Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/257

 sprouting from every chink of the rocks, towering almost to the sky; and on the right hand feathering down to the water, over a rocky precipice of perhaps eighty or a hundred feet perpendicular; and no security whatever, either in climbing to the shelf, or upon it, should the horses there take fright. The scene, however, made me amends for the little palpitation occasioned by the attainment of the awful eminence on which I was mounted. The long extent of the lake, Glen Urquhart, and the ruins of its castle, boldly projecting into the loch, were in sight. The noble mountains, on each side the lake, covered with wood, through which peep masses of huge rock, some descending perpendicularly to the lake's edge, others sweeping with bold variety into it, breaking the line without lessening the majesty of its straightness, which is its peculiar character, for in that respect no other great lake in Scotland is like it. About a mile further I came to a simple bridge, thrown from rock to rock over a rapid river, issuing from a beautiful close cluster of wooded rocks and high hills. This river, swollen to a great height by the violent rains, came tumbling furiously through the arch; dashing afterwards unseen through thick wood, and down