The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Caught in a Ford. 207
fe^v minutes there stretched out before me what seemed to
be an interminable stretch of sand. This was the north
ford. On a small rock in this ford I was destined to pass
that night. But before continuing my story, I must give
a description of the ford, which was the scene of the
adventure I am about to relate.
The north ford, so called to distinguish it from the
south ford, which separates South Uist from Benbecula, is
a stretch of sand Ij/ing, as I have said already, between
Benbecula and North Uist, about- four miles broad, and
intersected by several deep channels running east and west.
These channels are formed by the force of the current
during the flowing and ebbing of the tide ;
they are seldom,
if ever, actually without water, and I have seen at least one
of them—the Gramsdale ford—with a depth of three feet
even at low water. The depth of water also varies owing
to the occasional shifting of sand. The deepest of these
channels, and the one to be most dreaded, is this Grams-
dale ford, which is near the Benbecula side. A line of
stones embedded in the sand indicates the proper, and
indeed, the only safe course across the ford ; for an
inexperienced traveller is not only in danger of attempting
to cross where there is too much water, but he is also in
danger of getting among treacherous quicksands unless he
keeps close by the stones. Owing to the constant shifting
of sand, the stones are, however, often completely hidden
from view, and then only a very experienced person is able
to find his way safely across. In the middle of the ford
are several small islands, many of them mere rocks wholly
covered with water when the tide is in. One of the
islands, Grimisay, is inhabited, and has a population
of about two hundred. During the flowing tide, and
when the wind blows in certain directions, the sea
rushes in from the Minch in the east, and from the Atlantic
on the west, with great speed, and at high water attains a
depth of ten or twelve feet. I should have stated that the
stones placed in the sand to guide the traveller are not laid