not be disappointed, and possibly he may pick up a few hints in these
notes as to those districts which are most likely to repay him for his
toil in reaching them. But if to his love of the picturesque he joins
a taste for archæological pursuits, then I can assure him there is a
rich and by no means exhausted field of study in the antiquities of the
Long Island. Interesting, however, as are the relics of prehistoric and
later times which one meets with, yet it is the geologist, perhaps, who
will be most rewarded by a visit to these islands.
The physical features of the Outer Hebrides are, as already stated,
somewhat monotonous, but this is quite consistent with considerable
variety of scenic effect. All the islands are not equally attractive,
although the configuration of hills and low-grounds remains
persistently the same from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head. The most
considerable island is that of which Lewis and Harris form the northern
and southern portions respectively. By far the larger part of the
former is undulating moorland, the only really mountainous district
being that which adjoins Harris in the south. A good general idea
of the moorlands is obtained by crossing the island from Stornoway
to Garrynahine. What appeared at first to be only one vast extended
peat-bog is then seen to be a gently-undulating country, coated, it
is true, with much peat in the hollows, but clad for the most part
with heath, through which ever and anon peer bare rocks and rocky
débris. Now and again, indeed, especially towards the centre of the
island, the ground rises into rough round-topped hills, sprinkled
sparingly with vegetation. One of the most striking features of the
low-grounds, however, is the enormous number of freshwater lakes,
which are so abundant as to form no small proportion of the surface.
They are, as a rule, most irregular in outline, but have a tendency to
arrange themselves in two directions--one set trending from south-east
to north-west, while another series is drawn out, as it were, from
south-west to north-east. I am sure that I am within the mark in
estimating the freshwater lakes in the low-grounds of Lewis to be at
least five hundred in number. In the mountain-district the lakes are,
of course, confined to the valleys, and vary in direction accordingly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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