Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1836-01-07

Correspondence Of The Portland .7drertiser
THINGS IN SCOTLAND.
No Xxx


No. Xxx.
OBAN, July 9, 1885.
There is no lodging this hateful place.
You can't get round it-and it haunts me
yet. Here ! am, aud here ] am not
likely to be long, if can get out Of il -
June 30th, at 3 o'clock in the morning,
we left Tobermcry, from whence wrote
you last, in our steamboat Highlander,
to make visit to the celebrated islands
of Stafla and Iona, both of the Hebrides,
or Western Isles. We went up the
sound Of Null, and around the Island
and by seven or eight O'clock, we were
within sight of Joan, which we passed
in order to make our first landing at Stat
ia. Our object in visiting Staffa was TO
see the celebrated cave Of Fingal, or
FingaPs cave, which as IA geological
curiosity is one of the greatest, if not the
greatest in the world. II is The British
Niagara-not that it is a cataract, for as
such it would be failure-but it is a
natural curiosity, exciting as much won
der, if not terror, as the far-lamed cata.
ract of our own land.
AS we approached the coast Of the is
land, which, by the way, is small, not o.
yer two miles in circumference, ] could
with glass easily distinguish some of
the peculiartes of its formation With
some difficulty, We made landing, for
there was not little sea there, e,-not
from the steam boat directly, but from
that into large boat, which some Of the
neighboring islanders, who understand
the art of dodging the surf, keep for the
purpose of taking visiters ashore, many
of whom resort here from all parts Of the
world. The moment we landed, before
ascending even the elevation, we found
ourselves treading upon the tops, or capi-
tails of huge basaitic pillars, that seemed
composedly piled together, not as if by
nature, nor by the hand of man, but by
some convusion OF the elements. As
we clambered farther up, we found the
columns, or pillars covered with earth or
which the grass was growing-but wher-
ever the sea could reach them, and lay
them bare, the same pillars were to b'
seen strewn about in regular confusion
ifI may adopt such phrase. Now
the pillars sIanted much, now little
now they were almost horizontal, anon
they were perpendicular, which, as they
were worn away formed staircases, as il
were, that you could ascend and descend
with ease. But all these wonders were
nothing when compared with the last OBJ
iect we visited on the south eastern pro-
montory--Fingal's Cave. No description
can give the faintest idea Of it. The
very best ever read, left but sorry
impression when compared with the great
reality. 1t seems as if some fearful
powers had been shaping rocky columns,
in very sport, to shew what they could
do in imitation Of man and when they
had done laughing at their play, had
hurled them all together to form some
mis-shapen place of worship, arched o.
yer, and proppcd up with threatening
pillars. The sea that comes roaring in,
might have been their chant. Imagine,
if you can, some rocky island of precipi-
tous sides, thus followed out for three
hundred feet, with arches and pillars,
Cathcdral-like, c all of columns of basalt
rock, some sixty feet in height, and
where the sea comes booming in at eve
ry rush of the tide. l crept along over
the tops Of some Of the basalt columns
and when stopt, and tried the voice,
the sound was that Of many screams as
the voice was broken by the unequal
surface. The sea-gods might have had
a temple here. lfthe Romans had known
this place, they would have made it the
throne of Neptune, and installed his tri- ,
dent here. Laborious and difficult G.
nough indeed it is to reach this place
and often rough and stormy is the way,
but when once the traveller is here,
he never will regret that he has come,
for picture will be on his mind to last
his life.
Tradition has connected this stupend-
pus cave with the name of Fingal-but
there is no reason TO believe it associa-
ted with his memory. Strange to say,
his great curiosity was almost unknown
til, the middle of the last century, when
Sir Joseph Banks was induced to visit it
by native OF Ireland, whose descrip-
ions made it known TO the world, and
hus stimulated enquiries. 1t is Of the
same formation as the Giants Causeway,
n the same longitude, and not many
niles of, and the same effort Of nature
hat produced the one, probably also pro-
luced the other. The average dame
er of the basalic columns is about two
oet, but they often extend to four. The
number of their sides vary from three to
nine, but the pentngon and hexagon are
he prevalent forms Fingal's cave, how