New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-25

Tho borr,d grandeur of that iron shore-that grim
and terrible baftlement which confronts and de-
fies the savage sea, from Kntra around most paro
of the Ross of Null Toward the southwest cor
nor Of Null the Sound of Erraid pours its tides
into the Sound Of Iona, parting Errald Island from
the larger isle The southwest corner of Errald
marks the end of Iona Sound; and not on all THIS
perous coast is there any other spot so full oil
peril Here are the Torranen Rocks,-the Otter,
Frasiers and the West Reef,-and here, during
these days of almost unprecedented tempest; watch
ing them for hours and hours. have seen great
domes Of water, foamng upward fifty feet into
the air, and cleaning perfectly black against the
livid sky. 1t was toward the time of sunset on
Friday September 25) that the storm finally broke
upon us; and from that moment onward, with but
little pause it has continued to rage. Such sue
cession of southwestery gales has seldom been
known upon this coast. Such a'gory of tempest
has seldom been equalled anywhere. All the night
of Friday the wind moaned and howled around our
little habitation as with the many threatening
voices of hungry and bafed beasts. All night
the rain was driven in tumbling sheets against our
windows. And all night / heard in the darkness,
the long roar Of the clamOrous, resounding sea-
AT morning, and at various other times during
Saturday, there was sunshine, -ftfully commlnged
with cloud and rain,-but at no moment was there
lull in the gale and when at noon looked out
upon the Sound its great waves were rolling
northward along it's whole extent, in one regular
incessant procession of livid green ridges,
each reaching almost from shore TO shore and each
mantled with an ermine crest. No boat could have
lived a moment in such a sea. That night, sud
denly, the wind fell the skies cleared the air grew
soft and balmy. the stars out innumerable and
glorious in the vast, dark vault of heaven, and
even the ocean curbed its anger and changed its
hollow roar TO a soft and solemn dirge. The
sailors know this habit of the gale and are not
deceived by it. the storm has paused to catch its
breath Most of Sunday this deceitful calm con-
tinued and no spot of earth ever looked more fair
than this lonely and beautiful Iona,-silent then,
save for the sound of Sabbath bells mingled with
the murmur of the many-colored, musical sea.
Late at evening, walking over the moors which
are at the south of the island heard a sudden
sharp note in the southern blast, and knew that a
change was at hand. BY midnight the wind was
moaning in the chimney and whistling in shrill
puffs through every Granny of the house. and as we
lay awake In our anxious beds we could hear the
swirl Of rain, and from every quarter the horrid
crash Of breakers on the rocks. The morning of
Monday dawned brightly, but it soon darkened, and
all day long there an alienation of shadow
and sunshine,-now black clouds and sudden bursts
of drenching rain, now a twilight of silver mist
which sometimes turned to glittering rainbows
over the stormy Sound,-but never was there
pause in the violence Of the gale. In some hours
Of the ensuing night the moon cast her mantle of
silver upon the raging waters. giving them new
beauty even in their wrath and menace 1t is a
long time, though, since ceased to trust the moon
and did not trust her then The night-wind in
the chimney was better monitor, and of that
-. Il ID
the memory to my dying day. It's prophetic note
was amply justified by the continued storm of
Tuesday-less violent perhaps but not less effec-
tive. Often, this day, did l climb upon Maclean's
Cross, which stands on the causeway by the nun
merry ruins, and there question the ocean, now one
way and now another, for the approach of any
boat; but the colossal breakers on the Tor
ranen Rocks, seen but inaudbe, were all
my answer. This day, also, climbing TO
the windy summit of Dun-i (which is the
highest mountain on this island, looked forth
TO the terrible rocks that grid it's bay upon the
west, and saw Cabbach Island and Dite and
Musnal, white with the flying shrouds of shat
tered breakers, and the Spouting Cave In action.
hurting it's snowy column far into the air TO fall
in cataract of silver. 1t is cruel shore. look
at it from what point you will. Early this morn
ing was on the most placid part of it that have
found,-the Martyrs Bay,-but even there the
shllen waves were storming up the beach, and
strewing its hard white sands with long, serpent
like grasses, and with many sinister shapes of
the brown and wrinltled and Shiny weeds of the
sea. To that beach, in ancient days came many
train of funeral barges, with muhled banners
and with coronsch, bringing home dead Kings of
Scotland, for burial in the Holy Isle. Over these
white sands was borne the mangled body of
the gracious Duncan who rests by Grams
Chapel in yonder field and not long afterward
as many believe, was brought tie ravaged corpse
of his cruel murderer, TO sleep beside him in the
same royal sepulchre. Duncan and Macbeth side
by side, and the grass growing over them, and
the wild sea-birds screaming above their name
| less rest!
Such an opportunity for minute observation
of this remarkable island is not likely to occur
| again. and whether in storm or calm it has not
| been neglected. Standing upon the summit of
Dun-i the wanderer looks northward TO the hook
like point Of Iona and its wide curves of yellow
beach where the white breakers are sporting in
their dance of death Mysterious Stafra, in
the northern distance, is distinctly visible East
ward, across the swift and raging channel are
the swarthy rocks of Null with the treeless
| mountains of Null and Morven towering beyond
| them, blended in colossal heap of chaotic
splendor. In the west is the wild Atlantic break
| ing along the whole three miles of crag and
beach that make lonas outmost coast. In the
foreground of the southern prospect is spine OF
rock.ribbed HILL beyond and around which the
land shelves downward into levels toward the
encrcling sea, More distant in the south tie
sleeps once more ascend presenting a wide. broken
| surface of lonely moOrland covered with rock
and heather, in which the shaggy black and
| brown cattle, with their widespreadng horns
and their great, luminous, beautiful eyes, couch
or stray, in indolent composure. At the extreme
southern point the isle presents lofty crescent
headand of riven rock,-each cleft dark ravine
and each declining crag margined at its base
with cruel, jagged points, like iron teeth. All
this savage scene, in one comprehensive glance,
the gazer from Dun-i may gather into his vision