64

BALLACHULISH-LOCH EIL.

FORT WILLIAM, OR OBAN, TO BALLACHULISH AND GLENCOE, AND TO THE HEAD OF LOCH LOMOND.

Miles from Fort-William.

Auchintore.

10 Onich village.

12 Cross Loch Leven by the Ferry of Caolas-ic-Phadrig.

12 BALLACHULISH. (Hotel).

Road along southern shore of Loch

Leven.

15 Slate quarries.

17 Old House of Invercoe.

20 GLENCOE.

Buchael-Etive mountain, on right.
Path to Fort-William, on left, by
Devil's Staircase.

28 KINGSHOUSE INN.

Road crosses shoulder of the Black
Mount.

Breadalbane deer-forest, on right.

Loch Luydan, on left.

Loch Tulla, on left.

Ardvrecknish, Marquess of Breadal

bane's shooting-lodge, on left.

38 INVEROURAN INN.

Miles.

40 Cross river Urchy or Orchy.
Glenurchy, on right.

47

Benvuridh, on right.

TYNDRUM village and inn.

Road on left, by Dalmally (12 miles), to Loch Awe and Inveraray, or to Oban.

Clifton village. Lead-mines in neigh-
bourhood.

Dalrigh, "The King's Field."
Cross river Dochart.

Pool of St Fillan, on right.
51 Church of St Fillan.
53 CRIANLARICH INN.

Road on left, by south side of Glen
Dochart, to Aberfeldy, by Killin,
Loch Tay, and Kenmore.

Main road, on right, through Glen-
falloch.

A coach, leaving Fort-William every morning in summer, runs by Ballachulish through Glencoe, to the head of Loch Lomond. From Oban, a steamer sails every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to Ballachulish, where conveyances are in waiting to take tourists to Glencoe, and bring them back to the steamer. The time occupied altogether in the excursion is about twelve hours. For this steamer, and the coach at Ballachulish, tourists may be booked at Oban; and they can reach the head of Loch Lomond, Glasgow, or Aberfeldy, the same afternoon. Glencoe is easily reached by the steamer from Oban; the water is generally calm, and the sail along the coast a very beautiful one. The glen is traversed by the coach from the head of Loch Lomond to Fort-William. It is seen to greater advantage by this approach; but the road to it is a long and dreary one. Tourists from Oban to Inverness may wait at Ballachulish for the coach from Loch Lomond, and go with it to Fort-William, where they remain all night, and proceed by the Caledonian Canal next morning.

There is a near path from Fort-William to Kingshouse Inn, by the Devil's Staircase (see p. 67).

From Oban.-The first part of the route, by Lismore, Loch Linnhe, and Loch Leven, to Ballachulish, has already been described (pages 43, 44). Ballachulish is 26 miles from Oban, and 12 from Fort-William.

On leaving Fort-William, the road proceeds along the eastern shore of Loch Eil, which joins Loch Linnhe at Corran Ferry, where the frith narrows on both sides. Lower down, on the opposite shore, is the district of Ardgour, where a lighthouse has been erected, which shows a fixed light. At Auchintore, Loch Leven commences, and beyond it is the little village of Onich, 10 miles from Fort-William, and 24 from Ballach

LOCH LEVEN-GLENCOE.

65

ulish. At the ferry of Caolas-ic-Phadrig, on the north side of Loch Leven, there is an inn. The ferry is about 200 yards

across.

At Ballachulish, on the south side, there is a hotel. About two miles from it are rich and extensive slate quarries, in the great clay-slate formation, which extends from Easdale on the south to this point northwards. "The prospect from the inn," says Playfair, "is on all sides sublime. Beyond the ferry, the hills, covered with woods and pastures, rise gradually to a considerable height, and decline to the south-west, where the Lochs Linnhe and Leven unite. In that direction the eye, gliding over a vast expanse of water, is arrested by immense groups of mountains in Morven and Ardgour, of different forms and heights, which present a most impressive landscape. About four miles eastward are the stupendous mountains and valley of Glencoe. Such variety of grand and interesting scenery is not perhaps to be found in any other part of Scotland." The different mountain-groups cannot fail to attract the tourist's eye, while the landscape is varied by cottages, the slate quarries, the islands in the lake, and the woods and fields at the base of the mountains.

GLENCOE.

Glencoe-written in Gaelic Glen-comhan, or "the narrow glen" -extends from Ballachulish in a south-east direction ten miles. The scenery is peculiarly wild and savage, unlike that of any other glen in the Highlands, Glencroe excepted. The road from Ballachulish proceeds along the southern shore of Loch Leven* for four miles, before it turns up the dark valley of Glencoe.

