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The following
extracts are taken from 'Historic Visitors to Mull, Iona
& Staffa' written by Eve Eckstein and published by
Excalibur Press of London in 1992. The book is available
from MH&AS.
Mrs Eckstein begins at the very beginning 4000 - 1500
years before Christ with the builders of brochs and
standing stones. This short chapter refers to the
relevance of astronomical observations in the
construction of standing stones and stone circles and
goes on to discuss brochs, which are peculiar to
Scotland.
Ptolemy (A.D. 146), mathemetician, geographer and
astronomer was one of the first to mention the Hebridean
Islands and Pliny (A.D. 23 - 79) was the first to write
about 'Hebouda' and he also mentioned that there were
over 30 'Hebouda' isles.
In 563, St Columba left Ireland to spread the news of
Christianity. He landed, first on Oronsay but on finding
that he could still see Ireland decided to sail further
north and eventually landed, out of sight of Ireland, on
Iona. It may be said that St. Columba was the first
'recorded' historic visitor to this small group of Inner
Hebridean islands.
The self-styled 'Sir Donald Munro, High Dean of the
Isles' visited many of the islands in 1549 as the
'Bishop's Eye'. Roderick Maclean became Bishop to the
Isles 1549 - 1555 and as Archdeacon, Donald Munro made
himself familiar with his Diocese and Mrs Eckstein
quotes Sir Donald's brief description of Mull and also
Gometra and Calve Island.
Martin Martin came from Bealach on Skye and in 1695 he
reported on the 17th Century social customs of Mull in
his book 'A Description of the Western Isles of
Scotland'. ( A complete transcription of his book can be
found at www.appins.org/martin.htm ) Martin came from a
middle class family of tacksmen (factors on the lairds'
estate.) He graduated MA from the University of
Edinburgh in 1681 and died in 1719.
William Sacheverell published his book giving an account
of a journey to the Isle of Man and a voyage to Iona in
1702. He was involved in Parliamentary affairs from 1607
- 1691 and was also M.P. for Northampton. In her book,
Mrs Eckstein tells the story of Sacheverell's attempt to
recover the lost treasure from the Spanish galleon which
was blown to pieces and sunk in Tobermory Bay.
In 1771 Thomas Pennant, a noted Welsh traveller, made a
tour to the Western Isles with his companion the Rev. J.
Lightfoot who published his book 'Flora Scotia' in 1777.
Sir Joseph Banks, naturalist and president of the Royal
Society from 1778 - 1819, visited Staffa in 1772
spending a night on the island during which occured an
amusing incident, 'On their arrival at Staffa they
(Banks and his party) erected a tent.....to pass the
night, but the only inhabitant (of the island) pressed
Sir Joseph to come and sleep in his hut, and that out of
compliance he consented and left his companions under
the tent. On leaving the hut next morning he discovered
he had acquired a colony of vermin. He mentioned the
circumstances to his host in terms of mild surprise, but
the latter, who was touched to the quick, perked himself
up and, assuming a tone of consequence, reported
haughtily and harshly that it was Sir Joseph himself who
had imported the lice to his island and adding that it
would have been better to have left them behind in
England.'
One of the better known visitors to Mull was Dr. Samuel
Johnson who came with his travelling companion James
Boswell in 1773. Their visit was recorded in the diary
written by Boswell and from which Mrs Eckstein quotes
extensively. It is reported that both Johnson and
Boswell had read Martin Martin's earlier book and they
brought a copy with them on their journey and Johnson
felt that Martin's report had failed to accurately
record many of the interesting aspects of life at the
time suggesting that this was due to the fact that
Martin was unaware of the acute differences between the
social structure of the Western Isles in comparison with
the 'modern world'.
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Last modified
Friday January 25, 2008
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