e miniature dam formed by the bundles, darted forward for
shelter, as if to a hollow bank, and stuck among the slim hard branches,
as they would in the meshes of a net. The stones were then hastily
thrown off,--the bundles pitched ashore,--the better fish, to the amount
not unfrequently of several scores, secured,--and the young fry returned
to the stream, to take care of themselves, and grow bigger. We fared
richly this evening, after our hard day's labor, on tea and trout; and
as the minister had to attend a meeting of the Presbytery of Skye on the
following Wednesday, we sailed next morning for Glenelg, whence he
purposed taking the steamer for Portree. Winds were light and baffling,
and the currents, like capricious friends, neutralized at one time the
assistance which they lent us at another. It was dark night ere we had
passed Isle Ornsay, and morning broke as we cast anchor in the Bay of
Glenelg. At ten o'clock the steamer heaved-to in the bay to land a few
passengers, and the minister went on board, leaving me in charge of the
Betsey, to follow him, when the tide set in, through the Kyles of Skye.

CHAPTER IX.

Kyles of Skye--A Gneiss District--Kyle Rhea--A Boiling Tide--A
"Take" of Sillocks--The Betsey's "Paces"--In the Bay at
Broadford--Rain--Island of Pabba--Description of the Island--Its
Geological Structure--Astrea--Polypifers--_Gryphaea incurva_--Three
groups of Fossils in the Lias of Skye--Abundance of the
Petrifactions of Pabba--Scenery--Pabba a "piece of smooth, level
England"--Fossil Shells of Pabba--Voyage resumed--Kyle Akin--Ruins
of Castle Maoil--A "Thornback" Dinner--The Bunch of Deep Sea
Tangle--The Caileach Stone--Kelp Furnaces--Escape of the Betsey
from sinking.

No sailing vessel attempts threading the Kyles of Skye from the south in
the face of an adverse tide. The currents of Kyle Rhea care little for
the wind-filled sail, and battle at times, on scarce unequal terms, with
the steam-propelled paddle. The Toward Castle this morning had such a
struggle to force her way inwards, as may be seen maintained at the door
of some place of public meeting during the heat of some agitating
controversy, when seat and passage within can hold no more, and a
disappointed crowd press eagerly for admission from without. Viewed from
the anchoring place at Glenelg, the opening of the Kyle presents the
appearance of the bottom of a landlocked bay;--the h