portance as a great ferry thoroughfare; | Cumbray. Its length is 10 miles; its afterwards sank to the condition of a breadth from 2 to 5 miles. Its coast, sequestered hamlet; began, in 1822, to for the most part, is rocky, but has some be used as a watering-place, and speedily fine beachy bays. Its interior appears to became both a permanent small town and have at one time formed four hilly islands, a crowded resort of summer visitors. and is now cut across into four districts, The site of Dunoon ascends from fine by three low, continuous, nearly paralbeach to gentle brae; and the ground be- lel dingles. The northernmost district, hind goes up, with breaks and tumula- which is the largest, attains an elevation tions, to a range of lofty mountain, at of nearly 1000 feet; the district next to the distance of 2 miles from the shore. this, behind Rothesay, attains an elevaA string of edifices, fully 4 miles in tion of 532 feet; and the southernmost length, extends from the hither side of district, which is the smallest, attains an Holy Loch to the further haunch of elevation of 520 feet. The general surBawkie Bay, and all this, in a large face displays a charming variety of slope sense, is Dunoon; but much of the and contour; and thousands of points northern part bears the separate name of command great sweeps of gorgeous proKirn, and has a post office, a hotel, and spect. a steamboat pier of its own. Most of the entire place consists of villas and ornate cottages, in uncontinuous but picturesque arrangement; while a small part, behind the castle knoll, is disposed in streets, and has a compact form. The parish church, at the highest point, is a handsome Gothic edifice of 1816, with a pinnacled tower. The steamboat pier, at the part of the shore overlooked by the church, is a massive wooden jetty, erected in 1835, and extending 130 yards into the water. The town has a key post office, two banking offices, a literary and scientific association, a horticultural society, two circulating libraries, and three chief inns, the Argyle, the Commercial, and the George. Its population at the census of 1851, when no summer residents were present, was 2229.

765. INELLAN was founded in 1843; and it has about thirty villas, a post office under Greenock, a steamboat pier, two neat small churches, and a spacious castellated hotel. A studding of villas to the north, one of them a pretentious edifice in the old Scottish baronial style, gives some promise of connecting Inellan with Dunoon.

The rocks in the north are chiefly crystalline, while those in the centre and the south are sedimentary. Bute gives the title of Earl and Marquis to a branch of the Stuarts; and contains a seat of the Marquis, called Mount Stuart, 4 miles south-south-east of Rothesay. See 768, 770, 803, and 804.

767. TOWARD Point, at the southeastern extremity of Cowal, bears a light-house with a revolving light. Toward Castle, a mile to the west, confronting Rothesay, is a splendid castellated Gothic mansion, built by the late Kirkman Finlay, Esq., after a design by David Hamilton. A ruined baronial fortalice in the neighbourhood, well preserved and of picturesque appearance, was the chief residence of the Lamonts, the ancient lords of Cowal, and received a visit from Queen Mary.

768. ROTHESAY stands on a bay of its own name, and is a post and market town, a seaport, and a royal burgh. The bay has a half-moon outline, facing the north-east, and measures 13 mile across the entrance. A ridgy sweep of brae, commencing with Bogany and Ardbeg Points, goes all round to a sheltering altitude, and ascends a mile on the south766. BUTE extends south-south-east-west to the hill of Barone. A string of ward from the elbow of the Kyles at Loch Riddan to within 24 miles of Little

villas lines all the south-east shore; the main body of the town, with projecting

ROTHESAY.

dock and quay, stands at the head; and a wing of various character, chiefly ornamental, curves to the north-west. The braes are feathered with wood, and show fine diversity of surface and summit. The Cowal sea-board, in front, holds in its lap the sparkling mansion of Toward Castle, rises immediately into masses of mountain, and permits a glimpse over the brow away to the serried sky-line of the Duke of Argyle's Bowling Green. The side outlook over the bay gives a view, on the one hand, to the coast of Ayrshire; on the other, into the stern Highland recess of Loch Striven. Barone Hill has an elevation of 532 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a clear prospect, over the nearer objects, round a distant panorama. Charming walks and drives lie through the environs, and lead to a delightful tour of all the island.

257

The town, as seen from the bay, looks very beautiful. Its interior, comprising thirteen streets, feels too confined, but is well relieved by the airiness of the outskirts. The County Buildings and Prison are a large, substantial, castellated edifice, erected in 1832, at a cost of £4000. The Parish Church is a spacious, plain structure of 1795. The ruined choir of an ancient Gothic church, which was used some time as the cathedral of the bishopric of the Isles, is contiguous, and contains the monument of some member of the royal family, and another monument, with figures of a lady and child. Two Free Churches are handsome modern edifices, with lofty, conspicuous spires. The harbour has excellent artificial accommodation, produced at a cost of about £8000; and it owns about 3000 tons of shipping, serves as the centre of a herring fishery district, and is a large resort of steamers, both in the direct business of Bute, and in transit to the Highlands. The town carries on extensive industry in cotton-spinning,

