Printed by H. Fisher, Liverpool, Printer in Ordinary to His Majesty.

Emperial Magazine;

OR, COMPENDIUM OF

RELIGIOUS, MORAL, & PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE.

66 THE VALUE OF A BOOK IS TO BE ESTIMATED BY ITS USE."

JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE
HEBRIDES.

At eight, we reached Loch Crinan, where we came to an anchor.

tainous parts were still enveloped in mists. The appearance of the land, as well as that of the opposite coast of [Continued from Col. 311.] Kapdale, a district of Argyleshire, was Thursday, June 30.-About four in low, rocky, and barren; some small the morning we passed the Mull of rugged islands were all that we could Cantyre, without experiencing any in- observe to the southward; but on the convenience from the rapidity of its north, a confused group of fantastic tide, being favoured with a moderate rocks occupied the foreground, and breeze; and stood away on a long the distance was terminated by the stretch to the coast of Ireland. At blue mountains of Mull. seven we were about three miles distant between the Red Bay and the Fairhead, in the county of Antrim, and had a full view of the coast, stretching, with various headlands, far to the southward. The country seemed hilly, but not barren; the rocky parts and summits of the hills only being uncultivated. The Fairhead appeared extremely bold; the summit lofty, craggy, and perpendicular, for about half its height, and then shelving abruptly to the sea. The island of Rathlen extended to the northward, with an exact similarity of form on the eastern end.

Having approached near the coast, we tacked, and stood away for the sound of Jura. About noon, we were abreast of a bold rocky headland, the southern extremity of Isla, forming one side of the deep bay of Loch Indaal. The mistiness of the day, however, prevented our seeing much of the island, though we were delayed by calms near its eastern coast for the greater part of the day.

Jura, from the same cause, was totally invisible: the clouds seemed to rest on the surface of the ocean, and excluded every view of the island; though sometimes, from dark gloomy parts, they gave indication of the Highlands which they concealed.

Ås we could not venture on any harbour on this coast, from the lightness of the wind, and the strength of the tide, we stood away, during the night, up the sound of Jura.

Friday, July 1.-In the morning, we were able to discern some of the lower parts of the island, but the more mounNo. 5.-VOL. I.

After breakfast we went on shore, to see the western extremity of the canal, which commences at Loch Gilp; little, however, was yet done, and its intended course only was pointed out to us.

The appearance of the loch is extremely wild; the hills that environ it are rugged in the highest degree, though small patches of vegetation have crept in between each sterile knoll; but the rocky and barren islands which lie off its entrance, and the frequent craggy lumps that rise in every direction, give it the appearance of a country destroyed by some violent convulsion of nature.

On the northern side, on the edge of an abrupt cliff, stands the ancient castle, or rather fortified house, of Duntroon, late in possession of Mr. Campbell, but now in that of Mr. Malcolm, who lately purchased the estate. About 1500 acres of this is a moss, which this gentleman has now begun to improve, with every probability of all the success which such undertakings deserve.

The application of property in works of such public utility, is certainly deserving of the highest praise; and it is a pleasing consideration, to see this improving system spreading on every side, rescuing immense tracts from useless barrenness, and diffusing fertility and plenty, where pining want and wretchedness only prevailed.

There is a great degree of similarity in the hills about this place; a kind of rocky belts run directly across, at short

2 D

distances from each other, forming | cent state; and however much we small hollows between them, which, by this natural high fence, are well guarded from the bleak sea-breezes, and appear very fertile. This uniformity prevails on each side the loch, as well on the lower as the higher eminences, and seems quite peculiar to the place.

Saturday, 2d.-The morning was extremely wet and lowring, but it cleared up towards the afternoon, and at four we weighed anchor, and beat to the northward against a head-wind. Part of the highlands of Jura was now visible; but the Paps, as they are termed, were still covered with a heavy stratum of clouds.

We passed the entrance of the dangerous gulf of Coryvrekan, lying between the northern end of Jura, and the high rocky island of Scarba; as much the terror of the neighbouring navigators of the seas, as Charybdis was of old; and the description which Homer has given of the one, might, with little variation, suit the other.

are.

Dire Scylla there a scene of horror forms,
And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms:
When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves,
The rough rock roars; tumultuous boil the waves:
They toss-they foam-a wild confusion raise,
Like waters bubbling o'er the fiery blaze:
Eternal mists obscure the aerial plain,
And high above the rock she spouts the main !
When in her gulfs the rushing sea subsides,
She drains the ocean with the refluent tides;
The rock rebellows with a thund'ring sound--
Deep, wondrous deep, below, appears the ground.
Pope's Odyssey.

wished to behold some of its awful effects, yet the prudence of our captain kept us at a wary distance. Some rocky islands lay off the entrance, of the most rugged and dreary appearance, shattered by the tempestuous seas which roll through this dreadful gulf. The sides are abrupt and rocky, and scem to deny all shelter to the unfortunate mariner, whose vessel should be swallowed in the vortex.

