The substance of the pillars of this island resemble those of Staffs in some parts of it, but in others they are more porous, and incline more to a grey colour. This circumstance induced the Doctor to think it would be an easy matter to trace all the gradations between the most per fect basalt pillar and the coarsest descrip tion of lava, and he even saw some at Vi dey, of a fine grain, extremely solid, of a blackish grey, and consisting of many joints ; some porous glassy kind of stone, which he found at Laugarnas, near the sea, was so indistinctly divided, that he was undecided whether to class it with the lavas or basalt pillars ; but the opinion of his •friends determined him in favour of the latter.
We have been the more particular in noticing the peculiarities of the basaltes of Iceland, as that island is situated in the vicinity of Staffs, to which we shall now turn our attention. The gentleman we have just mentioned was one of the first persons who had the good fortune to ex amine the latter with any degree of accu racy ; nor indeed had the public been in formed before of the distinguishing marks which render it so highly interesting, Buchanan being then the only author that had noticed this beautiful work of nature, though very slightly. Mr. Pennant, who possessed every requisite talent for in forming the world, was disappointed by an adverse wind, from visiting Staffs in the year that proved more favourable to Dr. Von Troil, who would have been ex actly in the same situation, in all probabi lity, had not the tide, which flows with great strength between the western isles of Scotland, compelled the captain of the vessel employed to take him to Iceland to anchor on the night of the twelfth of August, in the sound between the Isle of Mull and Morvern on the continent, and precisely opposite to Drumnen, the seat of Mr. Maclean, by whom the Doctor and his friends were immediately invited on shore to breakfast, with the characteris tic hospitality of the Highlanders. Mr. Banks, now Sir Joseph, being of the party intending to visit Iceland, eagerly accept ed, with the Doctor, and others, the offer of Mr. Maclean to conduct them to Staffs, to which they were conveyed by the ship's long boat the same evening, about nine o'clock. "It was impossible," says the Doctor "for our surprise to be in creased, or our curiosity to be fuller gra tified than they were the next morning, when we beheld the no less than beauti ful spectacle which nature presented to our view. If we even with admiration behold art, according to the rules pre scribed to it, observing a certain kind of order, which not only strikes the eye, but also pleases it, what must be the effect produced upon us when we behold nature displaying, as it were, a regularity, which far surpasses every thing that art ever produced ? An attentive spectator will find as much occasion for wonder and as tonishment, when he observes bow infi nitely short human wisdom appears, when we attempt to imitate nature in this as well as any other of her grand and aw ful productions ; and though we acknow ledge nature to be the mistress of all the arts, and ascribe a greater degree of per fection to them, the nearer they approach and imitate it, yet we sometimes imagine that she might be improved, according to the rules of architecture. How magnifi
cent are the remains which we have of the porticoes of the ancients, and with what admiration do we behold the colon nades that adorn the principal buildings of our times; and yet every one who com pares them with Fingal's cave, formed by nature in the Isle of Staffs, must rea dily acknowledge, that this piece of na ture's architecture far surpasses every thing that invention, luxury, and taste, ever produced among the Greeks " A small cave on the west side of the island affords a convenient landing place, but there are no regular basalt pillars to he met with in its immediate vicinity. On the south side of it are some narrow pillars, which are inclined, and resemble the springs of the ribs of an arch ; beyond those is a small grotto, on the right hand, not composed of pillars, though they ap pear above it, disposed in the manner of the interior parts of the timbers of a ship. At a few yards distance, and opposite to the grotto, extends the peninsula of Mi scha-la, consisting of regular, but smaller pillars, which are all of a conical figure. Some of these diverge as from a centre, some incline, and others, and by far the treater number, are perpendicular. The Wand itself, opposite to Bo-scha-la, is composed of thick columns, which ex tend into the sea as far as the eye is able to penetrate, but are not very high, and gradually decrease as they approach the water. Their relative connection is so admirably preserved, that a person may walk upon their ends as conveniently as if ascending or descending the steps of a staircase ; these lead to Fingal's, or Finhn Mac Coul's cave or grotto, which is exca vated out of that mountain from north-east to east.