524 BOTANICAL LETTERS FROM ARGYLESHIRE. {_May, 



something better, I string together for your amusement, courte- 

 ous reader ! 



During last summer, business had led me, in company with a 

 friend, to visit the neighbourhood of West Port, where we were 

 engaged most of the day. But where is West Port? — is a ques- 

 tion you may probably ask. Well, West Port is a point on the 

 west shores of Kintyre, five miles from Campbeltown, on the 

 road leading to Inverary, and about one mile beyond the primi- 

 tive hamlet of Kilkenzie, where there is an old rural burying- 

 ground with the ruins of an ancient chapel in the centre of it, 

 with a few scattered cottages, a smithy, a public-house and a 

 school-house, — and is certainly a fair specimen of a Scotch ham-'^ 

 let; situated in a sheltered hollow, with a small burn, or prattling 

 rivulet, flowing in a tortuous course through the clachan. 



Part of the land at this rural spot is the properly of a gentle- 

 man, a native of Cambrians rugged hills and sunny vales, where 

 he chiefly resides ; but most of the land at this point, as well as 

 the chief portion of the whole district, is the property of his Grace 

 the Duke of Argyle. About a mile beyond this rural hamlet, at 

 West Port, can be obtained perhaps the most magnificent views 

 on this coast, and which, on a fine summer or autumn afternoon 

 or evening, are beautiful beyond description ; where — 



" No gale but the balmy Favonian is blowing, 

 In coral groves resting, the winds are asleep ; 

 And rich in the snubeam, yon pennants ai'e glowing, 

 That tinge with their colours the silvery deep." 



My friend and myself having had a good deal of walking 

 through cultivated fields and meadows, and heathy uplands, du- 

 ring the heat of the day, felt ourselves getting rather tired, if not 

 somewhat fagged, as the afternoon was gliding towards evening; 

 and having completed our business, the delightfully cool breeze 

 tempted us to take a seat on the top of a grey lichen-covered 

 rocky ridge, overhanging the sea, and commanding some charm- 

 ing views. The cool breeze rolled in most refreshingly towards 

 the land, mingling with the perfume of the flowers around us, 

 and cooled our faces, which the powerful beams of the sun had 

 overheated. 



What a glorious splendour is displayed in that setting sun ! 

 descending as it were into the ocean in the far west, like a ball 

 of fire or the most richly burnished gold, its rays gilding the 



