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FOS VON TROIL’S LETTERS ON ICELAND.
nent, exaétly oppofite to Drumnen, the feat of Mr. Maclean. We were immediately
invited to land, and breakfafted there, with that hofpitality which chara¢terifes the inha-
bitants of the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. Leach, another gueit of Mr, Maclean, gave
us many particulars of thefe pillars, which he had vifited a few days before. Mr. Banks’s
defire of information could not refift the offer of this gentleman to accompany us to
Staffa; we therefore went on board our long-boat the fame day, and arrived there at
nine o’clock in the eyening. Jt was impoflible for our furprife to be increafed, or our
curiofity to be fuller gratified, than they were the next morning when we beheld the
no lefs than beautiful fpectacle which nature prefented to our view.
If we even with admiration behold art, according to the rules prefcribed to it, obferv-
ing a certain kind of order, which not only ftrikes the eye, but alfo pleafes it ; what muft
be the effe€@ produced upon us when we behold Nature difplaying, as it were, a re-
gularity which far furpaffed every thing art ever produced! An attentive fpectator will
find as much occafion for wonder and aftonifhment, when he obferves how infinitely fhort
human wifdom appears, when we attempt to imitate Nature in this as well as in any
other of her grand and awful produations. And though we acknowledge Nature to
be the miftrefs of all the arts, and afcribe a greater degree of perfection to them, the
nearer they approach and imitate it, yet we fometimes imagine that fhe might be im-
proved, according to the rules of architecture.
How magnificent are the remains we have of the porticos of the antients! and
with what admiration do we behold the colonnades which adorn the principal buildings
of our times! and yet every one who compares them with Fingal’s Cave, formed by
Nature in the ifle of Staffa, muft readily acknowledge, that this piece of Nature’s ar-
chitefture far furpafles every think that invention, luxury, and tafte ever produced
among the Greeks.
The ifland of Staffa* hes weft of Mull, three miles N. E. of Jona or Kolumb-Kill,
and is about a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth: it belongs to Mr. Lauchlan
Mac-Quarie. On the welt fide of the ifland isa {mall cave, where there is a very con-
venient landing-place, but where no regular bafalt figures are to be met with. To the
fouth of this cave are fome narrow pillars, which, inftead of ftanding upright, are all
inclined, and look like fo many pieces of an arch. Further on you leave a fmall
grotto on your right hand, which is not compofed of pillars, though they appear more
diftinctly and larger above it, and in one place refemble the interior timber-work of a
fhip. Directly oppofite to it, only a few yards diftant, is the peninfula of Bo-fcha-la,
which entirely confifts of regular though lefs pillars, that are all of a conical figure.
Some of them lie horizontally, others incline as it were to the central point, as to the -
upper end, but the greater number are perfectly perpendicular. ‘The ifland itfelf, op-
polite to Bo-fcha-la, confifts of thick columns or pillars, which are not however very
high, as they gradually decreafe in approaching to the water, and extend into the fea
as far as the eye can reach. You may walk upon thefe with great eafe, as from one ftep
of a ftaircafe to another, till you come to Fingal’s, or more properly fpeaking, to Fiuhn
Mac Coul’s grotto or cave, which enters into the mountain from N.E. to FE.
This cave confifts of very regular pillars, which to a great extent on both fides, and
in the moft interior part, fupport an arched vault, compofed of the abtufe points of
© Mr. Banks’s account of this ifland, as communicated by that intelligent gentleman to Mr. Pennant,
and inferted in his Tour in Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides in 1772, is too curious to be omitted,
as it is not only very interefting in itfelf, but is an undeniable proof of the accuracy and fidelity with which
our author, Dr. Troil, has treated of the various fubjeéts contained in this publication :—the editor deems
it therefore unneceflary to apologize for fubjoining an extraét of it to this letter.
pillars
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