Gazetteer of Scotland

HUT
ftrength in the border wars. Popula-
tion in 1793, 583.
HY
HY ; one of the names of I-coxm-
KltL. Vide I-COLM-KILL.
ICO
I
• Vide I-COLM-KILL.
JAMES' TOWN ; a pleafant vil-
lage in the parifh of Wefterkirk, in
Dumfriesfhire. It was built by the
Mining Company in that diftricl, on
the banks of the river Megget, to ac-
commodate the miners with comfort-
able habitations, at a moderate rent.
There is a public library, containing
fome hundred volumes, for the ufe of
the miners, and a fchool, the mafter
of which has a falary of 10I. fterling
from the company.
I-COLM-KILL, or I-COLUMB-
KILL ; one of the Hebrides, lying to
the W. of the ifland of Mull, from
which it is feparated by a narrow chan-
nel, called the Sqund of /. It is a fmall,
but celebrated ifland ; " once the lu-
minary of the Caledonian regions," as
Dr. Johnfon expreffes it : " whence fa-
vage clans and roving barbarians de-
rived the benefits of knowledge, and
the bleffings of religion." The venera-
ble Bede, in his hiftory, calls it Hn ;
but the proper name is I, founded like
ee in Englifh. I fignifies an ifland ;
and this, by way of eminence, is cal-
led the ifland. By monkifh writers it
has been named Ion A, which, if de-
rived from the Gaelic, fignifies " the
ifland of waves," very charaderiftic
of it in times of ftorm : others think
Ion a derived from a Hebrew word,
iignifying " a dove," in allufion to
St. Columba, the founder of its mo-
naftery and its fame. The name of
Ion a is now quite loft in the country,
and it is always termed /, except when
the fpeaker wiihes to put an emphafis
on the word, when it is termed I-
columb-kill. The ifland, which be-
belongs to the united parishes of Kil-
finichen and Kilviceuen, in Mull, is
3 miles long, and from half a mile to
a mile broad. On the E. fide it is
fiat ; in the middle it rifes into finall
ICO
hills ; and on the W. fide it is rugged
and rocky ; the whole forming a An-
gular mixture of rocks and fertile
ground. There is a fmall. mean village,
containing about 60 houfes, near a
fmall bay called the bay of Martyrs,
where the illufti'ious dead were landed
for interment. This ifland furnilhes
many valuable minerals, particularly
a beautiful yellow ferpentine ; and the
greater part of it lies upon limeftone,
which, in fome places, appears in the
form of beautiful white marble; in
others, dove-coloured ; and, in fome,
fpotted with green and black fpots,
of a beautiful appearance. In the bay
of Port-na-currach, where St.Columbus
is faid to have landed, there are im~
menfe numbers of beautiful pebbles,
chiefly ferpentine, jafper, granite, mar-
ble, lapis nephriticis, nephritic ajbef-
tos, violet-coloured quartz, and por-
phyry. In the bay of Martyrs is found
horn blende, green arid red jafper, with
fpecimens of zeolite. Mr. Rafpe found
a fmall vein of coal, and, amongft fome
rocks, an efflorefcence of copper, from
which he conjectured that a mine of
that metal might be difcovered on
the ifland. Near the ifland is a fmall
ifle called the " IJle of Nuns," which is
entirely compofed of fine granite, with
which all the buildings, afterwards
mentioned, have been built. But the
ifland of I-colm-kiti is chiefly intereft-
ing to the antiquarian, for the ruins
of its ancient religious eilablifhments,
which point out in ftriking contraft,
the prefent ftate and its condition,
when it was the retreat of learning,
while Weftern Europe lay buried in
ignorance and barbarity. When we.
look on thefe venerable remains of
ancient piety, we muft immediately
call to mind the fentiments fo admir-
ably exprefied by the poet :
" I do love thefe ancient ruins;
We never tread upon them, but we fe^