timation, about three leagues.-Rhu not fo clofe as thofe of the Giant's.. Causeway; but, like thofe, their tops, where expofed, are either concave or convex. Thalve, the northernmost extreme of Mull, N. by E.-Inch Kenneth N.E.N.-The point of Ben Vawruch, on the north fide of Loch Leven, N. E. diftant, by estimation, three miles. The range of Loch Leven E. by S. and W. by N. About a quarter of a mile from the fpot where the bearings were taken, is a deep glen, running N.N.E. to the fea. It is about thirty yards in length, and twenty in breadth. The ftrata are difpofed in the following extraordinary manner :-The uppermoft is ten yards of lava, with horizontal divifions and verticle joints, taking the form of rude pillars. Under this is an horizontal bed of a perfectly vitrified fubftance, which appears to have been a fhale, and is from one to two inches in thickness. Beneath this, is about three yards of a filiceous gravelly concrete; below which are horizontal beds of indurated marl, of various thickneffes, from fix to twelve inches. The whole of these beds, taken together, are about four yards, and there is a large fiffure in them, on the weft fide of the glen. Laftly, are ten yards of rude lava, containing fpects of quartz and mica unaltered, pieces apparently of granite, and fomenodules of calcined chert. The whole is incumbent on regular bafalt pillars, of various dimenfions, from eighteen to fix inches diameter, varying in the number of their fides, fome having five, fome fix and others feven fides. They are alfo as varioufly difpofed; thofe on the western extremity of the glen being ftraight, and lying horizontally; whilst of those on the eaft fide fome are bare, and ftanding perpendicularly; and others, which are furmounted by the rude lava, are inclined and curved, as if they had taken that form in cooling from the preffure of the incumbent weight. Many of the pillars are very full of bladder-holes the articulations of the joints are close, though : At the extremity of the glen is an infulated rock, fupported by bafalt pillars, which are fomewhat curved and inclined. Incumbent on these are other pillars, lying nearly hori zontal, and having a rude face of lava to the weftward. At high-water this rock is inacceffible without a boat; but at low-water it may be eafily got at, by ftepping from one tumbler to another; and on the north fide it is not difficult to climb to the top. The bottom of the glen is covered with large tumblers of lava the whole way down to the rock, and prefents the rudeft fcene imaginable. Oppofite Ardlun Head, on the north fide of Loch Leven, is Ben Vawruch, an high promontory, whose trata are in horizontal beds; and the hill being of a circular figure, gives it the appearance of feveral terraces, with a kind of castle or cairn on the top. The columnar pillars at Ardlun are more or lefs regular for an extent of near a mile and an half; and all the projecting points of Loch Leven, as far as the eye could reach, appear. ed to be compofed of lava. Amongst the rude lava, which forms the bafis below high water mark, are nodules of crystal and agate, adhering in small lumps to the rocks but, being blackened by the washing of the fea, are not to be difcovered without a very nice fearch. Our boatmen informed us, that higher up the Loch there is a bed of coal. This we wifhed to fee; but, as they allo told us, that the weather, which bad for fome days paft been very tempeftuous, was now favourable for landing on Staffa, we determined to avail our felves of the opportunity, and got into the boat, highly pleafed with what we had feen; and for which pleafure we were indebted to the hint in DrJohnson's Tour to the Hebrides, We landed without difficulty on the eastern fide of Staffa, and on an eminence, near the center of the ifland, I obferved the following bearings, The Dutchman's Cape N. W.