whole side of the pass, and descend at one fall into the
water which fills its trough. At the north end of the barrier, and at
the termination of the pass, lies that part of the cliff which is called
Craiganuni; at its foot the arm of the lake gradually contracts its
water to a very narrow space, and at length terminates at two rocks
(called the Rocks of Brandir), which form a strait channel, something
resembling the lock of a canal. From this outlet there is a continual
descent towards Loch Eitive, and from hence the river Awe pours out its
current in a furious stream, foaming over a bed broken with holes, and
cumbered with masses of granite and whinstone.

"If ever there was a bridge near Craiganuni in ancient times, it must
have been at the Rocks of Brandir. From the days of Wallace to those of
General Wade, there were never passages of this kind but in places of
great necessity, too narrow for a boat, and too wide for a leap; even
then they were but an unsafe footway formed of the trunks of trees
placed transversely from rock to rock, unstripped of their bark, and
destitute of either plank or rail. For such a structure there is
no place in the neighbourhood of Craiganuni but at the rocks above
mentioned. In the lake and on the river the water is far too wide; but
at the strait the space is not greater than might be crossed by a tall
mountain pine, and the rocks on either side are formed by nature like a
pier. That this point was always a place of passage is rendered probable
by its facility and the use of recent times. It is not long since it was
the common gate of the country on either side the river and the pass:
the mode of crossing is yet in the memory of people living, and was
performed by a little currach moored on either side the water, and a
stout cable fixed across the stream from bank to bank, by which the
passengers drew themselves across in the manner still practised in
places of the same nature. It is no argument against the existence of
a bridge in former times that the above method only existed in ours,
rather than a passage of that kind, which would seem the more improved
expedient. The contradiction is sufficiently accounted for by the decay
of timber in the neighbourhood. Of old, both oaks and firs of an immense
size abounded within a very inconsiderable distance; but it is now many
years since the destruction of the forests of Glen Eitive and Glen Urcha
has deprived the country of all the trees of