hollow in this embankment, the stream (burn) of Lornty issuing from a lake at the foot of Bein-cally, a high mountain in the south-western ridge, not far from the Dunkeld pass, discharges itself into the Ericht, near the Keith rocks; a place worthy of attention for the curious appearance of the cuts and hollows made by the river in the craggy bed over which it flows, but more particularly for the obstruction there given to the progress of the salmon fish to the highest parts of the river. The whole water of the river runs between two rocks in a deep channel, so narrow that the sides are not above a yard and a half asunder. In this place, a wooden frame is fixed in such a manner that the salmon fish are effectually prevented from proceeding further up the river to deposit their spawn, except in very high floods, when a few of them, by a desperate leap, clear the obstruction. But these floods seldom happen till the legal time for catching salmon has expired, and at any rate the number that passes the Keith is so small, that the fishing could not be an object of any value to the superior proprietors. As these proprietors derive no advantage from the fishing, they never think of the preservation of the salmon in spawning time; and the consequence is, that the few fish which get up at the

period of the autumn floods are destroyed by the country people ad libitum. But if it be true, as those who have attended to the natural history of the salmon aver, and the circumstance is in itself highly probable, that where an obstruction of this nature occurs, much fewer salmon will frequent the river, it is doubtful whether the fishery of the proprietor immediately below the Keith is benefited by this contrivance; and while the advantage of salmon fishing is totally lost to the proprietors on the banks of the upper part of the stream, it may be reasonably questioned, whether material injury is not done to the fisheries in the lower portion of the river. It is alleged that the fish crowd the pools immediately below the Keith for weeks together, waiting for a flood to enable them to pass; and if such be the fact, it is possible that the fishery at the point may be more productive. But the breeding of salmon is in a great measure prevented, and the produce of the whole river diminished, so that the interests of the great body of the proprietors on the banks of the stream, and those of the public, are sacrificed. This is, perhaps, the only instance in Scotland of such an obstruction along the whole stream of a river, or water, without the relief even of what is called a Sa

turday's slap, or opening from Saturday evening till Monday morning; and, considering the minute attention which the law of Scotland pays to the apportionment of the benefit of the salmon-fishing among the whole body of proprietors on the banks of a salmon river, and to the preservation of the breeding of salmon for the interests of the public, it may appear surprising that this obstruction should have been suffered to remain so long. But the right to uphold it is said to rest upon an old crown grant; and, if that is confirmed by an act of parliament, it puts an end to all question about the matter, unless, upon application made, the legislature should think proper to interfere.

On arriving on the height to the north of the Clowes, the traveller observes the mansionhouse of Craighall, on a point of rock on the opposite bank. For about a furlong above the bridge, the river runs between lofty banks, gradually diverging as they rise, the sides partly under grass, and partly covered with stunted birch and ash, the natural wood of that region. Beyond this, for about half a mile, its course is in a deep excavation, through a mass of enormous rocks, from which it issues at the point upon which the house is situate. At the upper end of the mass a deep narrow opening admits

the stream, the rapid rock rising smooth and perpendicular on each side to a vast height, and the sides being only a few yards asunder; as if the piece had been carefully cut out by some magic art to form this gigantic gateway. A little below the entrance, some soil has settled among the crevices of the rock; and stunted trees, or rather bushes, shooting out horizontally from each side, intermingle their branches and leaves, and, under this thick covering, the invisible stream descends, its progress being marked only by the noise, until it re-appears under the sides of the bare craggy masses. During the upper half of its course, the river winds through the rock, forming a figure resembling the letter S; and then, taking a sudden rectangular turn, it proceeds in a line slightly curved, till, at the lower end of the entire ledge, it dashes full on the hall rock which is protruded into the middle of the channel, and by a quick turn at that point escapes from the mass. Along the whole of this channel, the rocks rise for the most part exactly perpendicular, and always very nearly perpendicular, from 100 to 200 feet above the stream; appearing in some places to be thrown up in perpendicular strata, in others in horizontal layers, not more than half a yard thick; while here and there vast solid masses are seen,

one of them rising smooth and perpendicular, without cleft or fissure, to the height of about 200 feet, and extending about double that length along the course of the river. In one place, the rock at a great height shoots up from its higher side two long-pointed pieces in the figure of a fork, which rise like spires or parts of a broken wall, having at a little distance some resemblance to the ruin of an ancient tower. The space between these pillars or spires is about two yards wide, and seems to have been formerly a part of the river's channel, although more than 100 feet above the present bed. The river probably once expanded into a lake at the upper end of the mass, and having attained the necessary height, flowed over the surface, till, in the lapse of ages, by the secret agency of nature, invisible and minute in cause, but open and tremendous in effect, by the constant action of the stream, and the expansive force of congealed water deposited in the clefts, the strongly compacted crags were rent asunder, and the broken pieces being gradually rolled away by the torrent, a deep and rugged channel was at length formed through the centre of the rock.

The house itself presents nothing remarkable in its appearance, and the only ornament, that