and feelings
by
“ The white wave foaming to the distant sky,”
and
“ The sounding storm that sweeps the rugged isle,
The dark-blue rocks in barren grandeur piled,”
the poet has embodied in his Elegy written in Mull. “ I had also
now and then,” says he, in the letter quoted, “ a sight of wild deer
sweeping across that wilder country, and of eagles perching on its
shores. These objects fed the romance of my fancy, and I may
say that I was attached to Sunipol before I took leave of it.
Nevertheless, God wot, I was better pleased to look on the kirk
steeples and whinstone causeways of Glasgow, than on all the eagles
and wild deer of the Highlands.”
The steamer is now full in sight of the Treshinish Isles, disposed
in a ridge extending for five miles in a north-easterly direction, and
forming a sort of breakwater on the north-west for the island of
Staffa and the bay of Loch Tua in Mull. The principal islets are
Fladda, Linga, Bach or the Dutchman’s Cap, and the two Cairn
burgs. They are seldom and not easily approached. They are all
formed of trap rocks, sometimes passing into basalt, but destitute
of the columnar form. The larger Cairnburg was fortified by the
Norwegians, and stood a siege by a detachment of Cromwell’s
army, but was at length taken and burnt. It is fancied that many
of the books and records which had been rescued from Iona were
lost during this siege. The place was garrisoned by the Macleans
in 1715, and more than once taken and retaken during the rebellion
of that year. A wall with embrasures for ordnance still remains,
skirting the edge of the cliff of the larger Cairnburg. On the
smaller island are the remains of the barrack. Macculloch says—
“ The appearance of a modern battery in such a situation may well
puzzle an antiquary who is unaware of its recent history, and whose
ideas ascend to the times of Haco or perhaps of Fingal; a modern
engineer will only wonder at the choice of such a position for a
fortress.” Away to the west of the Treshinish Isles are dimly
descried “ the sandy Coll” and “ the wild Tiree.”
The islands of Gometra, Ulva, and Colonsay (the latter not to be
confounded, as in several of the guide-books, with the Colonsay of the
M'Neills), lie betwixt Loch Tua and Loch-na-Keal, in the northern
part of the great embayment which, as a reference to the map will
show, forms a conspicuous feature in the outline of the west side of
Mull. The channel which separates Ulva from Gometra is so
narrow that at a distance they appear to constitute one island
�16
INCHKENNETH—DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
Ulva is celebrated for its basaltic pillars, which are compared to
those of the Giant’s Causeway, although confessedly inferior to
those of Staffa. Dr Johnson visited Ulva in his Hebridean Tour,
and a writer in the “ Statistical Account” says “ the room where
the Doctor spent the night, indulging his bile against the then
unclothed appearance of the landscape, is yet to be seen in the
*
old Macquarrie mansion-house.” The island is now adorned with
plantations. Some years ago the little island of Colonsay possessed
only one family, or six souls ; and its soil being described as less
fertile than that of the other two islands, it may be supposed to
offer a fair instance of the economical problem of a population
treading upon the heels of the means of subsistence.
Inchkenneth, or Inniskennetli, a fertile little island at the
mouth of Loch-na-Keal, and separated from the peninsula of
Gribon by a channel half a mile in breadth, is interesting as having
been the place where Dr. Johnson and his friend Boswell were so
hospitably and agreeably entertained by Sir Allan Maclean and
his two daughters, the remains of whose cottage are still to be seen.
The Doctor and Bozzy landed at Tobermory from Coll, where they
had been detained for some time by unfavourable weather. “ I
want to be on the mainland, and go on with existence,” said Johnson
impatiently—adding, “this is a waste of life.” The kindness and
courtesy of his reception in Mull reconciled him to his island life.
Near Tobermory he was entertained at the house of Dr. Maclean,
author of the History of the Macleans. Miss Maclean read and
translated to him Gaelic poetry, and played the spinnet for his
delectation ; although the Doctor’s perception of music was not
of the acutest, as may be inferred from the circumstance
that when in Skye he had become so fond of the bagpipe as
frequently to stand for some time “ with his ear close to the great
drone.” “ She is the most accomplished lady that I have found
in the Highlands,” said Dr. Johnson, speaking of Miss Maclean,
“ she knows French, music, and drawing, sews neatly, makes shell
work, and can milk cows ; in short, she can do everything. She
talks sensibly, and is the first person whom I have found that can
translate Earse poetry literally.”! At Macquarrie’s in Ulva, on
* Dr. Johnson lost his large oak-stick while he was riding across Mull on a
Highland sheltie, and vowed to Boswell that the people had stolen it. “ Consider,
Sir, the value of such a piece of timber here! ”
t The history of Miss Maclean has a mournful sequel. She married unhappily
and resided at Tobermory with her husband, till his death, in reduced circumstances.
She then became dependent upon the bounty of Maclean of Coll, and died in 1826.
(Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Dr. S. Johnson. Edited by
Kobert Carruthers, Esq. of Inverness.)
�ULVA—JOHNSON AND THE MACLEANS.
17
their way to Inchkenneth, the travellers were not less hospitably
treated. In their host they found a polite and well-informed High
land gentleman, and much a man of the world. Speaking of him,
when by themselves, and employing Latin, that they might not be
understood by the Highlanders—“Aspectum generosum habet,”
remarked Boswell; “ Et generosum animum," responded the oracle.
At Inchkenneth the Doctor received another Highland welcome,__
“ was cheered by the sight of a road marked with cart-wheels,
as on the mainland —found a parcel of Edinburgh newspapers,
books, cultivated society, and home comforts. Miss Maclean,
Sir Allan’s daughter, read prayers on Sunday, and the Doctor one
of Ogden’s sermons.
*
The Doctor declared it had been the most
agreeable Sunday he had ever passed. The piety and tranquillity,
the grace, the accomplishments, and the ancestral dignity which he
witnessed under the roof-tree of Maclean, Johnson celebrated in
Latin verse. He was here contented and happy. What did he
need more, even in the Highlands ?
“ Quo vagor ulterius? quod ubique requiritur hie est?
Hie secura quies, liic et honestus amor.”
“ Then wherefore further seek to rove,
While here is all our hearts approve—
Repose, security, and love ?”
It was from Inchkenneth that Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell
proceeded to visit Iona, on the 19th of October, 1773. “ We saw
the Island of Staffa, at no very great distance,” says Boswell,
“ but could not land upon it, the surge was so high on its rocky
coast.” On the northern shore of Mull, and commanding a view
of the Ulva north loch, is Torloisk, the beautiful seat of the late
Mrs. Maclean Clephane (now Earl Compton’s), a capacious-looking
mansion, placed on a wide semicircular inclined plane, surrounded
by thriving plantations, and backed by lofty hills.
* They were shown a ruined chapel near Sir Allan’s house. In a letter to
Mrs. Thrale, Johnson wrote—“ Boswell, who is very pious, went into it at night
to perform his devotions, but came back in haste, for fear of spectres!"
�18
STAFFA.
STAFFA.
“ Compared to this, what are the cathedrals or the palaces built by man? 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 part in which he fancied himself to exceed his mistress Nature, is here
found in her possession, and here it has been for ages undescribed.”—Sir Joseph
Banlcs.
“ Thanks for the lessons of this spot—fit school
For the presumptuous thoughts that would assign
Mechanic laws to agency Divine;
And, measuring heaven by earth, would over-rule
Infinite Power. The pillar’d vestibule,
Expanding yet precise, the roof embowed,
Might seem designed to humble man, when proud
Of his best workmanship by plan and tool.
Down-bearing with his whole Atlantic weight
Of tide and tempest on the structure’s base,
And flashing to that structure’s topmost height,
Ocean has proved its strength—and of its grace
In calms is conscious, finding for his freight
Of softest music some responsive place.”
Wordsworth.
Staffa* was unknown as an object of scientific interest and
picturesque natural grandeur till the year 1772, when it was
visited by Sir Joseph Banks, on his voyage to Iceland. His
drawings and description of the island were communicated to
Mr. Pennant, by whom they were published in his “ Tour to the
Hebrides,” in 1774. A careful and accurate survey of the island
was made by Dr. John Macculloch, the geologist, and published in
his “ Description of the Western Islands of Scotland,” in 1819.