At nine we reached black Mullbay, in the small island of Loing.

Sunday, 3d. In the morning we went ashore on the island, which, though uneven, does not rise to any considerable degree of elevation; it seemed well covered, and displayed some corn-fields, in a high state of cultivation.

From hence we had a fine view of the sound, scattered over with innumerable small rocky islands of the most rugged and fantastic shapes. Behind these, the bold cliffs of Mull formed a grand back-ground, delicately coloured by the intervening air; and these again were surmounted by the high hills in the interior of that island. The sea appeared finely tinted; in some parts, stretching in gleams of the most lively green, in others, indicating the vicinity of shoals and rocky ground, and again catching, in detached parts, the purple reflection of the surrounding cliffs.

From the higher grounds we had a But the dangers of Coryvrekan need distant prospect of Colonsa and not the amplification of poetry to ren- Oransa, just peeping over a low point der them more terrible than they really in Scarba. The latter island appearThe agitation of the waters in ed like an immense hillock, wild, rugthe tide of flood, which here sets out-ged, and barren. wards, and which, in great storms, runs at the rate of fifteen miles in an hour, when meeting with the heavy swell of the Western Ocean, is dreadful; and the whirlpools are tremendous. Their roaring, it is asserted, may be heard at an inconceivable distance; and the ordinary current runs with such rapidity, that it requires a very brisk gale to save a vessel, when it once gets within the sphere of its action.

We heard divers tales of the jeopardy and terror of mariners, who had with great difficulty, from the attraction of its vortices, escaped the dangers of being drawn within them.

We saw it only in that time of the tide, when it was in its most quies

In the afternoon, we visited the remains of a Danish fort on the eastern side of the island. It was built with dry stones, and is of an oval figure, measuring about 14 yards by 24 in the clear. The situation is one of the highest, and commands a full view of all the coasts, except the northern. On the side where the approach is less difficult, there appears the remains of a double ditch, or entrenchment.

These forts were very numerous : from this station, the situations of two more on the opposite main land were pointed out to us. Whether they were erected by the Danes, whose name they bear, or by the inhabitants of the islands, to check their frequent inroads, and form a temporary place of

Monday, 4th.-At eight in the morn

but the tide of flood carried us forward at a very considerable rate. Passing the end of Scarba, we obtained a distant view of Colonsa and Oransa, and the back of Jura, with one of the Paps, rising to a great degree of elevation.

security in the moment of alarm, is uncertain; their forms are generallying we set sail, with a very faint breeze, similar, inclining to the oval, and their situations best adapted for defensive operations. We afterwards visited the remains of a church, but it had nothing remarkable about it: one grave-stone has a large claymore (the emblem of a chieftain) engraven upon it, and is said to be the burial-place of To the north-east, were seen the coone of the M'Leans, of the neighbour-nical hills about Bun Awe; and faring island of Shuna. The others were ther to the northward, the towering merely plain flags, which served to height of Ben Murs, and the vast point out where mountains about Fort William and the Linnhe Loch. Close on our right, was the small island of Eysdale, famous for its fine slate quarries; and to the left, the rugged cliffs of Mull.

"Each in his narrow cell, for ever laid,

The rude forefathers o. the hamlet sleep."

This island, like most of the Hebrides, is destitute of wood, though traces of its having borne oak-trees of consider- At noon, we entered the sound with able magnitude were frequently dis- a favourable breeze, which followed cernible; and, consequently, its pre- us as we passed round the point. On sent open state does not arise from any the left soon appeared Castle Dowart, local incapacity, but merely from the situated upon an abrupt cliff. inattention of the inhabitants to the mouldering walls and buttresses fringprofitable, as well as necessary, busi-ed with ivy, formed a pleasing object, ness of planting, and from their too great aptitude to be discouraged by imperfect attempts.

In the formation of a large plantation, great care is necessary to guard the young trees as much as possible from the bleak sea-breezes, which, in these unsheltered islands, blow with great severity. To effect this, it is requisite to circumscribe its limits, by a broad margin of such trees as are rapid in their growth; and it would be still better to do this a year or more previous to the intended plantation.