-Cairnborough N. by W. The Paps of Jura (over Mull) S. by W. The greatest extent of the island is about one mile from N. E. to S. W. and in one part not more than a quarter of a mile from S. E. to N. W. It is tolerably level, the fhore every where fteep, and the cliffs formed by bafalt pillars or rude lava. The ufual landing parts for boats is in a fmall cove on the N. E. fide of the island; but we were affured, that there is no anchorage for veffels round its whole coaft. On the fouth fide, rifing from a nearly horizontal bed of reddifh tone, are beautiful bafalt pillars of confiderable height, and ftanding vertically; at a little diftance are others inclined, and others which are curved, very fimilar to the ribs of a hip. There are three caverns amidit the bafaltic pillars; the northernmost goes in to the eastward, how far I know not; for, though we went entirely round the island in our boat, the tide was too high, and the swell too great, to permit our entering any of the caverns without the utmost risk; we therefore forbore to make fo dangerous an attempt. One of the caverns is now ufually called Fingal's Cave; but the school-mafter at Icolmkill informed us, that the Erfe name for it is Feio, which fignifies the meJodious or echoing cave. On the northern part of the island, and at the Cove where we landed, the cliffs are of coarfe lava, without any pillars. In fume parts of the island the tops of the pillars are standing bare; in other parts the fur ace is formed by rude argillaceous lava, full of bladder-holes, fome empty, others replete with quartz crystals. Calcareous fpar, pebbles of indurated clay and fhoerl, Jetached pieces of zeolite, are fre quently feen, and the vegetable foil is a decompofed lava. In fome places we met with gravel containing pebbles of bafaltes, of red granite, and of quartz, whofe angles were worn off, and they were become round and fmooth. On the N.W. fide, the cliff has lately given way; a large portion of it has lately fallen into the fea, and a ftill further part appears likely to follow it. were On the ifland are two fprings of excellent freth-water. There three houfes (July 5, 1788) uninhabited; and barley, oats, flax, and potatoes, growing near the center, and good grafs in feveral spots. When the crops are ripe, labourers are fent to gather them in; after which, thirty head of cattle are sent to winter in the island, which, with a folitary herdfman to attend them, continue till feed-time the enfuing spring. In attempting to return to Ilay, after having got within three miles of the N.W. part of Colonfay, au heavy gale of wind came on, which obliged us to bear away, and take fhelter in the Bull Sound. The weather continuing ftormy, we landed, and walked to Fidden, the houfe of Lieut. Colonel Campbell, of the Plymouth division of Marines, who received us with the utmoft cordiality, and hofpitably entertained us for five days, which we were detained by an adverfe wind and feverity of weather. Availing ourfelves of this delay, and of Col. Campbell's polite offer to be our guide, we fet out on foot with him and Lieutenant Stewart, to view the feam of coal on the fouth fide of Loch Leven. After paffing fome moory ground, and continuing our route to the northward for an hour and an half, we came to a spot where the rock which puts up to the day is a laminated micaceous ftone of the gneiss kind (Kirwan, p. 102.) and in another half hour, near a fmall town on the S.W. fide of Loch Lyne, we were fhewn a quarry where the gneiss ran ges ges N. E. and S.W. and has a flight hade to S.E. It is in ribs from two to twelve inches thick, and is ftratified by intermediate ribs of red granite of about an inch thick. We croffed Loch Lyne in a boat, and landed on the rude mafs of lava, which continues away to the N.E. by the town of Ardlun, and onwards to the S.W. fide of Loch Leven. feet below the furface. At the back of the houfe, towards the fea, are cliffs of red granite, which extend round to the Bull Sound. On the fhore are pebbles of bafaltes, of granite, and of gneifs; and from the firm rocks we collected feveral fpecimens of granite, in which the feldfpath, quartz and black mica, are differently blended but without any fhoerl. During our stay at Fidden, I leaned from Mr Stewart, that Rhos Mall, which is the N.W. part of Mull, is chiefly ed granite: in the fouthern part of the island is very fine white freeilone, and between that and the granite all whynftone. The island of Lifmor, in the found of Muli, is entirely limeftone, excepting where it is coffed by the Whya Dykes. In the inland of Ulva are pillars fomewhat refembling thofe of Staffa, but of a paler colour.