The first aspect of Staffa as seen from the steam-boat is not such
as to awaken a responsive sympathy in the mind of the visitor with
the sentiments of the naturalist and the poet quoted as the mottoes
to this chapter.
The island is not remarkable for its height,
and is only about a mile aud a half in circumference ; its outline
is irregularly oval, and its surface an undulating table-land.
The privilege of visiting Staffa is secured to the public by
Messrs. Hutcheson and Co., who have leased the island, and
sublet it for feeding sheep. Formerly black cattle were kept
on the island, but they became so wild in their insular
solitude as to render it difficult to remove them; and on
one occasion an Irish tourist who had strayed from his party
into the vicinity of the herd, found his intrusion resented by a
* A Scandinavian word meaning, “ The Island of Columns.’
�THE QUEEN AT STAFFA.
19
long-horned ox, which pursued him with fell intent to the shore,
where the breathless fugitive was fain to seek security in the
steamer’s boat. When Dr. Garnett visited Staffa in 1798, it was
inhabited by a herd and his family, who had resided there summer
and winter for three years. Subsequently they took up their
quarters on the island in summer only, having found their condi
tion during the storms of winter somewhat disquieting; for the sea
broke upon the shores with such impetuosity, and rushed into the
caves which penetrate its interior with such noise, that the hut
shook to its foundation, and they could get no sleep. This sleep
less rocking a-nights they ascribed not to the spirit of the storm,
but to the “evil spirit.” The dilapidated walls of the herd’s
shieling remain, but the island has long been tenanted only by
sheep and sea-fowl.
When Queen Victoria visited Staffa, on the 19th of August,
1847, the wind was so gentle and the tide so low as to admit of
the royal barge, containing her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the
royal children, being rowed into Fingal’s Cave. Prince Albert
afterwards landed on the Bouachaille, or Herdsman, and along
with several members of his suite clambered for a while over its
piles of basaltic columns. It is seldom, indeed, that in these
turbulent seas tourists visit the island in such favouring circum
stances as were vouchsafed on this interesting occasion to our
gracious Monarch; but the landing is nevertheless effected with
safety, and even with comfort—all things considered—by boatmen
from Ulva, hardy, skilful, and vociferous, who conduct their powerful
boat with great dexterity through the surf which breaks incessantly
upon the shore, and then act as guides in the great cave—steady of
head and hand as cragsmen. The usual landing-place is on the
eastern shore, in the lee of the prevailing winds, and where the
rocks are low and accessible.
The first object which claims attention on landing is the
Clamshell Cave, where a mass of basaltic pillars opens upon the
shore in a curved form, which has not unaptly been compared tt
the ribs of a ship. The wall on the opposite side of the cavity
consists of the projecting ends of horizontal columns, having the
honeycomb appearance which will be observed developed on a still
larger scale as we proceed in our survey of the basaltic rocks along
the shore.
Proceeding over the rugged causeway formed by truncated
columns, we pass on the left, Bouaciiaille, Boosiiala, or the
Herdsman, a conical islet of basaltic pillars, about 30 feet high, and
�20
CAVE OF FINGAL.
resting upon a series of horizontal columns which are only disclosed
at low water. This beautiful islet is separated from the causeway
by a narrow channel, through which a current of green and most
transparent water rushes with startling impetuosity, dashing itself
upon the rocks into foam and spray, which often glistens in the
sunshine with the brilliant hues of the iris. “ This lesser isle,”
Mr. Wilson remarks, “is itself a perfect gem in respect to its
beauty of basaltic structure, being composed entirely of the most
symmetrical columnar forms, several of them bent in a peculiar
manner, and the generality lying on their sides.”
From this point forward the pillars supporting the tabular portion
of the island gradually increase in magnitude and grace of proportion,
forming a continuous colonnade along the vertical face of the cliff.
A broken column about two feet in height, with another behind
it somewhat higher, at the base of the cliff, present the rude
appearance of a seat, which has accordingly obtained the name of
Fingal’s Chair, and “ a sublime though rocky throne it really is
for such a hero, in the midst of Nature’s unmatched magnificence.”
The pillars whose crowns form the grand causeway are generally
hexagonal, some are pentagonal, and a few have only four sides.
Near the entrance to the cave they acquire their greatest diameter
and altitude. The side of one of the hexagonal columns near the
entrance measures about two feet, the average breadth of the side
of the hexagon in the greater number of pillars being about fifteen
inches. On the Herdsman the hexagonal sides of the pillars do
not on an average exceed four inches.
On rounding a projecting part of the cliff, the august vestibule
of the Cave of Fingal is presented to the view. The exquisite
symmetry of the arch at the entrance is seen to most advantage
from the steam-boat at a little distance, and such an opportunity
of viewing it is usually afforded to visitors on the vessel’s quitting
the island. The pure green wave surges into the recesses of the
cave with a ceaseless resonance which early obtained for it the
Gaelic name of Uaimh Bliinn, the Musical Cave. The access
to the interior is by means of a rugged and precarious pathway
formed by the moist and slippery tops of broken pillars, along
which the visitor secures his footing by the aid of a strong rope
fastened by iron bolts to the rock. In this way the innermost part
of the cave may be reached by the more adventurous, although
most people are well content to take up a position where they can
contemplate the marvellous spectacle midway between the entrance
and the further extremity,—that is to say, if contemplation is
�-■ii
H
j
�i
�FINGAL’S CAVE-MACCULLOCH’S DESCRIPTION.
21
possible amidst the singing and shouting which the great majority
of tourists appear to consider as indispensable to the true enjoyment
of the scene. Wordsworth, in one of his noble Staffa Sonnets,
laments the necessity of seeing without being able to feel the “ farfamed sight” amidst a motley, hurrying, loud, and volatile group of
tourists; and expresses a wish which, many a visitor must cherish
but few can hope to realise:—
“ 0, for those motions only that invite
The ghost of Fingal to his tuneful cave,
By the breeze entered, and Wave after wave,
Softly embosoming the timid light!
And by one votary, who at will might stand
Gazing, and take into his mind and heart,
With undisturbed reverence, the effect
Of those proportions where the Almighty hand
That made the worlds, the Sovereign Architect,
Has deigned to work as if with human art!”
Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Macculloch both took measurements
of the dimensions of the cave, but those of the latter are here
preferred as being more deliberate and accurate:—
Feet.
Height from the water at mean tide to the top of the arch,... 66
Do. from the top of the arch to that of the cliff above, .... 30
Do. of the pillars on the western side,.......................... 36
Do. of the pillars on the eastern side,.......................... 18
Breadth of the Cave at entrance,................................. ........... 42
Do. near the inner extremity,............................................ 22
Length of the Cave,................................................................... 227
“ The sides of this cave (says Macculloch) are, like the front,
columnar, and, in a general sense, perpendicular. The columns
are frequently broken and irregularly grouped, so as to catch a
variety of direct and reflected tints, mixed with unexpected
Shadows, that produce a picturesque effect which no regularity
could have given. The ceiling is various in different parts of the cave.
The surfaces of the columns above are sometimes distinguished
from each other by the infiltration of carbonate of lime into their
interstices. It would be no less presumptuous than useless to
attempt a description of the picturesque effect of that to which the
pencil itself is inadequate. But if this cave were even destitute
of that order and symmetry, that richness arising from multiplicity
of parts, combined with greatness of dimension and simplicity of
style, which it possesses, still the prolonged depth, the twilight
gloom, half concealing the playful and varying effects of reflected
light, the echo of the measured surge as it rises and falls, the
c
�22
FINGAL’S CAVE—WILSON’S DESCRIPTION.
transparent green of the water, and the profound and fairy
solitude of the whole scene, could not fail strongly to impmsg a
. mind gifted with any sense of beauty in art or in nature.”
