(52 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



the ancient stronghold of the same illustrious family which was burnt at 



the close of the last rebellion, that disastrous period so often referred to, and 

 which so many objects in this country serve to perpetuate. Over a well in the 

 neighbourhood a small monument commemorates the following fact, highly 

 characteristic of the lawless period to which it relates. 



The laird of Keppoch, having sent his two sons to be educated in France, 

 died during their absence, and left the management of his affairs to the care of 

 seven brothers, men of his own clan. Thus placed in a station of unexpected 

 authority, these kinsmen relished the advantages it afforded them better than 

 became men of honour, and resolved to insure its continuance at every risk. 

 But as the heir of Keppoch still remained in France, they suffered no interrup- 

 tion for a considerable time. At length, the young laird and his brother, having 

 returned home to take possession of their inheritance, were waylaid and murdered 

 on the very night of their arrival. The perpetrators of the foul deed evaded 

 for some time the strong arm of justice ; but the family bard succeeded at last 

 in drawing down upon them that vengeance which they so richly merited. 

 Having failed in several appeals to other clans, he finally addressed himself 

 to Macdonald of the Isles. Receiving from that source what aid he required, 

 he overtook the murderers in the midst of their guilty career, and, in the manner 

 recorded,* avenged the untimely death of the young chief and his brother. 



In this mountainous country, Ben-Nevis is to the Celtic, what Mont Blanc 

 is to the Savoy Alps the monarch of the chain. It is estimated at four thousand 

 three hundred and seventy feet above the level of the sea, which approaches to 

 within three quarters of a mile of the stupendous mass. The labour of ascend- 

 ing this colossus of the waste is well repaid by the majestic features presented 

 to the tourist as he climbs from crag to crag, and observes at every pause the 

 scene expanding before him. But when he reaches the summit, the vast 

 panorama which then opens upon him, fills the mind with ideas to which no 

 words can give utterance. If the weather be favourable, the extent of horizon 

 thus embraced, and the variety of objects brought before the eye, are such as 



but the sympathy of " some who were his enemies, and the extraordinary fidelity of his friends, could have 

 saved from a fatal termination." 



As a memorial of the ample and summary vengeance which, in the swift course of feudal justice, inflicted 

 by the orders of the Lord Macdonell and Aross, overtook the perpetrators of the foul murder of the 

 Keppoch family, a branch of the powerful and illustrious clan of which his lordship was the chief: This 

 monument is erected by Colonel Macdonell, of Glengarry xvii. Mac-Mic-Alaister his successor and 

 representative, in the year of our Lord 1812. The heads of the seven murderers were presented at the foot of 

 the noble chief, in Glengarry Castle, after having been washed in this spring ; and ever since that event, 

 which took place early in the sixteenih century, it has been known by the name of " Tobar-nan-ceann," 

 or the Well of the Heads. 



