Jules Verne

“ Like one of Walter Scott's heroines, she loved to wander, absorbed in thought, among the rocks of Staffa; more often than not she went alone, and they left her undisturbed in her solitude.
Several times she returned to Fingal's Cave, attracted by the strange romance of the place. There she spent whole hours lost in day-dreams, paying little heed to the cautions they gave her not to venture there imprudently. ”

“ Yes!” cried Miss Campbell, clapping her hands, “you can go, captain, you can take your yacht to Auchnacraig, and leave us on Staffa. We shall be like people cast on a desert isle, and we will make believe to be shipwrecked; we shall watch for the return of the Clorinda with all the emotions, transports, and anguish of the Swiss Family Robinson, when they saw a vessel passing their island! ”

“ Having reached the upper landing-stage, Oliver Sinclair turned to the left, and showed Miss Campbell a kind of narrow quay, or rather a natural foot-path, which led along the side of the rock, right into the depths of the cave. An iron hand-rail, imbedded in the rock, ran between the wall and the abrupt edge of the quay.
“Ah!” said Miss Campbell, “I think this hand-rail rather detracts from the romance of ‘Fingal's palace.’”
“Yes,” replied Oliver, “it is an intervention of man in the work of nature.” ”