Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

370 SKY.
who have been foolishly accused of warring- without
wants, or of wanting reasons for war, might take a hint
from the battle of Portree: where subjects like Nootka
Sound are not attainable, or when they have exhausted
all the motives which Swift has so kindly offered them.
But as I have now brought you to new lands, it is but
right, according to the laudable rule of travellers, to give
you a geographical description of Sky. If it is as lively
as Mr. Guthrie's, you cannot complain. This first of the
Scottish islands, is about forty-five miles in length, with
a mean breadth of fifteen ; and therefore, is as large as
many an English county; but it is so indented by sea
lochs as to have a far less superficial area than those di-
mensions would give. There is scarcely, indeed, a point
in it that is five miles from the sea, on some quarter or
other. As it is scarcely a musket-shot from the mainland,
at the Kyle Rich, an expedition to Sky is not of the
formidable or romantic character which is commonly sup-
posed. The Cockneys indeed, must imagine it placed,
no one knows where ; in the clouds, perhaps, from its
name ; since, accosting a friend at a review in Hyde Park,
not very long ago, who had just arrived from it, the per-
sons around began to examine him from head to foot;
expecting, possibly, that he wore his head under his arm,
and had a trap-door in his stomach, like the inhabitants
of the dog-star.
The first impression which a stranger feels on landing in
this island, is that of a savage, bare, brown, hideous land;
cold, cheerless, and deserted ; without even the attraction
of grand or picturesque features. First impressions of
this kind are seldom so false ; as it contains great va-
riety of beauty, and, in scenes of romantic grandeur,
yields to no land. Though a mountainous country, it
presents a considerable diversity, both of elevation and
character ; yet it possesses no level ground, except