V 
EEN-NEVIS, OR BENEVIS. 623 
six miles, falls into the sea. Its course for two of these miles is 
through a deep chasm of an extensive and rugged precipice, called 
Craig Grande, or the Ugly Rock, of which the Rev. Mr. Robertson, in 
his statistical account of the parish, gives the following description, 
** This is a deep chasm or abyss, formed by two opposite precipices, 
that rise perpendicularly to a great height, through which the Ault- 
grande runs for the space of two miles. It begins at the distance of 
four miles from the sea, by a bold projection into the channel of the 
river, which it diminishes in breadth by at least one half. The river 
continues to run with rapidity for about three-quarters of a mile, when 
it is confined by a sudden jutting out of the rock. There the side- 
view from the summit is very striking. The course of the stream 
being thus impeded, it whirls, and foams, and beats with violence 
against the opposing rock, till, collecting strength, it shoots up per- 
pendicularly with great fury, and,^ forcing its way, darts, with the 
swiftness of an arrow, through the winding passage on the other 
side. After passing the obstruction, it becomes in many places 
invisible, owing partly to the increasing depth and narrowness of the^ 
chasm, and partly to the view' being intercepted by the numerous 
branches of trees which grow on each side of the precipice. 
About a quarter of a mile farther down, the country people have 
thrown a slight bridge, composed of trunks of trees covered with 
turf, over the rock, where the chasm is about sixteen feet wide. Here 
the observer, if he has intrepidity enough to venture himself on such a 
tottering support, and can look down the gulf beloiv witliout any uneasy 
sensations, will be gratified with a view . equally awful and astonish- 
ing. The wildness of the steep and rugged rocks ; the gloomy hor- 
ror of the cliffs and caverns, inaccessible by mortals, and where the 
genial rays of the sun never yet penetrated ; the water-falls, which are 
heard pouring down in different parts of the precipice, and sound 
various in proportion to their distance ; the hoarse and hollow mur- 
muring of the river, which runs at the depth of near one hundred and 
thirty feet below the surface of the earth; fine groves of pines, 
which majestically climb the sides of a beautiful eminence, that rises 
immediately from the brink of the chasm ; all these objects cannot 
be contemplated without exciting emotions of wonder and admiration 
in the mind of every beholder. 
Ben-Nevis, orBenevis. 
This is a lofty mountain of Scotland, in Inverness-shire, 4370 feet 
above the level of the sea. The summit of this mountain affords one 
of the most extensive prospects in Scotland. One sees at once across 
the island eastward to the German ocean, and westward to the At- 
lantic. The extent of view on the horizon of sea is about eighty miles, 
and from the Murray Frith on the north-east, to the island of Colonsay 
on the south-west, it reaches one hundred and seventy miles. Mr. 
Fraser, minister of Kilmalei, has given a most beautiful description 
of all the various prospects it affords, for which we must refer the 
reader to Sir J. Sinclair’s Statistical Account, vol. viii. p. 414 — 41 8 , and 
content ourselves with quoting his conclusion. “ In a word, (says he,) 
