,CH. IV. SHIN RIVER. 49 



beautiful beyond description — at any rate it is so 

 on a fine day ; but situated as it is at the end of 

 Loch Shin, a Highland lake about eighteen miles 

 in length, the prospect from the inn windows must 

 be very different on a wild autumn day, with wind 

 and sleet driving up from the west, from what it 

 was on the fine June evening on which I arrived. 

 The view combines the most happy mixture of ■ ,' ^ ^ 

 mountain, water, and green herbage, dotted with " '^^ 

 fine old birch-trees : a few picturesque buildings, ' ' ' ' ' 

 too, which are seen from the inn, add to the happy ""I 

 and 7-iant expression of the scene. \ f ^ 



The Shin river, which runs out of the lake near /,,,' 

 the inn, is a fine and picturesque stream, charming ,, " ' 

 to the eye of both painter and fisherman. The ! • ' ' 

 Shin salmon are of a large size and very plentiful. ," ', 

 I stopped for half an hour or so at the falls, two or» ■ ; > ^ 

 three miles from the lake, and saw a great number 

 of salmon, and even trout, leaping ; some of them» 

 succeeded in passing up, others fell back into the» ';'J 

 pool below, in consequence of not having leaped^ ,' ' .' 

 with sufficient strength, or from having miscalculated ■ ■ , ^ 

 the distance and angle at which to take the leap.^ ' ' , ^ 

 All the scenery about the falls of the Shin is ver/ \\ 

 beautiful : the steep and lofty hill which comes ' ' 

 down to the water's edge is covered with wood, 

 and, at this time of the year, was alive with singing 



VOL. I. D 