Rothesay rose at the foot of an ancient castle. This was originally a fortalice of 1098, built by Magnus Barefoot of Norway to secure his conquest of the Western Isles; but it received great ad-power-loom weaving, hand-loom weavditions to serve as a fort and a palace of the Lord High Stewards of Scotland, both before and after their accession to the throne. The castle was reduced by Haco of Norway in 1263; it made considerable military figure in the wars of the Succession; it was an occasional residence of several of the Scottish kings, and the death-place of Robert III.; and it was desolated by Cromwell's soldiers; and finally destroyed, in 1685, by a brother of the Earl of Argyle. Its ruins adjoin the town, and form a striking contrast, in size and aspect, to the modern houses, but present no feature to interest either the engineer or the architect. They are large, lumpish, and ivycased; and they comprise a circular court, about 140 feet in diameter, formed by high, thick walls, with remains of four round towers, and environed by a terracewalk and a wide, deep ditch, altogether occupying an area of nearly two acres.

R

ing, coopering, tanning, and boat-building. It is likewise a retreat of invalids, a very favourite watering-place, and a chosen home of annuitants; and it possesses a remarkably mild and equable climate, excellent bathing-grounds, and comfortable lodging-houses. A medicinal spa, of sulphuretted quality, beneficial in diseases of the skin and of the glands, is in the neighbourhood, at Bogany Point. Omnibuses run to Port Bannatyne, and special conveyances for drives are on hire: The chief hotels are, the Royal, the Queen's, the Bute Arms, and the Victoria. The town has three banking offices, a subscription library, a mechanics' institute, and ten places of worship. It is governed by a provost, three bailies, and sixteen councillors, and is a seat of sheriff courts. Its parliamentary franchise was fused by the Reform Bill into that of the county. Its population at the census of 1851, in

258

THE KYLES OF BUTE-TAYNABRUICH.

the absence of summer residents, was 7104. It gives the title of Duke, in the peerage of Scotland, to the Prince of Wales. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on board of the royal yacht, spent a night of August 1847 on its bay, when on their way to the Western Highlands. See 766.

rock in the vicinity of Kaimes Bay in-
cludes copper veins, recently discovered,
and promising to compensate mining.

771. LOCH STRIVEN opens 23 miles
north of Port Bannatyne, and penetrates
83 miles north-north-westward to Bally-
more. Its width gradually decreases
from about 1 mile to less than half a
mile. Its shores are partly beachy, part-
ly abrupt or mural; and its screens are
steep, high, bleak ranges of hill. South
Hall, on a picturesque reach of the Kyles
a mile west of the mouth, is the seat of
John Campbell, Esq.

769. THE KYLES OF BUTE are a semicircular belt of sea, about 17 miles long, connected at both ends with the Frith of Clyde, and engirdling the north- | ern half of Bute. Its end parts have widths of from 1 to 3 miles; while its central parts, to the extent of 8 miles, have a mean width of less than half a mile, and exhibit the contractions and windings of a river. All its shores are beautiful, and those of the narrowest and most curving portions present a fine suc-miles further north, to the vicinity of the cession of picturesqueness and romance.

770. PORT BANNATYNE, or Kaimesburgh, curves round Kaimes Bay, in the form of a crescent, and contains some good houses for summer residents, an excellent hotel, a post office under Rothesay, and a Free Church. Its winter population is about 400. Kaimes Bay measures about 1 mile across the entrance, and has a good bathing beach. Kaimes Hill, overlooking it, rises to an altitude of 875 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a magnificent prospect. Kaimes Castle, [ in the neighbourhood, long the seat of the Bannatynes of Kaimes, now the seat of Duncan Hoyle, Esq., is partly a tower of the 14th century, partly a modern mansion. Wester Kaimes Castle, once the seat of the Spences, is a ruined small tower, of no great antiquity. North Bute parish church, about a mile south of Port Bannatyne, is a neat edifice of 1836. One of the dingles which formerly lay under water, and divided Bute into four islands, lies across from Kaimes Bay to Etterick Bay. The assemblage of hills on the north contains ancient entrenchments, tumuli, standing-stones, and Druidical remains. A formation of quartz

772. LOCH RIDDAN opens from the most northerly point of the Kyles of Bute, and penetrates 4 miles northward to the mouth of Ruel Water; and the glen of the stream, called Glendaruel, goes 10

head of Loch Eck. The breadth and screens of Loch Riddan resemble those of the most picturesque portions of the Kyles; and the bottom and sides of Glendaruel vie in beauty with those of the most admired glens in the Highlands. One of four islets in the mouth of Loch Riddan, called Ellan Dheirrig, contains remains of a fort constructed in 1685, by the Earl of Argyle, as a base of his operations in support of the Duke of Monmouth. A steamboat pier and an inn, of recent erection, with the name of Ormidale, stand on the west side of the loch, 13 mile from its mouth; and a number of neat new villas stand along the shore. Ormidale House, the seat of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, stands at the foot of Glendaruel; and Glendaruel House, the seat of Archibald Campbell, Esq.; and Dunans, the seat of Angus Fletcher, Esq., stand near its head. Ruel Water is one of the finest trouting streams of the west of Scotland. A good road goes up from Ormidale Pier, and ramifies into three toward Holy Loch, Strachur, and Otter Ferry.

