INVERARY. exceeds 2 miles. Its waters have been notable, from time immemorial, for both the abundance and the prime quality of their herring fishery. Its screens, from the mouth to the head, have great variety of both shore and hill, and present many scenes of much beauty; but, except in the vicinity of Inverary, they do not display either masses of wood, striking forms, or lofty altitudes. A series of ridges, rising behind one another, on the west side, below Inverary, are covered with timber. A recess of low ground, upwards of 2 miles long, around Inverary, contains the grand home-grounds of the ducal park of Argyle, and passes into the divergent glens of the Aray and the Shira. The hill of Duniquoich, precipitous, conical, and covered all over with wood, divides the mouths of these glens, rises to an altitude of about 700 feet, and commands a clear view of all the surrounding panorama. The heights behind it, between the two glens, and around their heads, are variously wooded hillocks, rocky ridges of hill, or great masses of lofty mountain, either isolated or in ranges, the whole so groupèd as to form a landscape replete with feature, and of great force and brilliance. 749. INVERARY stands on a small bay at the mouth of the Aray. It seems to have originated in the settlement of the Argyle family; and it has owed much of its prosperity to their protection and care. They settled adjacent to it in the 14th century, but acquired their property and influence around it only by degrees. The original town stood on the lawn before their old castle; but about 1745 that town was erased, and the present one built. A row of houses fronts 251 the bay; and the principal street goes off at right angles. Most of the houses are large, substantial, and neat. An iron gateway opens into a long avenue, leading to the romantic glen of Essachossan. A beautiful ancient stone cross, believed to have been brought from Iona, stands in the lower part of the principal street. The Court House is a neat edifice, containing accommodation for county business and courts of assize. The Parish Church, at the head of the principal street, is a long, inelegant edifice, of 1794, with a spire. A small obelisk stands in a garden beside it, to the memory of some martyrs of 1685. The town has a key post office, a public library, a circulating library, two banking offices, and two chief inns, the Argyle Arms and the George. Its population in 1851 was 1164. Inverary Castle, the seat of the Duke of Argyle, stands a short distance north of the town, on a level space on the right bank of the Aray. It was built in 1745, after a design by the elder Adam; and is a large, quadrangular, embattled edi|fice, of sunk floor and two storeys, flanked with round overtopping towers, and surmounted by a high, glazed, winged pavilion. Its hall is decorated with a tasteful arrangement of warlike implements, including about 150 stand of arms, which were used by the Campbells at the battle of Culloden. The former castle stood nearer the river, and was taken down so late as about 1810. A large stone, supposed to be Druidical, stands on the lawn. A brief visit of the Royal Family to Inverary, in August 1847, was grandly feted at both the town and the castle. 750. ARAY WATER has a southerly | side, contains a house where Rob Roy course of 9 miles; and descends a romantic glen to its debouch on the plain at Duniquoich. A picturesque fall, called Lenach - Gluthin, occurs on it, about 3 miles from Inverary. The stream rushes toward the fall, through a rugged fissure in the rock, tumbles over a ledgy precipice of about 60 feet in descent, collects in whirls in a circular pool, and rushes thence through a narrow fringed opening to its further career. Salmon and grilse may often be seen leaping from the pool right into the vertical torrent, and gaining the first ledge of the precipice, only to be hurled back by the weight of the waterfall. Another fall, of much beauty, called Carlonan Linn, occurs about 1 mile further down, at a point where the stream has a narrow way between rocky banks and overhanging woods. ary. 751. SHIRA WATER runs 10 miles south-south-westward, down a grand glen, to Loch Fyne, 2 miles above InverAn expansion of it, called Douloch, on a level very slightly above the level of Loch Fyne, extends to within a quarter of a mile of its mouth; becomes briny in spring-tides; and sometimes gives to the net herrings and other seafish in mixture with trout and salmon. Remains of an old castle, which belonged to the Laird of Macnaughton, stand on its banks. Macgregor lived for a time at the expense of the Duke of Montrose, receiving food and water from the Duke of Argyle. Dundarrow Castle, close to the shore of Loch Fyne, 4 miles above Inverary, is a strong, large, old tower, of an irregular figure, with small turrets above the angles. Fyne Water, running 6 miles down Glen Fyne to the head of Loch Fyne, is well stored with burn trout. 