Avo, 2.
like an enormous fiieet o f ic e ; and is, I doubt not, as flippery.
Our guide called the. hill, Lecach. The oppofite fide of the
Vale was precipitous; varied with trees and cafcades, that fell
among the branches. The whole o f this fcene was truly alpine.
Afcend again. Arrive amidft ftrata of red and white marble, I
the way horrible, broken, fteep and ilippery; but our cautious Heeds',
tried every Hep before they would venture to proceed. Black I
moraffy heaths fucceed, named Gliam-dochartai. Dine on the !
fide of a rill at the bottom, on plentiful fare provided by our]
kind holt, whofe fon, Mr. Mackenzie, and another gentleman of I
the name, kindly undertook the charge o f us to the next ftage. I
Ride through a narrow ftrath called Kin-loch-ewe, where we firlt I
faw the figns of houfes and a little cultivation fince morning. I
This terminates in a meadowy plain, clofed at the end w i th in . I
maree the night proved wet, and tempeftuous : we therefore de- I
termin'ed to defer the voyage till next day; and to take ihelter I
in a whiiky houfe the inn o f the place. Mr. Mackenzie compli-1
mented Ml. Ligbtfoot and me with the bedftead, well covered I
with a warm litter o f heath: we lay in our cloaths, wrapped I
ourfelves in plaids; and enjoyed a good repofe. Our friends did I
not lofe their fleep ; but great was our furprize to fee them form I
jheir bed of wet hay, or rather grafs colle&ed from the fields; I
they flung a plaid over it, undrefled, and lay moil comfortably, I
without injury, in what, in a little time, muil have become an I
errant hot-bed: fo bleft with hardy conftitutions are even the I
gentlemen of this country !
A t feven in the morning, take a fix-oared boat, at the eait. 1
end o f Loch-maree: keep on the north ihore beneath fteep rocks,, 1
moitly, j
moftly filled with pines waving over our heads.' Obferve on the L o c h - m a r e e .
ihore a young man o f good appearance, hailing the boat in the
%r[e language. I demanded what he wanted: was informed, a
place in the boat. As it was entirely filled, I was obliged to re-
fufe his requeft. He follows us for two miles through every difficulty,
and by his voice and geftures threatened revenge. At
length a rower thought fit to acquaint us, that he was owner of
the boat,, and only wanted admifiion in lieu o f one o f them.
The boat was ordered to ihore, and the -mailer taken in with
proper apologies and attempts to footh him for his hard treatment.
Inftead of infulting us with abufe, as a Charon of South
Britain would have done, he inftantly compofed himfelf, and told
us through an interpreter, that he felt great pride in finding that
his conduit gained any degree of approbation.
Continue our courfe. The lake, which, at the beginning was
only half a mile broad, now, nearly half its length, widens into
a great bay, bending towards the South, about four miles in,
breadth, filled with little Hies, too much cluftered and indiftinit.
Land on that, called Inch-mareethe favored i-fle of the faint, I n c h - m a r b e ,-
the patron of all the. coaft from Applecrofs to Loch-broom. The
Shores are neat and gravelly ; the whole furface covered thickly
with a beautiful grove of oak, afh, willow, wicken, birch, fir,
hazel, and enormous hollies. In themiidft is a circular dike o f
' ftones, with a-regular, narrow entrance: the inner part has been
ufed for ages -as a burial place, and is ftill in ufe. I fufpecl the
dike to have been originally Druidical, and that the antient fuper-
ftition o f Paganifm had been taken up by the faint, as the readieil
method of making a conqueft over the minds of the inhabitants. -
A-ftump/
H I p