773. TAYNABRUICH is an incipient watering place, with a small pier. A

1

INCHMARNOCK-LOCHGILPHEAD.

259

gunpowder manufactory, situated in its | Glasgow communicate at it, by portage, southern neighbourhood, was established with steamers at the head of West Loch in 1839. Callow House, a little to the Tarbert. Barmore Castle, 21 miles to north, is the seat of John Oldham, Esq.; the north, is the seat of Colin Campbell, and Lamont House, 4 miles to the south, Esq.; and Inverneil House, 6 miles furis the seat of James A. Lamont, Esq., ther north, is the seat of J. A. Campbell, the representative of the ancient lords of Esq. Cowal.

774. INCHMARNOCK is a green, pleasant, oblong island, about a mile west of Bute. Its length is 2 miles; its breadth three quarters of a mile. It anciently belonged to the monastery of Saddel; and it contains the ruins of a small chapel, which was dedicated to St. Marnock. Kilmorie Castle, on the coast of Bute opposite, is the ruin of an ancient fortalice which comprised several towers and other buildings.

775. SKIPNESS Point flanks the south side of the mouth of Loch Fyne. An ancient castle on it forms an open square, 450 feet in circuit, with walls 7 feet thick, and 35 feet high; and has three towers. A fishing village, with an inn and a quay, stands adjacent; and a parish church stands 3 miles south-west, at Clonaig.

777. ACHALICK, 4 miles north-east of the mouth of East Loch Tarbert, is a pleasant small bay and fishing station. Ardmarnock House, in its vicinity, is the seat of John Nicol, Esq. Kilfinan, 23 miles to the north, is a pleasant locality on another small bay, with a post office under Glasgow, and a parish church.

778. LOCH GILP opens at the upper extremity of the lower reach of Loch Fyne, and penetrates 3 miles to the north. It is so shallow as to be unnavigable, in low states of the tide, by boats of any considerable burden. Its bottom above low-water mark was not many years ago fine sand, but is now soft, muddy, and seldom or never dry. The Crinan Canal goes from the middle of its west side 9 miles, to Port Crinan; connects Loch Fyne with the western seas; and enables vessels of less than 200 tons burden to avoid a stormy run of about 70 miles round the Mull of Kintyre. The canal was projected in 1793, at an estimated cost of £63,678; and opened in 1801, at an actual cost of upwards of £108,000, but underwent requisite improvements at different periods up to 1817, at a further cost of nearly £75,000. About two miles of it were destroyed in February 1859, by a bursting of its reservoirs; but a restoration of it, with

776. TARBERT Bay, or East Loch Tarbert, connects with Loch Fyne 7 miles north of Skipness; enters by a narrow winding passage, between low ridges of naked rock; expands into a fine natural harbour, about 3 furlongs wide; and is separated by only an inconsiderable isthmus from the head of West Loch Tarbert. Its total length is about a mile. An ancient castle on its south side, now in a state of ruin, was one of three fortalices which long commanded the isthmus, and is the subject of some curi-improvements, has been made. ous popular traditions. Tarbert village stands on the upper part of the bay; is the focus of an extensive herring fishery; and has a steamboat quay, two inns, a post office under Greenock, an office of the Union Bank, and two places of worship. Its population is about 800. It stands on the shortest route between Glasgow and Islay; and steamers from

779. LOCHGILPHEAD, at the head of Loch Gilp, was not long ago a poor vil. lage, but is now a well-built, thriving, small town. It serves as a centre of trade and a seat of administration to a large extent of surrounding country; and it contains a key post office; an office of the Union Bank; three inns, called the Argyle, the Commercial, and the Stag;

the diocesan church of the Scottish Epis- | rents. An oyster bed lies on its south copal Bishop of Argyle, and four other side, yielding oysters of superior quality. Otter House and Largie House are in its neighbourhood-the latter the property of the Honourable A. H. M. Moreton.

LXIV. ARRAN.

Arran is an island 42 miles east of the nearest part of Kintyre, 63 south-west of the nearest part of Bute, and 10 west of the nearest part of Ayrshire. Its length, in a direction a little east of south, is 20 miles; its mean breadth, about 6 miles. Its east side is reached either by steamers from Ardrossan, communicating there with the railway trains from Glasgow, or by steamers down the Clyde, both by way of Millport and by way of Rothesay; and Brodick, at the middle of that side, is distant 14 miles from Ardrossan, 14 from Millport, and 20 from Rothesay. The north end and the west side are reached by steamers on the passage from Greenock to Campbelton; and the south end, by steamers on the passage from Ayr to Campbelton. The northern half of the island consists of a dense assemblage of rugged, lofty mountains, intersected by deep, wild, divergent glens, and engirt, in most parts, with a narrow belt of low coast. The southern half has an undulating, rolling, hilly surface, with a general elevation of from 500 to 800 feet above the