The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-08-08
AFTER THE GREAT COUNCIL.
President M'COsn OH It's salient Fea-
lures and What Ii will Accomplish
A Little Trip into the Northern


Mountains and over TO the westeru
Isles.
Special Correspondence ofthe World.
ISLE OF SKYE, July II Having
finished my attendance on the Presby
terlsn Council in Edinburgh proceeded
northwsrd to Inverness, the capital OF
the Highlands, where there has been 6
three DAYS conference on the State OF re-
ligion. Such conferences, l may remark
are not untreQuent st this season in
some of the principal cities of Scotland
and are accompanied by open air preach
ing to the masses, who attend in con
siderable, often in large, numbers. Al
this part of the year the Sacrament of the
Supper is dispensed in the country
churches. Besides the sabbath preach
ing there are held in connection with il
week. dsy services. An English sermon
is preached in the church and a Gaelic
one outside, the two going on slmuitsne'
ously, The attendance at the latter al.
wsvs amounts to hundreds, sometimes tC
thousands, gathered from wide region
wing arouI d. | attended service oil
that kind III Highland parish on Mon
day last both the English service in the
church and the Gaelic one on the banks
of stream. The minister told me that
on the previous day, as the VIC lther was
stormy, ne had made the service as short
as possible, having limited it to four
hours! Had the day been fine the peO-
pie would not have been satisfied with
less than six or eight hours. During the
Monday exercises the attention was sus.
tanned throughout, and at parts of il
there was visible emotion on the
weather beaten faces of both men and
women. Ii is evident the Gaelic comes
home to the hearts OF the people and is
capable of raising deep feeling AT this
season some OF the more powerful High
land preachers leave their parishes and
90 round half county preaching on
Sabbaths and week days TO thousands,
some of whom come twenty miles through
glens and over high mountains to hear
them. | may here mention that in In
vernesshire, Rosshire and the Islands, in
deed, generally over the Highlands, the
people have abandoned the Established
Church aud adhere to the Free Church
Of Scotland. In many parishes there
vii be- hundreds attending the Free
Church of Scotland snd only thirty or
forty, or half dozen at the parish
,hurch. Looking TO this state Of things
there is a bill before Parliament at this
present time, with the names OF Mr..
Maclsren, NJ. 2. for Edinburgh, Mr..
Baxter, Mr.. Grant Duff and others hav-
ING 1t in view TO withdraw, after the
death of the present incumbents, Gil en-
dowments from parish churches were the
membership is less than fifty. This bill
Will not be passed, but it is one OF the
many sigr that the disestablshment of
the Church of Scotland Is merely a ques-
ton of time; it may be three, five or ten
wears.
Having attended so many crowded re-
igiJus meetings | WAS now bent on get.
ting fresh mountain air and al adven-
,ure. So set out TO the isle of Skye,
the widest OF all the Scottish isles, and
known by every reading nan rs having
been Prince Charles place OF refuge
after the battle of Culloden, and having
been visited by Samuel johnson and de-
scribed by Sir W. Scott. The day be-
lore Yesterday started from the beach
On which | landed, and went seven
miles in q dog-cart To Torrau, where |
got boat, with four oarsmen and u sail,
who were to take me twenty-fUur miles
round the bold headland But the
Wind was TOO strong, and, after going
some eighty miles, they landed me.
Walking three miles over ridge, l
came to another bay, called here Loeb,
and walked other three miles over the
toughest road | ever trsvelled-through
guIics, rAvincs, and over rocks and along
the lodges of precipices. At one place
there Was no passage, and l had to plant
my feet in holes in the rocks, and hold
on to points above me. Three hours
walk brought'm to Loeb Corruisk. all
along the scenery was one of the grand
cst character, with the lochs on my right
hand snd first the Biaavin, formed by
hvpersthene, mineral | had never seen
before. and then the Coulin (CuChullln)
Mountains, formed of sycnite, on my
right. The Scottish mountains, AS a
whole, sre too rounded on the top to be
picturesque. But the two ranges in
Skye rise up perpendIcularly into sharp
ridges, made up of line OF sharp-point-
co mountains cleavlRg the sky. The
scene at Lake Corruisk is desolation EN-.
bodied. Some have compared 1t to the
region vt which the Law was delivered,
"even Sinai" The mountains are not SO
lofty, being only between three
thousand and four thousand
feet in height; otherwise the scenCe Is
quite Ms horrifc. The bare walls, black
or red, riseup nearly perpendicular. At
the top the ridges ard points are cut and
Jagged, and below the rocks are twisted,
tortured, tormented.
i was in search OF adventure and | got
it. The forenoon had been Tres b, cold and
breezy. But Skye is proverbially the
land of mist. Though the highlanders
had promised fine day, at midday the
wind shifted to the west and the rain be-
gan to fall IN torrents, and the mountains,
Is if offended. drew down their veil OF
mists in the end to the edge of the lake.
Ana mere WIS L ltu lulitS IIOIl al
human habitstion. For hours | did not
see living creature but three sdven-
turous crows, evidently fleeing our
of the scene. l had ouly two re-
sources open to me. One to he down
among the rocks in the RAIN, and the other
To pursue stony track over high
ridge. thought it wisest to take the
latter course and doggedly pursued my
way in the pitiless storm from II to $50
plunging into water two or three inches
deep every third stepand having to wade
knee deep through streams swollen by
the rains, but getting glorious giimpses
of Blaavin and Coulin as they chose
from time TO time, in condescensiOn,
to uncover their heads and look down
upon us, sending dozens of gushing
streams from their sides. At Sligschan
| hired dog cart and drove nine miles,