RAASAY, or RAAZA, from Raa, a roe in Danish, one of the Western Islands of Scotland, in the parish of Por tree and county of Inverness. It is situated between the and the Isle of Sky, from which it is di vided by a channel from one to three miles wide. The island is about fifteen miles long, and from one to three in breadth, and contains about 314 square miles. On all its sides the coast rises to a great height above the sea, forming as it were a single ridge above 1000 feet high ; but, on the east, it is peculiarly bold and preci pitous. The island is mountainous throughout, and to wards its south end, it rises into a lofty hill called Dunn Cann, about 1500 feet high, which gives rise to many streams, and at the base of which are two fresh water lakes. The soil is principally peat earth, sand, or gravel, and is better fitted for pasturage than for tillage, though there are several spots of fertile and well-cultivated land. The supply of freestone in Raasay is almost inexhaust ible. There is also plenty of limestone ; and near one of the limestone quarries there is acalcareous petrifying spring. Gneiss occupies the whole of the northern ex tremity of the island, and is the lowest substance. The red sandstone begins where the gneiss ends, and the porphyry, which is incumbent on the sandstone, is li mited to the western side of the southern division, or to that part immediately opposite to Sky. Dr. MacCulloch discovered the prehnite in the island.
Among the antiquities of the island, the principal are the remains of two forts, the highest of which, si tuated in the south extremity of the island, is called Dunn-Cann, a name supposed to be derived from Cantle, cousin to onegit the Danish kings. The other fort, at the north end of the island, and on the east coast, called Castle Brodie], is a landmark well known to sailors. It stands on a conglomerate rock almost
round, and having an era of about seventy feet square, the mass of rock resembling an excrescence pro jecting from a cone. The rock is forty feet high, ex cept where the stair leads up to it ; and it is sixty feet above the level of the sea at its base. "This build ing," says Dr. MacCulloch," is so contrived, as to cover the whole summit of the sharp eminence on which it stands ; its walls being continuous with the precipitous pieces of the rock. The projections of these have been so ccnnived as to form parts of the building ; and they are at the saute time so like in appearance to the ma sooty of which it is constructed, that it is often diffi cult to distinguish between the artificial and the natu ral wall. The castle, which is a whimsical and pic turesque structinc, is built of stone and lime, and was fot merly the chief seat of Macleod of Raasay. The seat of the family, however, is now at Clachan or Kii•ktown, near the opposite end of the island. The island abounds with roe deer, which destroy the young plantations. There are remains of woods in various parts ef Raasay, and some beautiful and stately trees near Clachan. The population of Raasay, together with the adjacent island of Ronay, is about 1000. West long. about 6'; north lat. 57° 25'.
For further information respecting this island, see Macdonald's .4tcrktiltural Survey of the Hebrides. Eclin. 1811, p. 774-779 ; and Dr. MacCulloch's Descripoon of the Western Islands, vol. i. p 239-2A, in which work there is a fine engraving of Brochel Castle.