4 i4 CANAL BETWEEN 



a mile from the head of the loch, where there is 

 fefc riding, and from 6 to 8 fathom water. Af 

 paffing that ifland there is deep water to Grernock 

 at the diftance of above 30 miles, and no hidden 

 rocks or impediments to navigation whatever. * No 

 winds can hurta veflel in this loch, providing fhc hath 

 good anchors ;>nd cables, nor have there my 



.nces of veflfcls being wrecked here within the 

 memory of man. Any danger to be ar; (\1 



is from eafterly winds. The loch ebbs about half 

 a mile from its head, where it begins to deepen. 

 If a canal (hall be made at this place, one wind, 

 without any variation, f will carry a veflel from 

 Cape Wrath to Greenock, Campbeltown, the (hire 

 of Air, and all the to\vns on the Clyde, where buflTes 

 are fitted out for the fifheries. The packet fails 

 fometimes from Loch Gilp to Greenock in 6 hours. 

 By the Mull of Cantire, fhe would take upon an 

 average, a whole week, owing to contrary winds; 

 befides the dangers and accidents of this naviga- 

 tion from dorms, and in time of war from pri- 

 vateers, which fwarm in that narrow pafs, while the 

 frigate flationed in thofe feas, lies fnug in Belfaft 

 Loch, Campbeltown Bay, orl^ochRyan. 



Having finifhed my obfcrvations at Loch Gilp, 

 I kt out with an intelligent perfon of that neigh- t 

 bourhood for Loch Crinan, on the weft fide of the 

 peninfula. " The ground rifcs almoft imperceptibly 

 to the height of 18 feet above die fca, and the whole 

 is compofed of the moft favourable foil, neither too 

 hard nor too foft. It is properly a level vallc 



* In this pafiagc there are many fafe bays and creeks, where 

 Yeflels may take flicker in bad weather, without going out of ti 

 courfe, as eaft Loch Tarbet, the Kyles of Bute, Loch 

 LochStrevan, Rothfay Harbour, Helic Loch, and Loch Long, all 

 of them having fufficient water for the largeft (hips, the ground 

 clean, and no rocks except at the Tarbet. 



f There is a bend at the Kyles of Bute, but fo very fliort, that 

 in lefs than an hour a veflel may get through it by the afliflance of 

 the tide. 



a partly 



