Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/394

376 that it is dangerous, and impassable for a carriage.

From Tarbet inn is a ferry to a house opposite, at the foot of Ben Lomond, built on purpose by the Duke of Montrose, for the accommodation of those who wish to go to the top of the mountain. A gentleman, I was told, had been waiting a week at Tarbet for a favourable day to ascend, and was on that expedition the day I passed it. As it grew clear enough for me to see the top of that huge mass, I think he would not lose his labour; but on such occasions disappointment is often the case; the country below being seldom to be seen distinctly from such immense heights, even though at starting all appears clear and cloudless.

The drive from Tarbet to Dumbarton, (21 miles) is superlatively beautiful. A few miles south of Tarbet, the road winds up a very steep hill, to a shelf hanging over the glassy lake: from that point, to the east and north, the sublimity of the scene is equal to the beauty of it. It is the narrow part of the lake, bounded by the Aroquhar hills and Ben Lomond, both sweeping precipitately to the water's edge, with rocky,