This famous cataract consists in reality of two falls, of which the lower is by far the more imposing. The upper fall is about thirty feet high, twice broken in its descent; a bridge of one arch—an aerial-looking structure -being thrown over the chasm. It is seen to the best advantage from the channel of the river below the bridge.

After pursuing its impetuous course for about a quarter of a mile, the stream makes its second descent in a sheet of spray of dazzling whiteness, into a deep and spacious linn, surrounded by gigantic rocks. The cavity of the fall is lined with a profusion of shrubs and plants, nursed by the perpetual spray. The height of this fall is variously stated, but it cannot be less than ninety feet. The banks on either side are diversified with the birch and the ash, and an undergrowth of copsewood, with those stupendous chasms and rocky eminences which confer additional grandeur on such a scene.* About two and a

* Dr. E. D. Clarke, who visited this fall, declared it to be a finer cascade than

half miles from this, on the left, are seen the ruins of Castle Urquhart, often noticed in the annals of the earlier Scottish monarchs, and which was the last to surrender to Edward the First. Further notice of this fine ruin will he found in our Thirteenth Tour. Glen Urquhart, which recedes behind the castle, is a beautiful Highland vale, containing many gentlemen's seats; and, at the mouth of the glen, there is a good inn called Drumindrochet. Glen Urquhart chiefly belongs to Grant of Grant. At the Ferry of Bona, eight and a half miles from Drumindrochet, the steamer enters Loch Dochfour by a narrow channel about a quarter of a mile in length. At Lochend the steamer again enters the canal, and proceeds to Muirton, where it descends by four locks to the level of Loch Beauly, an arm of the Murray Frith.

The Caledonian Canal was finally opened in October 1822. The whole distance from the Atlantic to the German Ocean is sixty and a half miles, of which thirty-seven are through natural sheets of water, and twenty-three cut as a canal. The present depth of water is fifteen feet, but it is proposed to deepen it to twenty feet, according to the original plan; also to increase the efficiency of the works, and to place steam-tugs on the lakes.

Tivoli, and, of all he had seen, inferior only to Terni. The following lines were written by Burns upon the spot on September 5, 1787.

"Among the heathy hills and ragged woods,

The roaring Foyers pours his mossy floods,

Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds,

Where through a shapeless breach his stream resounds.

As high in air the bursting torrents flow,

As deep recoiling surges foam below,

Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends,

And viewless echo's ear, astonish'd, rends.

Dim-seen, through rising mists and ceaseless show'rs,

The hoary cavern, wide-surrounding, low'rs;

Still thro' the gap the struggling river toils,

And still below the horrid caldron boils."

These improvements have been suggested to the Lords of the Treasury by Mr. Walker, engineer, and, if carried into effect, there can be little doubt that this magnificent public work would be more productive to the Government, as well as more advantageous to the country. The total expenditure of the Caledonian Canal, up to May 1840, was £1,029,040, 8s. 6d.

For a description of Inverness, we refer to the Thirteenth Tour.

ELEVENTH TOUR.

STAFFA AND IONA.

Tourists wishing to proceed to Staffa usually leave Glasgow in a steam-boat for Oban, where, in the summer and autumn months, a vessel is kept for the accommodation of strangers wishing to visit this far-famed spot.

After leaving Oban, the steamer passes Kerrera, a narrow rugged island, forming a natural breakwater to the bay of Oban. It was here that Alexander II. died on his expedition in 1249, and here Haco, king of Norway, met the island chieftains, who assisted him in his ill-fated descent on the coasts of Scotland. Upon the south point of the island are the ruins of the Danish fort, Gylen. The boat now approaches Lismore,* a fertile island, about nine miles in length and two in breadth. In ancient times it was the residence of the bishops of Argyle, who were frequently styled "Episcopi Lismorienses." Leaving. Lismore on the right, the steamer enters the Sound of Mull, and passes the Lady Rock, visible only at low water, on which Maclean of Duart exposed his wife, a daughter of the second Earl of Argyle, intending that she should be swept away by the returning tide; but she was fortunately rescued by some of her father's people, who were passing in a boat. Maclean gave out that she had died suddenly, and was allowed to go through the ceremonial of a mock funeral, but was shortly afterwards put

*Leosmore, that is, "the Great Garden."

to death by the relations of his injured wife. This incident has been made the subject of one of Joanna Baillie's dramas the "Family Legend." On the brink of a high cliff, on the shore of Mull, is Duart Castle, formerly the seat of the chief of the warlike and powerful clan of the Macleans. The steamer now sails along through a narrow but deep channel. On the left are the bold and mountainous shores of Mull, on the right those of that district of Argyleshire called Morven, successively indented by deep salt water lochs running up many miles inland. To the south-eastward, arise a prodigious range of mountains, among which Ben Cruachan is pre-eminent, and to the north-east is the no less huge and picturesque range of the Ardnamurchan Hills. Many ruinous castles, situated generally upon cliffs overhanging the ocean, add interest to the scene. In fine weather a grander and more impressive scene, both from its natural beauties, and associations with ancient history and tradition, can hardly be imagined. When the weather is rough, the passage is both difficult and dangerous, from the narrowness of the channel, and in part from the number of inland lakes, out of which sally forth a number of conflicting and thwarting tides, making the navigation perilous to open boats. The sudden flaws and gusts of wind which issue, without a moment's warning, from the mountain glens, are equally formidable; so that, in unsettled weather, a stranger, if not much accustomed to the sea, may sometimes add to the other sublime sensations excited by the scene, that feeling of dignity which arises from a sense of danger.* Opposite to Duart, on the coast of Morven,

*Notes to the Lord of the Isles. The following sonnet was composed by Wordsworth in the Sound of Mull;

"Tradition be thou mute! Oblivion, throw

Thy veil in mercy o'er the records, hung

Round strath and mountain, stamp'd by the ancient tongue