Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 3.djvu/29

 possess a singularly striped appearance from the great variety of colours in the several beds which compose them, of which twelve or more may in different places be counted, all horizontal and tolerably equal in their dimensions. The forms of these cliffs are far too monotonous and too square to afford subjects for the pencil, every part being marked by a general similarity of character. Near the entrance of Loch Bracadale some variety is presented by the three detached and pyramidal rocks called Macleod's Maidens, the highest of which appears to reach to about 200 feet. This feature, of detached pyramidal masses, is of frequent occurrence on this coast, a remarkable perforated one being seen in Loch Bracadale, and a similar one not far from Loch Eynort. They are, like all other objects out of the ordinary course of nature, rather singular than picturesque: the strange and the bizarre are seldom legitimate subjects for painting, and rarely please long, after the first wonder has subsided.

In Loch Bracadale some caves are found in the rocks, which have no particular claims on notice either from their beauty, their magnitude, or their singularity. Similar caves are of frequent occurrence between Talisker and Loch Brittle, the low projecting rocks being also often perforated by arches which are sometimes exceedingly complicated and remarkable. With the exception of some, projecting points of high rock the shores of Loch Bracadale are flat, and this tract is among the most fertile of Sky. At its southern extremity the cliffs are perfectly vertical, and without that slope at the foot, which so commonly accompanies the high cliffs of trap, and which are so conspicuous in particular on the eastern side of the island. The retired and green valley of Talisker opens to the sea by a low beach, on which the natural embankment already mentioned has been formed by the western swell. Here