* The tourist will be amply repaid for his trouble in exploring the shores of Loch Leven (the more celebrated loch of the name is in Kinross-shire), which present many striking landscapes. This long and narrow arm of the sea, branching off from Loch Linnhe, and stretching eastward, extends between the counties of Inverness and Argyll in a straight line, contracted only at the ferry of Ballachulish and the Dog's Ferry, three or four miles beyond. On both sides it is bounded by lofty mountains, between which the tide rolls in with solemn majesty. The huge cone of the Pap of Glencoe is seen overhanging it on the south, among the lofty mountains which form the entrance to the glen, the naked and rugged masses of the latter contrasting strongly with the green sloping shores of the loch. Between the two ferries are several islets; one of them, St Mungo's Isle, long used as a burial place, consists of two knolls, the one appropriated to the people of Glencoe, and the other to those of Lochaber. On the latter knoll are the ruins of a small Roman-catholic chapel, in which the body of MacIan, the murdered chief of Glencoe, was interred. Thirty years afterwards his remains were removed by some of his descendants to the knoll allotted to his own clansmen. On the north of Loch Leven, at its upper extremity, and three miles above the Dog's Ferry, are the Serpent River, which, after a fall of 20 feet, flows through a series of natural arches, forming a sort of tunnelled channel; and the Falls of Kinlochmore, a perpendicular range of cliffs 100 feet high, the lowest part being screened by birch trees.

66

GLENCOE-ITS MASSACRE.

On either hand rise huge and almost perpendicular black rocks* to the height of more than 2000 feet, the summits rugged and often conical, on one side jagged and broken for many miles, in some places shooting into lofty spires. At many parts two opposite ranges approach so closely that they seem to hang over each other, as if to shut out the light of day. In the midst of the glen is a small lake called Treachtan, with a solitary farm-house at its side, and the ruins of the old house of Invercoe at the point where the stream of the Coe, which gives name to the glen, issues from the lake. Numerous rapid streams descend from the mountains, forming fine cascades, and pouring their waters into rocky basins and hidden pools. On the south rises the mountain of Mealmor, and conspicuous on the north is Dun-Fion. The glen is closed at its farthest extremity by the rugged mountain of Buchael-Etive, 2537 feet above the level of the sea.

"In the Gaelic tongue," says Lord Macaulay, "Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping; and in truth that pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, the very Valley of the Shadow of Death. Mists and storms brood over it through the greater part of the finest summer; and even on those rare days when the sun is bright, and when there is no cloud in the sky, the impression made by the landscape is sad and awful. The path lies along a stream which issues from the most sullen and gloomy of mountain-pools. Huge precipices of naked stone frown on both sides. Even in July the streaks of snow may often be discerned in the rifts near the summits. All down the sides of the crags heaps of ruin mark the headlong paths of the torrents. Mile after mile the traveller looks in vain for the smoke of one hut, for one human form wrapped in a plaid, and listens in vain for the bark of a shepherd's dog or the bleat of a lamb. Mile after mile the only sound that indicates life is the faint cry of a bird of prey from some storm-beaten pinnacle of rock. The progress of civilisation, which has turned so many wastes into fields yellow with harvests or gay with apple blossoms, has only made Glencoe more desolate. All the science and industry of a peaceful age can extract nothing valuable from that wilderness."-History of England, ch. xviii.

Glencoe is memorable as the scene of the cruel massacre of Macdonald of Glencoe and forty of his clan in February 1692, which has left an indelible stain on the government of King William III. The scene of the tragedy was the north-west end of the glen, entering from the Ballachulish shore of Loch Leven. The chief instigators were the Earl of Breadalbane, the Earl of Argyll, and the Master of Stair. The butchery was committed on the morning of the 13th of February, by Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, who with his soldiers had resided some weeks in the glen, and had been treated by the unsuspecting chief and his family with the utmost hospitality. The design was to murder

THE DEVIL'S STAIRCASE-KINGSHOUSE.

67

The

all the males, including Macdonald and his sons; but, fortunately, some of the passes were not secured and about 150 escaped. women and children were expelled from their homes at midnight during a severe frost, the ground covered with snow, in a desolate waste several miles from any other habitation; and many of them were found dying or dead among the rocks. "When the troops had retired," says Lord Macaulay, "the Macdonalds crept out of the caverns of Glencoe, ventured back to the spot where the huts had formerly stood, collected the scorched corpses from among the smoking ruins, and performed some rude rites of sepulture. The tradition runs that the hereditary bard of the tribe took his seat on a rock which overhung the place of slaughter, and poured forth a long lament over his murdered brethren and his desolate home. Eighty years later that sad dirge was still repeated by the population of the valley." He might have added, that it is often heard in the glen and its neighbourhood to this day.