“ Fingal’s Cave,” says Mr. James Wilson, “is indeed a most
magnificent example of nature’s architecture. A vast archway of
nearly seventy feet in height, supporting a massive entablature of
thirty feet additional, and receding for about 230 feet inwards,—
the entire front as well as the great cavernous sides being composed
of countless complicated ranges of gigantic columns, beautifully
jointed, and of most symmetrical though somewhat varied forms,—
the roof itself exhibiting a rich grouping of overhanging pillars,
some of snowy whiteness, from the calcareous covering by which
they have become encrusted,—the whole rising from and often seen
reflected by the ocean waters,—forms truly a picture of unrivalled
grandeur, and one on which it is delightful to dwell even in
remembrance. How often have we since recalled to mind the
regularity, magnitude, and loftiness of those columns, the fine o’erhanging cliff of small prismatic basalt to which they give support,
worn by the murmuring waves of many thousand years into the
semblance of some stupendous Gothic arch,
‘ Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,’
the wild waters ever urge their way,—and the receding sides of that
great temple, running inwards in solemn perspective, yet ever and
anon, as ocean heaves and falls, rendered visible in its far sanctuary,
by the broad and flashing light reflected by the foaming surges
sweeping onwards from below! Then the broken and irregular
gallery which overhangs that subterranean flood, and from which,
looking upwards and around, we behold the rich and varied hues
of red, green, and gold, which give such splendid relief to the deep
and sombre coloured columns,—the clear bright tints which sparkle
beneath our feet, from the wavering yet translucent sea,—the whole
accompanied by the wild yet mellow and sonorous moan of each
successive billow, which rises up the sides, or rolls over the finely
formed crowns of the lowlier and disjointed pillars:—these are a
few of the features of this exquisite and most singular scene, which
cannot fail to astonish the beholder. Neither can they fail, while
thus exciting his unfeigned admiration of the wonderful works of
nature, to call most vividly to mind the character and attributes of
their Great Creator; and so ever blending a lowly spirit and a
grateful heart with the wise pursuit of knowledge, the student of
mysteries such as these will escape the entangling mazes of a false
and feeble, because a godless philosophy.”
�FINGAL’S CAVE—SCOTT’S DESCRIPTION.
23
Bishop Van Troil, who visited Staffa along with Sir Joseph
Banks, thus notices the cave in his “Letters on Iceland” :__ “ How
magnificent are the remains of the porticoes of the ancients ! and
with what admiration do we behold the colonnades which adorn the
principal buildings of our times ! and yet every one who compares
them with Fingal’s Cave, formed by nature in the isle of Staffa,
must readily acknowledge that this piece of nature’s architecture
far surpasses everything that invention, luxury, and taste ever pro
duced among the Greeks.”
In the same spirit, a French author, Faujas de St. Fond, con
trasting Staffa with other superb basaltic causeways that he had
seen, says—“ But I have never found anything which comes near
this, either for the admirable regularity of the columns, the height
of the arch, the situation, the form, the elegance of this production
of nature, or its resemblance to the master-pieces of art. It is
therefore not at all surprising that tradition should have made
it the abode of a hero.”
While quoting descriptions of Staffa, which with all their power,
*
still convey but a feeble impression of the reality, it would be
unpardonable to omit the well known graphic verses of Sir Walter
Scott in “ The Lord of the Isles” ;—
“The shores of Mull on the eastward lay,
And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,
And all the group of islets gay
That guard famed Staffa round.
Then all unknown its columns rose,
Where dark and undisturbed repose
The cormorant had found,
And the shy seal had quiet home,
And weltered in that wondrous dome,
Where, as to shame the temples decked
By skill of earthly architect,
Nature herself, it seemed, would raise
A Minster to her Maker’s praise!
Not for a meaner use ascend
Her columns, or her arches bend;
Nor of a theme less solemn tells
That mighty surge that ebbs and swells,
* “I have stood on the shores of Staffa; I have seen ‘ the temple not made with
hands;’ I have seen the majestic, swell of the ocean, the pulsations of the great
Atlantic, beating in its inmost sanctuary, and swelling a note of praise nobler far
than any that ever pealed from human organs.”—Sir Robert Peel, in his Glasgow
Speech, 1837.
�24
BOAT CAVE—MACKINNON’S CAVE, &c
And still, between each awful pause,
From the high vault an answer draws,
In varied tone prolonged and high,
That mocks the organ’s melody.
Nor doth its entrance front in vain
To old Iona’s holy fane,
That Nature’s voice might seem to say,
‘ Well hast thou done, frail child of clay!
Thy humble powers that stately shrine
Tasked high and hard—but witness mine !’”
There are several other caves in the island which the steam-boat
tourist has no opportunity of inspecting, and which can only be
visited by taking advantage of the ready and efficient services of
the Ulva or the Iona boatmen. Every person who revisits Staffa
will concur in the testimony that its grandeur and interest become
enhanced the more its wonders are scrutinised.
The Boat Cave has been compared to the gallery of a mine, being
excavated in the lowest stratum, on a level with the sea, by which
alone it is accessible. Between it and the Great Cave the columnar
cliff attains its greatest altitude, the upper surface being about 112
feet above high-water-mark. The interior of this cave is without
interest, but in magnificence and symmetry the range of its over
hanging pillars excels the facade of Fingal’s Cave. The height of
this cave is about 15 feet above high-water-mark; its breadth
12 feet; its length 150 feet.
Mackinnon’s, the Scart, or Cormorant’s Cave lies to the south
of the former, and is comparatively easy of access, being tunnelled
out of the lower bed of rock, where it terminates in a gravelly beach.
The interior is spacious but rugged and irregular. In height it is
about 50 feet; in breadth 48 feet; in length 224 feet. The crevices
of the rock are resorted to by the Cormorant (Phalacrocorax
carbo).
At the north-east end of Staffa are several small caves into which
the waves dash with violence, producing by the condensation of the
air in the cavity a sound like the discharge of a mortar. When
Dr. Garnett visited Staffa he was for some time, he says, under the
impression that the reports proceeded from vessels firing signals of
distress.
Returning to the landing place, we ascend to the grassy summit
of the island by a wooden flight of steps constructed by the
Messrs. Hutcheson close to the Clamshell Cave. The surface of
the island presents few objects of interest. It possesses no rare
plants. Rhodiola rosea and Cotyledon Umbilicus abound on the
�S V A F m , FR©®] TME SMEBKBOT.
���From, a P h otograp h .
0©K)Ao
Machire
&
.
Macdonald Lit} i
�PLANTS AND BIRDS OF STAFFA—VIEW FROM SUMMIT.
25
cliffs. Orobanclie rubra has occasionally been found growing here
as elsewhere amongst disintegrating basalt. Erythrcea latifolia,
set down in the books as having been found in Staffa, has been
sought for in vain; E, Centaurium is common. Salix Lapponum
(S. arenaria) abounds in Staffa and Iona. There are no trees
on the island. The surface is covered with rich grass, forming
excellent pasture. Among the birds frequenting Staffa are the
Barnacle Goose, Common Sheildrake, Black Guillemot, Puffin,
Cormorant, Solan Goose, Ivittiwake, Stormy Petrel, Gulls of various
species, Great Northern Diver, &c. Kittiwake Gulls in great
numbers, together with the Razor-billed Auk, rear their young in
the Great Cave.
*
The prismatic or columnar form impressed upon the cliffs of
Staffa and the neighbouring islands is characteristic of basalt; and
the tendency to assume this shape appears with more or less
distinctness in the basaltic trap rocks abounding on the west coast
of Scotland. Mr. Gregory Watt showed by his experiments on
basalt, in 1804, that in the gradual cooling of a molten mass of that
rock, spheroids were produced, the union of which resulted in the
prismatic form. This concretionary or globular structure is often
visible in the decomposition of trappean and volcanic rocks. In
mineral character, succession, and thickness, Dr. James Bryce, of
Glasgow, has observed a remarkable resemblance between the
basaltic cliffs of the Giant’s Causeway and those of Staffa. The
Staffa rocks consist of three distinct beds—the lowest, a mass of
trap tuff; the next, the great columnar range ; and the uppermost
an irregular mixture of bent and broken pillars and amorphous
basalt. On the western side of the island, these different kinds of
rocks are indiscriminately commingled.
The view obtained from the summit of Staffa of the columnar
ranges of the cliffs below, and of the rugged grandeur of the shores
of Mull, with the lofty mountains of the interior, amply compensates
for the absence of objects of interest on the surface. The appearance
of Mull, as viewed from this point, is happily represented, in the
accompanying print. Gometra and Ulva are distinctly descried
to the north and north-west. Inchkenneth is seen at the mouth
of Loch-na-keal, with Little Colonsay in the same direction, but
nearer to Staffa. The group of the Treshnish Islands is also
* A list of the birds frequenting Staffa and the neighbouring islands, prepared
by Mr. H. D. Graham, will be found in “ Staffa and Iona Described and Illustrated,”
published by Messrs. Blackie & Son.
