268 The Philosophical Society of Glasgow. 



acres; of Loch Clachaig, 31 acres, with an average depth of 15 to 20 

 feet. The surplus waters of these lochs flow into Glen Clachaig, where 

 there is an embankment regulating the supply for the canal, and 

 forming an artificial reservoir with an area of 40 acres, and an average 

 depth of 20 or 25 feet. The measurements, however, vary to a con- 

 siderable extent, and the entire superficial area of the reservoirs may 

 be stated at 80 acres. After heavy and continuous rains at the end 

 of January and the beginning of February, the waters of Camloch 

 burst their embankment, and rushing into the two adjoining lochs, 

 caused their uTuption into Glen Clachaig ; the yielding of whose 

 barriers let loose the accumulated mass into the valley below. Descend- 

 ing the hillside with the force of an avalanche, the stream tore up the 

 rocks into a deep and broad channel, carrying great masses of earth and 

 stone along its course; and, precipitating the debris into the valley, 

 effaced in a brief space every vestige of the canal for the distance of a 

 quarter of a mile. The glen down which the waters rushed is about a 

 mile and a half in length from the reservoirs to the canal. 



Where the glen opens upon the valley, a broad delta was formed 

 by the detrital matter, across which massive blocks of stone were 

 hurled into the centre of the canal. On the side of the ravine, the 

 overflowing water uncovei'ed a large surface of the mica-slate of the 

 district, revealing in its grooves and striations the traces of ancient 

 glacial action, produced in the direction of the axis of the valley, 

 and at right angles to the course of the torrent. The blocks of stone 

 becoming piled together in a compact pyramidal mass, in the hne of 

 the canal, had the eflect of dividing the current of water into two 

 streams— one flowing towards the east, and the other towards the 

 west ; a fortunate circumstance for the village of Lochgilphead, which 

 would inevitably have been submerged, had the unbroken force of the 

 flood descended upon the low grounds in that direction. The divided 

 currents, running in opposite courses along the line of the canal, 

 carried all before them ; locks, tow-path, and road were laid in ruins, 

 and the bed of the canal was fiUed with mud, till at Cairnban on 

 the one side, and at Dunardry on the other, the flood, breaching 

 tremendous chasms in the banks resembling the cutting of a railway, 

 escaped by one opening into the fields near the bay of Loch Gilp, 

 and by the other into the level of the great Crinan Moss, covering 

 the country for miles in both directions with sand and mud. On the 

 road on the Lochgilphead side, the water after descending from the 

 canal rose as high as a horse's breast. At Lochgilphead, just as the 

 flood had reached the sea, after flowing over five miles of dead level, 

 it encountered a rustic bridge of sohd masonry, and swept away the 