-Canna alfo is bafaltic and resembles Staffa. In a fmall bay, about one mile to the S. E. of Avulun Head, under a bed of jointed lava, which has fome refemblance of pilla.s, and juft at high-water mark, is a bead of coal, exactly twelve inches thick, intermix. ed with fhale or bituminous fhiftus (Kirwan, p. 89.) dipping S. E. towards the Loch one yard in three: there is not any intervening fubftance b teen the coal and the fuperiscumbent lava, which contains mary bladder holes. Beneath the coal is alto lava without any intervening matter. About twen ty yards to the NW. the coal again appears in the cliff, but is not more The Duchman's Cape has rude pilthan from eight to ten inches thick. lars.-Carnborough the fame. DunHere are tumblers of various fizes, vegan in the ifle of Skye has bafal fca tered on the fhore. Amongst them tic pillars, fimilar to Staffa.—Oa are fome refembling the Derbyshire the fouth-weft fide of the isle of Egg toadstone; and a fher diftance inland, is a curious cavern. (to the S. W.) are rude maffes of lava, tanding up at day, not unlike the great Whyn Dykes of Ilay. In the Loch, and at fome diftance from the oppofite here, there ftood, within the memory of man, an infulated pillar of coal, from which the country people were accuftomed to procure a fupply for fmiths ufe; but the quantities they carried away, and the continual washing of the fea, have now entirely removed it. We returned to Fidden Houfe, which is fituated on level ground near the fea, and near a fmall Loch, which affords a harbour to small veffels, but is dangerous to enter. The flat country in front of the houfe is entirely compofed of fea fand, including fhells; when dug into, fresh water is conftantly found at a few We again embarked for Ilay; but, it being calm, and the tide against us, were obliged to anchor; and we landed on an ifland which forms the S.E. point of the found of Iona. From the point, which is a bare rock of red granite, broken and jointed in every direction, I obferved the following bearings. Icolmkill Church N.N.E. -The northermoft part of Staffa, over the N.E. point of the found of Iona, NE. by N.-The fouth Pap of Jura, over Colonfay, S. The upper furface of the granite, even in the very higheft part, is all convex, which feems to prove, that by fome convulfion it has been thrown up from the bed of the ocean. which, by long washing over it, had previoufly worn down its fubftance at the edges of all its numerous joints. On the eaft fide of the point, and on the weft fide of a little bay, where the granite cliffs are at least fifteen yards perpendicular, we difcovered a Whyn Dyke, or vein of lava, about two feet wide, included in a vertical fiffure ranging S.E. by E. and N.W. by W. Going round to the oppofite fide of the bay, we found the lava on the cliff ranging as above; but the vein, or Whyn Dyke, much fmaller, being only from eight to ten inches between the granite fides, which feemed to continue clofing; nor could it be feen on the main land of Mull, which was at no great distance. The fiffure, which includes the lava, is, where firft difcovered, wider than the vein of lava it contains, which therefore ftands wholly detached from the S.W. fide. The lava and fiffure range quite through the point; and to the N.W. by W. on the oppofite fide of a fmall found or inlet, it appears on a rocky island, divided into two veins, ftill keeping nearly the fame direc tion. About 6 yards to the weftward of the lava vein, or Whyn Dyke, is an immenfe fiffure in the granite, ranging N. by W. and S. by E. It is from nine to ten feet wide, and, by eftimation, about an hundred and twenty feet deep. At the northern extremity, near the top, two ftones are fufpended in a moft extraordinarymanner between the fides: the under one is fixed, and upon that the other appears to lie loofe. There is a large cavern in the western fide of the fiffure, and a correfponding fiffure is feen on the oppofite shore. In the evening, when the tide favoured us, we failed. The night proved calm and foggy, and in the morning we found ourselves near the weft coast of Jura, to the northward of Loch Tarbut. As we approach ed the fhore, we found it rocky for the diftance of a quarter of a mile from the cliffs, which are low, and Xx VOL. XII. No. 71. apparently of chert. Being quite calm, we rowed along shore, passed the entrance of Loch Tarbut, and obferved feveral Whyn Dykes, or lava veins, running into the fea. The Paps of Jura were moftly covered by the fog; but which breaking