town.

Campbel the same name near the southern part of the peninsula. It was originally a small fishing village, and was created a royal borough in 1701, and called Campbeltown, from the family name of the Duke of Argyle, the principal proprietor of the town and neighbourhood. For some time before that period it went by the name of Ceann-locb, "Loch-head," which it still retains in the language of the country; and sometimes by the name of Kilkerran, one of the four ancient parishes united in the last century into one. But the oldest name of Campbeltown, by which a part of it is still known, is Dalruadkaen. It is now a large and flourishing town, and is daily increasing. The harbour is about two miles long and one broad, and in the form of a crescent; from six to ten fathom water, excellent anchorage; surrounded by high hills on each side, with an island, to shelter the entrance. It is appointed the rendezvous of the busses employed in the herring fishery. This fishery is the principal trade of the place, for the carrying on of which it is admirably situated. Its fine harbour, and its vicinity to the markets of Ireland and the Clyde, are advantages which very few sea-ports enjoy. Besides the fishery, there is carried on a considerable trade in the distillation of whisky. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, a dean of guild, counsellors, and a treasurer. This last employment is not very burdensome, as the town has no landed property, and but a small revenue, They have therefore no great complaint of abuse, nor any loud cry for reform. Where the magistrates of boroughs, like the elders of churches, hold offices which occasion trouble and produce little emolument, perhaps they rather deserve the thanks of the public for what they do, than their censure for what they leave undone. Pennant remarks, "That two ministers officiate, besides another for the church of the seceders, called the Relief House. This

is a remarkably neat building, and quite shames that of Oban.
the established church; was raised by a voluntary sub-
scription 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 inhabit-
ants, retain the zeal of their ancestors, are obstinately a-
verse 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 Argyle-
shire. 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 per-
sons who possessed property around the village, was rou-
sed, and they granted building leases to a considerable ex-
tent, since which time the buildings have annually increa-
sed. 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.

Orinan ca

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 go 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.