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Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
From Glasgow to Oban, Fort William, and Inverness


SECTION III.

ROUTE I.

FROM GLASGOW TO OBAN, FORT-WILLIAM, AND INVERNESS.

Diversity of Routes, and their Characteristics, 1.-By Crinan Canal.-The River Clyde, 2.-Dumbarton Castle, 3.-The frith of Clyde, Greenock, 4.-Dunoon Castle, 5.-The Ayrshire Coast; Battle of the Laws, G.-Toward Castle, 7.Rothesay, and Castle, 8.-Kyles of Bute, 9.-Argyle s Expedition in 1685, 10.-Loch Fyne; East Tarbct, 11.---Crinan Canal, 12.--Crinan to Oban, 13 -Whirl- poo1 of Corryvreckan, 14.-Isle of Kerrera, 15.-Oban; Dunolly Castle, 16.-District around Oban, 17.-Glasgow to Oban and to Fort-William, by Loch Lomond.-Preferable Route, 18.-Dumbarton, 19.-Vale of the Leven, 20.-Loch Lomond, 21.-Ben Lomond, 22.-Glen Fallocb, 23.-Battle of Clenfruin; The Clan Gregor, 24.-Robert Bruce's encounter in Glen Dochart, 25.-St. Fillan's Pool, 26.-Tyndrum to Dalmally, 27.-Loch Awe; Ben Cruachan, 28.-Kilchurn Castle, 29.-The Pass of Awe, 30 -Bunawe, 31.-Loch Etive, 32.-Ardchattan Priory, 33.-Connel Ferry, 34.-Dunstaffnage Castle, 35.-Berigonium, 36.-Oban, 37-Glasgow to Fort-William, by Loch Lammed.-Loch Tollic; The Black Mount, 38.-Glencoe, 39.-Massacre of Glencoe, 40.-Loch Leven; The Serpent River; The Falls of Kinlochmore, 41.-Ballachulish, 42.-From Glasgow to Oban, by Inverary.-Diftcrent Routes, 43.-By Loch Long-loch Long, 44.-Glencroe; Glen Lochan ; and Glen Finlass, 46.-Loch Fyneyy Fyne; Dunedera Castle, 46.-Inver- ary, 47.-LochFyneHerring ; Inverary Castle, 48.-To Inccrary, by the Gareloch, Lochgoile, and Loch Eck.-The Gareloch, 49.-Carrick Castle; Lochgoile, 50.-Holy Loch, 51.-Loch Eck, 52.-Glen Aray, 53.-Loch Awe; Port Sonachan ; Glen Nant, 54.-Oban to Inverness. Loch Linnhe, 55.-Island of Lismore; Auchindoan, 56.-Fort-William; biaryburgh, 57.-Ben Nevis, 58.-Lochaber; Castle of Inverlochy, 59.-Battle at Inverlochy 60.-Bannavic, 61.-Monument at Corpach, 62.--General Character of the Great Glen, 63.-Tor Castle, 84.-First Skirmish in 1745, 65.-Loch Lochp ; Achnacarry, Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochicl, 66.-Battle of Cean, Loch Lochy, 67.-Laggan ; The Kennedics; The late Glengarry, 68. -Loch Oich; Invergarry Castle, 69; The Well of the Heads, 70.-Loch Oich to FortAugustus, 71.-}'ort-Augustus, 72.-Loch Ness,73.-Invermoriston, 74.-Falls of Foyers, 75.-Boleskine ; 'Inverfarikaig, 76.-Bona, or Bonessia; loch loch. four, 77; Dochfour to Inverness, 78.-Caledonian Canal-Adaptation of the Great Glen for a Canal, 79.-Survey and Report by James Watt, 80.-Reasons for the formation of the Canal; Telford and Jessop's survey, 81.-General description of the Canal, 82.-Cost till 1827, when first opened, 83.-Imperfect state of the undertaking at this period, 84.-Report by fir Walker in 1838, and nautical investigation by Sir W. Edward Parry, 85-Completion of the Works by Messrs Jackson and Bean in 1843-7, 86.-Alditional outlay; Extent of accommodation for vessels and of traffic now, 87.-Incorporation with the Crinan Canal, and Commission of Management, 88.-Adaptation of Inverness and line of the Canal for Manufactories, 89.-Prospective results to the Commerce of the Highlands, 90.-Southey's tribute to the memory of Telford, 91.-Roads along the Great Glen, 92.-Fort-Augustus to Invermoriston ; Lower part of Glenmoriston, 93.Invermoriston to Drumnadrochet, 94.-Aultsigh Burn; Raid of Cillie-Christ, 95. Glen Urquhart; The Falls of Dhivach, 96.-Drumnadrochet to Inverness, 97.-Fort Augustus to Foyers; Vale of Killen, 98.-Stratherrick; The River Foyers, 99.-The General's Hut, 100.-The Pass of Inverfarikaig, 101.-Inverfarikatg to bores, 102.-Doren to Inverness, 103.


1. THE circuit from the metropolis of the west of Scotland to that of the Highlands, by the coasts of Argyleshire and through the Great Glen, is the route most frequented by the crowds of tourists attracted each succeeding season to the north of our island. In this tour great variety of choice may be indulged, as one has the power of making the whole journey by steamer, through the Kyles of Bute and the Crinan Canal—of being transported by coach either to Oban or Fort-William, with a water trip intervening on Loch Lomond. Or the traveller may take Inverary on the way; to it again, selecting as it may be either of the accesses by Loch Lomond, the Gareloch, Loch Long, Loch Goil, Loch Eck, or Loch Fyne. As each and all of these lines of direction are replete with the very finest features of mountain and water scenery, and converge upon the western extremity of the Great Glen of Scotland, with its chain of inland lakes connected by the Caledonian Canal, and uniting the Moray Firth with Loch Linnhe, which respectively at either end prolong this grand valley into the German and Atlantic Oceans, the attractions of this favourite route can be readily understood. There is, indeed, certainly nothing within the compass of the British islands at all to be compared with it in point of extent of continuous grandeur, diversity, and beauty. The whole is singularly magnificent, and far from palling by repetition, each new peregrination will be found to add fresh zest to the enjoyment of the incomparable scenery through which we are conducted. Now, too, the steamers and other conveyances are of a much improved class, and large and commodious inns have been erected at Ardrishaig, on the Crinan, and at Bannavie, on the Caledonian Canals ; the access to this last being further improved by the construction of a suspension bridge across the river Lochy, near Fort-William. The whole distance is accomplished in from a day and a half to two days —the intermediate night (by steamer) being spent at Bannavie on the way north, and at Oban on the way south. Coaching between Glasgow and Fort-William or Oban makes no difference in time, except on the journey north by Oban, as the coaches do not arrive in time for the same day's steamer. The Messrs. Burns of Glasgow, into whose hands the great bulk of the traffic alongst the routes in question has passed—though after all but a trifling branch of their very extended establishments —are laying themselves out by a constant adaptation of the resources at their command, to the increasing demands of the public, to afford accommodations in every department of a superior order, and to provide ample facilities of communication in every eligible direction, and at very moderate charges.

Of these different routes, that

By the Crinan Caron,

as longer familiar to the public, may with propriety take precedence.

2. This route is entirely a marine excursion. There is no land journey. But the steamers' pathway is so completely landlocked, that there are no high seas to be encountered, though at times, in passing the Slate Islands, the swell from the Atlantic in fresh weather may somewhat discompose unaccustomed constitutions.

We must leave to others the description of the great emporium of the commerce, wealth, and enterprise of Scotland. Wending our way then at once to the Broomielaw, we embark in one of the well-appointed swift steamers which now daily during the season—besides luggage boats all the year—convey their respective quota of passengers to Inverness and the places intermediate. The channel of the river Clyde being now deepened, so as to admit vessels of large draught up to Glasgow, its wharves are found crowded with shipping and steamers of all sizes and dimensions. Along the river banks are seen the hulls of immense iron and other steam-vessels, in various stages of progress, the Clyde shipbuilders and machinists having attained a high reputation; and the tall receding chimney stalks giving out incessant volumes of murky smoke—that of St. Rollox far pre-eminent, reaching as it does a height of more than 400 feet, continue to testify to that manufacturing industry, of which our sojourn in the city had already furnished perhaps overabundant proofs. Imposing lines of buildings extend in the back ground on the north, and numerous villas bedeck the face of the country on the south bank. About a couple of miles down the river the villages of Govan on the left, and of Partick on the right hand, meet the eye. On either hand the country is low but fertile; and as the boat passes along, some fine mansions, as Jordanhill and Scotstown, Elderslie and Blythswood, claim attention. About six miles down, the house tops of the ancient burgh of Renfrew are descried on the left, and further inland the smoke of Paisley indicates its position. Some miles on, passing the villages of Old and New Kilpatrick, the birthplace of St. Patrick, we come to Port Dunglas, and the remains of its Roman fortress, marking the western extremity of the old Roman wall or Graham's Dyke which extended between the two firths, and to Bowling Bay, at the termination of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Here a small obelisk commemorates the enterprise and ingenuity of Mr. Henry Bell, who originated that steamer traffic to which the Clyde owes so much of its opulence. On the southern shore, as we near Dumbarton, Blantyre House (Lord Blantyre), a princely mansion, commands admiration from its extent and elegance, and finely wooded parks. On the north the Kilpatrick trap hills run in upon the water.

3. Dumbarton's isolated rock, protruded to an elevation of upwards of 200 feet, at the confluence of the Leven and Clyde on the north side of the latter river, with its bristling batteries, forms a conspicuous object in a landscape of surpassing richness and brilliancy. It is basaltic, and in many place columnar, and is split into twin summits. The governor's house stands in a recess on the south side, not much above the base of the rock : from it a steep ascent, by flights of steps between a narrow gap, conducts to the confined space between the two summits, at the further end of which are erected the armoury and the barracks. The former contains 1500 stand of arms ; the latter can accommodate about 150 men. Within the memory of man, the entrance was by a footpath up the sloping hank formed of debris on the north side. In the armoury is kept Wallace's great double-handed sword, an interesting memento of the mighty dead. The guns of the fortress, sixteen in number, are arranged about the governor's house, in the face of the highest rock, nearly in the same line, and pointing down the firth, behind the barracks, and on the top of the lower eminence. A very old fragment of masonry remains on the latter, but coeval with what period tradition gives no note. In "Balclutha's walls of Towers," mentioned by Ossian, we recognise Dumbarton's castellated rock. It was the capital of the Strathclyde Britons. Alcluith is mentioned by Bede as orbs munitissimac; and the possession of it being always regarded as a matter of importance, it figures repeatedly in the stormy history of our country. Still it was not one of the four principal fortresses given to the English in 1174, in security of the ransom of William the Lion, and it is believed to have been at that time only the principal residence of the Earls of Lennox, the third of whom, Maldwin, surrendered it into the hands of Alexander II. On one occasion it was the scene of a most adventurous exploit. We allude to the perilous but successful escalade by Crawford of Jordanhill, during Queen Mary's reign. While in the possession of her partisans, this officer of the Regent Lennox, with a few followers, on the 2d May 1571, achieved the daring enterprise of scaling the dizzy precipice, under cloud of night, surmounting in their progress an unexpected and a very embarrassing difficulty. One of the party, in ascending a ladder, was seized with a fit of epilepsy. As the profoundest silence was necessary, the most imminent hazard arose of their being discovered by the man's falling, or the noise unavoidable in attempting his removal. The expedient however was promptly adopted, of making him fast to the ladder, which was then turned, and his comrades were thus enabled to pass, and reach the summit unobserved.

A striking picture is presented as we pass the mouth of the Leven, when the town behind the castle, and its ship-building yards, and its glass-house cones, combine with the castellated rock as a foreground to the fair and fertile vale of Leven, bounded in the distance by the pyramidal summit of "the lofty Benlomond." The panorama from the top of the castle rock is extensive, varied, and beautiful, of the river and Firth of Clyde, the Leven, and the Highlands girdling in various but unseen fresh and salt-water lochs. An eminence on the elevated ground, intermediate between the Leven and the Gareloch, and not far from Dumbarton, is interesting, as the site of the castle in which Robert Bruce frequently resided, and in which he died.

4. We are now fairly on the expanding bosom of the Firth, skirted by fertile sloping shores, diversifies with intermingling woods. At Port Glasgow, now somewhat of a misnomer, as it continues but partially to fulfil that relation, Newark Castle, a large quadrangular pile by the sea, with numerous chimney stalks and hanging turrets, momentarily recalls us from the busy present to the days of other years. On the opposite coast the long extending houses of Helensburgh, one of the favourite sea-bathing villages which abound on the Clyde, mark the entrance to the Gareloch, concealed behind the wooded peninsula of Roseneath, on which may be descried an elegant Italian villa, a seat of the Argyle family.

Greenock, the birth place of Watt, is an important and bustling sea-port. Its prolonged and many-peopled quay, with its spacious and handsome custom-house, backed by docks filled with shipping, is all alive with the hurry of arriving and departing steamers.

The reach of the Firth to the Cloch Light-house, where the coast line bends to the south, is one of uncommon character. On the north its waters sweep backwards to the circling hills, amongst which they indent themselves in the embracing arms of the Holy Loch, Loch Goil, and Loch Long. Holy Loch is studded with an uninterrupted zone of neat and ornamental and cheerful villas, forming and connecting the villages of Duneon and Kilmun. On the south the villas adjoining Greenock and Gourock equally betoken the eager concourse of the teeming population of Glasgow for the enjoyment of the healthful influences of salt water and the sea breeze. The shores around are lined with one beauteous frame of cultivated and wooded slopes. The sterner features of alpine scenery in the ranges of high and rugged mountains to the north, contrast with the softer graces impressed by the hand of art on the low grounds. Steam-boats glide along the water, while trading vessels, with, it may be, a sprinkling of yachts and pleasure boats, with less undeviating speed, are fain to woo the uncertain breeze. It is difficult to conceive, without witnessing, the thoroughfare of steamers which the Clyde presents. In the season the streets of Glasgow are almost literally deserted by the fairer portion of the inhabitants, who flock to summer quarters on the Clyde, some as far removed as Rothesay, Largs, Ardrossan, and Arran, distances of forty to fifty miles and more, while their lords (of the married portion) find their way down as often during the week as circumstances permit; but on the Saturdays, or on Friday afternoons, they literally crowd the steamers' decks, as fully bent on holiday relaxation as when in schoolboy days they made weekly escape from restraint, returning to their several avocations on the Monday morning. The privilege to the population of such a ready and noble outlet is unspeakable, while the consequent enrichment of the coast, with the enlivening movement of this living tide, co-operate to heighten the attractions of this magnificent estuary, which, taken all in all, is unrivalled in the three kingdoms. The cabin fares are less than a penny, in some instances not exceeding a halfpenny, a mile. All this life upon the water is, notwithstanding the rivalry of a parallel line of railway from Glasgow to Greenock, another by Paisley to Ardrossan, and now a third in progress on the north side of the river, to connect the city with Loch Lomond.

5. On a green rocky knoll projecting from the centre of the village of that name, are the foundation walls of the ancient Castle of Dunoon, which seems to have been little more than a single tower. It originally owned the hereditary High-stewards of Scotland as its proprietors ; and it was bestowed on the Argyle family by the crown in return for the important services rendered in aid of Robert the Steward, in Edward II.'s reign, by Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow. Dunoon Castle %vas taken by Edward Baliol, and retaken by Robert Stewart, grandson of Robert Bruce, about the year 1334. It was a favourite place of resort of that monarch for the enjoyment of the chase. On one of these occasions an attempt to surprise him was made by Aymer de Valence, accompanied by 1500 horsemen ; but the Bruce having got intimation of the design, encountered and defeated them in Glenderuel. Dunoon Castle was also taken in 1544 by the Earl of Lennox, after a gallant resistance by the Earl of Argyle. It formed the residence of the Argyle family till about the end of the seventeenth century. Dunoon was also a Diocesan residence at one period. It is now one of the most fashionable bathing-places on the Clyde.

6. The steamer's course now keeps the northern or western shore, but the Ayrshire coast is sufficiently near to enable us to appreciate the range of low beach, surmounted by hanging woods, verdant pastures, and corn-fields. Various little enchanting indentations as at Innerkip—where Ardgowan, the mansion of Sir .Michael Shaw Stewart, peers forth from an affluence of foliage mantling the hill-sides ; and Wemyss Bay, each present their clustering villas ; and marine residences of manufacturing and commercial magnates continue to dot the shore line on either hand. At the Bay of Largs there is a village of some pretensions—another at Fairlie of smaller size, but almost wholly composed of handsome residences, with enclosed garden-grounds of exuberant vegetation, and those near the water's edge each provided with its appurtenance of a boathouse. But these places are barely discernible. Largs is remarkable as the scene of the great battle, or more correctly, of the series of desperate skirmishes, in which Haco, King of Norway, was defeated, with great slaughter, in 1263, and the power of Norway in the west of Scotland irretrievably broken by the Scottish army under Alexander III. A curious sarcophagus, quite entire, formed by huge and undressed slabs, on a plateau immediately above the extremity of Largs, on the Fairlie road, would seem to indicate the thick of the fray, or the spot where some great leader fell.

In front of us, as we advance, the Island of Bute to the north, with the small isles of the Cumbrays, towards the Ayrshire coast, and between and beyond the highly imposing elevation of the Island of Arran, Goatfell, and contiguous peaks, conspicuous amongst its lofty and rugged summits, form a fine and varied screen. In the remote distance we may detect the conical form of Ailsa Craig.

7. On to the Point of Toward, the extremity of the peninsula of Cowal, are a lighthouse and the ruins of Castle Toward, the ancient stronghold of the Lamonts, and a splendid modern mansion of the same name, the seat of Finlay, Esq.

Of the old castle, which stood on a detached mound in front of a now wooded hill a little westward of the Point, but a single tower remains. The offices of the modern building are erected as for an outwork and gate of entrance to the castle, of which the design is showy, but wanting in the massiveness and imposing effect of the gloomy strongholds of the olden time. On passing the east coast of Bute, Mount Stewart, the seat of the Marquis of Bute, comes into view. Should the tourist's arrangements lead him to a sojourn on the island, he will be much gratified by the great growth of the timber and extensive range of the woods about this seat, and he will find here, too, a fine collection of paintings.

8. The Island of Bute is nearly eighteen miles long by five broad. Rothesay, an ancient burgh, is a favourite resort, in summer, of the inhabitants of Glasgow. Its crescent-shaped and deeply imbedded bay is well protected by the encircling hills. The population is about 4000 ; and, depending partly on letting lodgings, the villas about are numerous, and varied in their style and sizes, and much attention is paid to the cleanliness of the place, while its fine and well-filled harbour lends it unusual animation and interest. The fineness of the climate adds a fresh charm to the wayfarer in the luxuriant shrubberies fronting the bay—fuchsias, in particular, attaining quite a remarkable size; while its salubrity recommends it to the invalid for the invigorating of the bodily frame. The principal inns are the Bute Arms and the Clydesdale. This town, in addition to its healthy and romantic situation, is rendered interesting by the ruins of its magnificent, old, and ivy-cased castle, which is supposed to have been built in the eleventh century, and was long a royal palace, and the scene of the death of Robert III. Rothesay Castle was reduced by Iiaco, King of Norway, in his expedition in 1263, and was subsequently held by Rudric, one of his officers, whose daughter intermarried with the Stewards, its previous possessors. The building is of considerable extent, there being connected with the palace a spacious circular court, about 140 feet in diameter, formed by high and thick ivy-cased walls; on the outside of which a terraced walk extends around the castle, separated from the adjoining grounds by a wide and deep ditch. This castle was partially injured by Cromwell's soldiers; and the work of destruction was completed by a brother of the Earl of Argyle in 1685. Close by the castle is a large new jail and court-house. Several graceful church spires serve to make up a most striking picture from the water, especially where the towering ridges of Arran come into view in the back ground. A green knoll on the west side of the bay, surmounted by the ruins of an old chapel, commands a view of a low valley which stretches across the island to Scalpsie Bay on the opposite side of the island, and containing the waters of Loch Fad, but slightly elevated above high water mark. This valley is finely cultivated, and intersected by large ash, sycamore, and beech; and on a ridge, descending into it, stands the parish, church, and the remains of a Roman Catholic chapel, in the walls of which, under two canopied recesses, are full-sized e~gies in stone, which, with one in the centre of the floor, are locally held to represent three brothers, called "the stout Stewarts of Bute," companions in arms of Sir William Wallace, and who fell at the battle of Falkirk. The shores of Loch Fad were selected by Kean the tragedian as a place of residence.

9. The Kyles of Bute, in their general character, are exceedingly pleasing, as they wind between moderately-sized hills of undulating and unbroken outline, frequently sinking sheer upon the water, and seeming to landlock the passage ; heathy towards their summits, but verdant below, and there fringed with irregular, waving lines of copse-wood and young plantations and stripes of cultivated ground. Mingled agricultural and pastoral features, with successive headlands and windings of the sea, are the characteristics which thus distinguish the Kyles. Yet, from want of any marked features, perhaps the general impression is rather one of disappointment. At the head of Loch Strevan we perceive the terminating chains of the Highland mountains disposed in several lofty rather detached rounded cones, verdant but devoid of trees ; while towards Toward Point the softening ranges subside in wooded and cultivated slopes. About two miles from Rothesay the steam-boat passes the bay and village of Port Bannatyne on the Bute shore at the east end, with Kaims Castle, an old castellated mansion, at the head of the bay. Opposite Rothesay is the house of Achinwillan.

10. At the entrance of Loch Ridden, on the right, and about the centre of the Kyles, on the islet of Eilangreig, are seen the ruins of a castle which was garrisoned in 1685 by the Earl of Argyle in his unsuccessful enterprise, and dismantled by some English ships sent for the purpose.

