The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

XOETHEEN SCOTL.l^TD. 353
Jui'd—or rather Diura ; that is, " Stag Island " *—and Islaj', the one covered with
lofty mountains rising to a height of 2,566 feet, the other the most fertile and
best cultivated of the Hebrides, and rich in metals. The narrow " sound " which
separates these islands from the peninsula of Kintyre is navigable, but owing to
its swift tidal currents it is dangerous to small vessels. Two of these currents
meet between Jura and the small island of Scarba, producing a tide of double
height. The passage of this strait is attended with peril when the tide chan»es,
more especially if the wind blows in a direction contrary to its current and
towards the rocks. At such times no vessel would venture to approach this
fearful "race," which the Gaels very appropriately call Coirebhreacain, or
Corryvrekan ; that is, " Caldron of the Sea." The velocity of the current is
variously estimated at 10 or 13 miles, t
Of all the currents in the seas of Scotland
that of Coirebhreacain is most dreaded ; in its violence it is the equal of the more
famous maelstrom amongst the Norwegian Lofoten.
We already know something of the character of the climate of Northern
Scotland. Essentially maritime, even more so than that of Southern England,
it is also very damp and of surprising equability. The atmosphere is nearly
always saturated with moisture, at least on the western coast, where the clouds,
arrested by the high mountains, almost incessantly descend in rain or snow, the
latter, however, but rarely remaining long upon the ground. Eain falls at
all seasons of the year, destroying the rocks and swelling the mosses of the bogs.
Scotland is most emphatically a land of mists, through which the heroes of
Ossian loom like fleeting shadows. In the songs of the bards Skye is the
" Island of Clouds," Mull the " Island of Gloom," whilst the northern navigators
knew the sea around the Orkneys as the Libersee, or " Viscous Ocean." The
Gaels have five elements, for to fire, water, earth, and air they add mist.
The great contrast between the long nights of winter and the long days of
summer is compensated by its equability of temperature. Even in the Orkneys,
in the fifty-ninth degree of latitude, mariners may reckon in summer upon a
hundred successive days on which print may easUy be read at midnight, whilst
in winter there occurs an equal number of very short days followed by a long
night, occasionally lit up by the aurora borealis. The winds are high, and storms
frequent ; but though the atmosjjhere be ever so much agitated, its temperature is
nearly always the same. The mean annual temperature in the Scotch islands
amounts to 45" Fahr., while that of winter is about 40^ Fahr. The dark months
pass away without frost ;
but the summers have no heat, and the year, as a whole,
is, so to speak, of a neutral complexion. J Several southern plants requiring only
moisture and mild winters flourish in Scotland, and on the margins of the lakes
of Sutherland fuchsias grow in the open air. But in the Orkneys the heat
of summer is not sufficient for most of our vegetables ; trees do not grow
spontaneously ;
and even the service-tree and ash succeed only under careful shelter
of walls. But though the surface of the islands be barren and naked, the sea
• MacCulloch, " A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland."
t Athe.iicum, 26tli August, 1864.
j Charles Jlartins; Gast. de Saporla, Efvue des Lcux-Mondes, July 1st, 1871.