well as to the lover of picturesque scenery. The southern bank of the river is an uninterrupted series of precipices, six or seven hundred feet in height, overhanging a series of rapids, along which the waters of the Awe rush forward to mingle with their briny mother in Loch Etive. Few contemplative travellers can skirt the streams of Caledonia without having their attention arrested by the piscatory propensities of mankind. Phrenology is yet in its infancy; and I apprehend that Gall and Spurzheim, Coombe and Elliotson have overlooked the organ of angling, in the topography of the brain. A tour in the Highlands, or even an excursion along the banks of the Awe, would afford the phrenologist ample materials for reflection, and stimulate him to the search after another inhabited spot in the mental map. The sevenleagued boots, the uncouth doublet, the baskets, boxes, and canisters, filled with creeping and unutterable things-the silence, solitude, and cat-like patience of these weeping willows, hanging pensively over the banks of purling rills or stagnant pools, form very picturesque objects in the Highland glens for the contemplative traveller. That the exercise, the animation-even the dangers of the CHASE, should furnish irresistible attractions to the sportsman, is not to be wondered at; but the passion for ANGLING must be an innate propensity, dependent on some hitherto undiscovered organ, probably situated on the banks of one of those pretty little lakes or watering-places in the brain, which are called ventricles, aqueducts, &c., by anatomists. I hope the phrenological map of the brain will soon exhibit the thirtyfifth organ. TAYNUILT, the half-way house between Dalmally and Oban, is situated in a wild and picturesque country, commanding beautiful views of Ben-Cruachan and Loch Etive. The CABARET here, is that where MacCulloch drew one of his most humorous descriptions of the economy and attendance of a Highland inn. There was no relay of horses here, but then there was plenty of salmon, whiskey, and oat-cake. Whether we had cast our shadows before us, or the innkeeper had the gift of second sight, I know not, but in twenty minutes a very tolerable dinner was on the table, notwithstanding Dr. MacCulloch's description of Highland procrastination; so that the Dalmally horses and the Sassenach travellers made a hearty repast before they started for Oban. The drive to the latter place, partly by sun, partly by moon light, was very interesting. The Connel Falls saluted us with a hoarse murmur as we left the ferry on our right-the mouldering towers of Dunstaffnage flung their dark shadows on the water-while the rocks echoed back the melancholy sounds of the breeze that whispered among the tombstones of the neighbouring chapel. OBAN. OBAN is, on a small scale, in the WEST, What ORMUZ was, on a grand scale, in the EAST. It is the commercial and touristical centre of the Highlands, the Islands, and the Lowlands. A Roman poet, in giving a false description of Carthage, has given an exact portrait of Oban. "Est in secessu longo locus, insula portum GOW, Efficit objectu laterum; quibus omnis ab alto quorum sub vertice late Equora tuta silent." On two days of the week, and at certain hours of the day, three steamers and a stage-coach are seen approaching the modern Ormuz, from the four cardinal points of the compass. The INVERNESS steamer, from the North, hoists its black signal on Loch Linhie—that of Glasfrom the South, advances from the Crinan Canal-the lazy and crazy HIGHLANDER (now the New Staffa) emerges westward from the Sound of Mull-while the Inverary DILIGENCE, from the East, winds down the hill where the "Maid of Lorn" once displayed her fairy figure, and where the ruins of Dunolly Castle still impend over the wave-worn rocks*. The advent of four such important caravans produces as great a sensation in Oban, as the arrival of a fleet of Indiamen formerly did in St. Helena +; and not merely sensation, but motion also. The whole of Oban is instantly roused from torpor to activity-from listless ennui to fervid excitement. The innkeepers are all on the alert, while the scouts, videttes, and purveyors of the rival hotels are on active service and full pay. The skirmishing generally begins among these light troops; but seldom with any bloodshed. It is among the baggage train that words frequently proceed to blows, and pitched battles are fought for a trunk or a band-box, which lies, of course, on the quay, or in the street, (if not rolled into the kennel, or tumbled into the water) till the contest is decided. Meanwhile the contents of the steamers―men, women, children, sheep, poultry, pigs, dogs, salmon, herrings, casks, trunks, bags, baskets, hampers, books, portfolios, maps, guns, fishing-tackle, and thousands of other articles, are in rapid transit from *It is curious that Sir Walter Scott, in two different passages, places Dunolly Castle on the banks of Loch Etive!-See Lord of the Isles; Note viii. p. 359. † A young lady of James Town, asked an English friend, if the arrival of the East India ships did not make London very gay? vessel to vessel-from steamer to coach, and from coach to steamer, under such a conclatteration of tongues (for language is out of the question) as was never heard round the Tower of Babel or the pulpit of Irving! The more violent the fermentation, the more rapid and complete is the subsequent amalgamation. The jarring elements, which we have seen in such commotion and oscillation, quickly find their appropriate affinities, or centripetal locations, and in a few minutes all is order and harmony in the thriving port of OBAN. The inns are crowded-the shops are thronged-the streets are paraded—and the little mount that overlooks the quay, is now occupied with artists, eager to sketch the surrounding scenery. Seating myself among these heroes of the pencil, I was surprised and gratified to see the ruin of Lorn Castle rising on the south side of Oban Bay (on paper) so repaired and beautified (as the churchwardens would say) that I scarcely knew it-the mountains of MORVEN, cleared of their mists, increased in altitude, and removed thirty miles farther from the Pole than they usually stand-BEN-MORE, no longer the pride of Mull, but transferred to the mainland-KERRARA, elevated into a romantic island-ОBAN, advanced from a fishing town to a Constantinople in miniature-and the trap rocks, round Dunolly Castle, transmuted into mountains of plum-pudding, where the raisins, the suet, and the paste, were as conspicuous as if seen through the solar