Argyle, having opposed, and afterwards refused to subscribe, a test which was devised by government against the free principles cherished by the more determined friends of Protestantism, had been tried and condemned as guilty of treason ; but he contrived to effect his escape from Edinburgh Castle, and took refuge in Holland. Here, with other disaffected refugees of distinction, he concerted an expedition to Scotland, and sailed from Rotterdam with three ships and about 300 men ; the Duke of Monmouth, at the same time, taking charge of a similar small armament to make a descent on the coast of England. Partly from want of due precaution in the Orkneys, intelligence of Argyle's movements and force was furnished to government, so that adequate preparations were made to oppose him. He however collected a small army of 2500 of his own and other clans ; but, remaining too long inactive in Argyleshire, he was hemmed in by superior numbers ; and, his followers being eventually obliged to disperse, he was taken prisoner at Inchinnan, near Renfrew, carried to Edinburgh, and beheaded on the 26th June, 1685, meeting death with distinguished fortitude. Monmouth, equally unfortunate, suffered a like fate on Tower Hill. Argyle had deposited his stores, to the amount of 5000 stand of arms, and 300 barrels of gunpowder, in Eilangreig, under the charge of a garrison of 150 men, who abandoned the castle, without offering any resistance, to a royal squadron, which also captured Argyle's vessels, and destroyed the fortifications.

11. Passing on the left the dark mountains of Arran, from every point of view a striking group, from their beetling precipices and strongly defined outlines, and rounding Ardlamont Point, the steamer enters Loch Fyne. Skipness Castle, to be seen on the coast of Cantyre, was one of the most capacious strongholds in the Highlands ; being surrounded by a high and extensive wall, and the area subdivided by a cross wall into two compartments, within one of which stands the ancient square keep of four storeys, still inhabited ; having also two other small projecting square towers. The shores of Cowal, on the right, are low and uninteresting, and the hills without character; the Knapdale coast pretty high, wild, and unattractive.

East Tarbert Bay, where a narrow isthmus joins Knapdale with Cantyre, surrounded with exceedingly bare, rough, rocky knolls, with the frowning ruins of its castle, is uninviting, so that there is no room for regret that we are denied a close inspection ; but the bay is a secure anchorage, and the village a flourishing one, and contains an excellent inn. The ancient keep, of four storeys, perched on a high rock, near the entrance on the southern shore, with the hanging ruined outer wall, which encircled a very irregular area, perhaps two acres in extent, and within which may have been a whole colony of huts, besides the garrison, and larger buildings, are all that remain of the old castle which was built by Robert the Bruce. Like Skipness on the same coast of Cantyre, the tower has its staircase in the heart of the strong thick wall, and has no corner turrets : the rooms were small, but plastered ; and the outer screens had large round towers at intervals, two in particular, between which was the main approach, but none entire. Ivy and rank grass overtop the whole. A scheme was of late years projected for uniting East and West Loch Tarbert by a canal, which would have been of importance, particularly to the trade of Islay. For the, present it is in abeyance.

12. Arrived near the thriving village of Lochgilphead, a disembarkation takes place, the windings of the Crinan Canal having to be threaded in a light track boat. The process, and of re-embarkation again into another steam vessel at the further extremity, occasions a rather disagreeable anxiety for the safe forwarding of one's luggage, though the attendants are very careful in seeing after the transmission of every package. Still, there might be some amendment in regard to such small articles as may take injury, yet prove rather cumbersome to carry one's self. The variety of conveyance is in itself a pleasing change. This canal, intersecting the root of that long promontory known by the name of Cantyre, is about nine miles in length. From the dimensions of the locks, which in this short space are no fewer than fifteen in number, each ninety-six feet in length, by twenty four in breadth, and the sharp windings of the waterway, its utility in saving the doubling of the Mull of Cantyre, which is both tedious and hazardous, is confined to vessels of small burthen. Out out of banks of mica slate, which are surmounted by brushwood and trees, and festooned with honeysuckle and other plants, while an extensive moorland accompanies us on the right, the navigation is highly pleasing and picturesque. This is especially so at the outset, where the grounds of Achindarroch House or Oakfield (Campbell) lie alongside, and on the other hand, Kilmorie Castle (Sir John Ord) embellishes the view.

13. Arrived at the further end, and on board the steamer in waiting there, as the detention at the locks generally induces a good deal of walking, all parties find themselves pretty well prepared to appreciate the well-ordered appointments of the dinner-table. Quitting the Bay of Crinan, Duntroon—a modernized castle ( Malcolm), forms a conspicuous object. The run hence to Ardincaple Point, south of Kerrera Sound, is an interesting part. of the, voyage. The numerous detached objects, islands, mountains, headlands, bays, and inlets, broken up into successive compartments, in their rapid transmutations, keep the attention excited. The lofty conical mountains, hence called the Paps of Jura, are objects too striking not to be alluded to. Off the point of Craignish, near the Bay of Crinan, are several beautiful and picturesque islands; and along the coast the trap dykes assume fantastic castellated appearances. Loch Craignish, an arm of the sea, is distinguished by a chain of islands in its centre, stretching longitudinally alongst it in a line parallel with the shores, and composing, in their varied bold rocky, and, in some places, cultivated and wooded spaces, with similar flanking coasts, a landscape peculiar and striking, of which a glimpse is obtained.

14. Corryvreckan, the strait between the northern extremity of Jura and the mountainous island of Scarba, possesses a widespread notoriety. The commotion of the tides pouring through this narrow passage is heightened by a large sunk rock. This dangerous communication is studiously avoided by vessels and to small craft at certain times it would prove sure destruction. The author of the old Statistical Account of Jura gives us the following graphic picture of this whirlpool: "The gulf is most awful with the flowing tide; in stormy weather with that tide it exhibits an aspect in which a great deal of the terrible is blended. Vast openings are formed, in which, one would think, the bottom might be seen; immense bodies of water tumble headlong as over a precipice, then, rebounding from the abyss, they dash together with inconceivable impetuosity, and rise foaming to a prodigious height above the surface. The noise of their conflict is heard throughout the surrounding islands."

"On the shores of Argyleshire," says Campbell the poet, "I have oftened listened to the sound of this vortex, at the distance of many leagues. When the weather is calm, and the adjacent sea scarcely heard on these picturesque shores, its sound, which is like the sound of innumerable chariots, creates --a magnificent and fine effect." Mariners never choose to tempt the rangers of this gulf. Vessels of burthen, however, can make the passage; and at particular times it is tranquil enough for boats to venture.'

15. Nearing Loch Feochan, the steamer's course lies through intricate groupes of islands, Luing, Seil, Shuna, Lunga, Easdale, and many others, on which there are excellent slate quarries. These, with the workmen's houses, and vessels shipping cargo, are an animated scene. They are near the shore, and the steamer runs between and across the opening of Loch Melford.

The dark mountainous Island of Mull, with its iron-bound shores, and the hills of Morven, famed in song, are now seen to close in the seaward view. But in entering on that long stretch of inland sea called Loch Linnhe, the attention is diverted to the eastern coast, by the intervention of the long Island of Kerrera, distinguished by the ruins at its southern termination of the Danish Fort Gylen. To the geologist this island is of peculiar interest, as exhibiting singular junctions of primary, secondary, and trap rocks, and a curious angular conglomerate or breccia. The circumstance of its being the spot where King Alexander II. died on his memorable expedition in 1249, and the place of rendezvous where IIaco of Norway a few years afterwards met his island chieftains, who, crowding with their galleys to assist hiin in his descent on the coasts of Scotland, augmented his fleet to 160 sail, will ever command for Kerrera the attention of the antiquary.

16. Kerrera forms a natural breakwater to the Bay of Oban, stretching right across, and rendering it a peculiarly secure ha N en. The bay is not capacious, but is flanked by nearly parallel wooded rocks, and hemmed in by a higher rocky frontlet, at the base of which stretch the houses of the village—a long line of neat buildings, chiefly of two storeys, slated and white-washed, fronting the water, and presenting a very cheerful and pleasing appearance. On a high, isolated rock, forming the northern promontory of the bay, girt by perpendicular precipices, and accessible only on one side, stands Dunolly Castle, an ivy-clad square keep, an ancient seat of the Macdougals of Lorn, descendants of the mighty Somerled of the Isles. It is four storeys high ; but, with the exception of the vaulted dungeon, which is still entire, the building is now a mere shell. Portions are standing of a wall which, springing from two opposite angles, ran along the brink of the rock, enclosing an irregular court. Conspicuous on the face of the rising ground behind the village, a tasteful Free Church, of light early English architecture, with a low Norman Tower and pointed spire, after a design by Mr. Pugin has been lately erected. Nearly opposite the quay a larger and loftier elevation indicates the Caledonian Hotel, a very commodious and well-conducted establishment. There are two or three other inns of less pretensions, and a large proportion of the inhabitants lay themselves out for the accommodation of lodgers. Oban being a place of great resort in the season, it is the centre of steam communication on the west coast. One is hardly prepared, in so remote a corner, to find on some days of the week as many at times as nine or ten steamers arriving and departing daily. There is a daily steamer, and, on certain days, as many as three steamers to Glasgow. One every day, and two on alternate days, to Fort-William and Inverness. One thrice a week—indeed almost daily—to Staffa and Iona, and round the Island of Mull, and two every week to Skye, and one to Stornoway. There are besides two daily coaches, one from Glasgow by Loch Lomond, the other from Inverary. It is also a favourite sea-bathing quarter and place of summer residence. Indeed, in the months of July and August, it literally swarms with strangers. Yet, for sea-bathing it is not well adapted. The water is all that could be desired, and the beach is pretty good, but the ground along shore is so confined, that there is little privacy, and there are no bathing machines. This is, indeed, a general want on the west coast. On the Clyde, however, the houses often lining the roadway along the bathing ground, persons can dress and undress in-doors, though it is anything but seemly in the fair sex in their bathing gear to cross the public way so unconcernedly as they do. But, indeed, the good people of Oban are singularly behind hand in meeting the requirements which one would suppose to be indispensable to the suitable lodgment of their migratory visitors, if not to their own comfort. The ground-storey of the houses being chiefly occupied with shops—some of them very good—a peculiar mode of access to the upper floor prevails, viz., by a passage right through the dwelling, and then up an outside back stone stair-ease. Thus, and from close contiguity, the back areas are disagreeably overlooked—in one part of the town the exposure is heightened by the back-ground being to the water side. Many of the houses are disgracefully deficient in some of the arrangements essential to the decencies of life, and preservation of health. A drawback to the well-being of the place is the limited supply of fresh water, which would probably call for considerable expense to remedy by artificial contrivances. ' Some more unexceptionable houses are springing up at the north end of the village. The furniture is very commonplace, and the apartments plain enough. But the charges are high. There is no regular butcher or vegetable market; the supplies are uncertain, and mostly of inferior quality, even the mutton being ill-fed and scraggy ; and, what will seem more strange, there is but little fish to be had. A. good deal of salmon and salmon-trout at times, but only so, and herring; but there is no white fish caught in the bay—what is exposed for sale, and that in but moderate quantity, being brought chiefly from Loch Etive. It is rather surprising, considering the steam communication, that abundant supplies of all eatables should not flow in from other places for general consumpt. The inns, of course, have their own source of supply. No mean compensation is abundant and capital dairy produce, excellent bread, and good groceries. There are some most respectable shops—among others, a bookseller's, with a tolerable library. Will it be believed that at this time of day there is no direct post between Oban and Fort-William—a distance of only forty miles—and that a letter from the one to the other has to be conveyed round by Inverary, Glasgow, Perth, and Inverness, and the answer, of course, to make the same extraordinary roundabout?

17. Yet with these drawbacks a few weeks can be spent delightfully at Oban. The scenery around is in the highest degree grand, varied, and beautiful; indeed, the whole features of the district are remarkable, and it comprises many most noted localities, while antiquarian remains of great interest abound in the neighbourhood. We need but enumerate Staffa, Iona, the Sound of Mull, Loch Etive, Loch Creran, the Pass of Awe, Loch Leven, and Glencoe, Ben Nevis, Ben Cruachan, Dunstaffnage, and Dunolly, Duart, Ardtornish, Aros, Mingarry, Loch Alline, Inverlochy, Kilchurn, Gylen, and other castles; Achendown, the Bishop of Lismore's Palace, and Ardchattan Priory; Berigonium, the site, at least reputed, of that Pictish capital ; memorials, some of actual monarchy, others of the almost regal sway of those great princes, the Lords of the Isles, and rival families of almost equal note. And these are very accessible from the numerous public conveyances, and the facilities of transport by boat, besides which, there are very good vehicles kept for hire. In the immediate, vicinity of Oban there is much to interest. The heights above command splendid views across the water, the huge sombre mountains of ,Mull looming above the intervening green and rocky Isle of Kerrera. From an agreeable promenade in front of the main street, we can bend our steps along the sides of the bay—though on the north the limits are somewhat confined by the grounds of Dunolly—or, by an outlet at either extremity of the street, find our way into the country behind, which is of that irregular surface characteristic of a trap and conglomerate formation. From Dunolly the prospect is very fine. The drive to Loch Feochan to the south is picturesque, while, in the opposite direction, au interval of four miles brings us to Dunstaffnage, an imposing pile, the residence (though not the existing edifice) of our early Scottish kings; and by extending the excursion as far again—from the low rocky eminence on the opposite bay of Ardnamucknish, the Selma of Ossian, and supposed to indicate the site of Berigonium—a panorama of mingled mountain, `eater, rock, and plain, is commanded, of great expanse and most striking character.

Here we may add, that the powerful Staffa and Iona boats make the circuit of the island of Mull, and regain Oban about six o'clock in the evening, and that a steamer proceeds to Fort-William and Corpach in the morning, to bring on the passengers who leave Inverness the same morning by the canal steamers. On the way tourists are landed at Ballachulish, where there are conveyances up Glencoe, and they are picked up again on the return voyage in the evening; or they can, by a small boat, join the Glasgow boat, which passes on in the evening to Corpach, where the north-going passengers spend the night, while the northern travellers on their way south make Oban their resting place.

Having conducted the reader as far as Oban, we retrace our steps to carry on the descriptions of the other routes thus far, before proceeding onwards.

To commence with that

FROM GLASGOW TO OBAN AND To FORT-WILLIAM BY LOCH LOMOND.

18. Though each of the different routes to the north, by the west coast, possesses its own peculiar attractions, the palm must be assigned, to that by Loch Lomond and Loch Awe to Oban, or by Glencoe to Fort-William. But Glencoe can he conveniently visited on the way from Oban to Fort-William, which itself is not to be lost, so that Oban is the point to be preferred, there being a coach to Oban and another to Fort-William, diverging at Tyndrum, the passengers by both which are conveyed along Loch Lomond by steam. The space to Dumbarton is traversed sometimes by water, at others by coach, as may suit either company's arrangements. But the railway from Bowling Bay to Loch Lomond will doubtless cause a diversion in the stream of passenger traffic.

19. Dumbarton, a few hundred yards up the river Leven, consists chiefly of a long, crooked, and irregular street, at the upper end of which a bridge of four arches is thrown across, and the road to Loch Lomond proceeds on the west side of the stream. The brick cones of extensive and long-established crown and bottle glass works still form a prominent feature in the appearance of the town; but owing chiefly to the repeal of the duties on glass, the manufacture has been almost given up here. More recent, but already distinguished, ship-building works in all branches, both timber and iron, also characterise the place; but the most distinctive feature of all, is its peculiar and renowned castellated rock, already described in this route. The population in 1841 was 4453. The town was made a royal burgh in 1222 by Alexander II. A remnant of privileges, much more extensive, is still enjoyed in immunity by the burgesses, from dues at the Broomielaw and every other port belonging to Glasgow, with the right of free navigation of the Clyde. In former times the space round the Castle would seem to have been under water at full tide. Besides steamers direct several times a-day to and from Glasgow, and twice a-day to and from Greenock, there are ferry-boats out from Dumbarton at any hour to meet the steamers.

20. The Leven is, in itself, a clear winding stream, known to fame by its connexion with the name of Smollett, whose family residence, Bonhill (now Messrs. Turnbull), is about halfway between the Clyde and Loch Lomond. A monument has been erected. to his memory in the village of Renton, a round column on a square die; but it is shamefully neglected, the tablet being left broken and defaced. He was born in the old farm-house of Dalquhurn, taken down several years ago. It stood on the opposite side of the road to the monument, and at the south end of the village. On either side of the valley the ground rises in continuous and very gentle slopes, cultivated to the top, with a large quantity of wood interspersed. Amid these peaceful scenes the spirit of trade has found a local habitation—numerous public works for bleaching, dyeing, calico printing, and the manufacture of pyroligneous acid, or white vinegar, being embowered along the river banks, the workmen belonging to which inhabit the considerable villages of Renton and Alexandria on the west, and Bonhill on the east side of the river. Various country seats fill up the fertile and populous valley, as Cordale House (Stirling), Levengrove (Dixon), Strathleven (Ewing), Levenbank (Stuart), &c. Nearing the Loch, Tillichewen Castle (William Campbell, Esq., one of the great Glasgow merchants), a handsome Gothic structure, is passed, and on the opposite side of the valley, Balloch Castle (— Stott) shows itself above the foliage. Omnibuses ply from Dumbarton to the Loch Lomond steamers, and to the Suspension Bridge at Balloch, at the foot of the lake—soon to be superseded by the railway above alluded to, in progress, to Bowling Bay, near Port Dunglas on the Clyde, whence it is eventually to be carried on to Glasgow. The line has been leased by Messrs. G. & T. Burns, the well-known and spirited steam-boat proprietors.

21. Loch Lomond, "the lake full of islands," is unquestionably the pride of Scottish lakes, from its extent, its numerous islands, and the varied character of its scenery. At its lowest ex- tremity, where it insinuates its waters into the vale of Leven, it is for a space quite narrow ; it then expands on either hand, but especially on the east side, and attains in some places a breadth of seven or eight miles, and measuring thirty miles in length. Its banks again approach towards each other, and thence to its termination the lake, winding among the projecting arms of primitive mountains, and slightly altering at intervals its general bearings, alternately contracts and dilates its surface, as it meets and wheels round the impending headlands, among which it at last loses itself in a narrow, prolonged stripe of water. The mountains, in general, gradually increase in height, steepness, and irregularity of surface towards the head of the lake. Those on the west are intersected by successive glens, as Fruin, Finlass, Luss, Douglas, Tarbet, and Sloy. The opposite mountains are more unbroken. Numerous little bays indent the shores, their bounding promontories consisting at the lower end of flat alluvial deposits, but towards the upper parts of the lake passing into inclined rocky slopes and abrupt acclivities. At the lower extremity also, there are large tracts of arable ground ; while above Luss they occur only at intervals in the mouth of the glens, at the bottom of ravines, or in open spaces created by the partial receding of the hills. Interrupted masses and zones of wood and coppice diversify the face of the hills, oak coppice, mixed with alder, birch, and hazel, predominating. In the broader part, the surface of the water is studded with islands of many sizes and various aspects—flat, sloping, rocky, heathy, cultivated, and wooded, stretching across the lake in three parallel zones. The islands are about thirty in number; and of these, ten are of considerable size, as Inchconagan, which is half a mile long; Inchtavanach and Inchmoan, each three quarters ; Inchlonaig, a mile ; and Inchmurren (the largest and most southerly) two miles in length. These two last are used as deer parks by the families of Luss and Montrose, and it is still the practice to place insane persons and confirmed drunkards in some of the islands. Several gentlemen's residences, which encompass the lower end of the lake, are surrounded by richly-wooded parks, as Batturich Castle (Findlay) on the east side, on the site of the ancient seat of the Lennox family; and Ross Priory (Mrs. M'Donald Buchanan), frequently visited by Sir Walter Scott ; and in the opposite direction, Cameron (Smollett) ; Bel Retira (Campbell) ; Arden (Buchanan) ; and farther up, Rossdhu (Sir James Colquhoun, Bart.), finely situated on a projecting promontory; and Camstradden (also Sir J. Colquhoun). An obelisk may be descried on the south-east, raised to the memory of the celebrated George Buchanan ; and the banks of the Endrick are immortalized by the sojourn for many years of Lord Napier of Merchiston, the inventor of logarithms, and the ancestor of the heroes of Acre and Scinde. The whole tract of country on the east side of Loch Lomond and Leven belongs to the Duke of Montrose, whose seat, Buchanan, is situated at some little distance inland, while the west side, from the Fruin water to Glen Falloch, is, with scarce an exception, the property of Sir J. Colquhoun. A few miles above Luss, we have to admire successive mountain slopes, rising one behind another in rugged acclivities, feathered with oak coppice, and irregular rocky precipices shooting up above; the ample sides of Ben Lomond, in particular extending north and south in lengthened slopes, his lofty head—a compressed peak—aspiring to the clouds ; while towards the head of the lake the towering alps of Arroquhar and Glen Falloch, with their bulky forms, abrupt sides, peaked summits, and jagged outlines, terminate the prospect. A couple of steam-boats ply upon Loch Lomond, and, instead of proceeding to Oban or Fort-William, the tourist can be conveyed from Glasgow to the head of the lake and back again the same day, or he may reach Inverary, if not Oban, or the Trosachs, or Aberfoil Inn ; the former by the coach or by cars from Tarbet, the two latter from Invcrsnaid by cart, for those who, coming first, are first accommodated in the vehicles at command ; others by ponies, always in readiness, caparisoned with gentlemen's and side saddles; for, though the road be not macadamized, it is now-a-days quite a thoroughfare. Indeed, it must be confessed that the rough cart-track is only fit for little sure-footed highland ponies, which career along as over a bowling-green. At the worst, if disappointed, a walk of five miles brings one to the little steamer on Loch Catrine. If hurried, he will find coaches for Stirling, in waiting, at the further end ; and, if much pressed, may reach Edinburgh or Glasgow the same night. It must be observed, that it is proper, if for Loch Catrine, to leave the boat on the way up at Inversnaid, where, as at Tarbet, Rowardennan, and other spots, there are excellent inns.

The most interesting portion of the sail on Loch Lomond, is after rounding the most southerly group of islands at the west, doubling across to Bahnaha on the east, then recrossing to Luss on the western shore. Here the spacious bosom of the lake is encircled by islands of various character, presenting middle distances in every direction. The eye courses over an extensive circuit. To the south the ground declines, and the outlines are soft and low, and almost horizontal; and the aspect of nature fertile in the highest degree. The upper boundaries are mountainous, lofty, and exceedingly varied. Not a point of the compass is deficient in interest; the panorama is in every part complete, and in all splendidly beautiful. Viewed in favourable circumstances, be they a hot and sultry sun, a breathless air, and cloudless atmosphere, when every object is resplendent with light, and every leaf pencilled as in a mirror; or a cloudy day, when the overburthened heavens recline their masses on the mountain sides, or the restless vapours flit along their surface, and when receding hollow, and projecting cliff, advancing promontory, and retiring bay, or mountain-cleaving ravine, in mingled light and shade, are contrasted in strong relief, it may fairly be questioned whether a Lacustrine expanse, so magnificent, so lovely, and so entirely perfect, is anywhere to be seen.

