76 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



with several islets, the largest of which is St. Mungo's Isle. Here, in mould 

 still sanctified by the remains of a small Roman-Catholic ehapel, the people from 

 the opposite shores of Lochaber and Glenco brought their dead for interment. 

 Two broad grassy mounds, formed by a natural swell in the surface, point 

 to the cemeteries of the two clans.* About twenty years ago, the body of 

 M'lan, laird of Glenco, whose fate will be noticed in its proper place, was 

 disinterred by his descendants, and removed from the chapel to that portion of 

 the islet appropriated to his own clan. The bones were of herculean propor- 

 tions, and confirmed the traditions respecting his great strength, which made him 

 so formidable in the eyes of his assassins that they durst only approach him 

 while he slept, and in this condition dispatched him by a simultaneous shower 

 of bullets. The adjoining island, called " Eilan-na-Corak," or isle of the lonely 

 one, is so named in consequence of having been the last resting-place of an 

 individual whose life had been so odious in the eyes of his countrymen as to 

 exclude him from a sepulchre in hallowed ground. While this country was 

 infested with wolves, the necessity of thus protecting the sanctuary of the dead 

 by the choice of some isolated position, is apparent ; and where such could not 

 be obtained, the cairn may probably have suggested itself by way of substitute, 

 where a person of distinction was buried. 



In the scenery of Lochleven, the Serpent-river and the Falls of Kinlochmore 

 are much-admired features, and will amply reward the stranger who has time 

 and curiosity to indulge in a water excursion to the upper end of the loch. 

 The Falls are about one hundred feet in height, but broken into several cascades 

 by the projecting rocks over which they descend. 



The second view of Lochleven, which embraces both frontiers, presents 



" This sepulchral island is extremely interesting, not less on account of the various views which it affords, 

 than on account of those relics and emblems of mortality which, during the lapse of centuries, have been 

 accumulated in its narrow compass. Its crowded gravestones, heraldic devices, and rude sculptures, so little 

 expected in this remote corner, attract an attention which, in the midst of civilization, more splendid works 

 would hardly command. There is an impressive effect, also a check and an awe, produced by thus sud- 

 denly meeting with the emblems of mortality in these wild and secluded spots a feeling well known to 

 those who, in their wanderings among the Highlands, have thus unwarily fallen upon these repositories of 

 the dead. The English churchyard is habitual to our sight ; nor is it ever unexpected, proclaiming itself 

 afar by its spire or church, by its walled enclosure, or its ancient elm or funereal yews. We pass it coldly ; 

 and if we look at its monumental stones, it is seldom but to amuse ourselves with their barbarous emblems, 

 or the absurdities of their mortuary verse ; but in this country iu the midst of the beauties and sublimities 

 of the fairest nature when rejoicing in the bright scenes of an Alpine summer, in all the loveliness that 

 surrounds us, we are suddenly recalled to the thoughts of that hour when these glorious scenes shall be to 

 us as to those who are sleeping at our feet. Then it is that we feel the full force of the narrow green 

 mound, the rude letters, and the silent stone, which seem to say, " The time is at hand when thou, too, 

 shalt see these bright lakes and blue hills no more." M'Culloch, vol. i. p. 312. 



