Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

NORTH UTST.
105
smiles : when they bluster and roar you require no warn-
ing. All was gay, and bright, and smooth, and green ;
yet the sea, which seemed as if it had gone to rest for
ever, was gently heaving in a long-measured swell that
no eye could discover. The cave was long and low, and
the roof shelved down till it met the water. On a sud-
den we were lifted up and carried on till our heads
struck the roof; and the space was instantly filled by the
sea. It was the work of an instant to push back ; and
that instant, had we failed, would have consigned us to
the shells and corals below, to sleep for ever " under the
glassy, cool, translucent wave," beyond even the reach
of conjecture. " Eh sirs," said Neill, as the long surge
swept us out again, " wha would ha' thought it." It is
a good quiet sort of sea, says Solon, if the winds would
let it alone. His worship never visited caves probably.
Butler is nearer the mark, when he says, that, in one
way or other, ships and boats have made ample amends
for all those they saved at the Deluge.
Loch Maddy, in North Uist, forms an excellent har-
bour. There is one advantage in a shower in this coun-
try, that you are not kept waiting in fretful expectation,
wondering how long it will be before you are wet
through. The business is completed in five minutes, and
you are at peace for the day. After that, whatever falls
is so much rain wasted ; it affects you no more than it
does the sea. This is the true secret of that contempt of
rain for which I had so often admired the Highlanders:
a wet jacket, like some pains and all pleasures, is more
in the expectation than in the reality. It is also true,
soberly and philosophically. To be half wet is to be
chilled; but a thoroughly drenched coat checks the
partial and cold evaporation. Hence the warmth of the
soaked plaid. The Highland practice is correct. It