THE HIGHLANDS. 341 



belonging to Lord Breadalbane, situated at the point 

 where the river Tay flows out of the loch of the same 

 name in Perthshire. Lord Breadalbane is a descend- 

 ant of the chiefs of the clan Campbell, one of the most 

 powerful in the Highlands. His domains extend one hun- 

 dred English miles, or forty leagues, in length, and reach 

 nearly from sea to sea. The same means of clearance 

 were employed here as elsewhere, and the clan, properly 

 speaking, no longer exists ; and in place of the old 

 mansion a regular palace has been built, the splendour 

 of which astonished even the Queen when she paid a 

 visit to Lord Breadalbane. The finely timbered park, 

 through which the bounding waters of the young Tay flow, 

 well stocked with hares, partridges, and pheasants, and 

 studded with plots of flowers, combines with the natural 

 beauties of these wild glens those charms which the most ex- 

 quisite art alone can give, incompatible as they may seem. 

 It must have required a considerable sum of money thus 

 to have conquered the soil and climate. This the pastur- 

 ages have supplied, for they are inhabited only by sheep. 

 I arrived at Taymouth upon a long summer evening by 

 the left shore of Loch Tay, which cannot be less than six 

 leagues in length. Several farms appeared here and there 

 on the banks of this little sea, with their fields of turnips 

 and oats ; but on the mountains themselves no trace of man 

 or house was to be seen. Black-faced sheep were grazing 

 on the hill-sides without any one to look after them, and 

 as we passed they gazed at us with their little frightened 

 black faces ; West Highland cows, whose shadows were 

 thrown upon the rocks with the last rays of the sun, 

 filled the air with their bellowings at our approach ; and 

 just as we reached Kenmore Bridge, we saw under the 

 lofty larches, planted by the father of the present Mar- 

 quess, some stags, under cover of evening, coming down to 



