92 LOCH CRERAN. 



darkness, accompanied with all the fury of a thunder- 

 storm, is scarcely to be conceived ; and as we looked at 

 the complete wreck of the dwellings across our little 

 sheltered bay, from which the inmates had escaped in 

 time through the howling of their dog, the mind was en- 

 abled to attain some dim conception of what the sea was 

 doing in Ardmuchnish Bay. Our friend's dog has a horror 

 and great physical dread of lightning; and the vivid flashes 

 had alarmed him so that he wakened his master in time; 

 for the highest of the tide was not due until six, while the 

 water was inside his house by four ! At daybreak our 

 first sight was a little grebe diving in the sea on the grass 

 a few yards from our gaje ; while the boats, securely 

 moored close by, had disappeared about the same time. 

 The darkness, and the fury of the hurricane rendered all 

 efforts vain, and the wreckage that now strews the 

 beaches around Benderloch, tells many a tale of sorrow. 

 "You can gather potatoes by the cart-load in Ardmuchnish 

 Bay," says one ; and a neighbouring farmer has had 200 

 barrels of them carried off from his pits, although an 

 observer would have accounted these absolutely safe from 

 the sea. 



The gale still blows fiercely as we proceed up Loch 

 Creran, and seek the vestiges of departed boats and the 

 belongings of ourselves and friends, which the now re- 

 ceding tide has left ; for if the gale had continued an 

 hour or two longer the tide of Tuesday evening would 

 have been again as high, and it was necessary to save at 

 once what was possible. A timber vessel loading logs had 

 added to the destruction, as these had been carried all 

 over the loch, and employed dexterously as battering 

 rams by the infuriated waves. We stoop and pick up an 

 oyster from a heap of leaves under the trees, whither it 



