Fort Augustus, the garrison having been removed, we did not go on
shore.

At an early hour the next morning we got under weigh, and glided down
Loch Ness, which is twenty-four miles long, and about a mile and a
quarter broad, although it is narrower in some places. The depth is
very great, in some parts one hundred and thirty fathoms. In
consequence of this the water seldom freezes in the loch. The rugged
and heath-covered mountains rise on either side to the height of about a
thousand feet; and frequently we saw growing on them forests of oak,
ash, elm, and other trees, with a thick underwood of hazel and holly
intermingled with a profusion of wild roses.

About midway we passed the lofty dome of Mealfourvournie, rising in
solitary grandeur to the height of upwards of four thousand feet. Here
there were tracts of cultivated ground; and in the openings of Glen
Urquhart and Glenmoriston we came in sight of fields and
substantial-looking houses. A few miles further we passed under a
magnificent precipice crowned by pines. Not far distant we came to the
House of Foyers, where we landed and hurried up the glen to the falls.
We got down to the bottom of the perpendicular cliffs, over which we
could see a large volume of water rushing with headlong force and speed,
bubbling, foaming, and roaring into the channel which leads to the loch.
Above us was a bridge thrown across the chasm, while the mountain sides
were clothed with graceful birch and other trees. We had brought a copy
of Burns, whose lines on the subject begin:

"Among the heathy hills and ragged woods
The roaring Foyers pours his mossy floods;
Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds,
Where through a shapeless breach his stream resounds."

which describe the falls far better than I can do.

Hurrying back, we continued our voyage. We passed the mouth of the deep
denied Inverfarigaig, with the black rock resembling a ruin above it,
and further on Urquhart Castle, built on a detached rock overlooking the
loch, the most conspicuous object being a strong square keep, surmounted
by four turrets. The banks of the loch now appeared far more cultivated
than at the other end. Sailing through little Loch Dochfour, we again
entered the canal, which runs down into Loch Beauly; while the river
Ness, which we had on our right side, falls into the Moray Firth, close
to Inverness, which stands on a plain about a mile off.

It was curious to be looking from