Burn side. 91 



To thy protecting shade she runs, 

 Thy tender buds supply her food, 

 Her young forsake her downy plumes 

 To rest upon thy opening blooms." 



Truly Tom nan Gamhna is very beautiful, as seen from 

 here, with its lovely heather cap and sides. We look 

 round, and there, to our right, far, far below us, is the beauti- 

 ful Loch Goil, sparkling like gold in the bright afternoon 

 sunshine, except where a long black line crosses it from side 

 to side. What is that black line ? Ah ! there is the culprit, 

 one of those dreadful steamers which are allowed to pollute 

 the otherwise pure atmosphere of this lovely place. Only 

 two or three times a day do they come up the Loch, but that 

 is sufficient to leave a dirty black margin of soot, some two 

 feet wide, on the margin of the Loch, every time the tide 

 falls, and to cover the thrift on its banks with filth. But 

 this is nothing to the condition of the firth lower down, 

 where some of the most beautiful scenery is occasionally (nay, 

 constantly) hung as with a funeral pall. How long elsewhere 

 would a comparatively few steamers be allowed to produce 

 this condition of things ? Why is it tolerated here ? 



But the sight of that steamer reminds me of the ability 

 with which the fleecing of tourists is carried on in these 

 parts. There appears to be no fixed tariff from pier to pier ; 

 the man who distributes the tickets charges what he thinks 

 you can afford to pay, and it would seem as if he were 

 selected for this post on account of his aptitude in smelling 

 out a stranger at once. Tired after a night's journey, a bit 

 untidy and a little unwashed, a shilling was the amount I had 

 to pay from Grourock to Lochgoilhead with half-price for a 

 boy of twelve. A few days after, the journey from Lochgoil- 



