IONA, IcoLmKiLL, I-coLuma-KILL, more correctly Y or I, is a celebrated island of the Hebrides, situated on the south-west side of the island of Mull, from which it is di vided by a channel half a mile wide. By Bede, who is be lieved to have died in the year 762, it is named Hii, or Hy, for the punctuation of vowels had not then been introduc ed; and in the annals of Ulster, which are of later date, it receives the designation of Ix and Aoi. However, in the records of Scotland down to the middle of the 16th cen tury, in inscriptions contemporary with that period, still to be seen upon the island, and by the neighbouring in hal,itants, it is simply called Y or I. This is said by ety mologists to be the Irish for island ; that I was aspirated la% Bede to H'y ; and I-thon, also the Irish for the island of soaves, being pronounced I-on, was by the monks readily latinized Hyona. Iona likewise appears on monumental inscriptions a little anterior to the Reformation ; but that name is now entirely lost in the neighbourhood. By some of the ancient Irish and Danish writers, it is designed the Holy Island ; and its modern appellation Icolmkill signi fies the island of the cell of St. Columba, which does not seem to have been unknown to Bede.
This island is two miles and a half in length, by little more titan a mile in breadth, and contains a superficial area of about 1300 Scotch acres. The surface is unequal, ris ing into eminences ; and the most elevated part is about 400 feet above the level of the sca. A lig:it sandy soil prevails. Upwards of 500 acres are in occasional cultiva tion, and afford abundant crops of barley and oats, besides which, the pasture of the island is celebrated all over the vicinity. Notwithstanding the lateness of sowing the grain, harvest is early in August. Adamnan relates, that barley sown in June, by command of Columba, ripened in the beginning of August, which, however, he ascribes to a miracle ; and he alludes to the abundance of fruit. Great variety of beautiful and valuable minerals are found on Icolinkill, among which are a small vein of coal ; and Mr. Raspe observed an efflorescence of copper. Fine white marble, semi-pellucid when reduced to a thin plate, exists in strata of some thickness. It cuts freely, receives a good
polisn, and, except for the loss of colour, which is con verted to a yellowish cast, resists the action of time. There are extensive rocks of sienite on the south-west shore, which will afford blocks of any dimensions, of vivid colour, extremely hard, and susceptible of a high polish. Of this substance all the remnants of antiquity, of which we shall itninediately treat, are constructed. Rocks of beautiful serpentine also stretch along the southern extremity, of considerable hardness, an agreeable green clouded with other colours, and suitable for slabs or sculptures. Its quality has been compared to that of the ancient serpen tine, but although masses of large dimensions might be procured, it would not be without much labour, on account of the solidity of the rocks. In the Port-na-curaich, a creek where Columba landed, there are found nodules of nephriticus, called the Port-na curaich stone, from the size of a pea to that of an apple. These are of a green colour, of a smooth soft appearance when polished, and are made into trinkets of various kinds. Many are worn by the He brideans as amulets, sometimes set in silver. They be lieve that a certain charm attends their presence, and they say that their colour and transparency are improved by remaining in the sea.
The botany and zoology of this island exhibit few pecu liarities. Several fuci, of rare species, are found in the surrounding sea. The rocks are thickly incrusted with the lichen omphalodea, which is employed by the inhabitants to (1)e their plaids, and other stuffs : Small quantities of a fine kind of sponge are produced here, and some rare shells are cast up on the shore. Water is abundantly supplied from springs, which, collected in a rivulet, passes the an cient ruins, and is discharged into the sea. Vestiges re main of an artificial pond, adjoining the gardens of the abbey, which we shall immediately describe, that has oc cupied several acres, and was devised both for beauty and use. It is now a morass, traversed by what has formerly been an elevated terrace.