Skye

Skye, ISLE OF, the largest of the Inner Hebrides, lies off the N.W. coast of Inverness-shire, Scotland, from which it is separated by the Sound of Sleat, not more than half a mile broad in its narrowest part. It is 48 miles long, but of variable breadth, being indented by Lochs Snizort, Follart, Bracadale, etc. The area is about 547 square miles, mostly rocky and mountainons, the Cuchullin Hills attaining more than 3,000 feet. Very little of the land is suited to agriculture, and even the pastures are coarse; Freestone, granite, and marble are quarried, but the population subsists chiefly on the export of sbeep, cattle, fish, and kelp or seaweed. Tourists are attracted hither by the bold scenery of the basaltic rocks that fringe the N. coast, and by the ancient Norse monuments. Portree, the capital, lies to the E., and is little more than a large village.