753. CAIRNDOW has a post office under Glasgow, and a good inn. Ardkinglass, a little south of it, is the seat of George H. Callendar, Esq. Ardkinglass Castle, now nearly extinct, is a very ancient fortalice of three separate towers, connected by curtain walls, and arranged round a court. Glenkinglass, ascending south-eastward, from Ardkinglass to the summit of a high pass into Glencroe, possesses similar scenery to that glen, but is less wild and romantic. 754. GLENCROE descends 5 miles south-eastward, to Loch Long at Ardgarten. The Cobbler mountain precipitously flanks it on the one side; and Benuna, an offshoot of Argyle's Bowling Green, on the other. Large masses of rock have fallen from the mountains, and lie in fragments athwart the bottom; and other masses, of every shape, jut from the mountains' sides, and seem ready every moment to come thundering down. Most of the rocks consist of mica slate, shining like silver, beautifully undulated, and united in many a part to quartz. The road down the glen, for the first 1 mile, is zig-zag and declivitous, but afterwards proceeds at a gentle gra 752. BENBUY mountain, 7 miles north-north-east of Inverary, has an altitude of about 2800 feet above the level of the sea, and makes a grand figure in the scenery at the head of Loch Fyne. Benbuy farm, on its south-westdient. LXII.-FROM GREENOCK, BY KILMUN, TO INVERARY. eachaig, is one of the most picturesque in the west of Scotland. The winter population of Strone is about 250. 755. HOLY LOCH deflects from the | nart, and back by Loch Eck and Glenfrith between Strone Point and Kirn, and strikes west-north-westward to the mouth of Gleneachaig. Its length is about 2 miles; its greatest breadth, about a mile. Its north side is overhung by the lofty, monotonous hill of Finnartmore; and its south side is flanked with pleasant braes, graduating upward to the hills of Dunoon. Its lower part affords excellent anchorage in 16 or 17 fathoms of water; while its upper part is naked sleech during the recess of the tide, frequented by flocks of seafowl. Holy Loch, in the times of quarantine, was the station where forbidden vessels rode out their period of ban; and a lovely spot on its south side was occupied by the lazaretto and the stores. 756. STRONE, on the lower part of the north side of Holy Loch, is a modern watering-place. It consists chiefly of a chain of villas and ornate cottages; and it has a good inn, excellent lodginghouses, a post office under Greenock, a steamboat pier, and two neat new churches. A circular drive from it northward to Ardentinny, up Glenfin 757. HUNTER'S QUAY is a place of call for steamers on the lower part of the south side of Holy Loch. Hafton House, a little west of it, the seat of John George Hamilton, Esq., is a splendid edifice in mixed modern Gothic, amid beautiful grounds, which are partially open to the public. Sandbank, further west, opposite Kilmun, is a small sea-bathing village. Ardnadam farm, in the neighbourhood, contains a Druidical altar. Dunluskin Loch, on the inland way to Dunoon, is famous for water-lilies and other aquatic plants. Dunluskin Hill, at the side of the loch, rising to a peaked summit 563 feet high, forms a fine feature in the screen of the frith, and commands a very noble view. 758. KILMUN is an ancient place, but never rose to be more than a clachan till 1829, and then began to assume the character of a modern watering-place. A church was founded at it in the times of the Culdees; and a collegiate church, 254 EACHAIG WATER-DOUGLAS WATER. for a provost and six prebendaries, an | taining chambered recesses. Benmore elegant edifice with a tower, was built in 1442, by an ancestor of the Duke of Argyle; and the tower of it, a square structure about 40 feet high, is still standing. The burying-place of the Argyle family was in the collegiate church till 1793; and then a separate contiguous mausoleum, with a pavilion roof, was erected. A church of 1816, with a handsome spire, stands adjacent. The old clachan, a noble old avenue, and a neighbouring old baronial mansion, are still in existence; but the bulk of the place consists of villas, ornate cottages, and lodging-houses, of similar appearance to those of Strone. Kilmun has a post office under Greenock, a good inn, a steamboat pier, and a Free Church. Its winter population is about 300. 