Handa, an uninhabited island of Eddrachillis parish, W Sutherland, separated from the mainland by the Sound of Handa, ¼ to ½ mile broad, and lying 21/8 miles NNW of Scourie. Measuring 1½ mile from E to W, and 1 mile from N to S, it has a proximately circular outline, consists of sandstone in highly inclined strata, and rises rapidly north-westward to a height of 406 feet above sea-level at Sithean Mor, whence it breaks sheer down onwards the ocean, presenting, round more than one-third of its entire periphery, a continuous series of steep cliffs. As seen from the SE it seems to be wholly of a dusky, greenish hue, and it exhibits in its ascents and in its cliffs striking features of ledge and fissure, that form a more imposing piece of rock scenery than almost anywhere else is to be found in the United Kingdom. One enormous perforation, inwards and upwards from the ocean-level, is swept by the influx and reflux of the tides, and roofed by natural arches resting on huge blocks of rock. Myriads of sea-fowl build in the cliffs, whose summit commands a sublime view of the lofty seaboard of the mainland from Rhu Stoir to the promontory N of Loch Inchard.—Ord. Sur., sh. 107, 1881. See a long article in the Scotsman of 28 July 1880.
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