THE MOUNTAIN. 



perfectly calm and tranquil 3,200 feet below our 

 resting-place. Loch Katrine and Loch Sloy were 

 perfectly visible in the distance; and, all around, 

 the everlasting hills slumbered on, apparently in 

 the same tranquil repose which they had main- 

 tained from the moment when first they were 

 moulded by their Almighty Creator. 



By the time that we began to descend, the glare 

 of day had been mellowed into a bright, clear light, 

 which gave a distinctness to the landscape not 

 hitherto observed ; and in the mirror of the lake 

 the image of every island and headland was re- 

 flected with the distinctness of the original. 



The descent was not altogether so easy as I ex- 

 pected. We made for the point directly opposite 

 to the inn where we intended to pass the night, 

 and after a good deal of scrambling among rocks, 

 running down steep places, impelled sometimes at 

 a rate faster than we could have wished, and cross- 

 ing boggy flats, we reached the Loch-side late in 

 the evening, and were rowed across by two stout 

 Highlanders. 



Early next morning we indulged in a swim in 

 the lake ; and after breakfast, as we expected to 

 have plenty of walking during the day, hired a 

 one-horsed vehicle, which conveyed us and a 

 boy, whom we engaged to carry our basket, to 

 the foot of Ben Yoirlich, situated not far from the 

 head of the lake, but on the opposite side to Ben 

 Lomond. 



We were again highly favoured as to weather, 

 and as determined to enjoy ourselves as we had 

 been the day before. Our route lay along the 

 side of the lake, by a winding road, which every 

 few minutes supplied a new foreground to scenery, 



