Steam Navigation in Britain. 241 



It has been resorted to upon the Clyde to a far greater extent 

 than in any other quarter of the United Kingdom, owing to the 

 necessity of adopting the best means of communication between 

 Glasgow, the second city of the island, and its two ports. Port 

 Glasgow and Greenock. The formation of this Frith, besides, 

 branching into various sea-water lochs, renders it peculiarly fit 

 for this mode of conveyance, which has been lately infinitely ex- 

 tended by the completion of the Crinan canal, under the autho- 

 rity of parliament, laying open all the inlets of the western 

 Highlands, and the Hebrides, to the use of the steam boat. The 

 advantages derived from this circumstance, will be fully esti- 

 mated, by all those who have ever made an expedition to Stafia 

 a part of their Scotch tour, when it is stated, that the traveller 

 may, by means of this conveyance, be now carried in less than 

 24 hours from Greenock to Oban. As soon as the Caledonian 

 canal is finished, it is intended to continue the Fort William 

 boat from that place, across the island to Inverness ; and in 

 furtherance of this plan, a vessel is to be placed on Loch-Ness 

 early in the spring, while another is to connect the distant 

 islands of Lewis and Skye, immediately with the most populous 

 part of Scotland. 



The following is a list of the steam vessels now plying on the 

 Clyde : 



