is a remarkably neat building, and quite shames that of Oban. the established church; was raised by a voluntary subscription of L. 2300, collected chiefly among the posterity of oppressed natives of the lowlands, encouraged to settle here (in times of persecution) by the Argyle family. These still keep themselves distinct from the old inhabitants, retain the zeal of their ancestors, are obstinately averse to patronage, but are esteemed the most industrious people in the country."

The village of Oban, in the parish of Kilmore, is si-Oban. tuated on a fine bay in the Sound of Mull, hid from the Western Ocean by the Island of Kerrera. This bay is of a semicircular form, from twelve to twenty-four fathoms deep, and large enough to contain upwards of 500 sail of merchantmen. It has two openings, one from the north and another from the south; and is defended from the fury of the western winds by the islands of Kerrera and Mull, The village has risen rapidly from a small beginning. The first house of any consequence was built by a trading company of Renfrew, who used it as a store-room; Oban, even at that time, being considered as one of the most convenient stations for trade on the west coast of Argyleshire. About thirty-five years ago it was constituted one of the ports of the customhouse; and when a little trade began to be carried on, from the convenient bay and the vicinity of a populous country, the attention of the Duke of Argyle, Mr Campbell of Dunstaffnage, and other persons who possessed property around the village, was rou sed, and they granted building leases to a considerable extent, since which time the buildings have annually increased. It was particularly indebted to two brothers, of the name of Stevenson, who settled in it in 1778; and by different branches of traffic, not only acquired handsome fortunes for themselves, but highly promoted the good of

nal.

Crinan Ca- the neighbouring country. Oban is admirably situated for trade, and is in a particular manner adapted for a fishing station. It lies on the tract of coasting vessels passing from north to south through the Sound of Mull. It is also near the entrance of the great Loch Linnhe, which runs up to Fort William, and forms the western part of the great inland navigation, or Caledonian Canal, already mentioned, which is forming along the Glenmore-na-h'Alabin from Inverness to the Atlantic.

We may with propriety mention here the canal which has been completed between Loch Gilp and Loch Crinan. It is believed to have been first projected by Mr Knox. To understand the value of this canal, it is necessary to recollect that this county, as formerly described, is deeply intersected by arms of the sea, or rather consists, in a great measure, of a succession of peninsulated tracts. It is also necessary to recollect, that the Mull of Kintyre, or most southern peninsula of Argyleshire, stretches southward to a great distance from the rest of the county, and almost into the latitude of the north of Ireland. A vessel, coming from any of the Highland ports, for instance Oban, into the Clyde, which is the great mart for the disposal of the produce of the Highlands, must ga entirely round by the Mull of Kintyre, a narrow peninsula, that stretches forty miles from the mainland of Scotland, in a southern direction, till it approaches within twenty miles of the county of Antrim in Ireland. The distance from Greenock to the promontory of Mull, as it is called, is above sixty miles, in a south-west direction; but if we include the course of the shipping thither, the islands to be avoided, the tacks and evolutions occasioned by contrary winds and lee shores, the voyages from Greenock to the Mull of Kintyre may, on an average, be estimated at eighty miles each; which being all in a direction

contrary to the intended port, requires an equal, or nearly Antiquitiess equal navigation, on the opposite side of the cape, till the vessels get into the same latitude with Greenock. This Occasions an extra-navigation of 120 miles, or 240 miles northward and homeward, to every vessel or boat going to the West Highlands from the Clyde. Now, it is evident that the wind which favoured their voyage to the Mull of Kintyre becomes adverse after having doubled the cape; they must therefore either lie to, or, if a boat, work at their oars, through a heavy sea, up the Frith of Clyde, probably for many days, before they reach the intended port. Having disposed of their small cargo of skins, bark, or fish, in their return they have to combat the same difficulties and dangers: and when we consider the almost incessant gales, the lee shores, rocks, nume rous islands, sands, and currents, attending this navigation, we can easily see, that besides the loss of time and money which it occasions, it is extremely hazardous to the poor natives, many of whom perish every year. Now, if the reader will cast his eye upon Loch Fyne in the map, he will perceive, at the part where it turns eastward, a small projecting arm, called Loch Gilp, and opposite to it, in the Sound of Jura, another arm called Loch Crinan: the distance between these two arms is only five miles, and it is through this isthmus that the canal is cut. This work, it is evident, will save a great deal of time to vessels coming from the West Highlands into the Clyde, and will likewise avoid the dangers and other inconveniencies attending a passage by the Mull of Kintyre.

It

Dunstaffnage castle.

Among the antiquities of this county, the Castle of Antiquities Dunstaffnage ought undoubtedly to take the lead. stands on Loch Etive, on a promontory jutting into the lake. The castle is said to have been founded by Ewin, Pictish monarch cotemporary with Julius Caesar, who