3T0 A Survey of the Coajls^ Mc, of Scotland. 



from one to two miles in breadth : tliefe natural refervoir^-, 

 placed in an extenfive valley and a rainy country, form an 

 abundant provifion for every purpofe to which water can be 

 applied in the courfe of the canal. 



■ 'Having afccrtained thtfe points, I pafled by a very rocky 

 and precipitous tra6l down to the head of Loch Hourn ; frorii 

 Loch Hourn I travelled by a tra6l fcarcely Itfs rugged to the 

 top of Glen Elg, and over the deep mountain of Raatachau 

 to the top of Loch Duich; from thence I travelled along the 

 Veftiges of a military road, up Glen Sliiel, down a part of 

 Glen Morrifon, and over a rug2;ed mountain to fort AugufUis. 

 In Glen Morrifon and Glen Garry it is pofiible tcrniake 

 roads, if judicioufly laid out, upon an eafy alccnt; but the 

 idea of water conveyance through them between the Caledo- 

 nian canal and the tifliing lochs is altogether unadvifable. 



My nextobjeft was to examine the country which lies be- 

 tween 'the top of Loch Eil and Loch Shiel, in order to find 

 whether a water conveyance could be made at a moderate 

 fcxpenfe'from Loch Eil through Loch Shiel, and fo into the 

 fifhing grounds to the fouthofSkye, without paffing down 

 the Linnhe Loch, up the Sound of Mull, and round the 

 Point of Ardnamurchan. I carried a level acrofs the neck 

 of land which feparates Loch Eil from Loch Shiel : the di- 

 ftance is about three miles. I found the fummit of the land 

 forty- three feet above high water in Loch Eil, and thirty-five 

 feet five inches above the level of the frefli water in Loch 

 Shiel. In order to form a canal, as there is no water to be 

 got on this fummit, the ground mufl: be cut down to twelve 

 feet below the level of the water in Loch Shiel, which would 

 make forty- feven feet five inches of cutting, and this depth 

 of cutting would be continued for nearly a mile: I alio fuf- 

 pe6t that in this diftance rock would be met with. 1 am 

 therefore forry to fay, I cannot advife the work being under- 

 taken before the nature of the ground has been fully proved, 

 and the whole of I^och Shiel has been examined with great 

 care : and as this pallage cannot be ufeful unlefs the Caledo- 

 nian canal be made and navigated from the eaft, if that event 

 {hould take place, there will be plenty of time to re-examine 

 this point with care; at prefent it ought, in my opinion, to 

 be poflponed. 



hiavnig invefligated all the points which f^ll imder my ob- 

 fervation as a civil engineer, J became extremely defirous of 

 having the opinion of experienced and well-inlormed mer- 

 cantile and fea-faring people wjth regard to ilie prefent na- 

 vigation by the Pentland Frith and the Orkneys, and the 

 propofed inland navigation by the Caledonian canal. With 



the 



