on the western side of the river, such bridges will probably be constructed, as they will then be found almost indispensable. From the old castle and ferry the road stretches for four miles further, in the same direction, along the moor, to the terrace before-mentioned, in a hollow of which, diverging from the Kilcummin road and tract of the great glen, it turns nearly due east through the Glenspean to Keppoch. The whole of the terrace is then in view, extending north-east almost to Letter Findley, the halfway house between Inverlochy and Kilcummin; and in the most elevated part of it is seen the deep narrow chasm through which the Spean river, passing under a bridge of a single arch, raised to a remarkable height above the stream, and thence termed Highbridge, rushes to the Lochy. At this part of the road the traveller is at or near the point, where the party sent from the garrison of Fort William in 1745 to crush the rebellion in its infancy, on observing the highlanders drawn up on the other side of the Spean, thought it expedient to return to the fort. The highland party, it is said, was not numerous; but by standing or marching wide of each other in the rank, and by taking hold of each other's plaids and spreading them out so as to conceal the vacancies, they con

trived to present to persons at a distance an appearance of a long line and considerable strength. The same body of highlanders had either on that, or the day before, defeated a party of soldiers from the garrison of Fort Augustus at the north-east end of Loch Lochy; and these two events, however trifling in themselves, gave life and vigour to the subsequent operations of the rebellion, which would otherwise in all probability have been crushed in its origin. The district of Lochaber, under the influence of the Locheil and Keppoch families, chiefs of small but very warlike and devoted clans, was the heart and focus of the rebellion. The chief of Locheil had long before carried on a correspondence with the Pretender, and was particularly trusted. It is generally known that the French intended, or at least promised, to send a considerable body of troops to co-operate with the native force; and this assistance had always been calculated upon by those heads of clans, and others, who had pledged themselves to engage in the enterprise. The Pretender's son, wearied out with the delays of the French court, at length set sail, with only a few attendants, and landed on the western coast, not far from Locheil: and the chief of the Camerons, upon the intelligence of the circumstance,

1

waited upon the Prince for the purpose of stating his resolution not to risk the lives and fortunes of his family and clan, in a service from which, without the promised aid, no favourable result could reasonably be expected. If he had adhered to that resolution the rest would have followed the example, and there would have been then no rebellion: but the result of the interview was, that Locheil was persuaded by Charles, who was an adept in this art of a courtier, to sacrifice himself, his family, and his clan, and even his own view of what would be most conducive to the ultimate success of the Stuart cause, to the foolish impatience of the Prince. By this disinterested but besotted devotion of Locheil, the enterprise commenced, and, after some partial successes, terminated, happily for the nation, in the total extinction of the hopes of the exiled family.

From Inverlochy, almost to Keppoch, in the middle of Glenspean, the road winds along the base of the Nevis mountain, the summit of which, on this occasion, remained all along involved in those flying clouds of mist which alternately hid and displayed the tops of the stupendous, but inferior masses in its vicinity. An agreeable and not irrational amusement may be derived from observing the course of

these mists, sometimes entirely covering a range of mountains, then gradually rising or passing, and exhibiting different portions of the hills until the whole are in view; again concealing some, and leaving others clear, and thus presenting, in constant succession, an infinite variety of magnificent scenes peculiar to those wild and grand regions. The sun at times bursts through the mists as they ascend, and displays the higher parts of the craggy masses with their long, red, dusty streaks, illuminated by the solar rays, and appearing like pillars of flame, or streams of liquid fire falling from the clouds.

The lower half of the inhabited part of Glenspean, for about eight miles from the tract of the great glen to Keppoch, is a triangular plain of considerable extent, of which a small portion, adjoining the moor of Lochaber already mentioned, is unimproved, barren, and covered with short heath; but the greater part is rich and well cultivated, and produces excellent crops of oats, and of the best kind of barley, which, owing to the sheltered situation of the valley, and its proximity to the sea, come very early to perfection. Some instances of the old farm towns appear in the glen, and were seen a few years before in Glenroy, which may be considered as a branch of Glenspean; but in these

cases, although the houses or cottages are crowded together, the lands are now very generally, if not universally, divided; and these little farms are usually in that state of improved cultivation which has commonly resulted from the introduction of the green rotations. At Keppoch, Glenroy diverges to the north, and Glenspean contracts into an angular point, beyond which it opens a little, and extends about seven miles further eastwards to the place where the habitable part terminates. The banks of the Spean river, in the lower division, are finely fringed with natural wood, consisting of birch, alder, oak, ash, and mountain ash; and, about the middle of the lower division of the glen, a thriving fir plantation appeared, at a neat shooting-house or huntingbox, belonging, it was said, to Baron Norton of the Exchequer, situate on a green hillock, on the north of the river. On another green woody hillock, a little higher up the river, on the same side, stands the neat parsonage and church of Kilmanivaig, and almost directly opposite, on the south side, is a very substantial farm-house, belonging, it was stated, to the venerable proprietor of Coilachonaid; who lately, at one of the Huntly shooting parties at Dalwhinnie, was saluted as the last of the old high