22. Ben Lomond has perhaps been ascended by a greater number of tourists than any other of our Highland mountains. The general view, however, from its summit cannot compare with that from many others, there being but few openings through the mass of mountains which stretch around. But the bird's-eye view of Loch Lomond itself, as seen from the shoulder of the hill, amply repays the labour of the ascent,—so remarkably lively and diversified is the aspect of its bespangling islands, the strong contrast between the general character of its upper and lower portions, the sinuosities of its shores, the mountains which overhang its waters, or flank its glens, and the rich blush and glittering smile of its waving fields and cultivated spots. From opposite Tarbet, the ascent (here rather steep) generally occupies two hours. At Rowardennan, opposite Inveruglass, five miles further down the loch, it is more tedious, but considerably more easy, and this is the route most commonly followed. The waters of Loch Lomond, like those of Loch Ness, are said to have risen and been much agitated at the time of the great earthquake at Lisbon, and on the occurrence of several slight earthquakes since felt in various parts of Scotland ; their depth in the upper division of the lake being also in several places, as in the other lake just mentioned, upwards of a hundred fathoms. It is much less than this towards the lower or eastern end—a farther distinguishing peculiarity of the opposite extremities of Loch Lomond.

23. At Luss, where the Rev. Dr. Stewart, the translator of the Gaelic Bible, officiated, there are slate quarries. Three miles above Tarbet is a small wooded island called Inveruglass, and about two miles further, another called Eilan Vhou, on each of which are the ruins of a stronghold of the family of Macfarlane. In a vault of the latter, an old man of the name, who died not long ago, lived a hermit's life for a considerable number of years. Nearly opposite Inveruglass island, about a mile distant from the lake, are the ruins of Inversnaid fort, on the way to Loch Catrine, an old military station, chiefly designed to keep the clan Gregor in check. At Tarbet the mountains to the west, at the head of Loch Long, present a fantastic appearance, from which they are known by the name of "The Cobbler and his Wife." The head of Loch Lomond is eight miles from Tarbet ; and six miles from the latter place a huge mass of rock will be observed by the road side, in which a small chamber, secured by a door, has been hewn out to serve as a pulpit to the minister of Arroquhar, whose duty it is to preach occasionally in this part of the parish. At the head of the lake is Ardlieu, a good inn. The lake is succeeded, at its upper extremity, for about two miles and a-half, by a level tract of meadow and arable ground. Behind the inn, where hardwood, spruce, and larches occupy the valley, the resemblance to many Swiss scenes is said to be remarkable. Intermediate behind this and Strathfillan is a wide elevated valley, called Glen Falloch, rising in undulating slopes, unadorned save by a few scattered firs, and flanked on the east side by flattened broadly conical mountains, separated by wide corries. From hence, the river Falloch descends through a shelving rocky channel. It forms an obtuse angle with the lake, from the end of which the road, following the course of the river, inclines to the right, and thus looking back, as we ascend to the upper portion of Glen Falloch, the bulky mountains at the head of the lake, separated by deep hollows, are seen disposed in a vast semicircle, and form a most imposing alpine prospect.

24. Glen Fruin, near the southern extremity of Loch Lomond, was the scene of a well-known sanguinary clan conflict (in the commencement of the seventeenth century), which entailed on the clan Gregor a long series of unexampled persecution and blood-thirsty cruelty. Before adverting to the particulars of the affray, which jealous and powerful neighbours succeeded in converting into the source of a legalised warfare of extermination against this unfortunate race, in connexion with it the circumstances may be reviewed of a barbarous incident, which had excited James VI. to very harsh measures against them, and in all probability induced him to make the battle of Glen Fruin the signal for every species of oppression and wrong. The act alluded to was of a nature so revolting as to justify the most rigorous punishment; but it must be considered, that the MacGregors' share in the transaction was but secondary; and even in those barbarous days, the spectacle was rare, of government yielding to those revengeful impulses which among families perpetuated to future generations a deadly quarrel as an heirloom. Some young men—Macdonalds from Glencoe, having been found trespassing on the king's deer-forest of Glen Artney, to the north of Loch Achray, by the under-forester, Drummond of Drummondernoch, had had their ears cropped for their offence. Their kinsmen in retaliation slew Drummond, when, by his majesty's special directions, providing venison for the occasion of Anne of Denmark's arrival in Scotland ; and, having cut off his head, they repaired to the house of his sister, Mrs. Stewart of Ardvorlich, on the side of Loch Earn. Her husband was from home; and Mrs. Stewart, giving . them but a cold reception, laid only bread and cheese before them. While she was out of the room, they placed Drummondernoch's bloody head upon the table, with a piece of the bread and cheese in the mouth. The ghastly sight drove her insane; and leaving her home, she long wandered in a state of mental aberration through the mountains; and, to add to the catastrophe, she was soon to become a mother. The murderers hied them from Ardvorlich to the neighbouring church of Balquhidder, where the MacGregors, with their chief, laying their hands on the head of Drummond, swore at the altar to shelter and defend the authors of the deed. This took place about the year 1590. Letters of fire and sword were issued against the MacGregors, and they henceforth underwent the most unrelenting treatment at the hands of their powerful neighbours, who gladly availed themselves of the countenance of Government to harass them to the utmost. One of the most active of their enemies was Sir Humphry Colquhoun of Luss, who directed his persecution against the MacGregors of Balquhidder. With him, Alexander of Glen Strae, at the head of Loch Ave, was particularly anxious that a reconciliation should be effected ; and for that purpose, having solicited a conference, he repaired with two hundred of his clan to a place appointed in the valley of the Leven. On their return homewards from the meeting, they were treacherously assaulted in Glen Fruin, by Luss, with eight hundred of his retainers and neighbours. MacGregor had, however, been apprised of the meditated attack, and his men were on their guard. They fought so obstinately as to come off victors in the contest, slaying two hundred of the name of Colquhoun, besides others of their opponents, and making many prisoners. A tragic incident, of a peculiar nature, added seriously to the loss of the discoinfited party, and was very probably the chief means of the battle of Glen Fruin being followed by such calamitous consequences to the MacGregors. In the adjoining town of Dumbarton, the principal part of the youth of the Lennox were being educated at the time: curiosity had led about eighty of them, hearing of the meeting of their parents and friends, to repair to the neighbourhood of the scene of action. It was deemed advisable, when hostilities commenced, to confine them in a barn. They all fell into the hands of the MacGregors, who, while they followed up the pursuit, set a guard over them, by whose act, or by some unfortunate mischance, the building was set on fire, and the poor children destroyed. A partial representation of all these occurrences was made to the king (James VI.), and to excite him still more effectually, a procession was got up of sixty widows, whose husbands had been slain on the occasion, mounted on white palfreys, and tearing on long poles upwards of two hundred bloody shirts of the slaughtered Colquhouns. Henceforth the clan Gregor were treated little better than wild beasts. Their lands were confiscated, their very name was proscribed; and, being driven to such extremity, they became notorious for acts of reprisal, and famous as systematic leviers of black-mail. Their services in Montrose's wars first induced some relaxation of the enactments against them, but till a much later period they continued in a peculiar position with the clans around them, and endured, though not with tame submission, along with chastisement, at times deserved, much unjust and unmerited persecution.

25. Proceeding northwards we join the main road from Stirling to Fort-William at Crinlarich, between eight and nine miles from the head of Loch Lomond, and between three and four miles from Tyndrum, the first stage. There Ben ,Nlore, with its associated hill-tops, form a noble group. We are now in Strathfillan, to the east of which is Glen Dochart, nearly in a line with Loch Tay. At the foot of Ben More lies Loch-an-Our, and further to the east Loch Dochart.

This locality is memorable for one of the most remarkable passages in the life of Robert Bruce. After his defeat at Methven, near Perth, he had endeavoured, with a few hundred men-at-arms, to find his way into the Argyleshire Highlands, but was encountered in Strathfillan by a superior body of highlanders under Allaster Macdougal of Lorn, son-in-law of John, the Red Comyn, whom Bruce had slain at Dumfries, and consequently his inveterate enemy. The battle field, which lies immediately below Tyndrum, is still called Dalry, or the King's Field. The Bruce was obliged to retreat. In covering the rear of his forces at a narrow pass on the edge of Loch-an-Our, three of Lorn's men, who had by a short cut got ahead of the king, simultaneously assailed him. While one seized the bridle, another laid hold of a leg and stirrup, and the third leapt behind him on the horse's back; but his undaunted presence of mind and uncommon bodily prowess, enabled him, unhurt, to rid himself of this formidable superiority of numbers. It is said that the first had his arm hewn off; and the second was thrown down by the King putting spurs to his horse. Meantime, having extricated himself from the grasp of his third assailant, he threw him to the ground, and cleft his skull, and then too killed his prostrate foe with his sword. "Methinks," said Lorn, addressing one of his followers, "he resembles Golmae-morn protecting his followers from Fingal." It was on this occasion that Bruce

"Hardly'scaped with scathe and scorn,
Left the pledge with conquering Lorn"—

the brooch of his mantle, which unloosed. This precious relic was lost about the middle of the seventeenth century, and after passing through various hands, was, after an interval of nearly 200 years, restored to and preserved in the family of Lorn. This style of brooch, of a circular form, has a raised centre cairngorm or other stone, and half a dozen little cylinders projecting from the outer circlet studded with smaller stones of different hues, and is a favourite and very beautiful shoulder-fastening for the plaid.

26. About half-way between Crinlarich and Tyndrum there is a line in the river, called the Pool of St. Fillan's, which is to this day at times the scene of the observance of a degrading superstitious rite. At every term day, but chiefly Whitsunday and Lammas, it was and still is occasionally customary to immerse persons insane or of weak intellect at sunset. They are then bound hand and foot, and laid all night in the churchyard of St. Fillan's, within the site of the old chapel. A heavy stick is laid on each side; round these is warped several times a rope passing over the patient's breast, and made fast in a knot, which, if found loosed in the morning, a recovery may be looked for ; if not, the case is supposed to be desperate.

27. At Tyndrum the roads to Fort-William and Oban diverge. In the hill-face a lead-mine is wrought, in which the proportion of silver is considerable. The stretch of country between CalIander and the Western Sea is, for the most part, almost bare of trees, but to Dalmally, at the head of Loch Awe, our way lies through a succession of fine pastoral valleys, flanked by lofty hills, characterized by their pleasing verdant covering, though not distinguished, except occasionally, as at the Pass of Leni and Lochearnhead, by any very marked features. There is a considerable descent to Loch Awe. The inn, churches, and manses of Dalmally (13 miles from Tyndrum) are delightfully nestled among trees at the opening of Glenorchy, which leads to the Black Mount. The churchyard of DalmalIy was the burying-place of the Macgregors, many of whose memorial stones are still to the fore.

28. Loch Awe is about thirty miles in length, and varies from one-half to two and a half miles in width. It discharges its water by the river Awe, which issues from a lateral offset of the lake, branching off at no great distance from its eastern extremity, and extending from three to four miles into the valley connecting with Loch Etive, the outlet being thus somewhat peculiarly close by the main feeding streams. Ben Cruachan's gigantic bulk occupies the space bounded by the valley and the portion of the lake to the eastward. Its towering proportions give quite a distinctive character to this end of Loch Awe, different from the remainder of the lake, which is bounded by numerous chains of hills of elongated outline, rising tier above tier, and presenting to the eye a great expanse of mountainous ground, ascending in a gradual inclination. Ben Cruachan is the focus of the lofty ranges which line Glen Strae and Loch Etive. It presents a front of several miles to the river Awe and its parent offset of the lake, while its huge flanks are of corresponding proportions. In all points of view, the aspect of this mountain is peculiarly massive, stately, and imposing. The sloping shores of the lake are well cultivated and wooded, and the streams which fall into it exhibit many pleasing cascades. About twenty-four little islets are scattered over Loch Awe, chiefly towards the eastern extremity, some of them beautifully crowned with dark, nodding pines. On one of these islands, Inishail, or the Beautiful Isle, are the ruins of a small nunnery of the Cistertian order; and on Fraoch Elan (the heather isle), those of a castle, which was granted, in 1267, to Gilbert Macnaughten, by Alexander III. This latter isle was the Hesperides of the country, and is named also from Fraoch, an adventurous lover, who, attempting to gratify the wishes of th© fair Mego for the delicious fruit of the isle, encountered and destroyed the serpent by which it was guarded, but fell himself a victim to his temerity.

29. The conjoined waters of two rivers, descending from the respective, nearly parallel, glens, Strae and Orchy, disembogue themselves into Loch Awe at its eastern extremity, and at the base of Ben Cruachan. A spacious tract of meadow ground terminates the lake; and at the mouth of the river, on a point of land between its waters and a prolonged sweep of the lake, on a slightly protruding rock, stands an imposing pile of ruins, those of Kilchurn Castle, or Caolchairn, the "Castle of the Rock." They compose a square oblong building, with one truncated angle; and a large square keep, flanked by round, hanging turrets, occupies one corner. The remaining buildings are of varying elevations ; but the whole of each side of an uniform height, thus affording at once variety and simplicity of outline, while the general form is set off by a round tower at each of three angles. All the exterior, and greater part of the interior walls are entire ; and thus the castle, as a whole, forms, from its size, a prominent and striking object. The square tower was built in 1440, on the site of an old castle of the Macgregors, by Sir Colin Campbell, the Black Knight of Rhodes, third son of Duncan, lord of Lochow, and founder of the Breadalbane family,—a man of distinguished character. He acquired by marriage a considerable portion of the estates of the family of Lorn, and the territories of his descendants extend, uninterruptedly, for 100 miles inland from the western sea. One of the best points of view is from the east—the river and meadow-ground in the fore, and the prolonged waters of the lake, studded with wooded islands, the back ground. The drive round the base of Ben Cruachan is singularly fine. The bend of the mountain is skirted with oak woods, above which its giant sides rise with rapid inclination. On the other hand, the water is hounded by a chain of richly wooded eminences, divided into separate islands.

30, The river Awe is hounded by a narrow stripe of flat ground; but the offset of the lake, which precedes, occupies the whole of the bottom of the valley. For about a mile and a half next the river it is not a gunshot across ; beyond this gorge it widens considerably to the main expanse. At the narrow part of the opposing hills, the eastern one, the base of Ben Cruachan, rises sufficiently abrupt, while the western ascends from the brink of the water in an acclivity all but perpendicular, strewed below with finely powdered alluvium, mixed with verdure, and terminating at top in a continuous, grim, and furrowed precipice. Where the arm of the lake widens, the western bank declines in a lengthened slope, affording an exquisite position for the residence and grounds of Upper Inverawe, while the opposite one increases in steepness; and the road, amidst the foliage of clambering birch and oak, skirts the dark waters, which lie deep and still beneath. This spot is called the Pass of Awe, or the Brander, and is altogether a piece of magnificent scenery. The prolonged narrow vista of water, hemmed in by impending precipices, with the wooded islets at its termination, form a splendid landscape of singular grandeur, richness, and beauty. At this pass John of Lorn made an unsuccessful attempt to withstand Bruce's advance into his domains, when the tide of fortune having turned, he came to pay off old scores. Lorn unwarily left his enemy an opportunity of attaining a vantage ground, a chosen body of archers, under James of Douglas, Sir Alexander Fraser, and others, having ascended the hill face, which led to the discomfiture of the Argyle men with great slaughter.

The view from the top of Ben Cruachan is, perhaps, as interesting as is to be obtained from any of our Highland mountains, offering a peculiar intermixture of land and water in one section of the panorama, and overlooking a most extensive maze of mountains in the other.

31. Near the mouth of the Awe and the ferry at Bunaw on Loch Etive, an extensive iron furnace has been wrought since the middle of last century, by a Lancashire company, who took long leases of the adjoining woods for the smelting of English iron ore. On the opposite side of the river, Inverawe House, belonging to Campbell of Monzie, lies at the foot of Ben Cruachan, amid sheltering trees. A rude slab has been erected near the little inn of Taynuilt, commemorative of the thrill of pride felt even in the remotest localities of our common land in the name of Nelson.

32. Loch Etive is a beautiful navigable inlet of the sea, about fifteen miles in length, divided into two distinct compartments of very different characters at the ferry of Bunaw, Of the western section, framed by hills comparatively low. the shores alternately widen and contract, projecting into frequent low promontories. Wood and heath clothe the high grounds, while their borders are diversified by cultivated fields. The view up the lake is terminated by intersecting chains and the far-spreading sides and towering broadly-peaked summit of Ben Cruachan. But above the ferry, where the waters of the ocean have insinuated themselves amid the recesses of the towering mountains, stretching from Ben Cruachan towards Glencoe, the scenery assumes a character of severe and striking grandeur—a long' vista of bare and noble-looking mountains sinking sheer upon a sheet of water, which but for the rise and fall of the tide, we might take for an inland lake. We heartily recommend the tourist to hire a boat to carry him into the heart of this solitude; and if he will, following the road on the north side of Loch Etive for a couple of miles downwards, cross over to Bercaldine House on Loch Creran, and thence proceed to Oban by the ruins of Bercaldine Castle and by Connel Ferry, he will be much gratified by the detour. Occasionally a steamer takes a run from Oban up Loch Etive, and parties ought by all means to avail of any such opportunity.

33. On the north side of Loch Etive, about midway to Connel Ferry, the ruins of Ardchattan Priory, and the high-roofed prior's house, still inhabited, both encased with luxuriant ivy and o'er-canopied by trees, with the rich, ascending, undulating, and wooded parks behind, merit attention. Ardchattan is a name familiar and interesting to all acquainted with Highland annals. The Priory was built by Duncan Macdougal, a relative of the Lord of Lorn, in or about the year 1230, and it was burned during Montrose's wars by Colkitto. Little of it is now left except the entrance gable. Ardchattan belonged to the order of Valliscaulium, a branch of the Benedictines. It was connected with the family of Ergadia (Macdougal), as the Abbey of Saddell, in Cantyre, was with that of The Isles. The Prior of Ardchattan's is one of the signatures to the Ragman's Roll in 11296. The church was at simple oblong, 66 feet by 27. The piseina is of a peculiar form—of three unequal early English arches, over-arched by a round arch, with several mouldings resting on corbels. There are two tombs, one under the north wall—the other under the piscina—the former, of which the stone coffin remains, of Duncanus et Dugallus, Priors of the Monastery, and of their father and mother, with the date 1502 —the other of Rodenius Alexandri, rector of the isle of •Funnani, in Loch Leven. The first of these has six figures in relief, each under a crocketted canopy; above these two female figures, and between them the image of death, with a toad between the knees; and below two armed figures, and between them an ecclesiastic. [See a very interesting series of papers—"The Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Argleshire, in Parts 2 and 3 of Transactions of the Cambridge Camdcu Society.] Robert Bruce held a parliament here—one of the last at which the business n-as conducted in the Gaelic language. (For a short account of the order established here, see that of Beauly Priory, Route IV.)

34. At Connel Ferry, half-way to Oban from Tay-nuilt, from the narrowness of the passage and a reef of sunken rocks, a very turbulent rapid is occasioned at particular states of the tide, especially at half ebb, when the agitation and noise of the shelving current form a perfect cataract, believed to be the Lora of Ossian.

35. At the entrance of Loch Etive, the very ancient ruins of Dunstaffnage Castle form a prominent and imposing object. They occupy the summit of a perpendicular conglomerate mass, varying from ten to thirty feet in height, near the extremity of a low peninsular flat projecting from the southern shore. The entrance is reached by a narrow outer staircase. The castle is an irregular four-sided structure, with a round tower at each of three angles, the remaining angle being also rounded; but, on the inner area of one of the towers, a square structure of three storeys has been erected, seemingly at no very distant period. Of this last, the roof remains entire, and the flooring is not much decayed : a small house within the walls (of date 1725) is still inhabited. The smallest of the round towers is only nine paces in diameter. The circumference of the whole building is about 400 feet, and the walls from thirty to fifty feet high, and ten feet thick. Dunstaffnage, at least the present edifice, is supposed to have been built about the end of the thirteenth century, though we think it quite as likely to be coeval with

the Lorn family, which branched off from that of the Lords of the Isles in the twelfth century But Dunstaffnage connects with a much more remote antiquity than this; for the received opinion is that, latterly at least, it was the residence of the Dalriadic race of Scottish kings, who ruled over the Scots from their first location in 503, in Cantyre, till 830, when Kenneth Macalpin united the Scottish and Pictish kingdoms into one, and removed the seat of monarchy to Forteviot. The lordship of Lorn, with the castle and lands of Dunstaffnage, passed, in the fourteenth century, into the hands of the Stewarts of Innermeath, by the marriage of the heiress to John Stewart, commonly called John of Lorn, and in the fifteenth century into those of the Campbells of Glenorchy—M'Dougal of Dunolly becoming chief of the clan. Dunstaffnage was inhabited by the Lords of Argyle till the middle of the fifteenth; and was taken possession of by Bruce after his victory over the Lord of Lorn in the Pass of Awe. There is a highly interesting specimen of an old chapel close by. Its architectural decorations, the most elaborate of any chapel in Argyleshire, seems to belong to the thirteenth century. The original building, which is only twenty-four yards by eight, is defaced by a more modern room erected at the east end, thus obscuring the altar window or windows, which seems to have been very beautiful, of strictly early English form, with banded shafts, and the dog-tooth ornament. 41 triple tablet runs all round the chapel under the windows. The spot on which it is erected is distinguished by an echo of singular distinctness.

Our present locality is generally admitted to be the immediate one from which the celebrated stone, standing on which our Scottish monarchs were wont to be crowned, was transported to Scone, and the preservation of which is, or was, a matter of such importance in the eyes of every true Scot; as such, of course, placing undoubting faith in the well-known couplet,-

"Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quoeunque locatum,
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem."

As is well known, this precious relic was removed to England by Edward Longshanks, and is safely deposited beneath one of the coronation chairs in the chapel of his namesake the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey. One or two brass guns recovered from a vessel of the Spanish Armada, which was lost in the Sound of 'Mull, are to be seen on the castle wall. The best view of Dunstaffnage is from the Oban road, where it is seen to rest on the water, beyond which the bay and wooded promontory of Ardnamucknish, backed by the hills of Morven.

