1857.] TOUE IN SCOTLAND. 85 



indeed of all large lochs; and the floods in the Dochart and 

 Lochay, or other feeders of lakes, are some time before they 

 have a perceptible effect on the Tay or the rivers that issue from 

 Highland lochs. The Tay will gradually increase after heavy 

 rains for several days after the floods which flow into its loch 

 have subsided. A river with a long, wide, shingly beach, is a 

 rarity in the Highlands. The channel, if not always quite full, 

 is never reduced to a slender stream in the centre, and where the 

 water- worn pebbles are almost the sole indications that water is 

 there at certain seasons. 



But the extent and diversity of the lakes make ample amends 

 for the uniformity of the rivers. Loch Vennachar, the lowest of 

 a chain of lakes of which Loch Katrine is the uppermost, is not 

 very remarkable, either for its extent or the beauty of its en- 

 virons. Ben Ledi slopes down very gradually to its shores, and 

 the hills on its other or southern side are of no great altitude. 

 Loch Achray is very prettily surrounded by the undulating 

 grounds of the Trosachs, which are ornamented by the Tro- 

 sachs Inn and a little church and manse, all recent erections, and 

 in a peculiar style, which is not ill adapted to the striking scenery 

 with which it (the lake) is surrounded. Loch Katrine, the queen 

 of Scottish lakes (we saw not a fairer in all fair Scotland), is not 

 to be described here. Poets and painters have exhausted all the 

 resources of their respective arts in vain attempts to transfer 

 some of its beauties into their pages or on to their bits of 

 canvas, but without success. Loch Katrine must be seen, and it 

 will bear looking at. The Scots however have an eye for the 

 useful as well as for the picturesque. The blue waters of this 

 fine lake are now on their way to Glasgow, to subserve the com- 

 mon necessities of humanity. " To what vile uses may we turn, 

 Horatio !" We can recommend it on the crede experto prin- 

 ciple. It may be used without filtration, if the pipes, cisterns, 

 and water-butts be kept clean. Scotland however, and even 

 Perthshire, possess lakes of no mean pretensions, but which have 

 not reached the fame of the scene of ' The Lady of the Lake.' 

 Among these Loch Lubnaig, on the north side of Ben Ledi, 

 deserves honourable mention. It is not a counterpart of Loch 

 Katrine, nor of any Scottish lake whatever. The north shore 

 has a gentle slope, which extends far away to Benvoirlich's head, 

 a pastoral region; the other, or south side, is bounded by the 



