IONA, or Icolmkill, one of the Hebrides, a small but celebrated island, “once,” as Dr Johnson expresses it, “the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion.” The name Iona is derived from the Hebrew word signifying a dove, in allusion to Columba, who landed here in 565. It is said to have been a seat of the Druids before his arrival, when its name in Irish was Inis Drunish, or the Druid Island. The Druids being expelled or converted, Columba founded here a cell of canons regular, who, till 716, differed from the church of Rome in the observance of Easter and in the tonsure. After his death the island retained his name, and was called Yeolumb cill or Columb’s cell, now Icolmhill. The Danes dislodged the monks in the seventh century, and the Cluniacs were the next order who settled here.

This island, which belongs to the parish of Ross, in Mull, is three miles long and one broad. The east side is mostly flat, the middle rises into small hills, the west side is very rude and rocky, and the whole forms a singular mixture of rock and fertility. There is in the whole island only one village, or rather collection of huts, inhabited by a population of about 450 individuals, for whose education and religious improvement a church and schoolhouse have been erected by the Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge. Near the town is the bay of the martyrs who were put to death by the Danes. An oblong enclosure, bounded by a stone dyke, and called Clach-nan-Druinach, in which bones have been found, is supposed to have been a burial-place of the Druids, or rather the common cemetery of the town’s people. Beyond the town are the ruins of the nunnery of Austin canonesses, dedicated to St Oran, and said to have been founded by Columba. The church was fifty-eight feet by twenty, and the eastern roof is entire. On the floor, covered deep with cow-dung, is the tomb of the last prioress, with her figure praying to the Virgin Mary, and this inscription on the ledge: Hic jacet domina Anna Donaldi Eerleti filia, quondam prioressa de Jona, quoe obiit ano m 0 d 0 xi m0 ejus animant Altissirno commendamus ; and another inscribed, Hic Jaext Mαriota filia Joi tan. Lauchlain domini de.... A broad paved way leads hence to the cathedral; and on this way there is a large handsome cross called Macleane’s, the only one that remains of three hundred and sixty which were demolished here at the Reformation. Reilig Ouran, or the burying-place of Oran, is the large enclosure where the kings of Scotland, Ireland, and of the isles, with their descendants, were buried, in three several chapels. The dean of the isles, who travelled in 1549, and whose açcount has been copied by Buchanan, says, that in his time, on one of these chapels, or “tombes of stain fornfit like little chapels, with ane braid gray marble or quhin stain on the gavil of ilk ane of the tombes,” containing, as the chronicle says, the remains of forty-eight Scotch monarchs, from Fergus II. to Macbeth, sixteen of whom were pretended to be of the race of Alpin, was inscribed Tumulus regum Scotiae ∙ the next was inscribed Tumulus regum Hibernice and contained four Irish monarchs; and the third, inscribed Tumulus regum Norwegiae, contained eight Norwegian princes, or viceroys of the Hebrides, whilst these islands were subject to the crown of Norway. Boecius savs, that Fergus founded this abbey to serve as a burial-píace for his successors, and caused an office to be composed for the funeral ceremony. All that Mr Pennant discovered here, consisted in certain slight remains, built in a rigid form, and arched within, but the inscriptions were lost. These were called Jornaire nan righ, or “the ridge of the kings.” Amongst those stones are to be seen only two inscriptions, in the Gaelic or Erse language, but written in the ancient Irish characters: Cros Domhail fat'asich, “the cross of Donald Longshanks,” and that of Urchυine o Guin; and another inscribed Hic jacet priores de Ily i Johannes, Hugenius, Patricius, in decretisolim baccalaureus, qui obiit an. Dom. milles mο quingentesimo. About three hundred inscriptions were collected here by Mr Sacheverel in 1688, and given to the Earl of Argyll, but afterwards lost in the troubles of the family. The place is in a manner filled with grave-stones, but so overgrown with weeds that few or none are at present to be seen, far less can any inscriptions be read. Here also stands the chapel of St Oran, the first building commenced by Columba, which the evil spirits would not suffer to stand till some human victim had been buried alive; a service for which Oran offered himself, and his red grave-stone is still to be seen near the door. In this chapel are tombs of several chiefs, and others. A little north-west of the door is the pedestal of a cross, on which are certain stones that seem to have been the supporters of a tomb. Numbers who visit this island think it incumbent on them to turn each of these thrice round, according to the course of the sun. They are denominated Clachabrath ; for it is thought that the brath, or end of the world, will not arrive till the pedestal on which they stand is worn through. Mr Sacheverel informs us, that originally there were here three noble globes of white marble, placed on three stone basons, and that these were turned round; but the synod ordered them and sixty crosses to be thrown into the sea. The present stones are probably substituted instead of these globes. The precinct of these tombs was held sacred, and enjoyed the privileges of a girth or sanctuary. These places of retreat were, by the ancient Scotch law, not designed to shelter indiscriminately every offender, as was the case in more bigoted times in Catholic countries; for here all atrocious criminals were excluded, and none but the unfortunate delinquent or the penitent sinner was shielded from the instant stroke of rigorous justice. A little to the northward of this enclosure stands the cathedral, built in the form of a cross, 115 feet long by twenty-three broad, and the transept seventy feet; the pillars of the choir have their capitals charged with scriptural and other histories; and near to the altar are the tombs of two abbots and a knight. A fragment remains of the altar stone, of white marble veined with gray. This church is ascribed to Maid win, in the seventh century; but the present structure is far too magnificent for that age. Most of the walls are built of red granite, from the Nun’s Island in the Sound. Two parallel walls of a covered way, about twelve feet high and ten wide, reach from the south-east corner to the sea· In the church-yard is a fine cross of a single piece of red granite, fourteen feet high, twenty-two inches broad, and ten inches thick. Near to the south-east end is Marys [7:12:339]chapel. The monastery is behind the chapel, of which only a piece of the cloister remains, and some sacred black stones in a corner, on which contracts and alliances were made and oaths sworn. To the east of it were the abbot’s gardens and offices; and to the north was the palace of the bishop of the islcs after the separation from them ofMan. This see was endowed with thirteen islands, several of which were frequently taken away by the chieftains. The title of Soder, which some explained as Zwrng, Soter, the name of Christ, or Soder an imaginary town, is really derived from the distinction of the diocese into the northern islands or Nordereys, that is, all to the north of Ardnamurchan Point, and the Southern or Sudcreys; which last being the most important, the Isle of Man retained both titles.

Other ruins of monastic buildings and offices may be traced, as well as some druidical sepulchral remains. Several abbeys were derived from this, which, with the island, was governed by an abbot-presbyter, who had rule even over bishops. The place where St Columba landed is a pebbly beach, where a heap of earth represents the form of his ship. Near it is a hill with a circle of stones called Cnoe∙nan aimgeal, or “the hill of angels,” with whom the saint held conference; and on Michaelmas day the inhabitants coursed their horses round it, a relic of the custom of bringing them there to be blessed. In former times this island was the place where the archives of Scotland and many valuable old manuscripts were kept. Of these most are supposed to have been destroyed at the Reformation; but many, it is said, were carried to the Scotch college at Douay in France, and it is hoped some of them may still be recovered. In 1830 an intelligent antiquary cleared away the rubbish from the ruins of the religious edifices, for the purpose of bringing to light every relic that might remain. In this search, besides the advantages resulting from disentombing these interesting ruins, and exposing them to the eye of the visitor, a great many statues and monuments were discovered.