Opposite the Castle of Dunstaffnage, on the further side of Loch Etive, will be observed a magnificent set of cliffs, called the "Cragan Righ," or King's Rocks, formed, as the geologist will remark, of an extremely hard and singular conglomerate, composed of a great variety of primitive and trap rocks ; and about 400 yards in advance, and to the north-west of these cliff's, close on the pebbly beach of the fine circular Bay of Ardnamucknish, is the little double-topped rocky eminence, on which and the contiguous plain, conjecture has for a long time back been pleased to fix as the site of Berigonium, the ancient Pictish capital, which probably early waned before the advancing fortunes of the Scottish adventurers ; as St. Columba is said to have gone to the mouth of the Ness '(now Inverness) to convert Brudeeus, king of the Picts, towards the close of the sixth century. It is near the shore, and only two miles distant from Connel Ferry, and, by visiting it, the traveller will be gratified at least by the inspection of a very good and accessible vitrified fort. Both the flattened summits are girt with a vitrified wall, strongly defined, and in some parts exposed, to a height of eight feet. This rock is vulgarly called Dun Mac Snichan. Either area is an irregular oblong, measuring respectively 160 and 100 paces circumference. They are separated by an interval of 120 paces. The rock is barely accessible, except at one end, where it is defended by a second wall, and at another spot about the middle of one side, where a broad gap affords a steep approach. The adjoining cliff is called Dun Mail an high, "the hill of the king's town." From the foot of the cliffs a straight raised way, said to have been at one time paved, and called Straidmharagaid, "the market street," proceeds along the top, and at a few yards' distance from the edge of the steep green bank which lines the beach leading to Dun Mac Snichan. It is about ten feet broad, and, where best defined, of a like height. Some years ago a stone coffin, an urn, and a sandal, were found in the ground behind. A hollow log of wood, turned up at an early period, was readily construed, by the sticklers for the regal associations fondly attached to this spot, into a remnant of the water-pipes of the city. At the base of the cliff is a small burying-ground and ancient cell or chapel, from Which the "street" or paved way communicated most likely with the seashore opposite Dunstaffnag e, or with the vitrified site, and which, therefore, was, in all likelihood, only a procession road during Christian times to the religious sanctuary. The distinction is farther claimed for this place of being the Selma of Ossian. "Selma" signifies " beautiful view," in which respect the identity may readily be admitted. As we have elsewhere observed, the range under the eye from this spot is alike extensive and diversified. The ruins of Bercaldine Castle are at no great distance. The view here is also fine. Intermediate is the house of Lochnell, General Campbell.

37. Oban comes suddenly in sight when close upon it, quite a bird's eye view presenting itself from the heights above of the somewhat bowl-shaped road-stead, with its small complement of shipping and boats, and the respectable looking range of white-washed houses fronting the harbour.

If the reader will now suppose himself again at Tyndrum, where, as already mentioned, the Oban and Fort-'William roads diverge, we will take up the thread of description at that point of the route as from

GLASGOW TO FORT-WILLIAM BY LOCH LOMOND.

38. The stage of eighteen miles from Tyndrum to King's House, is bleak and sterile. Half Way the shores of Loch Tollie or Tulla are rather pictures(jue, being garnished with some fine specimens of Scotch pine. Its margin forms a pleasant site for a shooting lodge of the Marquis of Breadalbane, whose adjacent forest on the Black Mount is distinguished foi its stock of deer. There is here also a small public house, Inverouran. Between and King's House, a solitary inn of moderate pretensions, standing in the midst of a bleak and extensive moor, the road makes a prolonged and tiresome ascent across the shoulder of the Black Mount ; the view from Which has a peculiarity in its way, ranging over the moor of Rannoch, a vast expanse of heath intermixed with rocks and moss-water lochs—the largest waste of the kind in Scotland.

39. Intermediate between King's House and Loch Leven lies Glencoe, of historical notoriety, and no less known to fame for its own intrinsic features. It bends in the centre. The lower division near Loch Leven is covered with rich verdure, and the course of the river marked by alder and birch trees spreading up the face of the lower slopes of the mountains, which terminate in naked and furrowed acclivities, of a singular intermixture of colours. The character of the other division of the glen is that of unmingled wildness and grandeur. On the north side porphyritic ranges rise into a continuous series of high, naked, sharp-edged, and serrated precipices. The mountains which form the southern boundary are more rounded, yet loftier and more bold, and they project unequally into the glen, gashed with many a grizzly furrow. From these inaccessible fastnesses

numerous torrents descend into the plain; the streams are so rapid, and carry so much stony matter along with them, that they cannot be conducted by drains under the road, which thus possesses many inequalities, and is frequently rendered almost impassable by the quantities of debris lodged upon it. A small lake, Treachtan, occupies the lower part of this, the upper portion; above which the glen ascends with a rapid inclination to its extremity. The impending gloomy precipices of this wild glen are of a nature to strike the most unreflecting mind with awe ; their ragged outlines and bold fronts, seamed with torrents and shattered by storms, form a scene not only wonderful but terrific. The rugged and desolate grandeur of Glencoe and its peculiar intensity, compressed close around the spectator, is acknowledged by all, and by none more than those who have had opportunities of seeing many of the most remarkable scenes on the Continent of Europe. We have been struck by the unqualified admiration of Glencoe expressed by parties familiar with Switzerland, more especially by foreigners, who seemed peculiarly alive to the impression of its complete desolation and unrelieved austerity of character.

In the mountains of Glencoe there are some very dangerous passes, the terrors of which few, but the shepherds who are familiarised to them, would willingly encounter. The mountains on the north side of the glen terminate so sharply as, at one particular spot, for a space of some yards, to resemble exactly the roof of a house. To surmount this critical obstacle, requires no little nerve and resolution, for the only way to advance is to sit astride, and crawl cautiously alongst the narrow ridge; yet many fox-hunters do not hesitate to perform this trying adventure, burdened with both dog and gun. Nor is this the whole of the exploit ; for a little further on they have to leap a height of about ten feet from the top of the precipice, to where the slope becomes so gentle as to make this practicable by care and dexterity. A pass of a different nature, and more avoided, because safety depends less on skill than accident, is in the face of the Pap of Glencoe. It is a very steep gully, the sides of which are covered with loose stones, which any slight disturbance brings tumbling down in great quantities. Here a shepherd lost his life some years ago ; yet many recollect an old woman who, to a very advanced age, almost daily followed her small flock of goats up this dreaded hollow, unconcernedly engaged in spinning with her old-fashioned roke and distaff. Glencoe possesses a few farmhouses, as Invercoe, Auchnacone, Auchteriachtan, and some huts in the lower portion of the glen, and one solitary farmhouse at the side of Loch Treachtan.

40. The well-known massacre of Glencoe, which cast so signal a stain on King William's reign, renders the glen a locality of no little interest in an historical point of view. This tragic incident seems to have had its immediate rise in the disappointment felt by the Secretary of State, Sir John Dalrymple, master of Stair, and the Earl of Breadalbane, at the failure of a project to organize the Highland clans into a force for the support of Government. In the negotiations for the purpose, too, the earl had been provoked by Mac Ian, chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, who insinuated that he had appropriated to his own use part of a sum of money entrusted to him for distribution among the chiefs. The Macdonalds altogether stood in the way of the attempted arrangements, and those of Glencoe were ever looked upon with an evil eye by their neighbours the Campbells,—a disposition heightened by the Glencoe men's share in the defeat of the latter by .Montrose at Inverlochy. On the unsuccessful issue of the project of conciliation, Government issued, in 1691, a proclamation, enjoining the submission of all the chiefs before the 1st of January 1692, by taking a formal oath of allegiance. All the chieftains had complied except Mac Ian of Glencoe; and he, too, a few days before the expiry of the appointed period, repaired to Fort-William, and tendered his oath to Governor Hill, who, however, was not the proper authority, and he found himself necessitated to proceed to Inverary to the sheriff of Argyle, Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinglass. A storm of snow prevented his arrival within the prescribed time ; but the oath was administered, and the certificate forwarded, with an explanatory letter. On the 11th of the month, directions to proceed to the extremity of fire and sword, with all who might have neglected the proclamation, were signed by King William; and on the 16th he issued a second set of orders, but containing, like the first, a reserved power to extend the indemnity to such as might have delayed to comply for some little time beyond that originally specified, yet expressly excepting the Macdonalds of Glencoe, who were directed to be extirpated. The Sheriff of Argyle's letter was not produced to the council, and the certificate was cancelled. Instructions of the most savage nature were committed by Stair to Governor Hill; and a detachment of the Earl of Argyle's regiment was, under a plausible pretext, quartered in the glen, under the command of Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, whose niece was married to one of Mac Ian's sons. The soldiery were most hospitably entertained for a fortnight by their intended victims, whom, on a winter's morning in February, they proceeded to murder in cold blood. Another party, under the command of Major Duncanson, was to have occupied the eastern pass ; but having been prevented by the snow from arriving in due time, an opportunity of escape was presented to the majority of the miserable inhabitants, of whom, consequently, the number killed was only thirty-eight, but who were murdered under circumstances of most wanton barbarity. It is related of the principal actor in this tragedy—Campbell of Glenlyon—that having, some years afterwards, to superintend a military execution of a soldier, for whom a reprieve had arrived, he, at the time for producing it, inadvertently instead dropped his handkerchief, the fatal signal to fire. Horror-struck, he exclaimed, that the curse of Glencoe hung about him, and in deep despondency immediately retired from the service.

41. We now reach Loch Leven, a long but narrow arm of the sea, extending in a straight line between the counties of Inverness and Argyle. It contracts twice to a very narrow width : at Ballachulish Ferry, and three or four miles beyond, at another strait, called the Dog's Ferry, above which it continues for about three miles. Dr. MaccuIIoch, with truth, remarks, that, "from its mouth to its further extremity, Loch Leven is one continued succession of landscapes." Amongst the singular and lofty porphyritic mountains on the south side, which form the entrance to Glencoe, the eye is peculiarly at-. tracted by the Pap of Glencoe—a huge conical mountain overhanging the loch. The naked surface, abrupt acclivities, and varied colours of the porphyritic masses which line the glen, form a striking contrast to the green sloping shores of the loch.

In the basin between Ballachulish and the Dog's Ferry are several islets. One of these, called St. Mingo Isle, has long(. been used as a burying-place. It consists of two knolls, one of which is appropriated to the district of Glencoe, and the other to the people of Lochaber. On the latter are the ruins of a smalI Roman (a tholic chapel, in which the body of Mac Ian, the Laird of Glencoe above alluded to, was originally interred. Some of his descendants, unwilling that the bones of their ancestor should repose anywhere but among those of their own clansmen, had them removed, not many years ago, to the Glencoe portion of the isle. They were of great size. As he was a remarkably powerful man, his assassins were careful to pour a simultaneous volley on him as he lay asleep, and all the balls lodged between his shoulders. He was called iilhic Ian Vohr, "the son of John the Great," whence several of those who escaped the massacre took the name of Johnson.

At the upper end of Loch Leven are two objects which are frequently visited by strangers—the Serpent River, and the Falls of Kinloch More—both on the north side of the loch. The Serpent River near its mouth falls over a cascade about twenty feet high, and is then hurried through a series of low natural arches, forming a dark and almost subterranean channel. A vertical hole in the rock (communicating with the river) admits the spectator close to the base of the fall ; the sheeted water of the cascade throws an uncertain light over the rocky cavern ; and the successive openings of the roof give us partial glimpses of the inky stream, threading its way through the intricacies of the tortuous labyrinth. The Falls of Kinloch More are, as the name implies, at the head of the loch ; their height appears about 100 feet, but they are formed merely by a small burn, tumbling over the face of a perpendicular range of cliffs, the birch trees at the base of which conceal the lowest part of the fall, and thus lessen the effect which its great height-its sole remarkable feature—would otherwise certainly produce. The trees below and along the brow of the precipice, however, bestow an airiness and beauty on the spot, which, with the general grandeur of the loch, and the tunnelled course of the Serpent River, amply repay the trouble of a few hours' excursion on the water.

42. There is a good public-house or inn on either side of Ballachulish Ferry, sixteen miles distant from King's House. The view from the north side is worthy of special mention. The celebrated slate quarries, which are about two miles from the ferry, give employment to about 200 people. Near them there is a neat Episcopal chapel, half a mile beyond "the sounding Cona," which the road crossing, leads along the shores of the loch to the ferry. The adjacent district of Appin has always been a stronghold of Episcopacy. It is worthy of remark that the number of communicants at the Ballachulish chapel has at times been as large as 300, being probably more than in any provincial Episcopal congregation north of the Tweed.

From Ballachulish to Fort-William, a distance of fourteen miles, the road runs chiefly along the eastern shore of Loch Eil. At Coran Ferry, which connects Loch Linnhe with Loch Eil, the sides of the firth approach very near each other. The opposite shore is here laid out into plantations and corn-fields: further down is seen the house of Ardaour, surrounded with woods, parks, and meadow grounds ; and the sloping hills are elsewhere occasionally adorned with plantations of birch, and cottages, most of them humble enough, but surrounded with clumps of old trees.

Having thus disposed of the routes to Oban by the Crinan Canal and Loch Lomond, and also by the latter to Fort-William, it becomes our business to follow up these by some account of the remaining lines.

FROM GLASGOW TO OBAN BY INVERARY.

43. Of these there is a considerable choice. We need merely allude to the access by steam through the Kyles of Bute and Loch Fyne. The route by Tarbet on Loch Lomond may, from the head of Loch Long, be taken in connection with that by the latter, which, with the direction by Loch Goil Head, are the most frequented, though Loch Eck is also deserving of notice, and the Gareloch perhaps still more so; but by these the tourist must look more to private means of conveyance.

44. Steamers are constantly plying to the head of Loch Long, Loch Goil Head, and Gareloch Head. Loch Long, as its name imports, is a lengthened indentation or offset of the waters of the Firth of Clyde, which possesses much character. Its mountains send down into the loch a series of inclined arms or ridges of irregular and indented outlines, closing in towards the centre of the vista. Their lower portions are covered with coppice or brought into culture, while above they exhibit a pleasing mixture of grey rock, purpling heath, and verdant pasture. One of the mountains at the head of Loch Long possesses a remarkably bold and fantastic outline, which has obtained for it the designation of " The Cobbler." Persons inclined to hazardous adventure are not unfrequently induced to try their skill and nerve in surmounting its dizzy precipices; but few have succeeded in gaining the utmost summit. The glen communicating between the inn of Arroquhar at Loch Long Head, and Tarbet on Loch Lomond side (a distance of a mile and a-half), is open, the bottom cultivated, the sides of moderate inclination, and heathy. During the memorable invasion of Scotland by IIaco, King of Norway, in 1263, a squadron of sixty ships, commanded by Magnus, King of Man, sailed up Loch Long. Dragging their boats across the isthmus connecting it with Loch Lomond, his followers laid waste the shores of this latter lake and its islands, in which numbers of the neighbouring inhabitants had sought, as they imagined, a secure refuge.

45. Glencroe, which with Glen Lochan and Glen Kinglass in succession, communicates with the head of Loch Fyne, resembles Glencoe, but softened down ; and with these just named, is much and deservedly admired. It is a winding valley, with an occasional narrow stripe of cultivated ground at the bottom, flanked by rapid slopes broken by protruding masses of rock, and rising into precipitous acclivities, the hills split into separate summits of varied form, and exhibiting a jagged serrated outline. Passing into the small elevated glen, called Glenlochan, the mountains are found disposed above a short acclivity, in a range of dark perpendicular rock, mingled with scarce less perpendicular grassy slopes, ascending to a considerable height, and terminating in a sharp, rugged, and serrated outline. About eight or nine miles from Arroquhar Inn, at the top of the ascent, a well-known stone by the way-side invites the weary traveller to "Rest and be Thankful," words inscribed on it, with the date 1748, by the soldiers who formed the road. It also bears the latter inscription—"Repaired by the 23d Regiment, 1768." An easy descent down GIen Isinglass, a fine pastoral valley, with hills rising from the edge of its stream in a steep verdant slope, and also shooting at top into distinct but elongated roundish, though somewhat rocky summits, conducts us to the inn of Cairndow, with Ardkinglass House adjoining, near the head of Loch Fyne.

46. In general character Loch Fyne possesses no particular interest. Along the upper pant of the loch, which is very narrow, the hills rise steeply, and immediately from the water above the lower, occasional zone of coppice and cultivation, they are covered with a very rich verdure, but their outline and surface are rather monotonous, but still of somewhat conical character. Below Inverary the coasts are yet more tame, and devoid of any striking feature, but a good deal wooded, and for several miles contiguous to that point the hills are completely covered with trees. Much in Highland scenery of all others, as every one knows, is dependent on the weather, and we have witnessed as fine effects as could be wished on Loch Fyne, looking down upon it in a sunshiny day; or, again, in a thunder-storm, not so close at hand as to be unpleasant, but the muttered thunder rolling deliberately along the mountain sides, and their summits partially enveloped in broken clouds.

47. Four miles above Inverary, on the same side, Dunedera Castle, a square tower, still inhabited, the property and former residence of M'Naughton of M'Naughton, stands perched upon a projecting piece of terraced ground. About ten miles from the head of Loch Fyne, a slight indentation of some extent occurs along the western shore: at the lower end, Glen Aray, and at the other extremity, Glen Shira, a more flat and cultivated valley, cut through the hills at nearly right angles to the shores of the loch. A bridge crosses the stream issuing from each, at their respective mouths. The town of Inverary is built at the lower end of the elongated indentation or bay, looking partly across it, and partly fronting the loch. On a level space in front of Glen Aray, on the south hank of the river, and slightly elevated above the sea, stands the castle. The hills separating Glens Aray and Shira terminate in the steep escarpments of Duniquoich, which shoots up a conical head above the contiguous range, presenting an ample precipitous front to the town and castle, yet completely shrouded with varied hardwood, and forming a vertical screen of peculiar richness. From the town a wide avenue of truly magnificent beech trees proceeds in a straight line parallel with the shore; and turning to the right, the drive conducts to the base of the skirting hills, and, amid a profusion of stately timber, leads backwards towards the castle, approaching which it leads through a double row of full-grown lime trees. Other noble trees are scattered round the immediate precincts of the ducal pile ; and, altogether, the extent of the woods, despite of many and sore thinnings, with the beauteous scenery of Loch Fyne, with its hilly shores, justly entitle Inverary to a proud place in the list of distinguished localities in Scotland. We rejoice to see the little valley of Essachosan, a sequestered spot, through whose dense oaks even a meridian beam could not, and even now can scarcely penetrate, speedily regaining much of its wonted character.

48. The modern seat of ,'Callum More, inferior to the old, castle, which it represents, is a somewhat sombre-looking embattled structure, of two storeys and a sunk floor, flanked with round, overtopping towers, and surmounted by a square, winged pavilion. The rooms are fitted up with tapestried hangings and furniture, panellings and ceilings gaily painted with fruit and flowers, and rather showy than stately. In the saloon about 150 stand of arms, used by the Campbells at the battle of Culloden, are arranged on either hand, and above the doorway fronting the entrance; several of the rooms are hung with much-admired tapestry, and others are tastefully decorated with well-executed designs.

The town of Inverary consists of about sixty houses, the greater number of which are large and commodious ; and the inhabitants amount, by last census, to 1052. A row of houses fronts the bay, from which the principal street diverges at right angles; and in the centre of the latter stands the church, a new structure, surmounted by a small spire, sedulously armed with a lightning conductor, a precaution suggested by the destruction of the former edifice a few years ago by the electric fluid. Opposite the church there is a neat building by the waterside, containing the court-house and other public offices. There is a very commodious and well conducted hotel. In a garden beside the church there is a small obelisk, commemorative of the execution, in this place, in 1685, of several gentlemen of the name of Campbell, among the last individuals who suffered for their unflinching opposition to Popery; and near the quay, a beautiful stone cross from Iona has been set up.

The staple commodity of Inverary is herrings ; those of Loch Fyne being celebrated for their unmatched excellence. The delicious consistency of the Loch Fyne herring fresh out of the water must he practically tested to be duly appreciated. They taste really as of a peculiar variety of the fish, otherwise there must be something remarkable in the fishing ground. They sell for about three half-pence a piece in the Glasgow market. Three or four, and at times so many as 800 boats are to be seen in pursuit of this fish immediately opposite the town. It is highly interesting to watch the boats silently taking up their positions towards nightfall ; or to look upon the tiny fleet darkling in the silvery moonbeams.

TO INVERARY BY THE GARELOCH, LOCH GOIL, LOCH ECK.

It may be best to introduce here, the few words we have to offer on the routes to Inverary by the Garcloch, Loch Goil, and Loch Eck, before concluding the rest of the way to Oban.

49. Both the Garcloch and Loch Eck, of which the first is a salt water inlet, the other a fresh water lake, are very peculiar in character. The Gareloch, intermediate between Dumbarton and Loch Long, transports one in imagination to southern climes, where we picture numerous villas as a natural adjunct of a beautiful sheet of water. Here, with much softness of natural features, we have congregated, at least on one side, all the way from Helensburgh, a large and regular sea-bathing village, to Gareloch Head, one long and uninterrupted series of villas of varied architecture—not a few of them sumptuous in their pretensions, many exhibiting much taste, and the effect not only of the whole landscape certainly extremely attractive, but highly indicative of the Modern wealth of St. Mungo's ancient city. These cluster at points, as Ardincaple, The Row, and Shandon, into closer groups. About the Duke of Argyle's handsome seat of Roseneath—of Italian design—there is some fine timber, and there is great luxuriance in the vegetation of the whole locality. Two silver firs, of very large dimensions,. a little off the road, and not far from the quay, are worthy of special notice, and also an avenue of aged yew trees. A walk of a couple of miles from the very neat and pretty sheltered village of Gareloch Head, which is within about ten miles of the inn and hamlet of Arroquhar, at the head of Loch Long, brings us to the summit of the intervening range, and overlooking Loch Long at its junction with Loch Goil—the square massive walls of Carrick Castle keeping sullen ward upon the further shore.

