AND FORT WILLIAM. 431 



ploys three months ; in the mean time, the unhappf 

 people on the weftcrn (bores arc reduced to the 

 greateft diltrefs. 



At length, when the long-wifhed-for vtfTcl ap- 

 pears on the coaft, thofc perfons who have been 

 able to colled* a few (hillings, flock to the beach j 

 when, to the iinfpctkablc difappointmrnt of the 

 merchants and purchafers, the meal is ofren fohcat- 

 ed, by the length of the voyage, that no pcrlon can 

 remain in the hold above three or four minutes with- 

 out being fuffocated. Frequently the meal is da- 

 maged by fait water, and found in lumps unfit for 

 human ufc ; but even in this Hate, ic is eagerly pur- 

 chafed by thofc unhappy people, at a price enhanced 

 by the extra expence of a long voyage. By the 

 propofed inland communication, the whole trip out- 

 and homeward, would not, at a medium, re- 

 quire above 10 days, between the found of Mull and 

 Findhorn, Ponfoy, and other towns on the Murray 

 Firthj belidcs the fafety of the vcflcls, and the good 

 condition of the cargoes. 



Confidering this voyage in a general view, its be. 

 nefits will extend more or lefs to the whole fouthcrn 

 coalt of Scotland, to Liverpool, Briftol, and Ireland. 

 Veflcls trading to the Baltic, and which cannot na- 

 vigate the (hallow canal between the Clyde and the 

 Forth, might here find a fafc paflagc during the 

 greatcft part of the year. The con- 



veyance to the army is alfo obviou*. I 1 

 chain of modern fortrefles, viz. Fort George at the 

 eafl end of the pals, Fort Auguilus in the centre, and 

 Fort William on the wetV; which ferve, particularly 

 in time of war, as barracks and magazines, from 

 whence detachments of the army may be ready to fail 

 on the fhortcit nonce. I ^ of this naviga 



therefore, a Ihort, fafe, and commodious m 

 intcrcourfe may be kept up between ihcfc detach- 

 ments i and alfo bctweervthc two feas, upon the oppo- 



fite 



