Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 4 (of 10)Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson)
General
Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 4 (of 10)
Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson)
Authors, Scottish -- 19th century -- Biography; Scott, Walter, 1771-1832
possible countenance or assistance. The village of Rowdill consists
of Highland huts of the common construction, _i. e._, a low circular
wall of large stones, without mortar, deeply sunk in the ground,
surmounted by a thatched roof secured by ropes, without any chimney
but a hole in the roof. There may be forty such houses in the
village. We heard that the laird was procuring a schoolmaster--he of
the parish being ten miles distant--and there was a neatness about
the large house which seems to indicate that things are going on
well. Adjacent to the churchyard were two eminences, apparently
artificial. Upon one was fixed a stone, seemingly the staff of a
cross; upon another the head of a cross, with a sculpture of the
crucifixion. These monuments (which refer themselves to Catholic
times of course) are popularly called _The Croshlets_--crosslets, or
little crosses.
"Get on board at five, and stand across the Sound for Skye with the
ebb-tide in our favor. The sunset being delightful, we enjoy it upon
deck, admiring the Sound on each side bounded by islands. That of
Skye lies in the east, with some very high mountains in the centre,
and a bold rocky coast in front, opening up into several lochs, or
arms of the sea;--that of Loch Folliart, near the upper end of which
Dunvegan is situated, is opposite to us, but our breeze has failed
us, and the flood-tide will soon set in, which is likely to carry us
to the northward of this object of our curiosity until next morning.
To the west of us lies Harris, with its variegated ridges of
mountains, now clear, distinct, and free from clouds. The sun is
just setting behind the Island of Bernera, of which we see one
conical hill. North Uist and Benbecula continue from Harris to the
southerly line of what is called the Long Island. They are as bold
and mountainous, and probably as barren as Harris--worse they cannot
be. Unnumbered islets and holms, each of which has its name and its
history, skirt these larger isles, and are visible in this clear
evening as distinct and separate objects, lying lone and quiet upon
the face of the undisturbed and scarce rippling sea. To our berths
at ten, after admiring the scenery for some time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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