50. This sombre pile—a single high, square, or rather oblong keep, with an irregularly-shaped high wall, enclosing a portion of the projecting rock on which it stands, by the side of Loch Goil—and a previous scene of a different complexion, where the house of Ardintenny (Earl of Dunmore) and the pretty adjoining village lie in a sunny recess, encircled by wooded hills, and opening upon a closely-embowered ravine, are the most prominent individual objects on the sail up Loch Goil. As already noticed, the approach by the Firth of Clyde to Loch Long and Loch Goil is exceedingly attractive; the extended panorama characterized by great variety and strong contrasts; and by spaciousness, without such remoteness as at all to injure the effect of any one of the boundaries. The steamers for Loch Long and Loch Goil, and for Kilmun, come down the Firth as far as Gouroek, before reaching across. Loch Goil is distinguished, like Loch Long, by high, rough, and boldly-outlined mountains, with steep green acclivities, having a considerable dash of rocky spaces interspersed. At Loch Goilhead, Drumsainy House is surrounded by fine woods. From the village of Loch Goilhead, where there is a good inn, a coach starts, on the arrival of the steamer, for St. Catharine's Ferry, on Loch Fyne, about eight miles distant, and opposite Inverary, crossing a high ridge through a fine pastoral valley, lined by lofty hills clothed with brilliant verdure, and known by the startling cognomen of " Hell's Glen." The ferry is plied by a small steamer.

51. Numerous and cheerful white-washed villas, and sea-bathing quarters, extend along the opposite shores of Holy Loch, on the Clyde, which is deeply embayed amidst mountains of considerable elevation. A square burial vault at Kilmunso called from St. Mun—forms the resting-place of the bones of the family of Argyle. The villas which bedeck the shore extend, with little interruption, all round the loch. At the western termination of the bay, another cluster of houses commences another series, stretching in a single row along the coast, and almost connecting with the village of Dunoon; a bright and lively shore line thus lying in immediate contact with heathery and unreclaimed sloping braes. A small portion of the ruins remains, at Kilmun, of a collegiate church founded in the middle of the fifteenth century.

52. Loch Eck, flanked by the mountain chains within whose embrace the waters of Holy Loch insinuate themselves, possesses as strongly-marked and picturesque boundaries as any of our Highland lakes. It is eight or nine miles in length, but generally not many hundred yards wide, encompassed by abrupt hills of mica slate, rising sheer from the water, roughened with many perpendicular faces of rock, and carpeted between with the brightest verdure; of considerable still moderate height, separated by deep ravines, and of indented and bold outlines. The margin of the lake is not unadorned with trees. But for the white walls of a few respectable houses Loch Eck wears all the secluded air of a loch in the remote Highlands, while the boldly-defined forms, yet verdant character of its hills, constitute it a most pleasing link between the truly alpine and more properly lowland lakes. It resembles, indeed, in many respects, the lakes of the north of England, closely embosomed in their own compacted mountains, verdant, closely cropped, yet of unexpettedly steep and bold acclivity, and with outlines more independent and remarkable than those of the Scottish mountains, yet with margents green and wooded shores incomparably sweet. About half-way between Kilmun and Strachur, on Loch Fync, a road strikes past Whistlefield inn, across a rather steep hill to Ardintenny. From Loch Eck, the road to Inverary conducts through a cultivated valley, and passing the grounds of Strachur House, and by the sheltered inn of that name, about half-a-mile from the shore.

INVERARY TO OBAN.

53. The road from Inverary to Oban proceeds up Glen Aray, passing through a part of the ducal policies. As we ascend, the sides of the glen are found rising immediately from the brink of the small river Aray, and disposing themselves into numerous irregular eminences, all enveloped with luxuriant woods, chiefly of oak and birch The ascending valley of trees—the clambering arrangement of the series of eminences composing the sides of the glen—the diversity and undulations of surface—the varied density of the forest, and its variegated foliage—the magnitude of the timber, and its unequal age and height—the whole, enlivened and embellished by a pleasing stream, combine to form exquisite woodland scenery.

54. The descent to Loch Awe is accomplished by a series of most rapid inclines, setting at defiance all notion of easy gradients. We reach the low ground at Clady, where, besides an inn, there is a small collection of black houses. Here, one road to the right leads, by Dalmally, (sixteen miles from Inverary,) round the head of Loch Awe, while another, in the opposite direction, conducts to the ferry of Port Sonachan, three miles from Clady, crossing at which the distance is shortened by about six miles. The former, from Dalmally, has been already described. At Port Sonachan, the shores of the lake are found beautifully diversified with wood and cultivated ground, and embellished by several respectable-looking residences. The landscapes, from the successive lateral outlines, present everywhere a variety of distances. The upland opening towards Loch Etive is bare and cheerless—Ben Cruachan and the adjoining ranges, however, preserving their majestic character, while we descend through a pleasing little glen—Glen Nant—of somewhat peculiar character ; the sides, rising for some miles immediately from the burn, being covered, with scarce a break of rock throughout, with a thick young coppice of hazel and dwarf birch.

OBAN TO INVERNESS.

55. We know of nothing to surpass the sail from Oban to Fort-William. Bordered on both sides by lofty mountains, there is yet a striking contrast on either hand. On the one, the Morven and associated ranges line the waters in one continuous rampart, cleft, it is true, by an occasional ravine-like opening, and several of the individual mountains are distinctive by their fine forms. On the other, a series of far indented inlets of the sea, though but partially visible from Loch Linnhe, indicate a disposition of the mountain masses ranging inland from the coast, thus exhibiting themselves to the eye of the spectator at varying distances and in multiform shape, outline, and grouping, while, the broken character of the shore and its diversified surface, greatly heighten the effect. A beautiful green is the prevailing livery ; but in the revelations made of mountain summits of great elevation, rising into peaks or circled with precipitous corries, as, for instance, the hoary guardians of Glencoe, the bare rock contrasts, according to its respective ingredients, its varying more sombre or neutral hues and tints, with the warmer colouring of the pasture, heath, and foliage. Objects of great interest, though different in kind, occupy the nearer ground, in the numerous strongholds in ruins, attesting the importance which the surrounding districts held at former periods of our country's history, when the Lords of the Isles and their Scandinavian predecessors ruled paramount amid their remote fastnesses. Of these Dunolly Castle, at the entrance of the Bay of Oban; Dunstaffnage, at the opening of Loch Etive; the vitrified rock, the reputed site of Berigonium the Pictish capital, on the opposite coast of the Bay of Ardnamucknish; Duart Castle, the stronghold of Maclean, on the coast of Mull ; Shuna, on the island of that name ; Eileen Stalker, a fortalice of the Stewarts of Appin, on a little islet off the Appin shore, are the most prominent. Many gentlemen's seats, surrounded by pleasure-grounds beautified with full-grown trees, adorn this romantic coast. Lochnell (General Campbell) lies within the wooded promontory of Ardnamucknish, which extends from the opening of Loch Creran to that of Loch Etive. The house. of Airds is situated at the mouth of Loch Creran. Ardshiel (Stewart) presents itself at the entrance of Loch Leven ; and intermediate between them lies Appin House (Downie). The Appin coast is diversified with numerous rocky knolls and eminences, which, with the lower mountain slopes, are girt with rich woods of oak and birch. One of the finest points is the opening of Loch Leven, where the aspect of the towering Alps of Glencoe, and of the bright emerald acclivities near hand, is really imposing ; and the pre-eminent bulk of Ben Nevis, as we advance, attracts attention, and is an object one looks out for with some interest, as being the monarch of British mountains, now holding a sort of divided sway with Ben Mhac Dhui in the heights of Aberdeenshire.

Loch Linnhe, as it spreads out towards the ocean, where the widening vista is closed by the brown heathy mountains of Mull, encompasses with its waters a few large and several smaller islands. Of these, the principal is

56. Lismore, a very fertile island, about ten miles long and two broad, in which is carried on a considerable trade in limestone, of which it is entirely composed. At Killichearen, on the east side of the island, is a small establishment, till lately made use of for the education of Roman Catholic priests, and called the College of Lismore, which was under the charge of a bishop. It consists of a small chapel, with a two-storeyed dwelling-house on each side, and protected from the winds by a few ash trees. This seminary has, of late years, been abandoned, and removed to Aberdeenshire. The number of students was generally nine or ten. None of the inhabitants of the island are Romanists. This island was anciently a possession of the Bishops of Argyle and of the Isles, who were thence frequently styled Episcopi Lismorenses. On the west side of the island the remains of their palace of Auchindown still exists in the shell of a large square structure with lofty walls, which enclose a court on one side of the building; the whole being rather securely placed on a rock in front of a terraced space with a precipitous seaward front.

57. Fort-William and the contiguous village of Maryburgh stand at a bend of Loch Eil, as the extremity of Loch Linnhe is called, which here suddenly turns its course to the northwest. The fort was erected in King William's reign. It is an irregular work, mounted with 12 twelve-pounders, and defended by a ditch, glacis, and ravelin. It contains a bomb-proof magazinc, and the barracks are intended to accommodate 2 field-officers, 2 captains, 4 subalterns, and 96 privates. We apprebend its worth as a protection to shipping, its only conceivable use now a days, to be very small, if of any account at all. Like Fort-Augustus, it was designed as a garrison for troops, to keep the Highlanders in check when their loyalty was a divided one, and with the occasion their serviceableness has passed away. A mere handful of men now compose the garrison. Mary-burgh consists of a long straight street, close to the edge,of the water, with several short intersecting lanes, and contains about 1500 inhabitants; two respectable inns, the Caledonian and George; an Episcopal and Roman Catholic chapel, and Missionary Presbyterian and a Free church; two branch banks; and here, too, one of the Sheriff-substitutes of the county resides and holds his courts, his jurisdiction also extending over a portion of the adjoining county of Argyle. A monument has recently been erected in honour of Maclachan of Aberdeen, a distinguished Gaelic scholar and great linguist, and compiler of the Gaelic Dictionary, who was a native of the district.

58. The most prominent feature of this neighbourhood is Ben Nevis, "Beinmamh Bhathais," the mountain with its summit in the clouds—the cloud-kissing hill, long reputed, and still having fair pretensions, to be the highest mountain in Great Britain. It rises abruptly from the plain to the east of Fort-William: its height is 4370 feet, and its circumference at the base is supposed to exceed 24 miles. The circuit or outline of the mountain all round is well defined, for it is almost completely isolated by two yawning ravines, and separated from the adjoining Iofty mountain ranges, and projects boldly in front of them. The base of Ben Nevis is almost washed by the sea; none of its vast proportions are lost to the eye, and hence its appearance is peculiarly imposing; while the sky outline, which is not peaked, but plain and tabular (deviating but little from a right line), admirably harmonises with its general massiveness and majesty. Its northern front consists of two grand distinct ascent or terraces, the level top of the lowest of which, at an elevation of about 1700 feet, contains a wild tarn or mountain lake. The outer acclivities of this, the lower part of the mountain, are very steep, although covered with a short grassy sward, intermixed with heath ; but at the lake this vegetable clothing ceases. Here a strange scene of desolation presents itself. The upper and higher portion seems to meet us, as a new mountain, shooting up its black porphyritic rocks through the granitic masses, along which we have hitherto made our way, and, where not absolutely precipitous, its surface is strewed with angular fragments of stone of various sizes, wedged together, and forming a singularly rugged covering, among which we look in vain for any symptoms of vegetable life, except where round some pellucid spring the rare little alpine plants, such as Epilobium alpinism, Silene acaulis, Saxifraga stellaris and nivalis, which live only in such deserts wild, are to be found putting forth their modest blossoms, amid the encircling moss. The eagle sallying from his eyry may greet the approach of the wanderer, or the mournful plover with plaintive note salute his ear; but for those birds of the mountain, the rocky wilderness were lifeless and silent as the grave; its only tenants the lightnings and the mists of heaven, and its language the voice of the storm.

On the north-eastern side of Ben Nevis, a broad and tremendous precipice, commencing at the summit, reaches down to a depth of not less than 1500 feet. The furrows and chasms in the black beetling rocks of this precipice are constantly filled with snow, and the brow of the mountain is also encircled with an icy diadem. From the summit, the view, as will readily be conceived, is remarkably grand and extensive. The astonished spectator, who has been so fortunate as to reach it free of its frequent robe of clouds, descries, towards the south and cast, the blue mountains of Ben Cruachan, Ben Lomond, Ben More, Ben Lawers, Schehallion, and Cairngorm, with a thousand intermediate and less aspiring peaks. On the other sides, his eye wanders from the distant hills of Caithness to the remote and scarcely discernible mountains of the outer Hebrides. Numerous glens and valleys lie to the south, but they are hidden from observation; and to the utmost verge of the horizon, countless mountains of all sizes and shapes, heathy, rocky, and tempest-worn, extend before the eye, as if the waves of a troubled ocean had, in their commotion, been turned into stone. Looking towards the other points of the compass, we meet with more variety; the silvery waters of Loch Eil, Loch Linnhe, and Loch Lochy, of the Atlantic and German Oceans, rendering the vast prospect more cheerful and brilliant. It may safely be said that every point of the horizon is 120 miles removed from the spectator.

The ascent of Ben Nevis usually occupies three hours and a-half from the base of the mountain, and the descent rather more than half that time. Some travellers go up at night, that they may enjoy the sunrise: by doing so, they run a great risk of being disappointed, as in the morning the view is generally obscured by mists, and only occasional glimpses can be caught of the glorious prospect, which is generally clearest from midday to six o'clock in the evening. It is imprudent for a stranger to undertake the ascent without a guide, and one can always be procured about Fort-William for seven or eight shillings. The inexperienced traveller, also, may be the better of being reminded to carry with him some wine or spirits (which, however, should be used with caution), wherewith to qualify the spring water, which is fortunately abundant, and to which he will be fain to have frequent recourse, ere he attain the object of his labours. It is customary to ascend the hill on the northern side. By making a circuit to the eastward, beyond Inverlochy Castle, the traveller can proceed as far as the lake on the back of a Highland pony.

Ben Nevis, in its geological structure, very clearly exhibits the successive elevation of mountain masses by volcanic agency. It consists of three great zones of rock, the fundamental one being gneiss and mica slate, through which an enormous irruption of granite, forming now the lower half of the mountain, bursts forth. At a subsequent period, a new summit of black compact felspar rocks (the principal member being a porphyritic greenstone), was projected from below through the centre of the granite, shooting up beyond it at a high angle, and now constituting, as similar rocks do elsewhere, the loftiest rocky pinnacle in the country. The older masses arc, in many places, traversed by veins of the superior rocks.

In Glen Nevis, some miles from Fort-William, is a rocking-stone of considerable size, not unworthy the attention of the curious ; and beyond it the vitrified fort of Dun Jardil.

59. Between Loch Lochy, the westernmost of that chain of lakes which occupy the Great Glen and the line of the Caledonian Canal, and the sea at Loch Eil, there is a broad moss, which, with the adjoining district, forms the territory of Lochaber, a name familiar to Scottish ears. On the north side of this flat the canal has been formed, and on the south side runs the river Lochy, issuing from Loch Lochy, with the united waters of the river Spean, which descends from Loch Laggan.

An object of interest near Fort-William is the old castle of Inverlochy, about two miles distant from the latter place. It stands between the road and the river Lochy, and consists of four large round towers, connected by high walls or screens, forming an extensive quadrangle. The towers are about thirty feet in height, and overtop the walls by eight or ten feet. The western and southern are nearly entire ; and the former, which is called Cuming's Tower, is considerably larger than the rest. Its inside diameter is eight paces, and the thickness of its walls about ten feet. A moat, eight paces wide, encircled the walls at the distance of ten paces. The principal entrance is on the youth-east side; and directly opposite it is a sallyport; each had a guard-room immediately above, and the former was well defended by iron gates, and a heavy portcullis. The towers, consisted of three storeys, and besides loop or arrow-holes, each room is provided with one or two windows.

Tradition invests Inverlochy with a most imposing antiquity, making it the residence of the Pictish kings, when they came to enjoy deer-stalking on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy! Here, also, Achaius is said to have signed a league with Charlemagne. The present building is most naturally to be ascribed to the age of Edward I., being of nearly the same character as the castles erected by him in North Wales. If not built and garrisoned by his troops, there seems little reason to doubt that it owes its origin to the powerful family of Cuming, and that the English monarch's engineers had helped to plan and construct it, as the style of its defences and masonry are different from the usual rude residences of Highland chieftains.

A handsome suspension bridge has now been erected across the river Lochy, near the old castle, superseding the ferry, and thus an important acquisition to the district.

60. Beneath the frowning towers of Inverlochy the Duke of Argyle was defeated by the Marquis of Montrose, in the year 16-I5. Montrose and his army had just retired from a six weeks' inroad into the Argyle country; on which occasion, having taken his enemy completely by surprise, "he burnt every house, except the impregnable castles; slew, drove off, ate up, or otherwise destroyed, every four-footed beast, and utterly spoiled everything in the shape of grain, goods, and furniture." On his way towards Inverness at the hill of Kilchumin (near Fort-Augustus) on Loch Ness side, he was overtaken by the unexpected news of Argyle with a force double his own, which had been much reduced by the temporary absence of his men to deposit their booty, advancing in pursuit, and retaliating by laying waste Lochaber. Judging correctly that another body would be ready to the eastward to act in concert with the Campbells, Montrose, with that enterprise and promptitude for which he was so eminently distinguished, resolved to anticipate the movements of his enemies, and to hurl back the tide of war. lie led his men up the course of the Tarff (the line of the old Corryarick road) to the sources of the Spey, and thence into Glen Roy, and so, by pathless wilds covered with a deep snow, with great expedition to the foot of Ben Nevis. This circuitous route was chosen for secrecy's sake. It was impossible to make the attack the night of their arrival. Before dawn the Campbells were not unaware of the presence of a hostile body; but deeming them merely some party of the surrounding peasantry, and little dreaming of the close vicinity of the redoubted Montrose, slight attention was paid to the aggressing host, to whom every opportunity was left of assailing their adversaries to advantage. The onset was made when the first rays of the sun shot athwart Ben Nevis ; and the astonished Campbells hurriedly drew up, dismayed by the intelligence of the great Montrose himself being their opponent. Their chief, excusing himself from the effects of a late accident, retired on board his galley. A large body of his men had been posted on the further side of the Lochy; and the main army, drawn up in the level ground about the castle, were dispirited by being made to abide the shock of their enemies' impetuous charge. There was scarce a show of resistance made. They were driven back in confusion on the river and shore of Loch Eil, and slaughtered or drowned in crowds. There fell no fewer than 1500 men, a full half of their whole number, including sixteen gentlemen and officers of note; while, on Montrose's side, there were only three private men killed, and one gentleman wounded. Argyle, ordering his sails to be set, left his men to their fate. This sanguinary battle, if it can be so called, was fought on Sunday the 2d of February, 1645.

Montrose is said to have knighted on the field of battle John Hay of Lochloy, whose tomb is still to be seen in St. Mary's aisle in Elgin cathedral. This is the latest instance of the honour of knighthood being conferred by a subject ; and the circumstance is commemorated in the pages of our great novelist, where the doughty Sir Dugald Dalgetty is made to win his spurs in this engagement.

Inverlochy was also the scene of a severe conflict in an earlier age. Alexander, Lord of the Isles, having been imprisoned in Tantallon Castle, by King James I., for burning the town of Inverness, and other offences against the peace of the country, Donald Balloch of Islay, a cousin of Alexander's, to insult the royal authority, laid waste Lochaber with fire and sword. Alexander Earl of ,liar, and Allan Earl of Caithness, being sent to defend the country, encountered the islesmen at Inverlochy. The latter nobleman was slain, and his party completely defeated. But Donald's star was not long triumphant ; for, the king advancing in person to crush the rebellion, he was obliged to flee to Ireland, whence his head was sent over to his majesty.

61. Having landed the passengers, whose destination may happen to be Fort-William, with such as may prefer remaining there overnight and rejoining in the morning—conveyances running across betimes—the steamer proceeds to the mouth of the canal at Bannavie. A very handsome and commodious new hotel has been recently erected by the proprietor, Sir Duncan Cameron of Fassfern, ample enough abundantly to do away with all cause of grumbling at want of room, ofttimes, heretofore, occasioned by the over crowded state of the former inn, and with all feeling of disquietude in the contemplation of the possible risk of having to seek for uncertain repose on chairs or some other uneasy substitute for a comfortable bed. This inn has been leased by the steam-boat proprietors, Messrs. Burns—a guarantee for its being well conducted.

Ben Nevis and its adjoining mountain masses, with Glen Nevis, shew to peculiar advantage from the vicinity of the night quarters, and the tourist has the advantage of witnessing their varied aspect under the descending mantle of evening, and when lighted up with the first rays of early dawn.

62. Near the church of Kilmaillie, close by the adjoining village of Corpach, an obelisk has been erected, the inscription on which, from the gifted pen of Sir Walter Scott, the reader will allow to be worthy of insertion ;—

63. The great Glen of Scotland is lined throughout by parallel chains of hills of considerable but not great elevation, broken through on the north side by a series of lateral valleys, as the openings to Glenfinnan and Loch Arkaig, Glengarry, Glenmoriston, and Urquhart, which severally exhibit some of the most beautiful portions of scenery to be met within the Highlands, and in each of different character. On the opposite side Glen Spean, at the western end, descends from Loch Laggan to the foot of Ben Nevis; but otherwise, this range is unbroken, except by occasional ravines, sending down their streams with more or less of headlong impetuosity. There is comparatively little remarkable in the way of outline ; but the long vistas, though perhaps too much akin, are very fine, and the whole scenery highly attractive, and at different points the side scenes are exquisitely and picturesquely beautiful.

64. A series of eight locks at Bannavie, called Neptune's Staircase, raise the canal at once to the level of Loch Lochy. Partly to avoid the detention of passing these, a different steamer performs the rest of the voyage to Inverness.

The distance to Loch Lochy is eight miles. Within about three miles of the sea, on the banks of the river Lochy, part of the walls are still standing of a very old building called Tor Castle, the ancient seat of the chief of the Mackintoshes, or Clan Chattan, who at one time possessed this part of the country, and still retain some property in the locality. In the opinion of those who are zealous to make the most of antiquarian data, Tor Castle has been given forth as the residence of Ban-quo, Thane of Lochaber; and there are certainly no such conclusive materials for gainsaying this position, as Eadie Ochiltree overwhelmed Monkbarns withal.

