第13章 LOUGH NESS(1)

We took two Highlanders to run beside us,partly to shew us the way,and partly to take back from the sea-side the horses,of which they were the owners.One of them was a man of great liveliness and activity,of whom his companion said,that he would tire any horse in Inverness.Both of them were civil and ready-handed.

Civility seems part of the national character of Highlanders.

Every chieftain is a monarch,and politeness,the natural product of royal government,is diffused from the laird through the whole clan.But they are not commonly dexterous:their narrowness of life confines them to a few operations,and they are accustomed to endure little wants more than to remove them.

We mounted our steeds on the thirtieth of August,and directed our guides to conduct us to Fort Augustus.It is built at the head of Lough Ness,of which Inverness stands at the outlet.The way between them has been cut by the soldiers,and the greater part of it runs along a rock,levelled with great labour and exactness,near the water-side.

Most of this day's journey was very pleasant.The day,though bright,was not hot;and the appearance of the country,if I had not seen the Peak,would have been wholly new.We went upon a surface so hard and level,that we had little care to hold the bridle,and were therefore at full leisure for contemplation.On the left were high and steep rocks shaded with birch,the hardy native of the North,and covered with fern or heath.On the right the limpid waters of Lough Ness were beating their bank,and waving their surface by a gentle agitation.Beyond them were rocks sometimes covered with verdure,and sometimes towering in horrid nakedness.Now and then we espied a little cornfield,which served to impress more strongly the general barrenness.

Lough Ness is about twenty-four miles long,and from one mile to two miles broad.It is remarkable that Boethius,in his description of Scotland,gives it twelve miles of breadth.When historians or geographers exhibit false accounts of places far distant,they may be forgiven,because they can tell but what they are told;and that their accounts exceed the truth may be justly supposed,because most men exaggerate to others,if not to themselves:but Boethius lived at no great distance;if he never saw the lake,he must have been very incurious,and if he had seen it,his veracity yielded to very slight temptations.

Lough Ness,though not twelve miles broad,is a very remarkable diffusion of water without islands.It fills a large hollow between two ridges of high rocks,being supplied partly by the torrents which fall into it on either side,and partly,as is supposed,by springs at the bottom.Its water is remarkably clear and pleasant,and is imagined by the natives to be medicinal.We were told,that it is in some places a hundred and forty fathoms deep,a profundity scarcely credible,and which probably those that relate it have never sounded.Its fish are salmon,trout,and pike.

It was said at fort Augustus,that Lough Ness is open in the hardest winters,though a lake not far from it is covered with ice.