INVERNESS-SHIRE. 



185 



that. 



nearly north north-east. And farther south still, on the 

 preat strath of the river Spey, we find the du-trict of 

 * Badenoch ; whence Inverness-shire is projected in a 

 north-east direction between the shires of Banff and 

 Moray, a considerable district round Castle Grant, be- 

 ing by them insulated from the rest ; and in this way 

 it includes a large portion of Strathspey. 



Mountain*. All these glens are, comparatively speaking, narrow, 

 and arc bounded and divided from one another by very 

 high mountains, which consequently form a great pro- 

 portion of the surface of the county. It will be only 

 necessary in this place, to notice one or two of the mo*t 

 "guished. Mealfourvounie rises over the north side 

 of Loch Ness, between Glen L'rquhart and Glen Mor- 

 riston, and is very conspicuous from its round-headed 

 top. Irs height above the level of the sea is 3060 feet, 

 and it is visible from the east at a great distance. Cairn- 

 porum, and Brae Kiach, are two mountains rising over 

 the district of Rothicmurchus, on tile Spey. By the 

 barornetricril mcs-urement of i)r. Skene Keith, the for- 

 mer i.d the latter 4304 feet above the level 



of the sea. But in Invemess-shirc, as throughout the 

 rest of the i-1 iml, the highest ridge approaches much 

 nearer to the Western than to the La-tern Sea. Ac- 

 oordingly we find, that the great mountain masses are 

 acctirr'.il-.tiil towards the former side of the county, and 

 it is there that Ben Nevis is situated. This gignntic 

 mountain U 4370 feet ; but it is not more remarkable 

 : <, superior altitude, than it is for the circumstance 

 of it* having it base almost washed by the lea, whence 

 it towers up at once with grandeur no where to be 

 equalled in these kingdoms. It is never to be found 

 without snow, and its top is *?*; constantly envelo- 

 ped in < ! .ml- ; but when it is uncovered, the view cam- 

 led from the summit U the most extensive that can 

 be imagined, taking in a range of more than 170 miles, 

 ami embracing the greater number of the Hebrides. 

 By going about a quarter of a mile up the river, above 

 the hon*e of Glen Nevis, it is easily ascended by one 

 of iu western ridges. 



LUn. The mot important lakes of Inverness-shire, are 



Lochs Nr<, Oich, Lochy, Arkeg, and Morrer, already 

 mentioned: Loch Clui. >rriton ; 1-ochs 



(tarry and Quoich in the district of Glen Garry ; I.och* 

 l-agg-an and Treig. emptying themselves into Glen 

 Spean ; am) Ixx-li Madiiy, running into .Strath Glass 

 To these Loch Kricht may be added, being partly in 

 this county, ami partly in Perth-shire. These lakes, 

 depending for their shapes upon the lengthened glens 

 in which tlirv are situated, are all long and narrow. 

 They trenrrally deepen suddenly from within a few 

 yards of the margin, where they are surrounded by 

 shallow beach. They are of varans magnitudes, being 

 on an average drain MS, to twelve, and fourteen miles 

 in length. 



Of all these Loch Nets is the largest, being twenty- 

 two miles in length, and from one to two miles broad. 

 Its common sounding* are from 1 II. to 120 fathoms, 

 and iu extreme depth is 135 fathoms. In exemplifica- 

 tion of the rrmark made above, as applying generally 

 to all the lake* in Inveroess-shire, we may mention, 

 that Loch N'ess i. I'rmn I -horns deep clone to 



the narrow shelf, extending a little way into the lake. 

 It is unquestionably from the circumstance of iu great 

 depth, affording a rapid and continual succession of 

 wanner strata of w*ter, to occupy the place of those, 

 which, being cooled at the surface, have consequent- 

 ly sunk front,tbair increased specific gravity, that the 

 vol. xn. rABT i. 



lake is never known to freeze; though a portion of Inrerf. 

 the water, when removed from it, freezes as fast as 

 that of any other. We do not conceive the theory, as- 

 cribing the cause of this phenomenon to the existence 

 of a subterranean fire, of much value. The lake and 

 river are no doubt observed to smoke in severe frost ; 

 but this very naturally happens from the cause al- 

 ready stated, as operating to prevent its congelation ; 

 for owing to the constant supply from below to the 

 surface, of water of a higher temperature than the 

 air, evaporation will more readily take place, and will 

 be made the more apparent to the eye the greater the 

 coal. The river, being supplied from the stratum of 

 water last arrived at the surface of the lake, which is 

 consequently the warmest, its course being short, not 

 more than five or six miles; its stream being steady 

 and forcible, and (from the great quantity of water it 

 has to discharge,) being more hurried than its actual 

 fall would otherwise render it, it has not sufficient time 

 to be coo'ed down to the freezing point, and, therefore, 

 like the lake itself, it remains uncongealed. In Novem- 

 the thermometer being at f Fahrenheit, 

 Ixxrh Ness remained perfectly free from ice ; but on 

 the shallower lake of Dochfour, into which the river 

 Ness runs, about a quarter of a mile from the large loch, 

 there was a thin coat of ice of considerable extent. On 

 the 1st of November 1755, being the day of the dread- 

 ful earthquake at Lisbon, the water of Loch Ness rose 

 MiiMi'iily without any apparent cause, and rushing 

 south-westward* with violence, continued to ebb and 

 flow with great agitation for more than an hour. Du- 

 ring the earthquake 0:1 the 13th of August 1816, (refer- 

 red to in our article INVERNESS,) the people on board 

 the dredging barge, moored at the foot of Loch Ness, 

 although sensible of no motion in the water, were awak- 

 ened, and much alarmed by the romLo, thinking that the 

 vessel had broke from her mooring chains. 



The water of Loch Ncs, as well as that of the river 

 of the same name, produces very obstinate diarrhoea in 

 strangers who drink of it ; and horses are affected by 

 it in a similar way. This property was long supposed 

 to arise from iU containing a certain minute portion of 

 sulphur ; but we can venture to contradict this, on 

 the authority of Dr. Nicul of Inverness, who has kind- 

 ly communicated to us the result of some of his expe- 

 riments. That gentleman did not observe the slightest 

 indication of sulphur, though faint trace* of the 

 ence of muriatic acid seemed to manifest themselves. 

 He is disposed to attribute the laxative effect to a great 

 portion of putrid vegetable matter, mechanically min- 

 gled with the water of the lake; and we conceive this 

 to be by far the most rational mode of accounting for 

 it. We hope, however, that this ingenious gentleman 

 may be induced to proaecute an inquiry, which cannot 

 fail to be highly useful as well as interesting. 



Besides those we have enumerated, there are a multi- 

 tude of smaller lakes, each of which in any other part 

 of Hriuin would rise into importance. 



The greater rivers of Inverness-shire nre, the Ness, Hirers, 

 the I-ochy , the Beauly, and the Spey ; the lesser are, 

 ndhnrn, the Nairn, and the Nevis. These have 

 numiroiH large streams supplying diem ; as tile Lnne- 

 ricand the Coiltie, the Morriston, the Garry, the Feach- 

 loin and Foyers, and the I'arragig, all tributary to the 

 Ness ; the water from Loch Arkeg, and the Hoy and 

 Spean united, falling into the Lochy ; the Farrer, Ca- 

 nuich, and Glass, forming the Bcaufy ; and the Truim, 

 the Trommie, and the Fe^hie, running into the Spey. 