65. About eight miles from Fort-William, on the road to Inverness, which keeps the south side of the valley, a picturesque-looking bridge, appropriately called Highbridge, is thrown across the deep and rocky channel of the Spean; but the road now makes a detour to avoid the steep approaches to this old structure, crossing at Spean Bridge, where there is a small inn. High bridge was built by General Wade, and marks the spot where hostilities first commenced in the rebellion of 1745. Reports had become current in the country of Prince Charles having landed, and the governor of Fort-Augustus deemed it expedient to reinforce the garrison of Fort-William. Two companies of the first regiment of foot were accordingly sent, under the command of Captain (afterwards General) John Scott. As they approached Highbridge their ears were saluted with the warlike strains of a bagpipe, and presently several armed Highlanders were observed moving to and fro on the opposite side of the bridge. The captain, aware of the critical state of the country, and apprehensive that a strong force had assembled to oppose his progress, judged it most prudent to avoid an open rupture, and began to retrace his steps to the eastward. The military were allowed to proceed unmolested, till they had reached the loch; but then a dropping fire was opened upon them from the steep acclivities above, where their adversaries were securely sheltered, and their numbers concealed. Having reached the east end of Loch Lochy, Captain Scott, suspecting a hostile reception from some Highlanders he observed on the hills to the south of Loch Oich, determined to proceed by the north side of that lake, and endeavour to possess himself of the castle of Invergarry. They had not marched far, in pursuance of this intention, when a body of the MacdoneIls of Glengarry were observed advancing against them. Their pursuers, greatly increased in numbers, now came up; and, as resistance could only lead to unavailing bloodshed, Captain Scott and his party surrendered themselves prisoners, and were immediately conducted to Lochiel's house at Achnacarry. That chief afterwards carried them with him to Glenfinnan, where the clans were appointed to rendezvous, to be offered to his Prince, as the first-fruits of their arms, and a happy presage of the success of their cause.

66. Loch Lochy is ten miles in length ; its breadth at the east end is three quarters of a mile, and gradually increases towards the opposite extremity, where, at the Bay of Arkaig, it becomes nearly double that width ; the depth is in some places from seventy to eighty fathoms. The mountains on the south side of this and the adjoining lake are continuous and unbroken beyond Lowbridge; the opposite hills are torn by numerous gullies, but the pasture on both sides is still of a rich green, strongly contrasting with the brown and purple tints which the prevalence of heather will be found to give to the eastern portion of the Great Glen; and the vista is very fine. The shores of this lake are steep, and the hills but scantily wooded. Shortly after entering on the lake, the house of Achnacarry, the paternal mansion of Locbiel, the chief of the Clan Cameron, will be observed on the north, embosomed amidst trees in the centre of a pretty wide and exceedingly beautiful valley, which connects with Loch Arkaig, another large sheet of water. Here lived, at least in the old structure, burnt by the Duke of Cumberland, the "undaunted Lochiel" of the Forty-five, and his still more celebrated predecessor, Sir Ewan Cameron, that doughty and chivalrous warrior who long set even the arms of the iron Cromwell at defiance, having been the last Scotsman who succumbed to his authority, and who again signalized his loyalty at Killiecrankie. It may interest our lady-readers to learn, that Sir Ewen had twelve daughters, all of whom were married to landed proprietors, and most of them to heads of Clans, or of branches of Clans. A wide circle of highland families may thus claim kindred with Lochiel. In these days, the fair sex were of comparatively small account, when the wealth of a chief corresponded with the number of his bearded followers. This gallant old chief, however, on the birth of the twelfth daughter being announced as of a lady, prophetically expressed himself, "Yes, a real lady, and every one of them will bring me a lad!" On the opposite side of Loch Lochy, the house of Glenfinlay (Andrew Belford) forms a handsome and conspicuous object. Letterfinlay is an unpretending public-house, by the loch side on the southern shore, three miles from the east end of Loch Lochy. At Lowbridge (a collection of huts, four miles distant from, and to the west of this inn, and situate at the entrance of Glen Gloy), the southern range of hills extending from the Moray Firth may be said to terminate. Glen Gloy is nearly parallel with Glen Roy (celebrated for its parallel roads), which lies south of it, and which joins Glen Spean, lying still farther to the south, and extending from Loch Laggan, in the direction of Fort-William. The mouth of Glen Spean is occupied by a vast alluvial deposit, disposed in broken sterile eminences, beyond which Ben Nevis is still seen raising his huge bulk to the skies, terminating a range of lofty porphyritic mountains which proceed from the further side of Loch Laggan.

67. Kinloch Lochy was, in the year 1544, the scene of a most bloody battle between the Frasers, headed by their chief, Hugh, fifth Lord Lovat, and the Macdonalds of Clanranald. The captain of Clanranald dying, left a natural son, who, being grownup, took advantage of the minority of the heir, and seized his possessions on the west coast. The cause of the latter was espoused by the Frasers, who assembled to recover his estates for him. On their return from the west, they found the forces of the Clanranald had mustered at Loch Lochy, to hazard the issue of a battle, which was maintained till nightfall with the most desperate determination, and nearly equal slaughter on both sides. Lord Lovat, with his eldest son, and eighty gentlemen of the clan, fell in this memorable engagement, which is commonly known by the name of Blaranlien, from the Frasers having stripped to their shirts. It was fought on the 15th of July 1544. The heir of Clanranald, called Donald Gaulta, the Lowlander, was taken prisoner, and carried to a public-house at Laggan by a party of Macdonalds. He had killed, in the course of the day, a very powerful man, the pride and champion of Clanranald, and was himself very severely wounded in the head. The Macdonalds, in their cups, commenced boasting of their several exploits, when Donald Gaulta, from his bed of sickness, remarked, that if he were as well as he had been in the morning, he would rather, single-handed, encounter all who were then in the room, than have to engage again in mortal combat with the brave man who had that day fallen beneath his sword. This taunt so irritated the Macdonalds, that they directed the person who was to act as surgeon, when dressing the wound of their rightful chief, to thrust the needle into his brain. Ike did so accordingly; but ere the spirit winged its flight, Donald had time to plunge his dirk into the heart of the faithless leech.

68. Next in succession to Loch Lochy, and intermediate between it and Loch Ness, comes a small lake called Loch Oich, whose surface is the summit level between the two seas. The distance between the latter and Loch Lochy is about two miles. In the space between these is a small village called Laggan, principally occupied by families of the name of Kennedy, descendants of a sept originally sent here by government to civilize the Highlanders, but whose own character needed equal amendment, for ultimately they were found to be among the most troublesome and untractable of the Caterans. A plain square enclosure, north of the canal, forms the resting-place of the late Glengarry, a personage of celebrity in his day, as the most genuine incarnation of the Celtic characteristics of a bygone age. He was the head of one of the lines of descendants of Ronald, eldest son of John of Isla, the lineal heir of the mighty Somerled. As such, and alleging his to be the oldest of these lines, he regarded himself as the true representative of the Lords of the Isles, instead of Lord Macdonald of Sleat, whose predecessors sprung from Donald of the Isles, son of John of Isla by his second marriage with Margaret, daughter of Robert II., had enjoyed the title, while a recognized one. With an ardent temperament pervaded by an all-powerful apprehension of his high descent, and an inborn yearning after the spirit and appropriate qualities of his ancestry, his life was an incongruity to modern modes, and wore in these degenerate days much of an air of extravaganza. Still his strongly rooted feelings and startling peculiarities commanded no little general interest, while in many a Highland bosom he stood enshrined as the model of all to which the memory of Highlanders tenaciously clings ; and his death left a blank which there was none to replace. It is perhaps not incorrect to say that Glengarry's enthusiastic passion for every thing Highland may have been a chief means in sustaining and nourishing those predilections for Highland costume, music, dancing, and games, which are now so much a fashion.

69. Loch Oich is rather more than three miles and a half in length, and varies in breadth from one-fourth to one-sixteenth of a mile. It is a sweet sheet of water, encircled by verdant banks, with some cultivated grounds at the mouth of Glengarry; and it is farther embellished by one or two diminutive islets, decked with trees. The range of hills on the south side is high, steep, and unbroken, rising immediately from the loch, but covered with green pasture, and having a few birches scattered over its surface ; from the north side the Glengarry mountains shoot up in a succession of high and bold peaks, very elegantly and regularly shaped; one of them, from its uniform outline, being called Glengarry's Bowling Green. From their base, the valley and river from which they take their general name are seen stretching to the westward, and beautifully fringed with birch woods. Near the river's mouth, and close to the loch, are the ruins of the ancient castle of Invergarry, the seat of the chief of the branch of clan Coila, called Atacdonell, and a modern mansion, now occupied by Lord 'Ward, who has recently become proprietor, by purchase, of the larger portion of the Glengarry estates. The latter is a plain, narrow, high-roofed house ; but the castle is worthy of more notice. It stands on a rock, which is the gathering place of the clan Macdonell, whose war-cry, now the motto of their chief, is, "Craggan an phithick," "the rock of the raven." The castle consists of an oblong square of five storeys, containing the principal rooms, and having an addition on one side, in which are the gateway, staircase, guardrooms, &c.; the former is rounded at the east end into a sort of tower; from the corner of the other a turret shoats up, which commands an extensive view of the surrounding country. It was burnt, after the rebellion of 1745, by the Duke of Cumberland; but the greater part of the walls are still standing. The landscape, looking back westwards as the boat passes along to the eastern extremity, is one of the most perfect pictures in the whole course of the voyage, and the scenery of Loch Oich is said to resemble very strikingly that of some parts of the Rhine.

70. A monument will be observed by the loch side, before we reach the castle, erected by the late Glengarry, over `1 the well of the seven heads." The monument consists of a group of seven human heads carved in stone, placed on the top of a small pyramid, which rests on a square die. The following inscription is engraved on this singular structure in four different languages—English, Gaelic, French, and Latin :—

The murder alluded to was that of the two sons of Keppoch, who had been sent to be educated in France. During their absence their father died, leaving his affairs under the management of seven brothers, his kinsmen. The prolonged stay of the young chief had so habituated his cousins to the pleasures of power, that they murdered him and his brother on the night of there unwelcome return. The old family bard was the means of bringing the deserved punishment on the murderers. After fruitless endeavours to engage various Highland chiefs in the object he had devoted himself to, and repeated applications to Glengarry's ancestor according to the above inscription, hut, in the opinion of many versant in traditionary lore, to Macdonald of the Isles, he at length prevailed on one or other of them to furnish a body of men, with whose aid having achieved his purpose, the attached senachie glutted his thirst for revenge by mutilating the corpses of the ruthless assassins. A little way up Glengarry, on the north side of the loch, to which side the road follows, and south-east side of the river, the traveller will find a comfortable inn, equidistant (i.e., about seven and a half miles) from Letterfinlay, on the banks of Loch Lochy, and Fort-Augustus. The drive up the glen to Loch Garry is well worthy of a spare hour.

71. The centre of the glen, from Fort-Augustus to Loch Oich, is occupied by low, rocky, and heathy hills, on the south side of which the road proceeds, and on the other the canal. About a mile from the fort the road passes a small loch called Culachy, at the end of which it is joined by the southern Loch Ness and the Corryarick roads. The distance from Loch Oich to Loch Ness is five miles and a half. At the east end of the former lake stands a bare slated house, called Aberchalder, where Prince Charles' forces gathered before crossing Corryarick for the low country. Nothing remarkable occurs on the line of the canal, except the vitrified fort of Torduin, which communicated with Dun Jardil on Loch Ness, and thence with the eastern coast.

72. Fort-Augustus is situated at the south-western extremity of Loch Ness ; it stands by the edge of the lake, on an alluvial bank, between a mountain stream, called the Tarff, and the river Oich; the canal, which cuts through the glacis at the fort, intervening between it and the latter. The fort was built shortly after the rebellion of 1715. In form it is square, with four bastions at the corners, on which can be mounted twelve six-pounders. It is defended by a ditch, covert way, and glacis. In the ditch is a battery, on which can be mounted four six-pounders. The barracks are constructed for one field officer, four captains, twelve subalterns, and 280 rank and file. The magazine, storehouses, &c., are at present empty, and the guns have been removed to Fort-George; but a few soldiers are generally stationed in the garrison.

73. Loch Ness is between twenty-three and twenty-four miles in length ; it varies in breadth from three quarters of a mile to a mile and a quarter, the latter being the average width. Its sides sink with a very rapid declivity, as it is frequently from forty to fifty fathoms deep within that distance from the shore; and in some places, towards the middle, the depth has been found to be 130 fathoms. In consequence of this great depth, the loch never freezes, and the river which flows from it has so short a run, that it reaches the sea before it has been cooled to the congealing point. The slope of the sides of the mountain-chains is equally steep above as beneath the surface of the lake. Rugged, heathy, and rocky, with their faces in many places furrowed by the winter storms, they are, notwithstanding, in great part, especially on the northern bank, luxuriantly clad with a profuse variety of forest-trees; birch, oak, ash, elm, and aspen, and a thick underwood of hazel, sloe, and holly; spangled in summer by innumerable wild roses, and resting on a carpeting of purpled heath and verdant bracken. The mountain ranges average between 1200 and 1500 feet in height, and are, in general, of equal elevation on the opposite sides of the lake, except where Mealfourvounie, about midway on the north side, rears his dome-like head to the height of upwards of 3000 feet. The mountains are continuous and undivided, save by the valley of Urquhart and Glenmoriston on the north, and by two ravines about the middle of the south side, and near each other, down which the Farikaig and Foyers pour their streams into the great reservoir. A few arable tracts, at wide intervals, gladden the eye amid the woods which cover the sides of the hills; and on the north, the openings of Glens Urquhart and Moriston display to view large cultivated fields and substantial houses; while in the spaces between these valleys the steep acclivities have, in a few places, been turned to account by the labours of industrious croftsmen. Along the whole of the southern side of the lake hardly a house is to be seen from Dores, at the east end, to Fort-Augustus, except towards the centre, where the white walls of Boleskine and the General's Hut make a conspicuous appearance high up on the hill face; while the house of Foyers below, at the mouth of the river of that name, looks out from amidst luxuriant woods of birch.

Loch Ness occupies the whole breadth of the valley, except towards its eastern extremity, where its waters are confined to a narrow channel on the north side.

The appearance of this lake from the water, though highly beautiful, is monotonous ; the mountains are deficient in striking outline, and appear, if not somewhat insignificant, at least wanting in force of character, from the extent of space which the eye embraces ; and their fine woods have little better effect than a clothing of sward. Notwithstanding, there are some very fine frontlets, as Strone Muichk, and Craig Ian, at Invermoriston; the face of Suchumin, at Fort-Augustus ; the Red Rock at Aultsigh ; and the Black Rock at Inverfarikaig. We would recommend the stranger to travel along the banks of Loch Ness. Of the two roads, that on the north side is preferable ; the elevations of the roads are more various, and the windings more numerous ; and from these the lake is at almost each successive step presented under a new aspect. At times, from some treeless swelling of the hill side, or from the top of some abrupt precipice, we overlook the whole bright expanse of its waters; whilst advancing but a few paces, we find it concealed from sight, or, at intervals, perceive it glittering and glancing through the dense foliage of o'erhanging trees.

74. Invermoriston, the first place of call after leaving Fort-Augustus, lies in a deep recess at the mouth of Glenmoriston, closely girt by an amphitheatre of hills, with the mansion of the proprietor (Murray Grant) fronting the lake. About three miles further down, the deep burn course of Aultsigh presents a magnificent precipice, bearing on its rocky ledges a host of scattered pines, which on the more inclined surface to the lake give place to a rich mantle of birch and hard woods.

75. The celebrated Falls of Foyers occur on the river of that name about twelve miles from Fort-Augustus. The steamer lies to, off the mouth of the river, at a beautiful wood-embowered alluvial hank, from whose foliage the house Of Foyers peers forth, to give the passengers an opportunity of visiting the falls, which are two in number, the nearest about a mile from the lake, and the other about a quarter of a mile further.

The river Foyers, after passing across the highly elevated and chiefly moorland and open district of country lying to the south of Loch Ness, on its reaching the hills which skirt that lake, enters a deep and narrow ravine, at the commencement of which it is precipitated over a ledge of rock, about thirty feet in height, forming the upper fall. To view it to the best advantage (and the traveller should, if he have command of his time, first visit this upper fall, to which the public road and a bridge across the river will lead him), it is necessary td descend to the channel of the river below the bridge. From this position, the appearance of the headlong and tumultuous mass of waters is very imposing; while the high and perpendicular rocks between which the river pours its noisy and troubled flood, and the aerial single-arched bridge which has been thrown across the chasm, have a highly picturesque effect. A pathway will be found immediately beside the bridge, and on the west side of the stream, which conducts to the proper point of view. It is, however, somewhat difficult to reach this position; and the generality of visitors content themselves with the view from the bridge or the rocks above the fall. Below the fall, the channel of the river is deep and rocky, and shelves rapidly down towards the lake: the mountain sides are clothed with luxuriant woods of birch; and the river, interrupted in its course by numerous masses of rock, is lashed into foam, and hurries impetuously forward for about a quarter of a mile. It then encounters a second abrupt descent, and is dashed through a narrow gap, over a height of about ninety feet, into a deep and spacious linn, surrounded with lofty, precipitous rocks. From one side of this gulf, a high ledge of rock, projecting in front of the fall, obstructs all sight of it from any point along the margin of the river. As we approach this greater cataract, the ground is felt to tremble from the shock of the falling water; and the ear is stunned with its sullen and ceaseless roar. A winding footpath strikes off from the public road, at the commencement of a parapet wall, and leads down to a green bank, on the point of the projecting barrier, directly opposite to and on a level with the middle of the fall. Here in security the eye can scan the terrors of the troubled gulf beneath, the whole extent of the fall, and of the encircling and surmounting rocks, partially covered with a rank mossy vegetation, forced into life by the volumes of vapour which float around, their summits waving with birches, pencilled on the sky. The accompaniments of wood and rock, and mountain slope, are always attractive ; but when the river is swollen with rain, the scene assumes the features of sublimity, and the spectator, immersed in an agitated and drenching mist, regards it with mingled feelings of awe and admiration. The living spirit of the waters wakens, with thundering call, the echoes of the solitude: every other sound is drowned, and all nature seems attentive to the voice of the falling element; and the mighty caldron is filled with shifting masses of spray, frequently illumined with the bright and lambent tints of a rainbow.

Of the many descriptions extant of this fall, we have always felt the following lines the most correct and graphic:

About an hour's space is allowed to passengers desirous to visit the falls, or rather the lower fall, as this does not suffice for both.

From the rocks surrounding the lower fall, the spectator commands a fine view of Loch Ness, backed by the steep and ample sides of Mealfourvonie ; while at his feet sweeps the precipitous bed of the river, a rugged ravine of great depth, with here and there a trembling aspen or gnarled pine; and beyond, the hill side descends to the lake, beautified with woods of waving birch, and the smiling parks around the house of Foyers, which occupies a site of surpassing beauty, where the spent torrent, still and motionless, joins its waters to the lake. The beach at the landing place is abundantly covered with columbine, a rare indigenous plant in our northern latitudes.

76. About two miles below the Foyers, the deep defile of Inverfarikaig gives, a glimpse of a very romantic pass guarded at the entrance by a lion-shaped hill, called the Black Rock, a noble precipitous frontlet, which is surmounted by the vitrified fort of Dun Jardil. Intermediate between Inverfarikaig and Foyers, is the inn called the General's Hut, and the house of Boleskine, in the vicinity of which Prince Charles was received by Lord Lovat shortly after the disastrous issue of Culloden.

77. On the western promontory of the bay of Urquhart, (about two miles from Drumnadrochet) stands the ruins of a venerable stronghold—the Castle of Urquhart, often noticed in the annals of the Stuarts and earlier Scottish monarchs. It overhangs the lake, and is built on a detached rock, separated from the adjoining hill, at the base of which it lies, by a moat of about twenty-five feet deep and sixteen broad. The rock is crowned by the remains of a high wall, or curtain, surrounding the buildings, the principal of which, a strong square keep of three storeys, is still standing surmounted by four square hanging turrets. This outward wall encloses a spacious area, and is in some places terraced ; and in the angles were platforms for the convenience of the defending soldiery. The entrance was by a spacious gateway, between two guard rooms, projected beyond the general line of the walls, and was guarded by more than one massive portal, and a huge portcullis, "to make security doubly sure." These entrance towers were much in the style of architecture peculiar to the castles of Edward I. of England; and in front of them lay the drawbridge across the outer moat. The whole works were extensive and strong, and the masonry was better finished than is common in the generality of Scottish strongholds.

The first siege Urquhart Castle is known to have sustained was in the year 1303, when it was taken by the officers of Edward I., who were sent forward by him to subdue the country from Kildrummy, near Nairn, beyond which he did not advance in person; and, of all the strongholds in the north, it was that which longest resisted the efforts of his arms.

Alexander de Bois, the brave governor, and his garrison, were put to the sword. Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood, in Morayshire, governor of the castle in A.D. 1334, maintained it against the Baliol faction. His daughter marrying the Laird of Chisholm in Strathglass, the offspring of their union, Sir Robert Chisholm of that Ilk, became Laird of Quarrelwood in right of his mother, and constable of Urquhart Castle in right of his grandfather. After this period it is known to have been a royal fort or garrison ; but it is very likely it was so also at the commencement of the fourteenth century, and existed as such in the reigns of the Alexanders, and other early Scottish sovereigns. In 1359 the barony and castle of Urquhart were disponed by David II. to William Earl of Sutherland and. his son John. In 1509 it fell into the hands of the chief of the clan Grant, and in that family's possession it has continued to this day.

The mouth of Glen Urquhart presents a wide expanse of cultivated land, reaching to the hill tops, and diversified with wood.

As we near the foot of Loch Ness, from its contracted limits, we discern, on the south side, the mansion-house of Aldourie, the residence of Mr. Fraser Tytler, sheriff of Inverness-shire, and the birth-place of Sir James Mackintosh.

