Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-20
IONA AND STAFFA.
A Day on the Ancient ana wonder
ful Islands of the North Coast.

IONA AND STAFFA.
Day on the Ancient and wonder
ful Islands of the North Coast.
Among all the curiosities with which the
British Isles are associated none is more
interesting or instructive than the islands
Of Iona and Staffa. The school boy reads
in his primary geography of the wonder
full ''Fingalls Cave" with it's octagonal
and sexagonal basaltic columns, or he
sees in his history the story of the first
missionary to the British Isles, and reads
how he landed on the Island Of Iona and
preached to the few benighted heathens
These two small islands are situated
near the western shore of the island OF
Null, an island of considerable size
which lies off the Western coast OF Scot
land, being within sight of Oban, one Of
the principal towns Of the highlands.
Iona and Staffa thus lie fully exposed to
the great Atlantic, whose swell comes
rolling inwards with impetuous force and
dashes itself against their rocky shores.
Unfortunately the day on which we Wis
! tied these places OF interest was very fog
gy 50 that our voyage on the steamer
iroml lOban to Iona, the first to be visited,
was rather unpleasant as we could see
nothing of the beautiful scenery which
we passed and we could not even get
glimpse OF Iona until we were steaming
right by it. The bell rings to stop and
soon the little boat comes out from the
shore to get those OF the passengers who
wish to explore among the antiquities
with which this island is covered 1t is
with no small difficulty that we disem
bark from the steamer into the small
boat, for the waves are 30 large tn vt both
are constantly rocking back and forth,
but before long all are safely on board
and we push off from the steamer and
make for the shore. AS we approach the
shore we see away up the coast the grand
ruins of the Iona Cathedral. This is the,
principal thing of interest ON the island
and we shall soon be there under the
guidance of a man who can tell us
its whole history. In the meanwhile, on
landing, we are beset by crowds of chill
dren OF all ages trying to sell their curl
osities to the passengers. The people of
the island are in very low state OF civil
! lization, and subsist chiefly by fishing,
and many curious eyes are turned to-
wards us as our guide hurries us on.
We come first to large cross set up not
far from the Cathedral by the road side.
This cross, with one other, are the last Of
a great number of similar ones which
once were used in connection with the
sacred rites of the Druids, but which
long since have been seized upon by the
S -otch and English and carried away to
form the burial stones of their kings.
This one is beautifully engraved with DIFF
ferent scenes and descriptions, which are
still quite clear, Notwithstanding that the
winds of over thousand years have
blown upon it. Iona Cathedral is the
next place we visit. 1t is said to have
been built by COLUMBIA, the first
Christian missionary who ever
came to the British Isles.
Its long since rocfess wall, covered with
moss, tell story of hundreds of years.
| Its massive masonry has stood the winds
of the tlantic and still stands, a mo-
mortal of the toilsome efforts of thenoble
and courageous missionary. On one end
largo tower stands, up which an old
fashioned staircase leads to the top In
side the walls of the passages and differ
ent rooms are covered with scenes and
inscriptions engraven upon the stone
| At one end Of the largest ball once stood
a large and beautiful altar OF white mar
BILE, but this has disappeared altogether,
having been brokena off bit by bit by
the hands OF numerous acquaintances
Many people have been buried here and
you see many inscriptions carved on the
stone slabs such as, "Asleep in Jesus"
All the writings are in Latin.
Our guide hurries us on so fast that we
do not have time to examine everything
as carefully as we would wish to.
By the side of this time-worn temple is
the ancient burial place of the Scottish
Kings, where side by side, under
stone slabs, lie the remains of
thirty kings who once lived and swayed
the sceptre over Scotland. These slabs
are engraved with figures of knights in
full armour with shields and spears etc.
We feel that we could spend tar longer
time examining the inscriptions and fig
! ures, but our steamer is ready to start,
and we must go. After short sail we
reach St8ffa, Ii is much smaller than
Iona, only two or three people being able
10 live on it. Stafla is just like huge
castle, built of pillars hewn by natures
own hands and set down right in the
middle of the sea The pillars are very
perfectly formed, and set so closely to-
gether that a pm knife can not be insert
ed between them. This curious form
alton continues under the sea till it
reaches Ireland, where it is known as the
Giants Causeway.
Tradition says that the Giant Fingall,
from whom the cave on Staffa takes it's
name, made this causeway across from
Ireland to the cave on Statfa for him to
walk on, and that Fingal's cave was his
| home. MH3
This weird and louely cave in the At
lantic would have formed very suitable
home for giant such as tradition makes
this one to be. We reached its mouth
by walking along the top of row of the
pillars holding on the ropes provided for
| that purpose.
| There are several large caves on the
island, but Fingalls is the largest and
most wonderful 1t runs in flor long
distance; the pillars are continued away
into the very end. We feel awed as we
stand and look into the immense cavern
ont OF which the ATLANTIC surpes