June 19.
L o c h - T a r b a t .
Weigh anchor at three o’clock . in the morninog •• am '•'-tA.vCi wit■ hicalms,
but amufed with a fine view of the circumambient land • rf,
peninfula o f Cantyre, here lofty, Hoping, and rocky, divided V
dingles, filled with woods, which reach the water-edge, and expa d
on both fides o f the hollows : Inch-marnoc and Bute lie to the Eaft. j
the mountanous Arran to the South ; Loch-fine, the Sinus Lelalonnk
o f Ptolemy, opened on the North, between the point ofSMpmth J
Cantyre, and that of Lamond in Cowal, and Ihewed a vaft expanfe of
water wildly bounded : numbers o f herring-bufles were nowJ
motion, to arrive m time at Campbeltown, to receive the benefit of
the bounty, and animated the fcene.
Turn Northward, leave the point of Skipnijh- to the S Weil I
and with difficulty get through a ftrait o f about a hundred yards
wide, with funk rocks on both fides, into the fafe and pretty har !
bour o f the E a to n Loch-Tarbat, o f capacity fofficient for a j
number of ihips, and o f a fine depth o f water. The fcenerf
was piiturefque ■ rocky little iflands lie acrofs one part, fo as toform
a double port , at the bottom extends a fmall village ■ on
the Cantyre fide is a iquare tower, with yeftiges of other“ ruins J
built by the family o f Argyle to fecure their Northern dominions
from the. inroads of the inhabitants o f the peninfula- on the
Northern fide o f the entrance o f the harbour the rocks are of a
moft grotefque form : vaft fragments piled on each other- the
faces contorted and undulated in fuch figures as i f created by
fufion o f matter after fome intenfe heat ; yet did not appear to me
a lava, or under any fufpicion o f having been the recrement of a
'vulcano.
Land at the village, where a great quantity o f whifky is diftilled.
H
1 Vifit the narrow neck of land which joins Cantyre to South Knap-
it is fcarcely a mile wide, is partly morally, partly interi
m by ftrata of rocks, that are dipping-continuations from the
adjacent mountains of each diftrift. There have been plans for P roposed c a n a l .
* uttine a canal through this ifthmus to facilitate the navigation
letween the Weftern ocean and the ports of the Clyde, and to
ik e away the neceflity o f failing through the turbulent tides of
She Mttll of Cantyreit is fuppofed to be practicable, but at vaft
expence; at an expence beyond the power of North Britain to
Weft, except it could realize thofe fums which the wifhes o f a
Slew of its fons had attained in idea. While I meditate on the
■rojeit, and in imagination fee the wealth o f the Antilles fail before
-:jne, the illufion burfts, the Ihores are covered with wracked fortunes;
peal diftrefs fucceeds the ideal riches o f Alnufcbar, and difpels at
once the beautiful vifion of Aaron Hill *, and the much-affeited
I traveller.
I Afcend a. fmall hill, and from the top have a. view of the
gWeitern Loch-Tarbat'^ that winds along for about twelve miles,
and is one continued harbour, for. it has eight fathom water not
'/.very remote from this extremity, and opens to the lea an. the.
»Veit coaft, at- A ir d -P a tr ic the boundaries are hilly, varied
--with woods and traits of heath; the country yields much pota-
; toes and fome com : but. the land is fo interrupted with rocks,
That the natives, inftead of the plough, , are obliged to make ufe
of the jpade.
I The time of the tides vary greatly at the terminations of each
* Vide Tour of 1769, ifted .p . 215. 2ded.-p. 22i.
of