Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

DUIN. 399
tree, as the only tree on his farm, back to his native
Argyllshire. When I talk of making* discoveries in this
country, as usual, you are perhaps inclined to think of
the celebrated voyage of the Badaud down the Seine. It
is not a whit the less true that I made a discovery on this
very day. Judge of my feelings, as discoverers say,
when, in standing down into Loch Snizort, the point of
Duin broke on my astonished sight. But those who have
eyes do not come hither. A century hence, there will be
guides and boats to Duin, as there are now^ to StafTa
yet that which is not Fingal's cave, will be CuchuUin's,
or Oscar's, not mine; because I have lived thirteen hun-
dred years too late to be recorded among the Van Troils
and Pennants, or to have a right to my own discoveries.
If the columns that form the point of Duin are not abso-
lutely regular, the general effect of columnar regularity
is perfect. The whole cliff* rises immediately out of the
sea; but, as in Staffa, there is also a long projecting
double causeway of broken pillars, on which it is easy
enough to land. Upwards, the columns terminate on the
sky, and the outline is agreeably varied ; while the front
is beautifully broken into irregular projecting parts and
recesses, catchinga diversity of lights which produce great
richness of effect. The clustering of the pillars, and their
unequal heights, while they are productive of great va-
riety, give to this place a character utterly different from
that of Staffa, with which, nevertheless, it may be more
easily compared than with any similar scene, I esti-
mated the height at 60 or 70 feet, but it may be more
considerable. There are three caves in the front, and,
being excavated out of the columns, like the great cave
of Staffa, they have the same architectural air, but on a
less scale. The two larger are about 30 or 40 feet high
at the entrance, and perhaps about 20 in breadth ; but
the third is not above half as large. And here my de-
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