58 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



abrupt descent, and is dashed through a narrow gap, over a height of ninety 

 feet, into a deep spacious linn, or basin, surrounded by lofty precipitous rocks. 

 As we approach this greater cataract, the ground is felt to tremble from the 

 shock of the falling waters, and the ear is stunned with its sullen and ceaseless 

 roar. Descending by a winding footpath to a point directly opposite to, and 

 on a level with the Fall, the spectacle appears in all its sublimity. Here at 

 once the eye can scan the terrors of the troubled gulf below, the whole extent 

 of the Fall, and the stupendous overhanging rocks, waving with birch, and 

 partially covered with a rank mossy vegetation, forced into life by the volumes 

 of vapour which float around ; but it is chiefly when the river is much swollen 

 by rain that the spectator regards it with mingled feelings of awe and admiration. 

 Then the living spirit of the waters wakens with thundering call the echoes of 

 the solitude ; every other sound is drowned, and all nature seems attentive to 

 the voice of the falling element. The mighty caldron is filled with shifting 

 masses of spray, frequently illumined with the bright and lambent tints of the 

 rainbow.* 



" But on the verge, 



From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, 

 An iris sits amidst the infernal surge, 

 Like Hope upon a death-bed ; and, unworn 

 It steady dyes, whilst all around is torn 

 By the distracted waters, bears serene 

 Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn ; 

 Resembling, 'mid the torture of the scene, 

 Love watching Madness with unalterable mien."f 



In several of the Highland districts, and particularly in that now under 

 notice, the state of property, and the local history of ancient times, would 

 be entirely unknown, but for the few gleams of light thrown upon them by 

 the annals connected with their existing monuments of antiquity. Of this 

 description is the Castle of Urquhart, one of the chain of fortresses several of 

 them royal which, from the earliest times, stretched across the Great Glen 

 from Inverness to Inverlochy, and thus secured the country from foreign invasion 

 and the excess of civil discord. Perched on the western promontory of Urquhart 

 bay, this ruined fortress overhangs Loch-Ness. The isolated rock on which 

 it stands, is separated from the adjoining hill by a moat twenty-five feet deep 

 and sixteen broad. The rock is crowned by the remains of a high wall or 

 curtain, surrounding the buildings; the principal of which, a strong square keep, 



* Anderson. Guide, Sect. v. p. 252. f Byron. 



