HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 67 



of character. The rocky bed, the eddying pool, and the scrubby 

 or meadowy banks, are common characteristics. Of course they 

 vary in breadth, and in the quantity of water which they contain. 

 But in this even most of the Highland rivers preserve a consi- 

 derable uniformity. The lakes in which they usually originate 

 have a tendency to preserve this equality of flood. It takes se- 

 veral days' rain to raise perceptibly the surface of Loch Tay, and 

 indeed of all large lochs; and the floods in the Dochart and 

 Lochay, or other feeders of lakes, are some time before they have 

 a perceptible effect on the Tay or on the rivers that issue from 

 Highland lochs. The Tay will gradually increase after heavy 

 rains for several days after the floods which flow into its loch 

 have subsided. A river with a long, wide, shingly beach, is a 

 rarity in the Highlands. The channel, if not always quite full, 

 is never reduced to a slender thread of water in the centre, and 

 where the water-worn pebbles are almost the sole indications 

 that water is there at certain seasons. 



But the extent and diversity of the lakes make ample amends 

 for the uniformity of the rivers. Loch Vennachar, the lowest of 

 a chain of lakes of which Loch Katrine is the uppermost, is not 

 very remarkable, either for its extent or the beauty of its en- 

 virons. Ben Ledi slopes down very gradually to its shores, and 

 the hills on its other or southern side are of no great altitude. 

 Loch Achray is very prettily surrounded by the undulating 

 grounds of the Trosachs, which are ornamented by the Tro- 

 sachs Inn and a little church and manse, all recent erections, and 

 in a peculiar style, which is not ill adapted to the striking scenery 

 with which it (the lake) is surrounded. Loch Katrine, the queen 

 of Scottish lakes (we saw not a fairer in all fair Scotland), is not 

 to be described here. Poets and painters have exhausted all the 

 resources of their respective arts in vain attempts to transfer 

 some of its beauties into their pages or on to their bits of 

 canvas, but without success. Loch Katrine must be seen, and it 

 will bear looking at. The Scots however have an eye for the 

 useful as well as for the picturesque. The blue waters of this 

 fine lake are now on their way to Glasgow, to subserve the com- 

 mon necessities of humanity. " To what vile uses may we turn, 

 Horatio !" We can recommend it on the crede experto prin- 

 ciple. It may be used without filtration, if the pipes, cisterns, 

 and water-butts be kept clean. Scotland however, and even 



