"by arms of the sea.

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It is a peninsula of a triangular shape, of from twelve to sixteen "miles on each side, much indented by other "arms of the sea, so that the whole area will "not exceed 120 square miles. The country, "although hilly, has excellent pasture, and "feeds about 14,000 sheep, 2500 black cattle, "250 horses, besides goats and deer. The ara"ble land is limited to the most sheltered 66 places by the sides of the sea and rivulets, " and is but poor in quality, not supplying the "thin population of 2000. The sea and lakes are stored with herring, salmon, and other "fish; and seventy tons of kelp are yearly made 66 on the shores. The rent is 2200l., and the "Duke of Argyle is the principal proprietor."

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A little to the north-east of Ballichelish ferry is the ferry of Corran, where cattle and sheep from Morven are carried across Loch Linne to the south-east side, from which they proceed by the head of Loch Leven to the south. During the whole of the stretch from Loch Leven to Inverlochy, the breadth of Loch Linne continues uniformly at about four miles. The tide at this time was flowing very strong, and the lake had the appearance of an immense rapid river rolling. its volume of waters to the north-east, between its barriers of lofty, dark, and wild mountains.

On the south-east side, however, the hills in a few places recede, leaving some open level fields which are well cultivated. Fringes of natural wood, ash, birch, hazel, and alder, occasionally line the bank of the lake and bases of the mountains; and the road, from its own excellence, and the nature of the surrounding scenery, was compared to the new road made by Bonaparte at the side of the lake of Geneva. It is in some parts cut through, the solid perpendicular rock, and in these situations a parapet or side wall would be no immaterial improvement, as the slightest variation from the course of the road towards the lake, which might readily take place in the night-time, or at any time from restiveness of horses or other causes, would precipitate the traveller from a considerable height upon the rocks below, unless he should happen to have, as he might have at certain points of the road, the less unfortunate alternative of being plunged into deep water. Several men and boys were seen on points of rock jutting out into the lake, fishing for herrings, with the rod, line, and bait; and it appears that great numbers of herrings are caught in this way, as some of these fishers were seen returning, each of them with several dozens of fine herrings. These rods, usually seen at the

herring stations, are merely rough single sticks about three yards in length, the same tapering length and nice pliancy not being, it seems, required as in rods for trout-fishing, especially with the fly.

Advancing towards Inverlochy, the traveller, leaving the extensive range over which the Campbells have spread, enters the district of Lochaber, long distinguished as the seat of two of the most compact and warlike of the highland clans, the Camerons of Locheil and Macdonalds of Keppoch, among whom the institutions and spirit of clanship prevailed in the fullest extent and vigour. The former are still a flourishing family, and in the course of the late eventful war, many proofs were given that both among the chiefs and the clan the ancient warlike habits and spirit of family union still subsisted for the most valuable purposes, notwithstanding the change of times and circumstances. It was on the occasion of the expedition of James the Fifth into the highlands, that the division of the highland population into clans is particularly noticed by the Scottish historians; but probably from a much earlier period, most of the valleys, with their appendant mountains and moors, were occupied, each by a distinct class, the descendants or supposed de

scendants of some remarkable individual; who was considered as the founder of the family, and the father of the class which was characterized as his children, the greater part of them bearing his descriptive name, which might be one that to an inhabitant of the south would not appear very dignified, the wry mouths and wry noses being among the most distinguished clans of the highlands. These appellations, however, among the highland race, were used purely for the sake of the distinctive mark which the peculiarity afforded, and imported nothing of disrespect or levity. Each individual of the clan who bore the name considered himself, in virtue of his real or supposed descent, as a relation of the lineal or most direct descendant of the original founder, who upon that title and ground of right was the chief or chieftain, called in clanish speech, the man or head of the kindred.

When the clan became too numerous for the strath or district, or when it suited the views of the chief and members of the clan, a part of them settled in another district before unoccupied, or vacant by the expulsion of some weaker class; some near relation of the chief was placed at the head of this colony or separate portion of the family, and became the chieftain of that di

vision. In this manner, some families or clans, by force or policy, spread themselves over several districts, while other clans or divisions of clans were almost extirpated. One chief of a powerful clan is said to have prosecuted this plan of aggrandizement with a perseverance, dexterity, and success, that might have mortified a Roman senate. By fomenting divisions among the surrounding clans, and under the pretence of assisting the weaker party, or by procuring commissions from the crown to suppress the disorders, he contrived to make himself master of the possessions of both parties; and never considered his neighbours as in a state of peace until they were thoroughly subdued, and either brought under his own authority, or expelled from their lands.

The mountaineers, from the nature of their situation, as well as the weakness of the crown, were always, until the year 1746, in a great measure independent of the control of the general government, whose only expedient for quelling dangerous disorders was that of exciting one clan against another-being only another mode of encouraging the feuds which it was intended to suppress. The whole range of the mountains formed one immense fortress, subdivided into a multitude of smaller forts or