away at intervals gave us a view of their lofty fummits, and of the narrow ftripe of rock mentioned by Mr Pennant (Voyage in 1772, p. 217.) called the flide of the Old Hag, to which is annexed a curious legend; but which, in reality, appears to be the furface of a Whyn Dyke, running down the fide of the cherty Mountain. After entering the found of Ilay, obferving a very confiderable Whyn Dyke, or vein of lava, on the Jura fhore, we landed, and found it range N.N.W. and S.S.E. It is of a dark colour, and compact texture, and in fome parts will give fire with fteel. Near to this Whyn Dyke is a red argillaceous fubftance, ftrongly impregnated with iron, and contained in an inclined ftratum, varying in thickness, and terminating in a cavern, whofe fides and roof are of the fame fubftance, but wonderfully bro ken and thrown into every direction, as is the including chert, amongst which we found fome that is brecciated. Soon after we returned to our boat. a fquall of wind came on, a tended with heavy rain, which almost wholly obfcured each fhore, and conti nued till we landed at Freeport, wet and fatigued, but highly gratified by the recollection of the many curious objects we had vifited during our excurfion. It having been confidered as very extraordinary, that a bed of coal fhould be found, as at Ardlun, incumbent upon, and furmounted by, a mafs of lava; I was induced to look into fome of the authors who have treated of volcanic countries; and find there are many inftances of coal coal in the vicinity of lavas, though I have not met with any precifely fituated like the coal at Ardlun. May not the coal found at Ardlun be an indurated bitumen, which, exuding in a liquid ftate from the incumbent matter, penetrated the argillaceous fhiftus, which previoufly conftituted the intervening ftratum between the lava? It has fome of the properties of jet; the fpecific gravity of that which we procured is 1,284; it is of a gloffy black, its fracture glaffy and conchoidal, does not foil the fingers when handled, and when warmed by friction will attract light bodies. Placed on a red-hot iron it decrepitates, emits a denfe fmoke which has a refinous fmell, becomes thoroughly ignited, burfts into flame, and yields an impalpable refiduum, which is not attracted by the magnet, and of which I only procured colour, from twenty grains of the half a grain, of a yellowish brown crude substance. The learned Bishop of Landaff, in the third volume of his Chemical Effays, in his Effay on Bitumens (p. 6.) fuppofes that, under certain circumftances, naphtha, petroleum, and afphaltum, might be produced by a kind of fubterraneous diftillation, and might impregnate the porous ftrata of feveral kinds of flones and earth. the fubftance I have been defcribing Confider then, whether may not have been produced in that manner, fince it is included within a mafs of matter which carries every appearance of having formerly beep acted upon by fire. Account of the Proceedings of the Chatelet, with regard to the Duc d'Orleans, HE criminal proceedings of the Chatelet of Paris, on a denunciation of what happened at Verfailles on the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, have been publifhed at laft, by order of the National Affembly, and are the topic of general converfation. There are three hundred and three depofitions, forming two volumes in fmall octavo. By them it appears, that the principal inciters of the whole were the Duke of Orleans, Mirabeau the elder, and de la Clos; the last in woman's clothes, One of the deponents, M. Pelletier, declared to have heard Mirabeau fay to Mounier, whom he wished to gain to his party," How filly you are, my dear friend! did I ever tell you we niuft have no King? certainly we must have one but of what confequence is it to you that it fhould be Louis XVI.or XVII? would you have us always be gorevned by a child? M. Miomandre, a life-guardman, depofed, that he heard fome of the M. Brouffe, a Lieutenant of the M. Rouffile, a phyfician of Paris, and his colleague, M. Rafie, depofed, that they had been spoken to concerning the enrolling a new body of Guards, and giving the Regency to the Duke of Orleans, when the King fhould be gone to Metz. M. Bremont, an Advocate in Parliament, faid, he heard fome of the addrefs thefe words to the Queen's poifardes (fifh-women) voci roufly |