90 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



blow from the mountains in this stormy region, 

 are violent, very little of the falling water reaches 

 the waves below. 



" We then* visited Loch Scavig ; and after 

 passing the river which runs foaming over a 

 rock into the sea, a long valley suddenly opens, 

 enclosing the beautiful lake Cornisk, on the 

 black surface of which a few islands, covered 

 with grass and juniper, form a striking contrast 

 to the absence of all verdure around. 



" It is an exquisitely savage scene, and was 

 to me particularly interesting, because I had 

 lately read again the Lord of the Isles ; and 

 here I beheld the truth of its descriptions, and 

 felt anew the sadness and horror of the death 

 of Allan. We often stopped, on our return, to 

 admire the effects of the storms. Stones, or 

 rather large masses of rock, of a composite kind, 

 quite different from the strata of the lake, were 

 scattered on the rocky beach. Some lay loose, 

 and tottering upon the ledges of the natural rock, 

 so that the slightest push moved them, though 

 their weight might exceed many tons. The 

 opposite side of the lake is pathless and inac- 

 cessible, and the eye rests on nothing but barren, 

 naked crags, though of sublime grandeur, Indeed, 

 our favourite Scott says, truly 



For rarely human eye has known 



A scene so stern as that dread lake, 

 With its dark ledge of barren stone. 



