sudden gust in dry weather, he would find it very
difficult to escape with life.

For natural curiosities, I was shown only two great masses of stone,
which lie loose upon the ground; one on the top of a hill, and the other
at a small distance from the bottom. They certainly were never put into
their present places by human strength or skill; and though an earthquake
might have broken off the lower stone, and rolled it into the valley, no
account can be given of the other, which lies on the hill, unless, which
I forgot to examine, there be still near it some higher rock, from which
it might be torn. All nations have a tradition, that their earliest
ancestors were giants, and these stones are said to have been thrown up
and down by a giant and his mistress. There are so many more important
things, of which human knowledge can give no account, that it may be
forgiven us, if we speculate no longer on two stones in Col.

This Island is very populous. About nine-and-twenty years ago, the
fencible men of Col were reckoned one hundred and forty, which is the
sixth of eight hundred and forty; and probably some contrived to be left
out of the list. The Minister told us, that a few years ago the
inhabitants were eight hundred, between the ages of seven and of seventy.
Round numbers are seldom exact. But in this case the authority is good,
and the errour likely to be little. If to the eight hundred be added
what the laws of computation require, they will be increased to at least
a thousand; and if the dimensions of the country have been accurately
related, every mile maintains more than twenty-five.

This proportion of habitation is greater than the appearance of the
country seems to admit; for wherever the eye wanders, it sees much waste
and little cultivation. I am more inclined to extend the land, of which
no measure has ever been taken, than to diminish the people, who have
been really numbered. Let it be supposed, that a computed mile contains
a mile and a half, as was commonly found true in the mensuration of the
English roads, and we shall then allot nearly twelve to a mile, which
agrees much better with ocular observation.

Here, as in Sky, and other Islands, are the Laird, the Tacksmen, and the
under tenants.

Mr. Maclean, the Laird, has very extensive possessions, being proprietor,
not only of far the greater part of Col, but of the extensive Island of
Rum, and a very considerable territory in Mull.

Rum