759. EACHAIG WATER runs 4 miles south-eastward along a picturesque glen, from Loch Eck to the head of Holy Loch; receives tributes from Glenmassan and Glenlean; and is well frequented by grilse and sea-trout. Glenlean, deflecting south-westward immediately above Holy Loch, takes up a road toward the head of Loch Riddan; commands from its braes a splendid view; and embosoms the picturesquely situated residence of Ballochyle. Glenmassan, deflecting on the same side further up, presents a sweep of imposing scenery, and is a favourite retreat of pic-nic parties. The streamlet down Glenmassan has a rushing current, and is spanned, at one part, by a romantic natural bridge. 760. BENMORE, a steep mountain, about 2500 feet high, overhangs Glenmassan, Gleneachaig, and Loch Eck. Some deep fissures cleave its sides; one of them so profound that a stone thrown into it takes about a minute to reach the bottom; another so formed as to emit sharp, reverberating sounds, like those from great sheets of copper; another fashioned like a vast corridor, and con House, at the base of the mountain, is the seat of J. G. T. Sinclair, Esq. 761. LOCH ECK is 73 miles long from north to south, and about half a mile broad. Its basin is a fine glen, with low bottom, environed by lofty heights. The shores, particularly on the east side, are charmingly fringed with copse and trees; and the screens ascend gracefully in variety of gradient, but all with flowing contour, many parts green to the top, others broken with rock and scaur. The lake abounds with salmon-trout, and contains some gold and silver fishes, the gwyniad or fresh-water herring, and a peculiar fish, 4 or 5 inches long, and remarkably translucent, locally called the goldie. A round hillock, near the head of the lake, is said to be the grave of a gigantic Scandinavian prince, who fell here in foray with the natives. Cur Water, descending to Loch Eck, has a southerly course of 10 miles, first furiously down high mountains, afterwards tranquilly in a low vale. 762. STRACHUR hamlet stands on a small bay, adjacent to Creggan Ferry, and has a post office under Glasgow, a parish church, and an inn. Strachur Park, a residence of the late Lord Murray, and Strachurmore, the seat of Mrs. R. Anderson, are in the neighbourhood; and Castle Lachlan, the seat of Robert Maclachlan, Esq., is 6 miles south-south-west. 763. DOUGLAS WATER descends 7 miles south-eastward to Loch Fyne, 3 miles below Inverary. Its channel, near the mouth, has cut down a section of rock about 100 feet deep, consisting of alternate strata of limestone and mica slate, and is crossed below this by a curious ancient bridge. Pennymore House, Goatfield House, and Crarae Inn, are on the shore, 3, 5, and 73 miles to the south-west. See 783. LXIII.-FROM GREENOCK, BY ROTHESAY, TO INVERARY. 764. DUNOON stands along a band of shore, encurved by two small bays and a knolly promontory. A fortalice of the Dalriadans and the Norsemen stood on the knoll, and was succeeded, about the beginning of the 15th century, by a large, strong, three-towered castle, now reduced to a few substructions. The Lord High Stewards of Scotland built the castle as a seat of extensive possessions along the frith. Edward Baliol captured it, and made it over to Edward III. of England. Robert the Steward, afterward King Robert III., recaptured it, made it a 748 royal palace, and placed it in the hereditary keeping of the ancestors of the Duke of Argyle. The Argyle family resided in it alternately with Inverary Castle; received a visit at it from Queen Mary; used it as the centre of a long fierce conflict with the clan of Lamont; incurred odium by a great butchery of the Lamonts in its neighbourhood; and then abandoned the castle, and let it go to ruin. The bishops of Argyle, also, had long an occasional residence adjacent to the church. A village rose and prospered as a dependency of the castle; then acquired im |