198 NORTHERN MEMOIRS. 



Theoph. Was there a possibility of her sailing 

 from the citadel, to this eminent Lough Ness, 

 when a boat of ten tun can't force her passage 

 half way up the river ? This looks romantick 

 beyond the ingenuity of art, or possibility of in- 

 vention. 



Arn. Let it look as it will look, I am sure it 

 was so. 



Theoph. You are sure it was so ; then, pray, 

 resolve the point. 



Arn. Why thus it was : In the time of war 

 betwixt the King and Parliament, this navigate 

 invention was consulted by Maj. General Dean ; 

 who to compleat a conquest over the Highland- 

 ers, (in regard hitherto the law of a foreign power 

 had never bridled them) he accomplished this 

 new navigation of sailing by land : who con- 

 trived the transportation of this fair ship (that 

 you now see) into these torpid and slippery 

 streams. 



Theoph. What, without sails ? 



Arn. Yes, without sail, pilot, card or com- 

 pass ; by dividing only the ambient air, as for- 

 merly she plowed the pondrous ocean. Nor was 

 she compell'd to encounter sea or land in all her 

 passage ; which, by some, may be thought a ri- 

 diculous report. On the other hand, for a ship 

 of this burden to transport her self, or suffer 

 her self to be transported without ordinary, nay, 