The rocks in Glencoe are principally porphyritic. A fine-grained gray granite, sometimes containing hornblende, appears on the south shore of Loch Leven, at Ballachulish ferry. In the hills towards Appin and Loch Creran it is covered with mica-slate. Near the slate quarries, clay-slate and limestone occur, and in the higher hills quartzite is very prevalent.

Before reaching Kingshouse Inn, which is situated a little beyond the head of Glencoe, a path leads northward from Altnafedh to Fort-William, by the Devil's Staircase, the distance from the inn being about 23 miles. The scenery is alpine, and the road, rough, steep, and broken, is fit only for those who are good walkers. A guide should be procured for part of the road. About half-way is a solitary house, where refreshments and beds may be procured.

GLENCOE TO HEAD OF LOCH LOMOND.

The high road to Tyndrum continues from the head of Glencoe. At one period it could scarcely be travelled by a carriage; but now a coach runs through daily from Loch Lomond." The road leads to Kingshouse, a solitary but really good inn, 28 miles from Fort-William and 19 from Tyndrum, built about 1745 for the troops marching through this dreary country.

At Kingshouse, the tourist may pursue another path leading into the truly desolate and sterile district of Rannoch, in Perthshire.

From Kingshouse the tourist may descend the Etive Water to the loch of that name, and follow its shores to Bunawe and Taynuilt (page 13), a very romantic line.

The high road crosses the shoulder of the Black Mount, and, ten miles beyond Kingshouse, reaches Inverouran Inn. The Marquess of Breadalbane has here a large deer-forest. On the left of the road is Loch Tulla, about four miles in length, its shores being finely wooded with pine and

68

TYNDRUM-CRIANLARICH-INVERARNAN.

birch. At Ardvrecknish, on its northern side, is a shooting-lodge of the Marquess of Breadalbane.

About two miles beyond Inverouran the road crosses the river Urchy or Orchy, at the foot of Ben Doran, sung in Gaelic verse by Duncan Ban Macintyre, the bard of Glenurchy, to whom a monument has been raised near Dalmally. On the right is seen the valley of Glenurchy, where pleasing tokens of cultivation succeed the bleak and sterile tract which the tourist has passed. This glen is the property of the Marquess of Breadalbane, and gives him the title of Baron Glenurchy.

About six miles from the bridge of Urchy, in another wild and dreary country, the tourist reaches the inn of Tyndrum, situated at the head of Strathfiĺlan, in Perthshire, upon the line of the great military road from Stirling to Fort-William, and distant from the latter 47 miles. Beside it is the village of Clifton, and in the neighbourhood are the lead mines of the Marquess of Breadalbane. The ground here is the most elevated in the district. At a short distance below is the plain of Dalrigh, or “the King's Field," where King Robert Bruce, in 1306, sustained a severe defeat from Macdougal of Lorn. It was in this encounter that the King lost his mantle and brooch, the latter, known as the Brooch of Lorn, being still preserved by the family of Macdougal. The road westward from Tyndrum leads, by Dalmally, from which it is twelve miles distant, to Loch Awe and Inveraray, or to Oban, already described (see pages 9-16).

The road to the head of Loch Lomond runs due southward towards Crianlarich Inn, which is four miles from Tyndrum, along the Killin road. Half-way is the church of St Fillan, so called from the Scoto-Irish saint of the sixth or seventh century, who converted the inhabitants of the valley to Christianity; and who, it would seem, is to be distinguished from the saint who gives name to St Fillans in Stratherne. King Robert Bruce made a grant for rebuilding the priory of St Fillan here, in gratitude for the miraculous help which he received from a relic of the saint at Bannockburn. The river Fillan, assuming the name of Dochart, here runs towards Loch Dochart, into which it afterwards falls, and originates the Tay. A linn in it, called the pool of St Fillan, was long noted for its wonderful cures of insane persons, immersed in the stream at sunset, and left bound hand and foot in the ruins of the neighbouring church till morning. At Crianlarich Inn the coaches from Fort-William and Aberfeldy exchange passengers.

From Crianlarich Inn, the road on the left leads by the south side of Glen Dochart to a place called Leeks, where it joins the road from Callendar to Killin, Loch Tay, and Aberfeldy.

The road on the right proceeds through Glenfalloch, by the beautifully wooded banks of the Falloch, on which are some romantic pools and small falls, to Inverarnan Hotel, at the head of Loch Lomond, near which a steamer is waiting to take passengers down the Loch.