304 ON THE HIGHLANDS, 



by far the most striking and beautiful object is 

 * Cruachan, lying to the north-west ; which springs 

 aloft with singular elegance of outline, from the 

 mass of hills in its vicinity, and which now seem- 

 ed to project from the brilliant ground of the 

 western sky, like a figure embossed on burnished 

 gold. Few appearances in that kind of alpine 

 landscape, could have a more spirited or charming 

 effect. 



With such an expanse of the great and de- 

 lightful beneath the eye, contemplations of a 

 higher kind could hardly fail to arise in the mind. 

 If the ruins of temples, and the deserted scenes of 

 antient magnificence, patriotism, or learning, have 

 awakened the most interesting recollections, it can- 

 not be unsuitable to the feelings of man, that the 

 sight of impressively magnificent natural objects 

 should lead him to reflect, with the sublimest 

 sentiments of veneration, on the power and wis- 

 dom which gave them existence, and which pre- 

 sides over all the stupendous operations of na- 

 ture. 



From the summit of Ben-More, a very interest- 

 ing and important geognostic fact may be ob- 

 served. It is, that the leading ridges of the indi- 

 vidual mountains throughout the whole of the 

 vast range v/hich stretches before the eye, on all 

 sides, are always conformable to the direction of 

 the strata which compose them. That is to say, 

 the different ridges run from south-west to 

 north-east, shewing, that the relative elevations 



