SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



vessel is once in, no place can be more secure or commodious. On the left, in 

 o-loomy elevation, towering on a sullen crag, stand the ruins of Tarbert Castle, 

 formerly the stronghold of the M'Gilchrists, then of the M'Alisters, and now 

 the property of Campbell of Stonefield. The walls are eight or nine feet 

 thick ; the stair is in the west side, and underneath is an arched vault. The 

 summit of the hill was formerly surrounded by a strong wall, and numerous 

 bastions ; and on the west side are several outworks, still popularly called the 

 barracks. In 1261, the church of Kilcalmonell, the parish to which Tarbert 

 belongs, was granted to the monks of Paisley ; and soon after, Dovenald 

 M'Gilchrist granted to them a right of cutting all kinds of timber in the woods 

 of Tarbert. Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, in order to obtain an undisputed 

 claim to every place round which he could pass in his boat, caused his barge to 

 be drawn across the isthmus, which at this place is only a mile broad, with all 

 the pomp of chivalrous times.* Tarbert was also the place of rendezvous 

 chosen by James IV. when he proceeded with his nobles to reduce his rebellious 

 subjects of the Western Isles to obedience; and of the unfortunate Earl of Argyll 

 in 1685, previous to his descent upon the Low Country, where, as well known 

 to our readers, he was defeated, taken prisoner, and afterwards beheaded. The 

 first grand object for erecting this Castle, was to check the incursions of the 

 Irish during that turbulent period when the Lords of the Isles were sovereigns 

 of Cantyre, and of the greater part of Argyllshire. 



The habits of the people employed in the Tarbert fishery are industrious, 

 orderly, and even religious. Each boat, as before stated, is generally furnished 

 with three hands, one of whom is the master, who defrays the whole cost, and 

 receives a double share of the profits arising from the fishery. He is also 

 exempted by law from impressment. The proprietors of boats subscribe a 

 certain sum weekly to a fund a species of insurance out of which they are 

 indemnified for the occasional loss of nets. The greatest number of fish taken 

 at a single draught on this station, is stated at forty-one maizes, each containing 



* The ceremony, as performed by Bruce, is thus described by Sir Walter Scott, in his " Lord of 

 the Isles:" 



" It was a wondrous sight to see 

 Topmast and pennon glitter free, 

 High raised above the green-wood trees, 

 As on dry land the galley moves 

 By cliffs, anil copse, and alder groves." 



But, as Dr. James Johnson has observed, it is a much more wonderful sight to see the steam vessel 

 of the present day darting across the same isthmus by the Crinan canal, a little farther north without 

 the assistance of human muscles without oars, or sails. The Recess. 