�26
IONA.
readily distinguished, more especially the Dutchman’s Cap and the
two Cairnburgs, one of the latter surmounted by a lofty natural
arch. The peaks of the Skye mountains are visible in the distant
north, and Tiree and Coll bound the western horizon. While the
eye is contemplating the varied aspects of this magnificent archi
pelago, the ear evei’ and anon is filled with the sound of the waves
as they break in white surf on the cliffs, or roll with solemn
cadence into the caves, causing the superincumbent mass to vibrate
beneath one’s feet. Flocks of gulls wheel round the cliffs, or soar
high above them, with wings rivalling the summer cloud in their
snowy whiteness, as their forms are seen sharply defined far up
against the clear blue sky, or hovering over the water and swooping
down in rapid and graceful gyrations, skimming or dipping under
the surface in quest of prey, and mingling the while their sharp
half-screaming, half-laughing cries with the hollow sounds of the
surging shore.
IONA.
“ We were now treading that illustrious island which was once the luminary of
the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the
benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all
local emotions would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if
it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever
makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances
us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such
frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground
which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be
envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose
piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona! ”—Dr. Samuel Johnson.
“ On to Iona!—What can she afford
To us, save matter for a thoughtful sigh,
Heaved over ruin with stability
In urgent contrast? ”
Wordsworth.
The hill of Dun-ii, the highest land in Iona, is distinctly visible
from Staffa. From the entrance to the Cave of Fingal is seen the
distant tower of the Cathedral, rising from the lowly shores of the
Blessed Isle. A century has not yet elapsed since the pilgrim to
the great temple of Nature first felt his heart rising with instinctive
reverence to Nature’s God, as he stood awe-struck under its
vaulted roof. But centuries before human ear had listened to the
“diapason of the deep” pealing in the solemn recesses of Naimh
Binn, the humble fanes of Iona were the resort of pilgrims from
�APPROACH TO THE VILLAGE.
27
many lands ; and from its green shores went forth the messengers
of the Cross to spread the light of Christianity and the benefits of
civilisation over the benighted mainland of Britain, whence a pure
faith was radiated to the Continent of Europe. Its ecclesiastical
remains, however interesting in an archaeological point of view, are
monuments of the declining period of Iona’s history. Nothing
remains to commemorate the Scriptural simplicity and apostolic
zeal of Columba and the Culdees, but the lowly little island itself,
whose green fields and shining white shores are for ever consecrated
by the memory of the piety, the labours, and the sufferings of men
of whom the world was not worthy. But why, says the poet,
“ Even for a moment, has our verse deplored
Their wrongs, since they fulfilled their destiny ?
And when, subjected to a common doom
Of mutability, those far-famed Piles
Shall disappear from both the sister isles,
Iona’s Saints, forgetting not past days,
Garlands shall wear of amaranthine bloom,
While heaven’s vast sea of voices chants their praise.”
*
Iona lies to the south of Staffa about seven or eight miles, and
is separated from the Ross of Mull, a prolonged low peninsula of
granite forming the southern extremity of that island, by a Sound
a mile in breadth. The prevailing rock in Iona is gneiss, but the
geological connection of the island with the Ross of Mull is indicated
by the occurrence on the shore of several rocks (in si7w) of the same
ruddy-coloured granite which forms the round hummocky knolls
of the opposite coast. Veins of granite also traverse the gneiss
in various parts of Iona.
The shore first approached is white
with accumulations of shell-sand, which impart to the adjoining
fields the bright verdure peculiar to calcareous soils.
The
appearance of the square tower of the Cathedral, rising bleak
and bare above the crumbling walls, is the first object which strikes
the observer on approaching the village. The general aspect of
the Cathedral and village of Iona, with Dun-ii in the background,
is faithfully rendered in our first view of the island. The second
represents the village, (JBaile Mor, the Great Town!) as seen from
the landing-place. The passengers by the steamer are landed from
small boats upon a rude pier, formed of huge masses of gneiss, and
* I, pronounced Ee, the old name of Iona, denotes pre-eminently The Island;
Shona (the s silent and the h dropped for euphony) means blessed or happy; hence
I-ona, the Blessed or Happy Isle. Icolmkill, the Isle of Columba’s Cell.
�28
THE NUNNERY.
granite boulders drifted from the opposite shore. The visitors no
sooner set foot on shore than they are beset by groups of children
offering for sale collections of shells (generally Cyproea Euvopcea,
Trochus umbilicatus, and Nerita littoralis'), and water-worn frag
ments of serpentine, marble, and quartz. This practice is said to
have had its origin in the ancient custom of pilgrims carrying away
relics from the island as charms. Wordsworth commemorates in
a sonnet the greetings of the youthful shell-gatherers, who, sooth to
say, drive a hard bargain with the Sassenach, and it is to be feared
are somewhat neglectful of school so long as the season for this not
unprofitable merchandise lasts :—
“ How sad a welcome! To each voyager
Some ragged child holds up for sale a store
Of wave-worn pebbles, pleading on the shore
Where once came monk and nun with gentle stir,
Blessings to give, news ask, or suit prefer.”
The island is about three miles in length by one and a half in
breadth, and is estimated to contain a superficial area of 2,000
imperial acres, 600 of which are in occasional cultivation, the rest
being hill pasture, morass, and rock. The Duke of Argyll is the
sole proprietor. The population has of late years been reduced by
emigration, and numbers about 300.
*
The village consists of a row of about forty cottages, forming the
“ Sraide ” or Street.
It contains an Established Church (Rev.
Mr. M‘Gregor) and a Free Church (Rev. Mr. M‘Vean). The Free
Church minister being about to remove his residence to the opposite
coast of Mull, his Manse (Parsonage), is to be converted into an
Hotel, thus, by permission of the Duke of Argyle, supplying a want
which has long been felt by strangers visiting Iona,
The Nunnery is usually first visited. Nothing remains of this
institution but the chapel. As monastic establishments for females
constituted no part of the system of Columba and the Culdees, the
Nunnery probably dates no farther back than the beginning of the
13th century. The style of architecture is Norman. The nuns
followed the rule of St. Augustine. The tombstone of the Princess
Anna, the last prioress, is still preserved, although much defaced
* For particulars of the ancient history and present condition of the Island, the
compiler of these pages takes leave to refer to his little work, entitled “ Staffa
and Iona Described and Illustrated,” published by Blackie & Son, Glasgow,
Ike proJits being applicable to Educational Purposes in Iona.
�MACLEAN’S CROSS—REILIG ORAIN.
29
by being trodden upon by tourists. It bears date 1543, with an
inscription in the Saxon character as follows :— “ Hie jacet
Domina Anna Donaldi Terliti, filia quondam Priorissa de Iona,
quae obiit anno m° d3 xliii3, ejus animam Altissimo commendamus.
Sancta Maria, ora pro me.” The figure of the prioress is sculp
tured on the stone, with angels supporting her pillow. In accordance
with early Greek and Roman art, the mirror and comb are intro
duced as the symbol of the female sex, which emblem Pennant
mistook for a “plate and comb!” Part of the stone which has
been destroyed represented the Virgin Mary. Another mutilated
stone is inscribed “ Hie jacet Mariota filia Johannis Lauchlani
Domini de------ .”
Maclean’s Cross occupies a conspicuous place on the rude
causeway along which the visitors now proceed on their way to
the Cathedral. The original number of the Iona crosses is said to
have been 360. According to tradition, the Synod of Argyle
caused sixty of the number to be thrown into the sea at the
Reformation, when the ecclesiastical edifices in the island were
ruthlessly demolished. One of the Iona crosses adorns the town
of Campbelton, another that of Inverary. The fragments of several
lie scattered in the ancient place of sepulture. Maclean’s is con
sidered to be of great antiquity, its form being unique amongst
Hebridean crosses. The crosses, which were chiefly of the nature of
votive offerings, generally consist of a single slab of mica schist, and
the success with which this intractable material has been sculptured
is not one ot the least curious features of these graceful memorials.
The crucifixion is represented on one side of Maclean’s cross.
