HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 51 



About midway between Lawers and Taymouth the road ap- 

 proaches the shores of the lake. Here we looked into the water 

 for aquatic plants, but as usual without success. Either the sea- 

 son was ungenial or the roll or motion of the water hindered their 

 growth. Whatever the cause may have been, few alpine aquatic 

 plants fell in our way. Small quantities of a fine metallic-like 

 sand were observed here and there in little heaps, or spread out 

 in shallow baskets or on coarse cloths. On inquiry at a wayside 

 cottage we learned that this sand had recently been collected and 

 exported to Birmingham, where it was employed in certain manu- 

 factorial processes, which the simple natives were unable to de- 

 scribe. They were able to tell us that the export of the sand had 

 been forbidden by the noble Marquis, and also that the small 

 parcels which we observed were used for making whet ting-boards 

 on which scythes, reaping-hooks, etc. were sharpened. 



The road passes over the extremities of Drummond Hill, which 

 is clothed with wood on its eastern and southern sides. Here 

 it has all the appearance of a forest. The gardens of Tay- 

 mouth lie under this hill, having the road on the upper side and 

 the lake on the lower ; they are very extensive. After having 

 passed along the garden wall, which was on our right, we got a 

 view of the Tay issuing from its parent lake and spanned by a 

 noble bridge not more than 40 or 50 yards from the source of 

 the river. 



Judging by the eye, not always an accurate measurer of distance 

 or magnitude, we should think that the river here is about as wide 

 as the Thames at Kew or Richmond. But judging by the ra- 

 pidity of the current in the Scottish river, about twice as much 

 water may pass under the bridge at Taymouth as passes under 

 the bridges of Richmond or Kew, if the tidal water is deducted 

 from the Thames. We were once near giving offence by hinting 

 that the channel of the Seine held as much water as that of the 

 Thames at low water. The former drains a larger area than the 

 latter. But this is not always a sound criterion for estimating 

 the amount of water in a given channel. A hundred square miles 

 in the Highlands will supply more than twice the quantity of 

 water which an equal area in England can : first, because the 

 rain is double as much, and second, because the evaporation is 

 not half so much as it is in the south of England. Before the 

 Tay leaves the domain of the lord of its source it is augmented 