Thus the inner plants, from being sheltered while young and tender, will, as they increase, mutually protect each other, and at length attain a degree of luxuriance equal to those of a milder climate. This is evident in several parts of the Highlands of Scotland; the ancient forests yet remaining, and the modern ones, formed by the attention of the dukes of Argyle and other noblemen, are proofs sufficient. Nor can it be urged as an excuse for not planting, that it occupies too much land; since some trees, and particularly the Scotch fir, will grow in places that are totally useless for every other kind of vegetation: and the rocks about Dunkeld, are at once a monument of the effects of persevering industry, and a general reproach to the proprietors of the present barren islands, and uncultivated mountains of the Highlands.

Its

finely backed by the gloomy hills in the interior of the island. This castle was formerly the seat of M'Lean, but is now garrisoned as a fortress. On the right, are the bold craggy shores of Morvern, the country of the celebrated Fingal.

After passing the small remains of the castle of Ardlornish, (formerly a seat of the Earls of Ross) which stands on a small headland, jutting out from the coast of Morvern, the sides of the sound become tame and uninteresting, rising with a gradual and uniform slope on either hand. At times, indeed, the smoke of the kelp-fires yielded a pleasing variety, breaking the formality of the nearer outlines, and lightly diffusing itself over the distant parts of the strait.

As we proceed, however, it improves on the side of Mull, the eminences swell into greater grandeur, and the contour becomes more broken and diversified: but still we vainly look for the beauties of vegetation; no woods either wave on the summit of the bold headland, or adorn the side of the sweeping vale: heath, small patches of pasture, and naked rock, form the only varieties of the surface, and spread their monotonous tints on every side.

This sound has doubtless heretofore been a place of great importance, since it formed a grand inlet to the Danes and Norwegians to the interior coas

66

of the Highlands; and, most probably, | master's attention; and that it had so has frequently witnessed the generous operated upon his curiosity, as to instruggles of freedom with rapine and duce him to open it, and read the ambition. In the short run of 18 love-told story of the amorous footman. miles, we counted five castles or forti- It was in vain that James pleaded to fied houses, though these we may per- have it restored. No, no," said Mr. haps consider of more modern con- Wortley, you shall be a great man, struction than the times to which we James, and this letter shall be publishhave above alluded. ed in the Spectator." It was accordIn the afternoon we arrived at Toberingly shortly afterwards communicated Morey, in Mull, the best harbour in the sound. The present town was erected by the society instituted for the improvement of the Highlands; it is not yet completed, but some public buildings and several houses are erected, on a plan, plain, neat, and uniform; and, along the front, an extensive quay or wharf has been formed, at a considerable expense. The ground | rises extremely from the front range of houses, and the remainder of the town is situated on a considerable eminence, which overlooks the harbour and sound.

At this place, another ship belonging to the Spanish armada was burnt, but whether by accident or design is uncertain.

(To be continued.)

ANECDOTE.

IN vol. 1st of the Spectator, No. 11, there is a letter beginning with "Dear Betty," which found its way into that publication, under the following cir

cumstances:

The real author of this letter was James Hirst, who, in 1711, lived as a servant with the Hon. Edward Wortley. The epistle was intended for a person with whom he was passionately in love; but, unfortunately, instead of falling into the hands of his mistress, it reached the Spectator in the following manner.

66

It happened one day, while James was delivering a parcel of letters to his master, that, through mistake, he gave his own, which was intended for dear Betty;" and, without adverting to the fact, kept back one of his master's in its stead. On making a discovery of this mortifying blunder, he hurried back to his master, delivered up the letter he had detained, and solicited the return of that which was designed for the inspection of other eyes. James, however, had the misfortune to learn, that this ill-fated epistle had been among the first which had arrested his

to Sir Richard Steele, and printed as it had been actually written. But although James was unfortunate in his letter, he was not finally unsuccessful in his attention to the person to whom it was addressed. He soon found means to remove that cruelty of which he complains in this epistle; but before their wishes were completed, the death of Betty put a period to their mutual prospects of felicity.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL
MAGAZINE.

DEAR SIR,
WHEN the Cube Root of a number is
to be extracted to many places of
figures, the common rule is always
found very prolix and tiresome; on
this account, several approximating
rules have been devised by eminent
mathematicians, to abridge the labour
attendant on the common process: the
best of these is the one recommended
by Dr. Hutton, and used in his “ Course
of Mathematics," and other works.

About ten years ago, I discovered a very useful improvement of the common rule, which was published in the Imperial Encyclopædia, and which several persons, who had been accustomed to the old rule, have employed with much satisfaction, finding that the operations were performed by it with much greater facility than by the usual method. On considering the subject lately, it appeared to me that the process might be still further simplified; and this probably will be manifest to others in the application of the following rule, which is doubtless by far the easiest yet published, being much better adapted to practice, even than that already mentioned by approximation.

If you judge that this lucubration will be acceptable to your numerous readers, I shall be pleased to see it inserted in the pages of the Imperial Magazine.

THOS. EXLEY.