LOCH-AWE. THE FATAL SPRING. 105 



lake at its base the beautiful Loch-awe. Their source is called the fatal 

 spring a name originating in the following tradition :* Bera was the daughter 

 of Grianan the sage, and dwelt in the cave of the rock. Long was the line 

 of her fathers large and fertile were their possessions : hers were the beautiful 

 vales below, and hers the flocks that roamed on the hills around. To her was 

 committed the charge of that awful spring which was one day to prove so fatal 

 to the inheritance of her fathers, and to her fathers' race. . . .Before the sun 

 withdrew his beams, she was commanded each night to cover the spring with 

 a stone, on which sacred and mysterious characters were impressed. One 

 night, however, this duty was forgotten by the unhappy Bera. Overcome with 

 the chase and the heat of the day, she was seized with heavy sleep before the 

 usual hour of rest. The stone, therefore, remained unclosed, and the long- 

 confined waters, rushing down upon the plain, expanded themselves into the 

 lake of Awe. The third morning Bera awoke from her fatal sleep ; she flew 

 to remove the stone from the spring, but, behold, no stone was there ! She 

 looked mournfully towards the inheritance of her fathers ; she saw only the 

 devastation of her plains. She shrieked ! the mountain shook to its base ; 

 she fell prostrate on the heath ; her spirit retired to the ghosts of her fathers, 

 in their airy halls ! Such was the poetical origin of Loch-awe. 



To the admirers of Ossian, this country, as before noticed, is all classic ground, 

 the birth-place of heroes, and the native land of the most sublime species of 

 romance. Here resided the heroes of Fion, or Fingal ; and the traditions of 

 the country are still full of their exploits. -Ben-cruachan, the mountain already 

 named, is nearly four thousand feet in height, with a circumference at the base 

 of about twenty miles. From the north-east the ascent is very steep, sloping 

 gently down on the south, but rising with an abrupt ascent near the summit, 

 which is bicipital. The flanks are covered with natural woods in great variety, 

 and abounding with red deer. The scenery of this mountain has had the 

 singularly good fortune to be celebrated by two of the earliest and most distin- 

 guished of the Scottish bards Barbour and Blind Harry the one in describing 

 the arduous struggles of Bruce, and the other in recording the glorious achieve- 

 ments of Wallace. It is a curious circumstance, also, that the two greatest 

 heroes that Scotland ever produced, should both have been victorious in decisive 

 battles fought at the base of Ben-cruachan ; and it is gratifying to find traditions 

 still existing among the older inhabitants, establishing the historical fidelity of 



* Communicated to Mr. Lettice, by the late Dr. Mac Intyre of Glenorchy, from the original Gaelic. 

 P. 256. Continued, also, in a collection of traditionary Celtic poems, translated by Dr. Smith of Cam- 

 bclltown. Also, Sl'itisi. /Ice. Arg. p. 403, Tourist's Guide. 



VOL. II. E E 



