In Mull
The Disappointment Of A Harvest, Or A Murrain Among The Cattle,
Cuts Off The Regular Provision; And They Who Have No Manufactures
Can Purchase No Part Of The Superfluities Of Other Countries.
The
consequence of a bad season is here not scarcity, but emptiness;
and they whose plenty, was barely a supply of natural and present
need, when that slender stock fails, must perish with hunger.
All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better
countries, he may learn to improve his own, and if fortune carries
him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.
Mr. Boswell's curiosity strongly impelled him to survey Iona, or
Icolmkil, which was to the early ages the great school of Theology,
and is supposed to have been the place of sepulture for the ancient
kings. I, though less eager, did not oppose him.
That we might perform this expedition, it was necessary to traverse
a great part of Mull. We passed a day at Dr. Maclean's, and could
have been well contented to stay longer. But Col provided us
horses, and we pursued our journey. This was a day of
inconvenience, for the country is very rough, and my horse was but
little. We travelled many hours through a tract, black and barren,
in which, however, there were the reliques of humanity; for we
found a ruined chapel in our way.
It is natural, in traversing this gloom of desolation, to inquire,
whether something may not be done to give nature a more cheerful
face, and whether those hills and moors that afford heath cannot
with a little care and labour bear something better?
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