Reilig Orain, the burial-place of St. Oran, is perhaps the most
interesting spot in Iona, and is unquestionably the most solemnizing.
The reputed sanctity of the island obtained for it in a rude age the
preference over all other burial-places in Scotland as a place of
sepulture, a choice which was doubtless determined also in many
instances by the common belief in a Gaelic prophecy of which
Pennant furnishes the following English version:—
“ Seven years before tlie end of the world
A deluge shall drown the nations.
The sea at one tide shall cover Ireland
And the green-headed Islay, but Columba’s Islo
Shall swim above the flood.”
Forty Scottish kings are said to have been interred in Iona, from
Fergus II. to Duncan I. and his murderer Macbeth; two Irish
kings ; one French king ; two Irish princes of the Norwegian race,
D
�30
THE BURIAL-PLACE—DECAY OF THE MONUMENTS.
besides innumerable chieftains and ecclesiastics. Donald Monro,
Dean of the Isles, who visited Iona in 1594, and describes Reilig
Grain, “ quliilk is a very fair kirkzaird, and weill biggit about
with staine and lyme,” concludes an enumeration of the kings and
princes “ eirdit” in Colmkill as follows :—“ Within this Sanctuary
also lyes the maist pairt of the Lords of the Iles, with their lynage.
Twa Clan Lynes, with their lynage, M'Kynnon and M'Quarie,
with their lynage, with sundrie uthers inhabitants of the haill iles,
because this Sanctuary wes wont to be the sepulture of the best
men of all the iles, and als of our kinges as we have said; because
it wes the maist honorable and ancient place that was in Scotland
in tliair dayes, as we reid.”
The tombstones of Reilig Orain are scattered over the islands and
neighbouring mainland, having been plundered to cover the narrow
dwellings of the dead, as the materials for half the houses of the living
in the “ Baile Mor”of Iona itself were quarried out of the walls of the
ecclesiastical edifices. To quote a remark from “ Staffa and Iona
Described and Illustrated”—“ If it be true, therefore, as Dr. Samuel
Johnson observed, that some of the numerous graves in this place
‘ undoubtedly contain the remains of men who did not expect to be
so soon forgotten,’ it is not less certain that, elsewhere, the dust of
many a humble Hebridean, whose ambition never ventured to prompt
the hope of being remembered beyond the first generation, now
sleeps in unconscious dignity, in his island sepulchre, under a
monument sculptured with the panoply of the potentate or the stole
of the ecclesiastic.” It is sad to observe, as' the present writer has
had ample opportunities of doing within the last 20 years, that
many of the monuments are becoming defaced in consequence of
being habitually trodden upon by visitors. Some of the inscriptions
which were legible a few years ago are now completely obliterated.
Several sculptured stones of a fissile nature, and which might have
been preserved by being placed under shelter, have been split up
and destroyed by exposure to the weather, to say nothing of the
injury sustained by others, at the hands of relic-hunters and
destructives. Many years ago the writer suggested the simple
expedient of lifting some of the sculptured stones on end, in the
Nunnery and Burying-ground, so as to render it impossible to stand
upon them, and of authorising the guide absolutely to prohihit
persons from walking over those lying flat on the ground. All
warnings of this nature have been disregarded, and the public should
know that the interesting sepulchral and ecclesiastical monuments of
Iona are hastening into irretrievable decay.
�ST. ORAN’S CHAPEL—ST. MARTIN’S CROSS.
31
St. Oran’s Chapel stands within the inclosure of Reilig Orain,
a roofless ruin, 60 feet in length by 22 in breadth within the walls.
This edifice bears traces of a higher antiquity than any of the other
ecclesiastical buildings. Its arched doorway, the soffit of which is
ornamented with chevron moulding, and a triple arch in the interior,
both of freestone, are of a more recent date than that of the Chapel
itself, which is in the Norman style. The triple arch forms a
graceful canopy to a tomb whose history is lost, but in which
tradition places the remains of St. Oran. The lower part of the
cross of Abbot Mackinnon (whose tomb and monument are in the
Cathedral) lies below the triple arch, dated 1489, and bearing the
figure of a galley with unfurled sails, the emblazonment of a
descendant of the ancient Norwegian kings of Man. In the centre
of the Chapel is the tomb of M'Quarrie of Ulva, marked by an
elaborately decorated stone. The tomb of Macdonald, Lord of the
Isles, is also in this sacred spot. The tracery on the stone is
designed and executed with great freedom. In this instance the
figure of a galley is introduced, with sails furled. The following
scroll is inscribed in antique characters:—“Hie jacet corpus
Angusii, Filii Domini Angusii MacDomnill de Ila.” “ Here lies
the body of Angus, son of Sir Angus Macdonald of Ilay.” This
chieftain, who was known by the name of Angus Og, or Young
Angus, is Scott’s Lord of the Isles, and his genealogy is given in
the notes to the poem, where he is more euphoniously designated
Ronald—
“ The heir of mighty Somerlcd,
Ronald, from many a hero sprung,
The fair, the valiant, and the young,
Lord of the Isles, ■whose lofty name
A thousand bards have given to fame,
The mate of monarchs, and allied
On equal terms with England’s pride.”
There are many curious old monuments (says Mr. Wilson) within
and around St. Oran’s Chapel. One of these was found inscribed
with the most ancient Irish characters, which a learned clergyman
deciphered as a Latin inscription—“ MacDonuill fato hie,”—as
much as to say that “ Fate alone could lay Macdonald low
while
another equally learned Theban reads it simply in the Celtic
vernacular, “ Cros Domhail fatusich,” or in plainer English, “the
Cross of Donald Longshanks!”
St. Martin’s Cross (next to M‘ I ean’s the only perfect surviving
specimen of the 360 crosses which contributed so much to the
�32
THE CATHEDRAL—ST. COLUMBA.
monumental grandeur of ancient Iona,) stands at the entrance to
the Cathedral inclosure, and consists of a solid column of mica
schist, fourteen feet high, eighteen inches broad, and six inches
thick, and fixed in a massive pedestal of red granite three feet in
height. This magnificent column is beautifully carved in high
relief with Rhunic knotting, and acquires a still more venerable
appearance from its being covered with grey lichens. The west
side of the pillar is sculptured with a series of emblematic figures
and devices, the circle in the centre of the cross representing the
Virgin Mary and Child, surrounded by four rude figures of cherubs.
The fragment of a second cross, named St. John’s, lies nearer the
Cathedral, overthrown from its pedestal; a little to the north there
is a broken shaft of a third; and the socket of a fourth crowns the
green knoll, named the Abbot’s Mound, in front of the Cathedral.
Tiie Cathedral is the most conspicuous and imposing of the
ruins of Iona. From whatever point it is seen at a distance—
whether from the solid and enduring pile of Staffa, reminding us
of the poet’s contrast between “ruin and stability,” or when it is
suddenly descried rising bleak and weather-beaten on the view of
the voyager on doubling one of the rugged promontories of Mull, it
never fails to fill the mind of the beholder with a solemn and
mournful interest. The architecture of the edifice is of different
styles, and has been subjected to so many additions and alterations
as to render it difficult to assign it to any particular period, although
most archaeologists concur in regarding it as upon the whole the
most recent of the ecclesiastical monuments. Its proportions and
appearance are delineated with photographic accuracy in the
accompanying picture.
No part of the ecclesiastical relics, as has already been remarked,
is traceable to the age of the Culdees.
*
St. Columba and his
twelve companions settled in Iona in the year 563, having crossed
the sea from Ireland in a corracle or currach, or boat of wicker
work, and landed at the south end of the island, in a bay still
bearing the name of Port a' Churraich, or the Bay of the Wicker
boat. A huge mound of stones, having a rude resemblance to a
* The early records of Iona speak of Columba as sending forth his monks to
gather “bundles of twigs to build their hospice.” The “Cathredal” of the
Culdees appears, in fact, to have been constructed of the same materials as the
currach in which its founders voyaged from Ireland. Wigwams were superseded
by log-houses, and in the progress of improvement stone replaced wood as a building
material; but the Culdees had taken their final departure from Iona long before
tbo foundation of the present Cathedral, which is believed to date from the 12th or
1 3th century.
�(P & ‘Tf KI E
© D&aiL OF 0 © KJ /A
.
