elegance, beauty and gayety, the fong and the dance. In Raafay, if I could have found an Ulyffes,

I had fancied a Phæacia.

DUNVEGAN.

At Raafay, by good fortune, Macleod, fo the chief of the clan is called, was paying a vifit, and by him we were invited to his feat at Dunvegan. Raafay has a ftout boat, built in Norway, in which, with fix oars, he conveyed us back to Sky. We landed at Port Re, fo called, becaufe James the Fifth of Scotland, who had curiofity to vifit the islands, came into it. The port is made by an inlet of the fea, deep and narrow, where a fhip lay waiting to difpeople Sky, by carrying the natives away to America.

In coafting Sky, we paffed by the cavern in which it was the cuftom, as Martin relates, to catch birds in the night, by making a fire at the entrance, This practice is difufed; for the birds, as is known often to happen, have changed their haunts.

Here we dined at a publick houfe, I believe the only inn of the ifland, and having mounted our horfes, travelled in the manner already defcribed, till we came to Kingsborough, a place diftinguished by that name, because the king lodged here when he landed at Port Re. We were entertained with the ufual hofpitality by Mr. Macdonald and his lady Flora Macdonald, a name that will be mentioned in hiftory, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour. She is a woman of middle ftature, foft features, gentle manners, and elegant prefence.

In the morning we fent our horfes round a promontory to meet us, and fpared ourfelves part of the day's fatigue, by croffing an arm of the fea. We had at laft fome difficulty in coming to Dunvegan; for our way led over an extenfive moor, where every ftep was to be taken with caution, and we were often obliged to alight, because the ground could not be trufted. In travelling this watery flat, I perceived that it had a visible declivity, and might without much expenfe or difficulty be drained. But difficulty and expense are relative terms, which have different meanings in different places.

To Dunvegan we came, very willing to be at reft, and found our fatigue amply recompenfed by our reception. Lady Macleod, who had lived many years in England, was newly come hither with her fon and four daughters, who knew all the arts of fouthern elegance, and all the modes of English œconomy. Here therefore we fettled, and did not fpoil the prefent hour with thoughts of departure.

Dunvegan is a rocky prominence, that juts out into a bay, on the weft fide of Sky. The houfe, which is the principal feat of Macleod, is partly old and partly modern; it is built upon the rock, and looks upon the water. It forms two fides of a small fquare: on the third fide is the fkeleton of a castle of unknown antiquity, fuppofed to have been a Norwegian fortrefs, when the Danes were mafters of the islands. It is fo nearly entire, that it might have eafily been made habitable, were there not an ominous tradition in the family, that the owner hall not long outlive the reparation. The grand

father

father of the prefent laird, in defiance of prediction, began the work, but defifted in a little time, and applied his money to worfe ufes.

As the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived, for many ages, in continual expectation of hoftilities, the chief of every clan refided in a fortrefs. This houfe was acceffible only from the water, till the laft poffeffor opened an entrance by stairs upon the land.

They had formerly reafon to be afraid, not only of declared wars and authorized invaders, or of roving pirates, which, in the northern feas muft have been very common; but of inroads and infults from rival clans, who, in the plenitude of feudal independence, afked no leave of their fovereign to make war on one another. Sky has been ravaged by a feud between the two mighty powers of Macdonald and Macleod. Macdonald having married a Macleod, upon fome difcontent difmiffed her, perhaps because she had brought him no children. Before the reign of James the Fifth, a Highland laird made a trial of his wife for a certain time, and if she did not please him, he was then at liberty to fend her away. This however must always have offended, and Macleod refenting the injury, whatever were its circumftances, declared, that the wedding had been folemnized without a bonfire, but that the feparation fhould be better illuminated; and raifing a little army, fet fire to the territories of Macdonald, who returned the vifit, and prevailed.

Another story may fhow the diforderly state of infular neighbourhood. The inhabitants of the ifle of Egg, meeting a boat manned by Macleods, tied,

the

the crew hand and foot, and fet them adrift. Macuri leod landed upon Egg, and demanded the offenders; but the inhabitants refufing to furrender them, re-!! treated to a cavern, into which they thought their enemies unlikely to follow them.Macleod choked them with smoke, and left them lying dead by families i as they stood, blod os as of bowolled anod at, on tquả Here the violence of the weather confined us for fome time, not at all to our difcontent or inconvenience. We would indeed very willingly have vifited the islands, which might be seen from the house, fcat> · tered in the fea, and I was particularly defirous to have viewed Ifay; but the ftorms did not permit us to launch a boat, and we were condemned to liften, in: idlenefs to the wind, except when we were betterf engaged by liftening to the ladies,uol to mi sat st

We had here more wind than waves, and fuffered a the feverity of a tempeft, without enjoying its mag nificence. The fea being broken by the multitude of islands, does not roar with fo much noife, nor beat the storm with fuch foamy violence, as I have rest marked on the coaft of Suffer. Though, while I was in the Hebrides, the wind was extremely turbulent/ I never faw very high billows guidil ton acting

The country about Dunvegan is rough and bar-01 ren. There are no trees except in the orchard, which is a low fheltered fpot furrounded with all wall, Jod Ke s gra je toto vd bytidadar zaintamos m

When this houfe was intended to fuftain a frege, all. well was made in the court, by boring the rock downwards, till water was found, which, though fo near to the fea, I have not heard mentioned lase↑

brackish, though it has some hardness, or other qualities, which make it lefs fit for ufe; and the family is now better fupplied from a ftream, which runs by the rock, from two pleafing waterfalls.

Here we faw fome traces of former manners, and heard fome standing traditions. In the houfe is kept an ox's horn, hollowed fo as to hold perhaps two quarts, which the heir of Macleod was expected to fwallow at one draught, as a teft of his manhood, before he was permitted to bear arms, or could claim a feat among the men. It is held that the return of the laird to Dunvegan, after any confiderable abfence, produces a plentiful capture of herrings; and that, if any woman croffes the water to the oppofite ifland, the herrings will defert the coaft. Boetius tells the fame of fome other place. This tradition is not uniform. Some hold that no woman may país, and others that none may país but a Macleod.

Among other guests, which the hofpitality of Dunvegan brought to the table, a visit was paid by the laird and lady of a small island fouth of Sky, of which the proper name is Muack, which fignifies fwine. It is commonly called Muck, which the proprietor not liking, has endeavoured, without effect, to change to Monk. It is ufual to call gentlemen in Scotland by the name of their poffeffions, as Raafay, Bernera, Loch Buy, a practice neceffary in countries inhabited by clans, where all that live in the fame territory have one name, and must be therefore difcriminated by fome addition. This gentleman, whofe name, I think, is Maclean, fhould be regularly called Muck; but the appellation, which ..VOL. VIII.

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