Page 288 - Volcano and Geothermal Tourism

Volcanic Geotourism in West Coast Scotland 265

earlier after Prince Albert had seen the artist’s The distinguished and influential naturalist
watercolours of the area. Despite doing the initial Joseph Banks undertook a voyage to Iceland via
sketches in early October driving wind, rain, sleet the Hebrides in 1772 and stopped off at the
and snow Giles depicted the mountain and loch in islands of Islay, Jura, Oronsay, Mull and Iona.
mellow sunlight as he had visualized it. As a studio Having heard about the basaltic pillars on Staffa
painter his Isle of Handa, requiring a short and deciding to view them, he returned via the
Hebridean sea voyage, benefited from similar Orkney Isles. His account of Staffa and drawings
post-visit visualization. of Fingal’s Cave were included in the first part of
Pennant’s 1774 Tour in Scotland, and Voyage to the
Early naturalists Hebrides making it a magnet for scientists from
The same roads were traversed and sea voyages across Europe. The French geologist Faujas
undertaken by several significant scientific and St-Fond visited (and published in 1799 Travels in
literary travellers. John Ray, the distinguished England, Scotland and the Hebrides), with William
English naturalist, is one of the earliest recorded; Thornton as official artist, Staffa in 1799 and
in August 1661 he rode from Berwick to noted it was ‘erect basaltic columns, on the broken
Edinburgh, thence to Stirling and Glasgow, before tops of which one must step with considerable
returning via western Scotland, but his route dexterity, at the risk of falling into the sea’ (Burton
missed the volcanic areas. The distinguished and Burton, 1978, p48). Later, the Scottish
Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant undertook two geologist Hugh Miller recorded in his 1897 The
Scottish tours. His first Highlands tour was on Cruise of the Betsey a voyage to the Hebrides and
horseback in 1769 through Perthshire and wrote on Eigg: ‘We found it composed of various
Aberdeenshire thence along the coast to Caithness, beds, each of which would make a Giant’s
returning west along Glen Mor and through Causeway entire’ (Miller, 1897, p33).
Argyllshire to the Lowlands; overall it missed the James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, whose
volcanic area. The tour’s account, A Tour In separately published accounts established the
Scotland (1771), was a major publishing success region as one worth well visiting by those
and numerous editions followed; encouraged by interested in scenic landscapes, are probably the
its success, he undertook a second sailing tour of best-known of the 18th century’s travellers to the
Scotland centred on the western seaboard and its region. In late-summer 1773 they met in
islands, from June to August 1772 when he was Edinburgh for a three-month tour visiting Skye,
accompanied by the botanist John Lightfoot Raasay, Coll, Mull and Iona travelling by coach on
(who had published the 1777 Flora Scotica on the east coast to Inverness, continuing on horseback
Scotland’s native plants) and Moses Griffith, a to Bernera on the west coast, and journeying on
Welsh servant whom he had trained to draw foot through the islands. In 1775, Johnson
sketches for his travelogues. Voyaging along published A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland;
Scotland’s west coast and Inner Hebrides, he his unfavourable opinions of the Scots and distaste
visited Arran, Gigha, Jura, Islay, Oronsay, Colonsay, for Gaelic culture aroused considerable protest in
Iona, Canna, Rhum, Skye and Mull and thus Scotland but his journal inspired subsequent
visited some of the key volcanic sites. The voyage’s generations to follow the route. Boswell published
account, A Voyage to the Hebrides illustrated by The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel
Griffith’s sketches was published in two parts in Johnson, LL.D in 1786, ten years after Johnson’s
1774 and 1776. Pennant was crucial to the account and a year after his death. It was a great
discovery of the Highlands and Islands in the success because it covered their journey and also
18th century’s second half because he published gave an intimate portrait of Johnson; it includes
both their first scientific travel accounts and several geological references.
proved they could be safely visited despite the Sir John Stoddart, an English journalist, whilst
period’s bitter political feuding; his accounts were residing in Edinburgh in 1799 and 1800 made
widely read as guidebooks up to the opening of several journeys through Scotland, often
the 19th century. accompanied by the watercolourist John Claude

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