��CELL OF THE CULDEES—THE CATHEDRAL
33
boat, indicates the place where the missionaries first set foot on the
shores of Iona. The keeping up of the cairn is said by Pennant
to have been a penitential service in subsequent and degenerate
times. Tradition places the original “cell” or “corner” of the
Culdees (Gaelic, Cuil, “corner, “retirement,” and Culdeach or
Cuildich, “the people who retire to corners,”) in an obscure part of
the western side of the island, known from time immemorial as the
Carn Cuildich, or “ Cairn of the Retired People,” a place too
remote to be visited by the ordinary tourist. Vestiges of an ancient
edifice are distinctly discernible in this sequestered nook, where no
sound is heard save the querulous cry of the sea-bird chiding the
intrusion of the wandering pilgrim upon its rocky solitude, and the
voice of many waters as it swells and sinks in mournful cadences on
the fitful breeze. In this secluded valley the Culdees first planted
the standard of the Cross, and set up a tabernacle for the worship
of the Most High, preserving as in a casket the purity and simplicity
of the faith, till low and lonely Iona, “placed far amid the
melancholy main,” became illustrious as “the luminary of the
Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians
derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion.”*
The Cathedral, or as it is variously called St. Mary’s Church
and the Abbey Church, is a cruciform building, with a square
tower at the intersection. The length from east to west is about
160 feet, and that of the transept about 70. The tower is about
70 feet high, and is lighted on one side by a window consisting of
a slab perforated with quatrefoils, and on the other by a Catherinewheel or marigold window, with spirally-curved mullions. The
tracery of the windows is by some held to indicate their date to be
in the “ Decorated period.” The transept is entered by ah opening
in a partition wall of modern origin, and the chancel by another
modern wall or screen open at the top, both being coarsely con
structed, and very much impairing the effect of the spacious
dimensions of the edifice. The aisle (if that part of the ruins so
called did not originally constitute one or more small chapels) is
* “ The family of Iona,” characteristically so called by early writers, suffered
grievously from the incursions of Danes and Norwegians. In 801, Iona was
burned, and many of the Culdees were barbarously slain. In 805 their foes
returned, and “ reduced the family of Hij to sixty-four.” The island was again
invaded in 877, when the Culdees fled to Ireland. Their monastery was anew
pillaged in 985, and in 1059 it was destroyed by fire. Still the Culdees clung to
a spot consecrated to them by many tender memories. At length the Church
of Rome, coveting a place so sacred, erected a monastery in 1203, and then the
Culdees departed from Iona never more to return.
�34
THE CATHEDRAL—THE BLACK STONES OF IONA
separated^from the body of the church by plain cylindrical columns,
surmounted by short capitals, sculptured with grotesque and illexecuted figures, which are still well defined, although in several
instances marred by knavish relic-hunters. Three sedilia remain
in the walls, “ 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.” Dr. Sacheverell saw the principal altar in 1688 ;
it measured six feet by four. Martin, in his tour in 1702, speaks
of the beauty of its marble. Pennant acknowledges that when he
visited the Cathedral in 1772 he and his companions helped to
diminish the fragments of it that remained. No vestige of it now
exists.
On the north side of the altar is the tomb of Abbot Mackinnon
of Iona, who died in the year 1500. The hollow spaces of the
letters composing the inscription on the tombstone are said to have
been originally filled with silver. The figure of the ecclesiastic is
sculptured in high relief, and the workmanship does credit to the
art of the period. The monument has been grievously mutilated
by tourists. On the opposite side of the chancel is the tomb of
Abbot Kenneth Mackenzie, also much defaced. Lightfoot, who
accompanied Pennant, found Byssus purpurea growing on the
tomb of Abbot M'Kinnon. This minute alga, under its modern
name of Ca^iiAamnion Rothii, stains the lower part of both the
tombs mentioned, and also the adjacent walls, with its purple
patches. In the centre of the chancel is the tomb of Macleod of
Macleod, being the largest sepulchral monument in Iona. The
figure, an uncouth outline, is sunk into the rock, and was evidently
filled up with metal. The great eastern window was a beautiful
object, some years ago, even in its dilapidated state. It has lately
been built up in the worst possible taste, and is rendered contemptible.
The celobrated “ Black Stones of Iona,” upon which the High
land chieftains swore an oath in confirmation of contracts and
alliances, have long since disappeared. Few relics of ancient times,
apart from the ruins, are ever found in the island. Not a vestige
of wood employed in the construction of the ecclesiastical and
monastic buildings can now be traced, every particle of timber, in
an island destitute of trees, having long ago been abstracted by the
inhabitants. There being no mill in the island, nor a stream to
drive one, and half of the only millstone extant being built into
a wall in the north transept, the poorer inhabitants still employ
the ancient quern or hand mill, named in Gaelic Muilean bradh.
�BAY OF MARTYRS—BOTANY, Ac.
35
The Bay of Martyrs, a little to the south of the landing place,
deserves a passing notice before leaving the island. This was for
ages the landing place of the dead brought to Iona for sepulture.
The bay retires upon a green mound, where it was the custom of
yore to rest the bier and arrange the ceremonial—observances which
are not yet entirely done away. The knoll is known in the native
tongue as the “ Mound of Burden,” or the “ Hill of Bearers.”
In the olden time, when princes and priests, chieftains and lords of
the isles were conveyed, like “ the gracious Duncan,” to Iona for
interment,—that “ after life’s fitful fever” they might. “ sleep well”
in its hallowed mould,—it was here that the funeral pageant was
marshalled ; and the shores resounded with the melancholy wailings
of the coronach, and the lamentations of the clansmen for the loss
of their chief, as they bore his coffin through the “ Street of the
Dead” and along the “ Narrow Way,” to his cell in the consecrated
soil of Reilig Orain.
On the occasion of her Majesty’s Hebridean voyage, Prince
Albert and his suite alone landed at Iona, the Queen remaining on
board the royal yacht, which afterwards proceeded to Tobermory
Bay, and lay at anchor during the night.
Lists of the birds frequenting Iona, prepared by Mr. H. D.
Graham (who also published a series of accurate drawings of the
ruins), and lists of the more characteristic plants, by the present
writer, are given in the little book already referred to, viz.: “ Staffa
and Iona Described and Illustrated.” Fern-collectors will find
on the walls of the ancient buildings Asplenium Ruta-muraria,
A. Trichomanes, A. Adiantum-nigrum, and on the rocks A. marinum.
Only one Hawthorn bush is known in the island! and a dwarf
variety of the Oak occurs sparingly. The mosses abound with
the remains of ancient trees.
Amongst the plants observed
in the island may be noted Pinguicula Lusitanica, Cotyledon
Umbilicus, Tlialictrum minus, Viola lutea, Drosera longifolia,
Cakile maritima, Lythrum, Salicaria, Anagallis tenella, A.arvensis,
Rhodiola rosea, Eryngium maritimum, Menyanthes trifoliata,
Ligusticum Scoticum, Lycopsis arvensis, Lithospermum maritimum,
Salix Lapponum, Habenaria viridis, Scilla verna, Rosa spinosissima, Ammophila arenaria, Triticum junceum. Osmunda regalis
occurs amongst the ferns.
The Stormy Petrel breeds in the little isle of Soy, near the south
end of Iona, and also in Staffa. The Seal (Phoca vitulina) and
the Otter (Mustela lutra) frequent Iona and Staffa.
�36
GEOLOGY OF IONA AND MULL.
The gneiss of Iona is alternated with various schistose rocks,
including clayslate and hornblende slate. No mica slate has been
found in the island; but slabs of this rock, brought from Mull or
the mainland, have been plentifully used in building the Cathedral
and adjoining edifices. Near the south end of the island there may
be descried from the steamer’s deck a broad band of white rock,
which is an irregular mas3 of compact felspar; contiguous to which
are the remains of the marble quarry. The marble of Iona is a
species of dolomite, or double carbonate of lime and magnesia.
MULL.