A narrow strait connects Loch Ness with the beautiful wood-encircled waters of Loch Dochfour. On the flat gravelly neck or peninsula, which divides this little loch from Loch Ness, are the traces of a small Roman encampment, which communicated with another near the late inn of Pitmain in Badenoch, and was thus the station furthest advanced into the heart of Caledonia by these masters of the world. Chalmers says this spot is called the British Boness, that is, the foot or lower end of Loch Ness, which the Romans latinized into Bonessia, and Ptolemy into Banatia. It is an oblong square, rounded at the corners, and encircled by ramparts of earth, and an irregular ditch from twenty to forty feet wide. But these remains have recently been a good deal defaced in the formation of a towing-path for vessels. On a square mound closely adjoining stand the foundations of an old baronial keep, called Castle Spirituel, and which in ancient days must have completely commanded the passage of the neighbouring fords over the river Ness.

Dochfour House (Baillie), a large shewy mansion in the Venetian style, with its fine old trees and lawn, and terraced gardens, lining the water's edge, is one of the most delightful residences in the county.

78. The canal runs for greater part of the remaining distance to the east sea along the north bank of the river Ness, and commands a fine view of the fertile valley of the Ness, the wooded face of the broad terrace, which lines it on the south, and the cultivated sloping expanse of the Leys behind, with the mansion-houses of Leys, Ness Castle, Ness-side, and a succession of villas as the boat nears her destination, whence the eye ranges over a beautiful section of the Moray Firth, hounded by two opposing gravelly promontories, on one of which, midway across the water, may be observed the walls of Fort-George. Passing between the alluvial eminences Torvain and Tomnahurich (the latter a remarkable artificial-like structure resembling an inverted ship) the steamer stops at Muirtown Locks, below the vitrified fort Crag Phadrick, and within a mile of Inverness, which lies on the plain at the river's mouth on the right, where vehicles are always in attendance to convey passengers to the different hotels, the Caledonian, Union, and New Royal. On the top of the ridge of the Leys, stretching eastwards from Loch Ness, in the line of the town, lies the battlefield of Culloden.

As the national work, by which we have supposed the tourist to have thus made his way to the capital of the Highlands, is an object of general interest, and has now been completed, a more detailed history and description than has yet been given to the public may be acceptable.

79. One of the most prominent features in the geography of Scotland is, unquestionably, that great opening which extends from the shores of Caithness, directly across the island, through the shires of Inverness and Argyle to the Atlantic Ocean. The principal part of this valley or opening is occupied, as we have seen, by the waters of two arms of the sea, Loch Linnhe and the Moray Firth; and of the space of land between these two, which is only sixty miles in extent, nearly two-thirds, the reader is aware, are covered by a series of fresh water lakes. To the plains and low hills fringing its eastern entrance succeed, towards the interior, chains of rugged mountains, which gradually increase in height, and attain the greatest elevation in Britain at Ben Nevis, near Fort-William, which rises 4370 feet above the sea.

This valley, commonly called "Glen More nan Albin," the "Great Glen of Scotland," divides the county of Inverness, as well as the northern part of the kingdom, or in other words what are called the Highlands, into two nearly equal portions. The large lakes it contains seem naturally to have invited the hand of man to connect the Atlantic and German Oceans; and such a communication was at length projected, and has since been formed, on a scale worthy of the grandeur and genius of the British people.

Being one of the most important public works in the north of Scotland, a short history of it cannot fail to be acceptable, and we hope that our readers will not deem the following particulars too lengthy.

80. Although the subject of internal improvement in the Highlands found more or less favour with the public, after the suppression of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, it is not generally known that the scheme of a navigable canal from Inverness to Fort-William engaged attention at so early a period. In 1773, the trustees for the forfeited estates employed Mr. James Watt, afterwards so celebrated in connection with the improvement and application of the steam-engine, to make a survey of the line, and furnish them with a report and estimate of the expense of making a canal of ten feet water, which he did; but no further steps appear to have been taken at that time, the forfeited estates being soon afterwards restored. The leading objects and advantages of such a communication, however, have never been more accurately or succinctly expressed than in the following extracts from Mr. Watt's report ; with this difference only, that they are even more applicable to a canal upon a larger scale than was then contemplated "All vessels going from Ireland, or the west coasts of Britain, to the east coasts of the island, to Holland, or to the continent of Europe north of it, and vice versa, together with vessels trading between the east coast and America, must either pass through the British Channel, or go north-about, that is through the Pentland Firth, or through the sounds of, or round the Orkney Islands. At all times going north-about is the readiest passage for the northern parts of the island; and in time of war the danger from privateers in the British Channel, and the height of insurance upon that account, are so great, that many ships, to which that passage would naturally be convenient, are obliged for security or economy to go north-about.

"Wherever a great promontory or termination of a main land is to be passed round or doubled, it is well known to mariners that, from the variety of winds that are necessary, and from the storms which rage with greater fury at those headlands than upon other coasts, the voyage is more tedious, as well as more dangerous than others of a like length that lie in a direct course. This is remarkably the case with the Orkney passages, to which the northern situation greatly contributes. Besides other inconveniences, they are subjected to periodical winds that blow violently for months together from the east or west, which renders it not uncommon for vessels to be detained six weeks or two months in those harbours. In the winter season, the risk of shipwreck on these boisterous seas is very great, and consequently that passage is little frequented then, and insurances are high. The greatest loss of time in the northern passage generally happens about the Orkneys, as it is there that the winds which brought the vessels northward cease to be of any further service to them, and the seas are generally too stormy to permit them to work to windward.

"From this view of the subject, it appears that a communication such as is here described, between the German Ocean and Atlantic, which would be shorter, more secure, both from the dangers of the sea and from privateers, and also more certain in all seasons than that by the Orkneys, would be more acceptable to all vessels capable of passing through it, even though it were loaded with a toll."

Mr. Watt's estimate for making a canal, with 10 feet water, and 32 locks, each 90 feet long by 25 feet wide, and having a fall or rise of 7 feet (much on the same scale as the present Forth and Clyde Canal, was about £165,000, equivalent of course to a much larger sum of the present day.

81. About the beginning of the present century, in consequence of the gradual conversion of the country into extensive sheep-walks or stock-farms, a general movement of emigration had begun to take place, which threatened the almost entire depopulation of the Highlands. According to the political doctrines which then continued to prevail, any tendency to this result was regarded with much anxiety and alarm; it was pressed on the attention of the government as an evil demanding instant remedy or alleviation; and the urgency of providing employment for the numerous poor inhabitants deprived of their former holdings, was almost universally admitted. In conjunction with other public works proposed at first chiefly with this view, and embracing the construction of new roads, bridges, and harbours, throughout all parts of the Highlands, the project of a navigable communication through the Great Glen was again revived; and in the year 1803-4, Messrs. Telford and Jessop, civil engineers, were employed, by Commissioners appointed by Parliament, to survey the line of the intended canal, and to report on the estimated expense. These gentlemen recommended its formation on a scale of unprecedented magnitude ; and after a reference to the most eminent authorities of the day, including Mr. Rennie, Captain Huddart, and other well known names, the preponderance of evidence was in favour of adopting their views, which were accordingly sanctioned by the legislature. The dimensions of the canal originally resolved on were as follows, viz.—" The bottom width 50 feet, with slopes of 18 inches to a foot ; so that by a depth of cutting of 15 feet, earth will be obtained to make the banks contain 20 feet depth of water, which will be 110 feet in width at its surface." These dimensions, however, were afterwards somewhat modified in the execution of the work. The locks and other appendages to the navigation were to be of corresponding size ; and, in short, to give a more exact idea of what that size was, the canal was everywhere to be fitted for the reception of a thirty-two gun frigate of that day, fully equipped, and laden with stores. It is almost needless to observe, however, that the same dimensions would not answer for a vessel of that class now, ships of war having since been increased in their relative proportions. The aggregate of the various estimated expenses was £474,531, exclusive of any allowance for the purchase of land or damages, it being expected that the landowners would consider the benefit to their properties as a compensation for what should be cut away. The charge of executing the whole works of the Caledonian Canal, as it was now termed, together with the other extensive improvements in the Highlands, ultimately devolved upon Telford alone ; the choice and confidence of the government being still further confirmed by his professional achievements in other parts of the kingdom, as well as abroad, which soon raised him to the distinguished position of the first engineer of the day.

82. The canal consists of a series of navigable cuts, connecting the upper terminations of the 'foray Firth and Loch Linnhe with the inland lakes, and those lakes, viz., Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy, with each other; involving no less than eight several junctions, each attended with its own peculiar difficulties, and thereby counteracting in a considerable degree the saving caused by the lakes in the necessary extent of excavation. The summit level is in Loch Oich, which, receiving abundant supplies of `eater from a series of upper lakes discharging into it by the River Garry, is admirably adapted for a canal of partition. The surface of Loch Oich, when at its usual summer height, stands almost exactly 100 feet above high-water mark at Inverness and Fort-William; when very much flooded, this elevation is occasionally increased by 4 or 5 feet. The whole length of the passage from sea to sea is 601 miles; and such is the remarkable continuity of the lakes, and of the intermediate tracts through which the canal is carried, in nearly a uniform direction, that this distance exceeds that of a straight line drawn on the map from one extremity to the other by a difference of from only from 3 to 4 miles. Indeed, the distance might have been still further shortened, and both entrances of the canal very materially improved, if the facilities which the advancing state of engineering knowledge has since rendered available had at first been foreseen, or could at that time have been fully relied on. We subjoin a more detailed statement of the lengths of the respective portions included under the general designation of the Caledonian Canal, viz.—

of which there pass through lochs or lakes 381 miles, and there are of canal cutting 22 miles; but in addition to the 22 miles of dry cutting, a considerable part of Loch Oich, and also portions of Loch Lochy and Loch Dochfour had to be deepened by dredging.

Some further particulars in relation to a work of this unusual magnitude may not be deemed superfluous or uninteresting. The locks are each 170 feet, and where two or more are contiguous, 180 feet in length, and 40 feet in breadth, with an average rise or lift of 8 feet. The whole number of locks, as originally built, is 28, viz., the entrance-lock at Clachnaharry, constructed at the termination of huge embankments forced out into deep water in Loch Beauly; the lock between it and the capacious artificial basin at Muirtown, (occupying a space of more than 20 acres); four connected locks at the opposite extremity of the basin; the regulating lock a little below Loch Dochfour; five contiguous locks at Fort-Augustus ; one called the Kytra Lock, about half-way between Fort-Augustus and Loch Oich ; the regulating lock at the north-east end of Loch Oich; two united locks between Lochs Oich and Lochy, near a village called Laggan; the regulating lock at the opposite end of Loch Lochy; grand series of locks, eight in number, at Bannavie, within a mile and a quarter of the sea, and commonly called Neptune's Staircase; two locks descending to Corpach Basin; and the entrance or sea-lock at Corpach. Some few of the earliest-constructed lock-gates are of timber, wholly English oak, but by far the greater number are framed of cast iron, and sheathed with pine planking. The canal, in the course of its length, is crossed by eight public bridges, which are of cast iron, and swing horizontally. Along the reach of six miles, extending from Loch Lochy to Bannavie, the path of the canal is also crossed by several mountain streams, some of which are conducted under it by arched culverts or tunnels of large dimensions, and others allowed to empty into the canal itself. For drawing off the excess of water brought down by these last during heavy rains, three powerful sluices are constructed at a point where the canal is cut through rock, nearly adjoining, but at a considerable height above, the river Lochy. The action of these is in itself a sight well worth witnessing; the water, when issuing from the triple sluice, falls nine or ten feet before it strikes the rock over which it tumbles, and creates an inundation over the flat land which intervenes between the canal and river Lochy. No artificial cataract exceeds the fury and the foam with which this emerges from its rocky cavern—emulating in romantic effect the wildest of our mountain falls. Loch Lochy was raised, and is since sustained, twelve feet above its natural level; to effect which alteration, an entirely new channel had to be cut for the river Lochy, which now discharges itself into the Spean at Mucomer. The immense body of water, in time of high flood, conducted in nearly a level course to this point—where, immediately after passing under the arches of a lofty and picturesque bridge, it falls at once some twelve or fifteen feet, over broken and precipitous rocks, into the lap of one of its own tributaries—presents a grand and imposing spectacle, and exemplifies in perfection both the "torrent's smoothess," and its "dash below." In fact, the vast accumulations of water not unfrequently brought down by the winter storms and floods, of which the great valley is the natural recipient, and which are now everywhere required to be subjected to artificial control, are such as the summer tourist can have no adequate conception of ; seeing, as he does, only placid lakes, limpid streams, verdant banks, and, in short, both nature and art in simpering mood and holiday attire.

83. After years of incredible labour and perseverance, surpassed only by the still more gigantic operations to which a different form of inland communication has more recently given rise, and after surmounting many formidable and unexpected physical difficulties, the canal had gradually advanced far towards completion; but the expense had already very much exceeded the original estimates, and the usual obloquy fell upon its promoters and managers. The excess of expenditure in this case, however, was not so much due to the natural difficulties of the undertaking, for which of course some allowance must necessarily have been made, as to the great rise which took place in the prices of labour and materials during the long progress of its execution. The difference in this respect was such as, in various cases, to have more than doubled the prices originally calculated on; and, as a single instance of what occurred, owing to the vast quantities of oak timber drawn from the principal forests for the supply of the navy during the heat of the war, the price of that article amounted to an entire prohibition, and was the cause of cast-iron being substituted, as has been said, in the formation of the lock-gates. Explanations of this kind, rational as they might now be deemed since the history of railways has familiarised us with cases of infinitely more glaring disproportions, were found insufficient to appease the wide-spread discontent and clamour for economy, arising out of the collapsed state of public credit, and general depression of the trading interests, which followed upon the close of the late war. On the selfish principles which had dictated the spurious liberality of many at an earlier period, the Highlands had now ceased to be of importance as a nursery of thews and sinews for the national defence; and doubts, not merely of the utility, but of the actual practicability, of completing the canal for the purposes of commerce, were loudly expressed. Much opposition was latterly given, therefore, to the annual grants by Parliament for the further prosecution of the work, which were now reluctantly doled out, and at length entirely discontinued. In this humour of the public mind, and to obviate the objections urged on the score of utility and practicability, it was resolved to open the canal in its then unfinished state, with the limited depth of water which a few temporary expedients could command; and, accordingly, that event took place, with due ceremony, in October 1822, when the late Charles Grant, Esq., for a long period Member of Parliament for the county of Inverness, (the most zealous and active of the Canal Commissioners,) gave a splendid fete to about seventy gentlemen who accompanied him in a steam-barge, the first vessel that passed from sea to sea.

The following is an abstract of the sums disbursed by the Canal Commissioners, as appears from their Report of the 23d of May 1827, showing the total expenditure from the 20th of October 1803, to the 1st of May 1827; and from this summary, keeping in view the primary object with which the canal was originally undertaken, namely, the employment of the native population, and the diffusion of useful arts and industrious habits among them, some estimate may be formed of the extent to which those beneficial results must necessarily have been realized:—

84. At or before this period, as already noticed, the appropriation of funds towards the original formation and completion of the Canal, may be said to have ceased ; and the expenditure for many years subsequently was chiefly limited to its maintenance and repair. Immediately on its first opening, a regular communication was established, and has since been maintained, between Inverness, Glasgow, and the west coast generally, by means of steam-boats. It likewise afforded facilities for the exportation of a large quantity of fir, birch, and other timber from the interior of the country to the collieries, and for the purposes of the herring fishery. In addition to these, the chief intercourse on the canal was confined to vessels employed in the coasting trade between the opposite sides of the kingdom, with occasionally a few of the smaller Baltic traders. Owing, however, to the temporary and imperfect nature of the expedients resorted to in the first instance for opening the canal before the works had been properly completed, it was found that even the limited depth of water thus attained was not to be depended on; and from the absence of many essential facilities for the convenient transit of vessels, the traffic, although at times by no means inconsiderable, showed little or no tendency to increase. The revenue derived from it proved inadequate to the expense of ordinary maintenance, which, on account of the great scale of the works, was necessarily considerable, while their use was limited to the accommodation of a very inferior class of vessels to that for which they were designed. The consequence was that the unfinished works soon fell into premature decay ; the former temporary expedients either ceased to be of further avail or could no longer be upheld; several casualties occurred which threatened danger, not only to the canal itself, but also to the adjoining districts ; and a crisis at length arrived during which it became a question whether it might not be necessary to abandon the canal altogether, unless it were taken up anew by the government, completed wholly in the manner originally proposed, and furnished with all those aids and appliances which both experience, and the improved conditions of modern science had shown to be requisite for its proper working efficiency.

85. In these untoward circumstances the Commissioners, with the concurrence of the Government, placed themselves in the hands of Mr. Walker, then President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the foremost man of his profession after Telford, who had long since paid the debt of nature, and died full of years and honours. In the early part of 1838 Mr. Walker, after visiting the line of the canal, reported fully on the whole subject, and concluded with an earnest recommendation in favour of the thorough renovation and completion of the works, and of providing all due facilities for the future accommodation of trade; which recommendation was soon after backed by the further approval of a committee of the House of Commons. Still such were the financial difficulties of the day, that several years elapsed before the ministry could make up their minds to embark in the required expenditure ; and before doing so, as the question now seemed to involve chiefly nautical considerations, it was thought necessary, both for their own vindication and for the satisfaction of the country at large, to have the express opinion of a naval officer distinguished for skill and judgment in such matters. The person selected for this purpose was Sir W. Edward Parry, the celebrated Arctic voyager, and then at the head of one of the departments in the Admiralty; whose instructions were "to ascertain, by personal communication with the principal ship-owners and merchants in the ports of Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Leith, Newcastle, and Hull, to what extent it was probable that vessels sailing from those ports would make use of the canal if the projected improvements were all executed." The result of this investigation, which was embodied by Sir Edward in an elaborate report, with details of the evidence taken, was on the whole confirmatory of Mr. Walker's views. He computes the average saving of time to vessels taking the canal, instead of the north-about passage by the Pentland Firth, to be nine and a half days, and the saving of expense on wages, victuals, and insurance, less canal dues, assuming pilotage and lights to be about equal either way, at the former rate of a farthing a ton per mile (for the whole distance), to be £33:2:10 on a vessel of 200, and £62 13s. 10d. on a vessel of 300 tons burthen; and even were those rates doubled, £22:4:8 and £43:6:6 respectively, independent of the great advantage to the merchant of the increased expedition in the transport of his goods, and a considerable saving in the insurance of vessel and cargo, he comes to the conclusion, "That if the Caledonian Canal were made efficient, it would very shortly be used by almost all those coasting vessels which now pursue a northern route in trading between the eastern and western coasts of England and Scotland (especially Hull and Liverpool, and all parts to the north), or between the former and the ports of Ireland; by nearly the whole of the vessels, whether British or foreign, coming from the Baltic, especially late in the season, and bound to ports on the western coast of this island, or to the ports of Ireland; and not unfrequently by vessels trading between our north-eastern ports and North America, or the West Indies: That in case of war with any nation fitting out fast-sailing vessels, as privateers, the passage by the Caledonian Canal for merchant vessels would almost wholly supersede that by the Pentland Firth; since a single efficient man-of-war, of no great force, would suffice to give protection to each approach of the canal by sea."

86. The scruples of the Government being at length removed, instructions were given to Mr. Walker to prepare detailed plans, specifications, and estimates, for the repair, completion, and improvement of the canal ; and in 1843 a contract was entered into with Messrs. Jackson and Bean, contractors of reputation, for the execution of the whole of the works in course of the three following years. They included the erection of an additional lock at the S.P. end of Loch Lochy, for the better regulation of extreme floods in that lake; the formation of retaining weirs; the deepening of shallows; and a great variety of subordinate operations of which the main object was to secure a uniform navigable depth of eighteen feet water at all times, with every requisite convenience for the safe transit of vessels—it being now deemed unnecessary for commercial purposes to attain the extreme depth of twenty feet, as originally proposed. Arrangements were also made for having a sufficient number of steam-tug boats ready for towing vessels through the lakes and estuaries, as soon as the canal should be re-opened ; the channels leading to it at both ends have been properly buoyed off; lights placed at the entrances from the sea and at each extremity of the lakes ; and suitable charts and sailing directions published. The Moray Firth is now fully accommodated with the requisite number of light-houses, erected by the Northern Light Commissioners; but there is still a great want of light-house on Corran Point, so as to place the navigation of the Western Approach upon an equally safe and commodious footing.

87. The whole cost of the general completion and improvement of the works, including the purchase of steam-tug vessels, amounted to about £200,000, which was the sum estimated by Mr. Walker; so that with the accumulated expense of maintenance, and occasional repairs since 1827, and the payments of long outstanding damages for lands, &c., the gross disbursements on the canal from the commencement now reached the enormous sum of £1,300,000; but this was subject to a deduction of some £70,000 or £80,000 received up to the same period for canal dues, rents, interest, &c., thereby limiting the entire cost to the nation to somewhat more than £1,200,000.

In April 1847 the canal was re-opened, and has since been in operation with all the advantage of the increased depth of water and other accommodations referred to. For the greater encouragement of traffic at the outset, the rates have been fixed very low ; being only Is. 3d. per register ton on all vessels under, and Is. per ton on all vessels above 100 tons, for the entire passage of the canal, while the charges made for the assistance of steam-tug boats when used, horse-trackage, or other expenses, may generally be estimated not to exceed is. per register ton additional. Of course, this latter charge is avoided in the event of favourable winds, or by such as can make head without the assistance of the steam-tugs, &c. Special dues are levied on steam-vessels and steam passage-boats, and on vessels loading or discharging cargoes in the canal basins or harbours. Ships of 500 and 600 tons burthen, fully laden, have of late passed through the canal; and ships of 800 tons burthen can be accommodated in the canal basin, and alongside the wharfs at Muirtown, near the town of Inverness, to which a depth of nineteen feet water can be admitted. The passage from sea to sea at all times can now be depended on to be made within a very few days, and for the most part within forty-eight hours. The increase of traffic since the last re-opening of the canal has not hitherto proved so great as was generally anticipated, which may be imputed in a great degree to accidental causes, but it is steadily progressing; and it is impossible to doubt that in proportion as all its present facilities and advantages become more fully known and appreciated, they will yet exercise an important influence on the maritime interests of the northern parts of the kingdom.

88. By a recent act, the Crinan Canal, which had long been mortgaged to the Government on account of sums advanced for its completion and repairs, has been incorporated with the Caledonian Canal ; and new commissioners have been appointed, including several of the noblemen and principal landed proprietors whose estates adjoin their respective localities.

