Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/90

64 the highest peak in Scotland, the circumference of its base being 24 miles. In the evening we went to Fort William, and saw the ruins of that fort first erected by General Monk, during the Protectorate, to overawe Cameron of Locheil, who was determined to set at defiance the power of the Protector long after every other chieftain had been subdued.

From Banvie to Inverness we went through the Caledonian Canal. There are three lakes here, Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and Loch Ness, and these are joined by artificial canals. As we were going through the Caledonian Canal the scene around was gloomy but magnificent. On both sides of us were continuous chains of mountains, and it being very bad weather, dark clouds hanging over our heads served as a gloomy canopy extending from the ridges on our right to those on our left. As far as the eye could reach, before or behind, there was nothing but this gloomy vista,—the dark clouds above, the dark waters below, and high mountains on both sides of us. The scene was grand, and I would not have changed that gloomy scene of highland grandeur for the neatest and prettiest spot in the earth, not for the sunniest sky, the dark rolling clouds which added to the sublimity of the scene. We landed at Foyers to see the "Fall of Foyers;" which I will describe in the words of Burns.

"High in air bursting torrents flow, As deep recoiling surges foam below; Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends, And viewless echo's ear astonished rends; Dim seen through rising mists and ceaseless showers, The hoary cavern wide surrounding lowers,