The geological interest of the opposite coast of Mull has been
much enhanced of late years by the discovery of the Tertiary
Leaf-beds at Ardtun Head, first described by his Grace the Duke
of Argyll, at the second Edinburgh meeting of the British
Association. The island of Mull, as will be observed on the map,
forms naturally three great divisions, which Macculloch has described
as the northern, middle, and southern trappean districts. The
northern consists of terraces of trap rock rising to no great height
and possessing no feature of interest. The middle district is that
in which the lofty summits of Bentallali and Benmore are con
spicuous, rising above the highest level attained by the trap, and
consisting, in the case of Benmore at least, of syenite. From the
base of Benmore a succession of terraces of trap stretches to the
lofty and striking headland of Burg, which rises from the ocean in
a succession of horizontal lines in a pyramidal form, till it reaches
a height of 2000 feet. The southern division exhibits some of the
most magnificent coast scenery in the Hebrides, The cliffs present
a continuous line of mural precipices of great elevation, generally
resting upon or surmounted by ranges of basaltic pillars of greater
or less regularity of form, and including extensive strata of the
Oolite and Lias.
But on the coast opposite Burg, the trap
terminates, an interval of mica-slate succeeds, and the remainder
of the promontory forming the Ross of Mull consists of fine red
granite, which is quarried for economical purposes.
The headland of Ardtun projects betwixt Loch Scriden and
Loch Laigh. Ardtun is mentioned by Dr Johnson as having
afforded a resting-place to himself and his fellow-voyagers, when
coasting along the shore of Mull from Inchkenneth, on their way
to Iona, and the Doctor says that the broken columns of basalt on
�LEAF-BEDS OF ARDTUN.
37
which they sat were pointed out to him by Sir Allan M‘Lean as
being scarcely less deserving of notice than those of Staffa. The
scene of the Duke’s discovery is a wild ravine, sloping down to the
sea, and bearing the expressive name of Slochd an Uruisg, the
Goblin’s Dell. Macculloch when he visited the place observed
only a thin stratum of coal under the trap. Other geologists had
also overlooked the leaf-beds. It was reserved for this accomplished
nobleman to disclose the important geological fact of these pre
cipitous cliffs inclosing a deposit of the remains of plants belonging
“to species and even families which have long ceased to be indigenous
in that country, and indicate the occurrence of changes since the
period of their growth, not less great in climate than in the
geographical forms of land and sea.” The cliff yielding these
instructive vestiges of an extinct flora, is about 130 feet high, the
series of which it consists standing as follows, as measured in feet:
—Uppermost basalt, 40; first leaf-bed, 2; first asli-bed, 20 ;
second leaf-bed, 2J; second asli-bed, 7; third leaf-bed, 1J;
amorphous basalt, 48; columnar basalt, to level of low tide, 10=
131. The character of the fossil flora determines the geological
epoch to which all the beds above the amorphous basalt belong.
The leaves are of considerable variety, and all allied to existing
families of Dicotyledons. They are therefore remains of the
tertiary period, a conclusion further confirmed by the position of
chalk flints in the tuff conglomerate with which they are associated.
(Vide Duke of Argyll’s paper on Ardtun Leaf-beds, in Geological
Society’s Journal.) The late Professor Edward Forbes was of
opinion that the assemblage of leaves might probably be referred
to the miocene stage of the tertiary epoch. The more character
istic of the species are allied to the yew, the plane, and certain
ferns. We may mention from personal observation that the diffi
culty of obtaining specimens from the cliff is almost insurmountable,
without means and appliances such as few geologists can carry
along with them to the shores of Mull. But the magnificent
development of basaltic columns on this coast will alone repay a
visit to the wild ravine of the Hobgoblins of Ardtun.
On losing sight of the low green shores of Iona, with their
memorable associations, the rugged and dreary point of the Ross of
Mull is first passed, and the island of Colonsay, Ornsay, Islay,
and Jura come in sight.
The steamer now coasts along the
southern shores of Mull, where new features of this part of the
island appear. However pleasing the coast here may seem to the
eye of the passing voyager, when viewed from the steamer s deck in
�38
GEOLOGY—THE CARSAIG ARCHES.
the sunshine of summer, it may be readily imagined that it will
present many a wild scene amidst the storms of winter. A writer
in the Statistical Account says that during rain storms, a thousand
streams descend from the cliffs of Burg and Gribon, on the other
side of the island, and from Inimore and Carsaig which now become
conspicuous features of the southern coast.
The streams are
precipitated from their summits in magnificent cascades, and
should a high wind be blowing against them, the water is whirled
up in columns like smoke toward the skies, and presents a scene of
uncommon sublimity.”
Leaving behind the granite of the Ross, as we course along the
southern shore, the rocks betwixt Ardnishker and Shiha assume a
schistose character, passing into gneiss. At the latter-mentioned
point the trap recurs and continues along the coast. Betwixt the
lofty cliffs of Inimore and Carsaig the trap overlies a bed of oolitic
limestone and sandstone, including coal, the latter, at Carsaig,
acquiring a thickness of three feet, although all attempts to work
it have proved fruitless. Between Carsaig and Loch Buy the trap
is seen underlying as well as overlying the mass of limestone, which
between Loch Buy and Loch Spelvie attains a thickness of from
200 to 400 feet, and then forms the entire vertical face of the
cliffs, with the exception of a thin layer of trap spread along the
upper surface.
But the most curious objects on this part of the coast are the
Carsaig Arches , first described by the late Marquis of Northampton,
when Earl Compton, and whose drawing is here copied from the
Geological Society’s Transactions. The larger arch is called in
Gaelic, Uamh-uill, or the Perforated Cave, from its being open at
both ends. It is about 60 feet high and between 50 and 60 broad,
running east and west for about 150 feet. Over the arch is a
stratum of basaltic columns of irregular height; and a small grassy
knoll of a few feet rises above the columns. The portion of the cliff
to which the arched rock is attached, is of basalt, about 400 feet in
height, and at about half that elevation it exhibits irregular ranges
of columns inclining in different directions. The smaller arch is
named Bidda vich Be Lochlin, from a Norwegian Prince having
perished here. The rock is isolated, narrow, and lofty, standing to
the west of the larger arch. It is about 120 feet in height, the
arch being about 70 feet high, and only a few feet in length. The
direction of the cave is north and south. The rock is surmounted
by a solitary basaltic pillar. The sea washes through both these
arches at high water, and they are seen to most advantage when
����u iim v am
u in
eiriL ,nauiujiL .
K
tu.
�DUART AND ARDTORNISH CASTLES.
39
left dry by the tide. The coast scenery here becomes truly
majestic—till passing from the frowning headlands of Mull into
the romantic windings of the Sound of Kerrera, with its sweet
recesses and picturesque homesteads amidst the shelter of sur.
rounding trees, we hail at last the venerable pile of Dunolly, and
sweep into the bay of Oban.
DUART AND ARDTORNISH CASTLES.
The following historical notices of the two most notable Castles in the
Sound of Mull, have been obligingly furnished by Mr. J. B. Simpson,
Glasgow:—
DUART.
Duart is laid down in the ancient parochial map of Scotland as Dowart,
and like many other fastnesses of the same character has a sad tale to tell
of oppression and cruelty. Time kindly throws a mantle of softened
oblivion over those ruthless strongholds, and enables us to forget their
former lawlessness in their present picturesque decay.
One of those cruel tales is told in connection with Duart in a little volume,
published in 1764, from a MS. written in the reign of James VI.
The story is of Sir Lachlan Maclean who occupied the family castle of
Duart in 1586. Sir Lachlan appears to have coveted other possessions
besides the family residence of Duart and the property in Mull connected
with it.
Might was considered right in those rude days. An unfortunate Hebridean
islander who might stray from that portion of the archipelago which called
him Lord, had much more to dread than the dangerous narrow channels or
sounds by which the islands are divided. Let him land and he must take the
chance of reprisals for some old feud, or sad to say, as in the present
instance, a treacherous disregard of hospitality and the ties of kindred.
But to our story. At the above date the laird of Duart, who was the chief
of Maclean, had determined to acquire property so far away from his
patrimony as the south-west portion of the Island of Islay, the old document
calls it the “ Kinnes of Ila,” and in order to possess this distant territory
he seized his brother-in-law who came for the purpose of trying to bring
about a reconciliation regarding a feud with another kinsman.
�40
DUART CASTLE.
Maclean does not appear to have violated the laws of hospitality on
account of the praiseworthy errand upon which his brother-in-law visited
him, but solely to possess himself of the Islay property, and a most summary
proceeding he made of it, seizing upon the person of his friend and confining
him in Duart Castle “ there to end his days," unless he made over the pro
perty to this determined Duart despot.