89. The situation of Inverness and line of the Caledonian Canal, generally, have been thought well adapted for the establishment of manufactories of native wool, from the great facilities of water-carriage now afforded to either side of the kingdom. It is well known that the whole wool of the Highlands, forming one of the staple products of the country, is at present transported in its raw state to the southern markets, involving thereby a great waste of expenditure in the mere article of conveyance, which might undoubtedly be saved to the native grower by converting it to its ultimate uses on the ground where it is produced ; and it is somewhat surprising, when the many obvious advantages within reach are considered, that no attempt should yet have been made on an extensive scale to carry any project of the kind into execution. With the raw material on the spot, the rate of labour and the prices of food lower than in the south, and with an unlimited command of water-power in every direction, ready to be applied to the purposes of manufactures at scarcely any expense, there cannot, we think, be a doubt that such an establishment, if eon-ducted with the proper degree of skill and enterprise, would, in a short time, be attended with complete success.

Other undertakings of a like nature might be suggested as equally proper for the advantageous employment of capital and enterprise at Inverness. By means of the canal, which places it on a sort of highway between the Baltic and Ireland, from which the materials for the flax and hemp manufactures are chiefly derived, it is perhaps even more favourably situated for that trade than Dundee, its present great emporium. The double communication to the east and to the west, affords important advantages ; and the Moray Firth is of equally easy and more safe access from the Baltic than that of the Tay. In short, there is no description of trade or manufactures that might not be prosecuted beneficially, and to any given extent at Inverness, when the greatly improved facilities of the canal communication are permanently developed; while to the numerous processes for which the use of pure water is indispensable, no situations can be better adapted than those which the line of the navigation offers throughout the greater part of its extent, with no expense beyond that of appropriating the bounties of nature to those purposes, which elsewhere involve so serious an addition to the cost of manufacture.

90. An eloquent writer in the Edinburgh Review looks forward to the extension of railway communication as likely to have an important effect on the future destinies of the Caledonian Canal. Referring to it as the probable link of union between the extreme points of the lines on opposite sides of the kingdom, he says—"Glasgow will, no doubt, be the terminus of the great western line ; but there is every reason to believe that the eastern line will extend itself to a much higher latitude. We scruple not to predict that a quarter of a century will scarcely elapse before it shall reach Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. When this grand object is gained, the value of the Caledonian Canal will then be recognised by the blindest and dullest of its detractors. It will stand forth the connecting link between the great lines of traffic which embroider the skirts of our otherwise deserted shores—the grand aortal trunk into which the arteries of the south will pour their exuberant wealth. The remotest Highlands will then become a suburb of the imperial metropolis. The fruits of the south will be gathered in climates where they could not grow ; and, while the luxuries of the east are sweetening the coarse fare of the mountaineers, the more intellectual imports of civilization and knowledge will gradually dispel the ignorance and feudal barbarism which still linger among their fastnesses." We must somewhat modify the precise place thus assigned by anticipation to this great national work. As subsequent events point to the foundation of a great line of internal railway to Inverness by the extension of the great central or western lines of through communication from south to north, onwards from Perth by the valleys of the Tay and the Spey, so that Inverness may ere long be reasonably expected to become a common centre of conveying currents and streams of traffic from the opposite coasts and along the interior of the kingdom. Notwithstanding, the utility and importance of the Caledonian Canal will be in all probability enhanced in consequence of the more thorough development of the resources of the Highlands by means of such additional facilities of transport.

91. Without venturing to indulge such sanguine speculations as to the future, we are content to fall back upon what has already been accomplished ; and we cannot more appropriately close our brief sketch of one of the leading objects of attraction in this part of the kingdom, than with the following beautiful lines from the pen of the poet Southey, written during his temporary sojourn at Bannavie, adjoining the Neptune's staircase, while on a tour of the Highlands in 1819. These will always deserve to be quoted as a just tribute to the memory of his friend TELFORD ; identified as that name must ever be with the first conception, the vigorous prosecution, and successful issue of the whole series of public improvements, which in an incredibly short space of time have, as has been truly said, advanced the Highlands at least a century in the scale of modern civilization, and indeed, in many important respects, have already placed them on a level with the more favoured regions of the south:--


92. Having conducted the reader to Inverness by what is now the great thoroughfare, the canal, we will, in concluding this section, devote a few pages to a more detailed description of either side of Loch Ness.

The Great Glen forms the chief line of communication between the opposite coasts of the north of Scotland, and among the military roads formed between the periods of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, one was conducted along the south side of this great valley. This, like the other military roads, was repaired and improved by the Parliamentary Commissioners appointed for carrying into execution the views of government regarding the improvement of the Highlands at the commencement of this century, under whose direction also new lines of road were formed along the opposite sides of Lochs Ness and Oich.

93. Along the space (of seven miles) from Fort-Augustus to Inverinoriston, on the north side of Loch Ness, the road is, for the most part, straight and level; and the shore of the lake being low, the road keeps near the edge of the water, through long avenues of hazel and birch. A good view of the fort and surrounding country is obtained at about a mile's distance from the garrison; but a still better one will be found from the rocks at the mouth of the river Oich.

At the opening of Glen Moriston, the road beyond the inn of Invermoriston, a small but snug and comfortable house, passes above the house of James Murray Grant, Esq., proprietor of the glen—an old-fashioned fabric modernised, beautifully situated, surrounded with wooded parks, and encompassed by abrupt hills of considerable altitude, altogether an appropriate residence for a Highland chieftain. The traveller will enjoy an excursion of eight or ten miles up Glen Moriston, which, for that space, is one mass of birch and pine, with but few arable patches, and watered by a clear river, the banks of which afford many glimpses of exquisite beauty. Immediately below the inn is a picturesque waterfall ; the river, of considerable size, pouring its waters from an open channel headlong into a confined duct of shelving rock, which conveys them to the lake.

94. From Invermoriston to Drumnadrochet the distance is thirteen miles, and the whole road one of extreme beauty ; it generally proceeds at a considerable elevation above the lake, through luxuriant, overhanging woods, where the profuse intermixture of oak and ash, with birch and alder, adds much to the richness and tone of colouring. Dark and dense masses of pine are frequently seen crowning the lofty and craggy heights above; while beneath, the rowan and hawthorn trees mingle their snowy blossoms, or coral berries, with the foliage of the more gigantic natives of the forest. The road is, in part, overhung by the fantastic branches of the yet youthful oak ; while the stately ash, rooted in the steep declivities below, shoots up its tall, straight, perpendicular stem, and with its scattered terminal foliage slightly screens the glassy lake, or purple ground colour of the opposite hills; and the airy birch droops its pensile twigs round its silvery trunk, "like the dishevelled tresses of some regal fair." Here, as elsewhere, along the banks of the lake, the sward and the underwood are alike most beauteous, the ground carpeted in early summer with the primrose and wood anemone, violet, and harebell; and as the season advances, the leafy green of the forest glade, richly spangled with the modestly glowing and delicate corollas of the wild rose, challenging comparison with any of the denizens of the shrubbery or flower-garden. The dark-purpled heath in tufted wreaths presents itself wherever an opening in the wood or a frontlet of rock allows ; while the bracken, with its rich verdure, spreads itself over the ground, alike where shaded by the green wood, or where sloping otherwise unclad to the base of the rocky surmounting acclivities.

Along the north road are two waterfalls of some claim to notice.

95. At Aultsigh, a picturesque cottage, three miles from Invermoriston, a stream from behind Mealfourvounie issues forth of a ravine of great depth, flanked on the east side by the precipitous sides of the mountain base, which presents a bold frontlet• not less than 1200 hundred feet in height, half-clad with clambering, aged pine trees. The lower declivities, with the front to the lake, and the opposite side of the defile, are shrouded in birch, of which, and of hazel, holly, and alder, there are specimens of remarkable growth by the burn course, which also exhibits several pleasing waterfalls. The lowest—but a few yards off the road—offers a very perfect picture. At a little distance in front of the fall, between low walls of rock, spanned by an old arch graced with pendent festoons of ivy and eglantine, the burn descends in a shelving rapid. Through the interlacing boughs of oak and hazel appears the cascade, about twenty feet in height ; while behind a wooded screen, surmounting the rocky channel of the stream, towers the bluff frontlet with its scattered pines.

We have been the more minute in describing this little scene, as it is associated with the Raid of Cilie-christ (Christ's Church), one of the most sanguinary and brutal affairs that stain the annals of an age of general blood and rapine. In the early part of the seventeenth century, Angus, eldest son of Glengarry, had made a foray into the Mackenzie's country : on his way home he was intercepted by a gallant little band of Mackenzies, and slain, with a number of his followers. Some time thereafter a strong party of Glengarry's men were sent, under the command of Allan Mac Raonuill of Lundy, to revenge his death. Allan led them into the parish of Urray, in Ross-shire, on a Sunday morning, and surprised a numerous body of the Mackenzies assembled at prayer within the walls of Cilliechrist, near Beauley ; for so was their little chapel called. Placing his followers so as to prevent all possibility of escape, Allan gave orders to set the building on fire. The miserable victims found all attempts at escape unavailing, and were, without a single exception—man, woman, and child—swallowed up by the devouring element, or indiscriminately massacred by the swords of the relentless Macdonells, whilst a piper marched round the church, playing an extemporary piece of music, which has ever since been the pibroch of the Glengarry family.

The work of death being completed, Allan deemed a speedy retreat expedient; but the incendiaries were not to escape with impunity ; for the funeral pile of their clansmen roused the Mackenzies to arms as effectually as if the fiery cross had been carried through the valleys. Their force was divided into two bodies: one, commanded by Murdoch Mackenzie of Redcastle, proceeded by Inverness, with the view of following the pursuit along the southern side of Loch Ness ; whilst another, headed by Alexander Mackenzie of Coull, struck across the country, from Beauly to the northern bank of the lake, in the footsteps of another party which had fled in this direction, with their leader, Allan Mac Raonuill. The Mackenzies overtook these last, as they sought a brief repose in some hills near the burn of Aultsigh. The Macdonells maintained an unequal conflict for some time with much spirit, but were at length forced to yield to superior numbers, and fled precipitately to the burn. Many, however, missed the ford, and, the channel being rough and rocky, were overtaken and slain by the 'victorious Mackenzies. Allan Mac Raonuill made towards a spot where the burn rushed through a yawning chasm of considerable depth and breadth. Forgetting the danger of the attempt in the hurry of his flight, and the agitation of the moment, and being of an athletic frame, and at the time half naked, he vigorously strained at, and succeeded in clearing the desperate leap. One of the Mackenzies inconsiderately followed him, but, wanting the impulse of those powerful feelings which had put such life and mettle into Allan's heels, he had not the fortune to reach the top of the bank grasping, however, the branch of a birch tree, he hung suspended over the abyss. Mac Raonuill, observing his situation, turned back and lopped off the branch with his dirk, exclaiming, "I have left much behind me with you to-day ; take that also." Allan got considerably a-head of his followers; and, having gained the brink of the loch, bethought him of attempting to swim across, and, plunging in, he lustily breasted its cool and refreshing waters. Being observed from the opposite side, a boat was sent out, which picked him up.

The party of the Macdonells, who fled by Inverness, were surprised by Redcastle in a public-house at Torbreck, three miles to the west of the town, where they stopped to refresh themselves : the house was set on fire, and they all, thirty-seven in number, suffered the death they had in the early part of. the
day so wantonly inflicted.

At Ruisky, a small public-house opposite Foyers, and about five miles from Invermoriston, there is a ferry across the lake, by which the Fall of Foyers can be conveniently visited.

Immediately west of Ruisky, a torrent called Authguithas (Aultghuis) rushes almost vertically down the hill face, in a prolonged cataract, partially screened by trees.

96. Urquhart Castle has been already described. Glen Urquhart, one of the richest and most beautiful of our highland valleys, opens up from the lake about fourteen miles from Inverness: its length is about ten miles. From its head, at Corrymony, it gradually widens out ; and about its centre it contains a small circular lake, Meiklie, adorned by the houses of Lakefield (Ogilvy), Lochletter, and Sheuglie. At the lower extremity of the lake, the sides of the glen approximate, and the winding strath below continues rather narrow and confined, widening again, however, towards the entrance, and there exhibiting considerable tracts of rich cultivated land carried to the very hill tops. The gently sloping banks of the lake above the fertile fields of Lakefield and Lochletter, and the more steep declivities between it and Loch Ness, are clad to their summits with luxuriant and graceful birch woods, while the frequency of cultivated spaces, and the fertility of the soil, give a peculiar richness and gladsomeness to this beautiful valley. The elegant shrub Prunus padus or bird-cherry, grows here to a great size, especially about the house of Polmaily, (General Cameron), and more abundantly than in any other valley we have seen. Indeed, both the soil and climate appear admirably adapted for the rearing of ornamental and fruit trees ; and they give birth to an exuberant vegetation, especially indicated by the rankness of the stately and gorgeous Digitalis lining the road sides. The greater part of Glen Urquhart is in the possession of the Grant of Grant, or Seafield family, who have a residence in it called Balmacaan.

It is a cause of much regret that the beauty of this charming valley has of late been materially impaired by the ruthless sacrifice of the greater part of its fine birch woods, and that not only without the slightest benefit, but to the absolute pecuniary Ioss of the noble proprietor, whose forester, in an evil hour, entered into a contract for the supply of a quantity of birch, so large that it is scarcely possible to fulfil it from the Seafield estates in this quarter, and, by some lamentable oversight, at a price which will actually not suffice to pay for the cost of delivery. And this for the most unromantic purpose of manufacturing bobbins for Glasgow cotton mills! How outrageous a proceeding ! Why will proprietors persist—for this is by no means a solitary instance—in permitting subordinates to mar, at one fell swoop, natural features, in the development of which, for the delight of mankind, the benignant Artificer of the Universe has seen fit to expend, it may be, a century of years? The public mind revolts against the unguarded, rough-handed, violation of characteristics which length of time have so identified with a country side, that the public eye, and the public taste, have acquired a sort of prescriptive right to their preservation.

At the mouth of the glen there is a large and excellent inn, called Drumnadrochet. An excursion of four or five miles up the glen should not be omitted ; and the pedestrian should follow a by-path, which, opposite the farm-house of Delshangie, strikes across the skirt of the hill, and gives a commanding view of the little lake and its imposing houses. About two miles from the inn, a small burn, descending from the flank of Mealfourrounie, falls over a lofty ledge of rock, forming what are called the Falls of Ghivach or Dhivach: were the body of `eater not so insignificant, they would, from their height, and the deep, confined, and wooded bed of the stream, nearly rival the magnificent falls of Foyers, on the opposite side of the lake. The base of the fall can be best attained by following the northern bank of the stream, which passes a little below the house of Balinacaan; but it is not at all times very easy of approach, as a branch streamlet crosses the path, and the burn course must latterly be threaded. A pathway will be found along the opposite edge of the ravine from the little bridge of Clunemore, which leads to a pretty good point of view. The fall is in the direct route to Mealfourvounie, should the traveller meditate a trip to its summit, which is here quite easy of access, and affords a less laborious opportunity of a mountain view than is generally the case, and is the work of a couple of hours from the fall.

A district road crosses the hill from Drumnadrochet to the Aird at T3elladrum, a distance of about ten miles ; and we trust that ere long the head of Glen Urquhart will be connected with Strathglass, by an extension of the road over the intervening space of about three miles. [Temple, indicated by the toll-bar and two noble ash trees, may be assumed as the most probable site of one of the most early churches in the Highlands, that of St. Maolrubha, built in the seventh century, of "hewn oak," as mentioned in the Breviarium Aberdonense.]

97. The burn of Aberiachan, nine miles from Inverness, presents, by the roadside, a succession of falls of from ten to thirty feet in height, with clear basins below, and shelving rapids between ; the channel lined by low rocks, and shaded by woods of birch. Dochfour House (Baillie), already noticed, is an imposing new edifice in the Italian style ; and a little way on, a granite obelisk, erected to the memory of the late proprietor, Evan Baillie, Esq. A couple of miles from Inverness the Moray Firth, lined by ranges of moderate size, of softened character, open on the view, with a fertile plain and part of the town between, and Fort-George in the distance.

98. The road from Fort-Augustus, on the south side of Loch Ness, conducts across the shoulder of Suchumin. The appearance of the country—the upper portion of an elevated table-land, called Stratherrick—till we reach the river Foyers, which the road crosses at Whitebridge, about four miles above the celebrated Falls of Foyers, is uninteresting, and the road exceedingly hilly and tedious. Here we would direct the traveller's attention to a sequestered spot in the vicinity, of peculiar beauty, on the river Foyers. This is a secluded vale, called Killin, which, besides its natural attractions, and these are great, is distinguished as one of the few places where the old practice of resorting to the "shieling" for summer grazing of cattle is still observed. It is lined by steep mountain ranges, partially decked with birch, and hanging mossy banks, shaded over with the deeper-tinted bracken ; but passing more into naked cliffs, or strewed with broken fragments of rock, intermingled with a scanty verdure sprouted with heath. At the north end there is a small lake about a mile and a-half in length, and from one-third to half-a-mile in breadth. The remainder of the bottom of the glen is a perfectly level tract of the same width with the lake, and about two miles and a-half in length, covered with the richest herbage, decked with numerous wild flowers, and traversed by a small meandering river flowing through it into the lake. The surface of this flat is bedecked with the little huts, or bothies, which afford temporary accommodation to those in charge of the cattle. About half-a-mile from the south end of the lake, Lord Lovat, the proprietor, has erected a shooting-lodge; viewed from which, or from either end, or from the top of a platform on the northeast side of the lake, fancy could scarcely picture a more attractive and fairy landscape than this sequestered vale, to which Dr. Johnson's description of "the happy valley," not inaptly applies. The milch cows, to the number of several hundreds, are generally kept here from the beginning of June till the middle of August, when they are replaced by the yeld cattle. In the little bothies, the young girls in charge of the inilch cattle pass their peaceful and secluded summers. These are very primitive structures of turf, each of a single small compartment, entered by a low doorway ; from one side of which, a breast-high turf screen, advanced a few feet, serves to protect the bed-place from the draught, and a bench of the same material, along the opposite wall, answers the purpose of chairs, and completes the arrangements of the interior, excepting that a small inner recess, at one corner, contains the dairy produce, which, we need hardly advise the thirsty wayfarer, is here to be met with in profusion and perfection, and with a welcome. A district road on the west side of the river now invades the privacy of this retreat. On the opposite side, a rough footpath conducts from Whitebridge.

99. Stratherrick is broad and open, and bordered on the north by a wide elevated plain, and the whole encompassed by granite hills shooting up into numerous naked summits ; while similar lower eminences display themselves throughout the intermediate space, which is covered with mingled meadow, arable, and moorland. Between the falls and the strath of Stratherrick (a space of three or four miles) the river Foyers flows through a series of low rocky hills clothed with birch. They present various quiet glades and open spaces, where little patches of cultivated ground are encircled by wooded hillocks, whose surface is pleasingly diversified by nodding trees, bare rock, empurpled heath, and bracken bearing herbage. The visitor who, from Inverness, means to return there, may pleasingly vary his homeward route by following the course of the Foyers for a few miles above the falls, and then descending Stratherrick to Loch Farraline, and there turning off by the Inverfarikaig road, through the pass already alluded to, when he reaches Loch Ness side, two miles east of the General's hut, at Inverfarikaig, where he can bait; and again at Dores, if so disposed. The distance is thus lengthened eight or ten miles; making it rather a long day's journey from and back to Inverness.

For a description of the fall, we refer the reader to the steamer's course along Loch Ness.

100. The General's Hut, as the small inn (18 miles from Inverness) near the Fall of Foyers, is called, from the circumstance of General Wade having had his head quarters in this vicinity when forming the military road along Loch Ness, has been considerably improved by what it was some 20 years ago. But it is still far from affording suitable accommodation at a spot so much frequented as the Falls of Foyers. No doubt, a large proportion of tourists content themselves with a flying visit from the steamers. But this is still a favourite pleasure drive for parties from Inverness, and would be still more so, were there anything half so attractive as the very comfortable establishment at Drumnadrochet, on the opposite side of the lake; for the character of the intermediate scenery, though different, from the effect of greater inequality in the line of the northern roadway, is such as makes the whole excursion a very agreeable one.

101. We would recommend travellers, whom the falls attract in this direction, to explore for a short way the road which strikes off at right angles from the lake on the west side of the Farikaig, about three miles from the Foyers, on the Inverness road. It leads by the side of a brawling torrent, along the bottom of a narrow and deep defile, the pass of Inverfarikaig, which leads into Stratherrick at Loch Farraline. Woods of birch line the bottom and mantle the slopes of the ravine, from which a few groups and single trees extend along the face of the precipitous rocks above, waving their graceful twigs like flowery garlands along the mountain's brow. At the entrance of the pass from Loch Ness the eastern side consists for a considerable space of a range of perpendicular and rugged precipices, and towards the lake the high and broad frontlet of the "Black Rock," surmounting an ample and birch clad acclivity, terminates the range of precipices, and on its summit we discern the green-clad walls of the ancient vitrified fort of Dundarduil.

102. To Dores the road hence continues for eight miles close by the water's edge, passing for about one-half of this space through a succession of straight avenues of hazel, mingled with birch, alder, and ash trees, and rarely presenting favourable views of the lake. The closeness of the wood and coppice, yielding still and prolonged vistas, bestows a character of peculiar repose, freshness, and beauty on the scenery, which has called forth the following eulogium from the pen of Dr. Macculloch:—"If hence from Foyers to Inverness the .country presents no picturesque scenery, there is one part of the road which may well redeem the whole; there is none such throughout the Highlands, so that it adds novelty to beauty, a green road of shaven turf holding its bowery course for miles through close groves of birch and alder, with occasional glimpses of Loch Ness and of the open country. I passed it at early dawn, when the branches were still spangled with drops of dew; while the sun shooting its beams through the leaves, exhaled the sweet perfume of the birch, and filled the whole air with fragrance."

103. Perhaps the finest view to be obtained of Loch Ness is that which is exhibited, looking back from the ascent from Dores, with the wooded parks of Aldourie as a foreground.

The road onwards leads through the policies of Ness Castle (Lady Saltoun), and past the house of Holm (Mackintosh), and as it approaches the town, runs by the wooded islands of the Ness, the county buildings and jail crowning the castle-hill on the river's brink with an imposing mass of castellated masonry, forming for some time, as we approach, a conspicuous and striking object.


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