A

JOURNEY

TO THE

WESTERN ISLANDS

OF

SCOTLAN D.

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 companion, whose acutenefs would help my inquiry, and whofe gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are fufficient to B counteract

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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 defcription, and directed our courfe northward, along the eastern coaft of Scotland, accompanied the first day by another gentleman, who could ftay with us only long enough to fhew us how much we loft at separation.

As we croffed the Frith of Forth, our curiosity was attracted by Inch Keith, a fmall island, 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, nor 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 to man or beaft a permanent habitation.

We found only the ruins of a small fort, not so injured by time but that it might be easily restored to its former state. It seems never to have been intended as a place of ftrength, 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 spring is so near, that it might have been easily enclosed. One of the ftones had this infcription: "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 awhile 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 chaife ready, and paffed 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.

Though we were yet in the most

popu

lous part of Scotland, and at fo fmall a distance from the capital, we met few paffengers.

The

The roads are neither rough nor dirty; and it affords a fouthern ftranger a new kind of pleasure to travel fo commodiously without the interruption of toll-gates. Where the bottom is rocky, as it seems commonly to be in Scotland, a fmooth way is made-indeed with great labour, but it never wants repairs; and in those parts. where adventitious materials are neceffary, the ground once confolidated is rarely broken; for the inland commerce is not great, nor are heavy commodities often transported otherwife than by water. The carriages in common ufe are small carts, drawn each by one little horse; and a man seems to derive fome degree of dignity and importance from the reputation of poffeffing a two-horse cart.

ST. ANDREW S.

At an hour fomewhat late we came to St. Andrews, a city once archiepiscopal; where

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