*

DE LYON

À

JOURNEY

TO THE

WESTERN ISLANDS

I

OF.

SCOTLAND.

HAD defired to vifit the Hebrides, or

Western Islands of Scotland, fo long, that I fcarcely remember how the wish was originally excited; and was in the Autumn of the year 1773 induced to undertake the journey, by finding in Mr. Boswell a còmpanion, whose acutenefs would help my inquiry, and whofe gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are fufficient to counteract

B

counteract the inconveniencies of travel, in countries lefs hofpitable than we have paffed.

On the eighteenth of Auguft we left Edinburgh, a city too well known to admit description, and directed our course northward, along the eastern coast of Scotland, accompanied the firft day by another gentleman, who could ftay with us only long enough to fhew us how much we loft at feparation.

As we croffed the Frith of Forth, our curiofity was attracted by Inch Keith, a -fmall ifland, which neither of my companions had ever vifited, though, lying within their view, it had all their lives folicited their notice. Here, by climbing with fome difficulty over fhattered crags, we made the firft experiment of unfrequented coafts. Inch Keith is nothing

more than a rock covered with a thin

layer

layer of earth, not wholly bare of grafs, and very fertile of thiftles. A fmall herd of cows grazes annually upon it in the fummer. It seems never to have afforded. to man or beaft a permanent habitation.

We found only the ruins of a small fort, not fo injured by time but that it might be easily reftored to its former ftate. It feems never to have been intended as a. place of strength, nor was built to endure a fiege, but merely to afford cover to a few foldiers, who perhaps had the charge of a battery, or were ftationed to give fignals of approaching danger. There is therefore no provifion of water within the walls,

though the fpring is fo near, have been easily enclosed.

that it might

One of the

stones had this inscription:

"Maria Reg.

"1564." It has probably been neglected from the time that the whole island had

the fame king.

We left this little ifland with our thoughts employed a while on the different appearance that it would have made, if it had been placed at the fame distance from London, with the fame facility of approach; with what emulation of price a few rocky acres would have been purchased, and with what expensive industry they would have been cultivated and adorned.

When we landed, we found our chaise ready, and passed through Kinghorn, Kirkaldy, and Cowpar, places not unlike the fmall or ftraggling market-towns in those parts of England where commerce and manufactures have not yet produced opulence.

рори

Though we were yet in the most lous part of Scotland, and at so small a distance from the capital, we met few pas

fengers.

The