microscope in Regent-street, or the oxygen gas of Bond-street. Such are the wonders of the pencil and the brush. In the course of a few hours, another scene of bustle and activity obtains. Crowds of tourists issue from the inns, descend from the hills, and collect on the quays, according to their elective attractions, or chemical affinities for Glasgow or Inverness, for Mull or Inverary. As they converged, a few hours previously, from the four winds, to the central mart or exchange of OBAN, they now diverge, like radii from a centre, in quest of new scenes and fresh sources of excitement. There is not much in Oban to attract us thither, except the facilities which it presents of going elsewhere-a valuable quality, by the bye, not always possessed by Highland towns of greater pretensions. Yet the Bay of Oban is very picturesque, the town clean, the inhabitants civil, the air pure, and the accommodations good enough for the Duke of Argyle or the Marquess of Breadalbane. But Oban has been fortunate in another respect. The poet's pen has rendered it consecrated ground, and converted the arid trap-rock into classic soil. Around the mouldering ruins of Dunolly, that overhang the briny wave, the Wizard of the North has waved his magic wand and started into existence, or conjured up from the dark womb of legendary tradition, a living drama of love and war, of maidens fair and chieftains bold, that will be rehearsed and re-enacted by Gael and Sassenach wanderer, long after the rock, on which the RUINS of Lorn stand, shall have been worn into sand by the ever-boiling wave below. A modern traveller was not a little surprised to find a common Highland tinker busily employed in the construction of a kaleidescope at Oban, a few weeks after that fashionable and evanescent toy of philosophy was broached in the metropolis of the British isles. If one of the Lords of Lorn were permitted to peep out of the ruins of Dunolly, or the tombs of Iona, and step into a library near the ARGYLL ARMS, in Oban, he would probably be not less astonished than puzzled, to see a large table covered with the TIMES and the COURIER, the CHRONICLE and the GLOBE, the HERALD and the SUN, the POST and the STANDARD, the LITERARY GAZETTE and the COURT JOURNAL, the ATHENÆUM and the SPECTATOR-together with all the Reviews and Journals, from the QUARTERLY and EDINBURGH, down to the Penny LAWYER and the Halfpenny DOCTOR! The Ronalds and the Somerlids would have some difficulty in reading these various vehicles of news, literature, and science, now circulated through the wildest glens of the Highlands and Hebrides ; but, if called on to interpret them into their native Gaelic, they would slink back into their graves, thankful that they had escaped an era of such unintelligible gibberish and barbarous jargon! Accident detained us several days at Oban, including the Sabbath. We profited, I hope, by hearing the word of God, in temples made by human hands, and also on a neighbouring hill, where the temple was "all space," and— "The altars earth, sea, skies." If the doctrines propounded in the former locality did not command our implicit assent, while those delivered on the mount were unintelligible; one thing was evident to the senses-that the pastors were sincere, and anxious to instruct-the congregation attentive, and eager to learn. This, in truth, appeared to be the case, from the Falls of the Clyde to the Pentland Firth-from the wilds of Loch Scavig to the valleys of Perth. The house of Lorn is humbled indeed! But it is probable that the present representative of the Somerlids is not less happy, nor less contented, than the most proud and potent Lord of the Isles, in the feudal ages. Over the romantic cot, redolent of the honeysuckle, the rose, and the sweet-brier, the mouldering tower of Dunolly sweeps its evening shade, as if to remind the descendant of the Lorns that MAN himself is but a shadow! If the tottering KEEP of his martial fore G fathers still stands a sad memorial of fallen greatness, it stands also an unquestionable proof of noble birth and high descent. Ancestral pride may excite the sneer of the philosopher, and the hatred of the vulgar; but it very often supports the fortitude of man under the pressure of adversity, inspires courage in the hour of peril, and preserves honour in the midst of temptation. The history of mankind proves that the "pride of birth" is a universal, and therefore a natural feeling. The ignorant Iroquois shows it as intensely in the wilds of America, as the haughty Castilian in the valleys of Spain-the cannibal of New Zealand, as unequivocally as the Norman baron or the Saxon lord. Very few despise this feeling, who are entitled to possess it; but, whenever noble birth is attended by other than noble actions, heraldry only lights the torch that casts a lurid gleam over the funeral of departed honour! Before quitting ОBAN, I may remark that this romantic little town is likely to prove attractive on another account besides that of affording facilities for going elsewhere. It seems that the air of this place is singularly salubrious, and that a physician of high respectability, and great information (Dr. Aldcorn) is here establishing a kind of SALUTARIUM, similar to that which is resorted to among the Nilgherry mountains in India, for the accommodation of such invalids as are recommended to change the air and scene, in the summer or autumnal months. I think it highly probable that this place will be found to possess some valuable qualities conducive to the restoration of health, and the attainment of much recreation, by excursions to Staffa, Sky, Iona, Glen Etive, Loch Awe, Ben-Cruachan, the Corrivrechan, and numerous other Highland and Island lions, all within reach of the PORTUS SALUTIS, or head-quar ers at Oban. SUNDAY. As, in politics, we have Whigs, Tories, and Radicals—so, in religion, we have Fanatics, Hypocrites, and Infidels. Fanatics are probably the most respectable, and the least mischievous of the three classes; because they are conscientious and well-intentioned. There is a considerable tincture of fanaticism in Scotland—especially in the Lowlands -but this will, of course, be flatly denied. Mais n'importe. The SABBATH has lately engaged the attention of legislators, and the discussion is only beginning. The "Lord's day"—the periodical holiday of youth -is associated, in memory, with pleasure and relaxation-with enjoyment and happiness, rather than with regret or repentance. Injudicious as dark is the spirit which would convert the sunshine of Sabbath into |