This was accordingly done by the luckless proprietor, who left his two
brothers prisoners in Duart Castle as hostages for the fulfilment of his
doubtless very unwilling bargain.
We need not follow the story through all its cruel details, what we have
given will serve to show how much more comfortable it is to see the old
Castle of Duart in its present state than we might have found it had we
lived in the time of the lawless Sir Lachlan, with all his varied ways of
makin his freends sicker, in this now tottering stronghold.
Another account states, that Maclean married the daughter of the Islay
proprietor, who agreed to give the disputed property as her portion. But
this does not make the matter much better, the Duart captive would have
as little chance of escape from the fortress whether his daughter or his
6ister were the spouse of its lawless lord.
Islay and Mull appear in ancient times to have been convenient objects of
transfer wherewith the reigning sovereign might reward or purchase the
services of dominant chieftains, and the laird of Islay, presuming upon
ancient right, might have seized the person of the Duart castellan had he
found him in his insulated territory, seeing that about the year 1314 King
Robert Bruce granted the Island of Mull to Angus of Isla. I suspect this
is the first literary document bearing upon the Island of Mull. It would be
needlessly circumstantial to go over all the succeeding well authenticated
matters connected with it, more particularly as it is with its stout Castle
of Duart to which our present enquiry is confined.
The castle is said to have been of Danish origin, but whether this is the
case or not, we have only the tradition (so far as I am aware) to rely
upon. In 1390 we step upon sure ground, for then, upon the authority
of the Great Seal Register, was the Castle of Duart granted “ by Donald
of lie, Lord of the Isles, to Lachlan Makgillean.” Dundoward is the
name which the castle bears in the Forduni Scotichronicon. It appears
to have been possessed by the family of Maclean before they acquired the
larger properties in the island. They are called the Makilanes of Dowart,
in 1517, when the Regent of Scotland grants them an increase of their
possessions; and in 1542, Hectoure M'Clane of Dowart gets permission
from James V. to visit him at Edinburgh, “ vnhurt, vnharmit, vnattechit,
vnarrestit, vniornait, vncallit, vnpersewit, vnvexit, vandistrublit.”
This most secure salvus conductus was doubtless very necessary to the
chieftain of Duart, whose rather unauthorised proceedings, like that of
many a Highland neighbour, would always keep a plentiful sprinkling of
enemies afloat, who would deem it a perfect windfall to seize and retaliate
upon such an active and vexatious chieftain as the laird of Duart.
�ARDTORNISH CASTLK.
41
ARDTORNISH.
In regard to Ardtornish you will observe what an important place it was
about 400 years ago (1461), when the possessor of it “ John of Yle,” with
all the pomp of sovereignty, enters into an agreement with the King of
England to assist him in the subjugation of Scotland. We lowlanders
would have had little cause to remember with anything like gratitude the
Ardtornish chief had he succeeded in carrying out his intentions, which
curiously enough come down to us in an English record. The charter
chest of Ardtornish has doubtless seen many a vicissitude since 1461, but
the Rotuli Scotice, preserved in the Tower of London and the chapter
house of Westminster, have retained for us the account of the singular
intended undertaking. Had it succeeded the men of Morven might have
exercised their highland hospitality in Dirleton, Borthwick, or Tantallan,
any lowland baronial residence, in short, which suited their fancy might
have been exchanged for the storm-begirt Ardtornish.
I am afraid it will not be possible to fix anything like a date for the
building of Ardtornish Castle. So early as 1390, however, the Great Seal
Register records a charter granted by “ Donald of He, Lord of the Isles, at
his Castle of Ardthoranis,” and succeeding documents continue to exhibit
vitality in the old house till the 17th century when the place becomes the
property of our old friends the Macleans of Duart
�i
/
< A' i
/<
1
n
/
Ia > /£•
a
I
>
..y
/yG
i
/-
/
rf
«Ju,
' ’-, *A
t
�INDEX.
Cjuries "MF
*
'<r____
__________ 14
______ 9
_____
9
______ 9
Cad~ec~sl CE
..
Care of ± r~.gd. ———————-20
C~3—d--~ Cave, ———————19
CtOs&cS Z CZZZZOciSOQ
*
ALrrerirv. 29
Dssrz Cassie,—_ ———......11,39
T>rrrA r-sm' Cap,—.——— — — — 15
*
uFsmIy Legend’ and “Gjslsts.'IO
FhiCs Cave,—————............ 20
--------- MsceuBoch's Deasiptkc— 21
. r*3".— ^^eserzpQCEi, ........ .—^»
Cazz.z2eZ the Poet, ——————1-4
--------- Wiiscn’s Dem';cart,——22
Carsaig Arches,... .————...38
Fingals Chair,________________ 20
Casde Arizcmish................11. 41
------ --------------- 1 9
Faad, Fasjas da St. on StaZa.___ 23
______ .Dzstt._____________ 11, 39
Geology,———————27, 36, 38
--------- Dundly,-——————. 8
Gods
--------- DocsaS^ge,___________ 9
G-~'~~~'~ Ds..........------------- ...37
Dnnmmj -
I:es,
—27
Gratis of Eos of 11zZ...........—27
Grfbcn,....... —............
16
�INDEX.
48
page
Herdsman,.......................................... 19
Mull, Ross of,.....................................27
Hutchesons’ Steamers,..................... 6
Nunnery of Iona,............................ 28
Inimore,............................................. 38
Ohan,................................................ 5
Inniskenneth or Inchkenneth,........16
Oolite and Lias,............................... 36
Iona,.................................................. 26
Peel, Sir Robert, on Staffs,........... .23
------ Cathedral,................................. 32
Port a’ Churraich,............................ 32
........ Extent and Population,........... 28
Queen’s Route,................................. 8
........ Nunnery,............. ..................... 28
Queen Victoria at Staffa,................. 19
------ Botany,---------------------------- 35
Reilig Orain,..................................... 29
------ Geology,.................................... 36
Ross of Mull,..................................... 27
Johnson and Boswell at Inch
kenneth, &c.,..........................
Buna Gal Lighthouse, .................. 14
Shell-gatherers of Iona,................. 28
} 17
Lady’s Rock,..................................... 10
Sound of Mull,.................................. 8
Lias of Loch Aline,.......................... 10
---------------View from the opening, 9
Linga,................................................ 15
Spanish Armada,.............................. 13
T.ismore Lighthouse,........................ 10
• Staffa,................................................. 18
Loch-Aline,................................ 11, 12
------ Plants and Birds,...................25
Lord of the Isles,............................. 11,31
------ View from,............................. 25
Loch-na-Keal,................................... 15
St. Martin’s Cross,............................ 31
Loch Tua,...........................
St. Oran’s Chapel,............................ 31
15
Mackinnon’s Cave,........................... 24
Sunipol House,................................... 14
Maclean’s Cross,............................... 29
Treshinish Isles,............................... 15
Maclean, Dr........................................16
Tobermory,....................................... 13
Maclean, Miss,................................... 16
Tories and Ora-tories,......................11
Maclean of Duart and his Lady,....10
Torloisk,............................................. 17
Maclean, Sir Allan,.......................... 16
Troil, Bishop Van, on Staffa,.........23
Mingarry Castle,.............................. 14
Ulva,.................................................. 15
Mull, Geology,.................................36,38
Wordsworth on Staffa,.................... 21
�{(Ml
ifl
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oban to Staffa & Iona by The Sound of Mull and Tobermory with notices of the geology and natural history of the district and authentic information for tourists as to conveyances etc etc
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Keddie, William
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Glasgow
Collation: 48 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (folded map.) ; 21 cm.
Series title: Maclure & Macdonald's Illustrated Guides to the Highlands
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Maclure & Macdonald's Illustrated Guides to the Highlands, Series Highland Route, No II. Annotations in pencil on series list. and pages 40-43. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Maclure & Macdonalds
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[n.d.]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CT73
Subject
The topic of the resource
Scotland
Natural history
Geology
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (Oban to Staffa & Iona by The Sound of Mull and Tobermory with notices of the geology and natural history of the district and authentic information for tourists as to conveyances etc etc), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Conway Tracts
Geology
Natural history
Scotland