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in the water to the right), to Greenock, is most 

 enchanting ; opposite this fine town the angler 

 will observe a grand expanse of deep and blue 

 salt water, bordered in the distance with 

 mountains dark and high, filling the imagi- 

 nation with awe, while pacing the decks of the 

 frail but well appointed little steam boat Helen 

 McGregor in the gloom, as she creaks away- 

 through briny silvered waves of lakes, estuaries, 

 and straits, to Caledonia's ''noblest work" — 

 the Great Canal. Rounding a rough northern 

 head land, where seven currents meet, of seas, 

 sounds, and straits, Crenan in the wake, com- 

 passing the shore in Jura Sound, the "little 

 Helen" struggling with the swelling tide, ap- 

 peared to be standing still though at full 

 speed; Loch Etive, on the starboard — into 

 whose bosom, Awe's serpentine waters steal at 

 solitary '*Bunaw;" Lismore in the distance. 

 Mull in our wake, due West — the rapid sub- 

 siding — through it "the fair one" tripped gal- 

 lantly. In these "meetings of the waters," what 

 oceans of salmon sported and played at large in 

 their blue and fresh element, far from the wily 

 bars! The "Heroine" seemed at once to be 

 stepping up hills from lock to lock, till she 



