phere always encircles Inverness, it does not at least extend far into the Highlands. At 6 o'clock we embarked, with between one and two hundred others, on board the steam-boat Comet, and launched forth on the Great Caledonian Canal. The usual bustle on such occasions was repeated, and a great many farewells were waved to the Highland lassies and kilted laddies, who thronged the deck. There were all sorts of people among the passengers, who were necessarily brought into contact by the narrow dimensions of the boat, not exceeding eighty or a hundred tuns burthen, with contracted cabins, and miserable accommodations of every kind. Not more than ten or a dozen persons can breakfast or dine at the same time; and a succession of tables continued the greater part of the day, the meals running into each other, so as to render it difficult to say which was which. The cook kept his fires lighted, and his kettles hot from the time of embarkation till dark; and go into the cabins at what hour you would, some one was eating. There was no respect of persons; and the miller's maxim was rigidly observed-"first come, first served." Some of the passengers, weary of waiting for their turns, or unwilling to breathe the confined air of the cabin, collected in circles on the deck, and converted trunks into tea-boards. To persons accustomed to the splendid accommodations and the sumptuous tables on board of an American steamboat, the contracted size and wretched fare of the Comet afforded but a sad specimen of the little progress, which Europe has yet made in this mode of travelling. From first to last, the whole establishment is badly managed: the boats are too small they are apparently constructed in the worst possible manner, both for speed and comfort; the officers make bungling work in guiding them and coarse provisions are badly cooked. After a trip in any of the steam-boats that I have yet seen on this side of the Atlantic, an American will congratulate himself on the conveniences and comforts, which the enterprise of his own countrymen has afforded him, for traversing the waters of the United States. : But the tourist seldom finds himself in a situation, which does not open some source of consolation. Adversity is said to be the best test of character, and often draws forth virtues or defects, which would escape detection amidst the unbroken monotony of prosperity. Such a multitude, subjected to so many inconveniences, furnished an excellent opportunity for studying the dress, habits, and manners of the Highlanders, who constituted a large majority of the crowd. When the bonnetted and plaided representative of some half-extinct clan promptly rose and yielded his place to a lady, it was natural to conclude, that he was a descendant of a gallant and polite race, accustomed to pay deference to the female sex. When another was ready to share with you the res angustæ domi-the half of his seat, or the half of his loaf at table-it furnished evidence, that the ancient spirit of hospitality has survived the wreck of national manners. When a circle of half a dozen gathered round a table, and for hours drank whiskey punch, till their cheeks became flushed and their eyes dim, the scene but too clearly proved, that they had not forgotten their fondness for the bottle. So far as I have observed, a love of whiskey is universal among the lower classes in Scotland. Both sexes will take it in any and every shape, and in immeasurable quantities. It is as much a national drink, as beer is in England, but has a very different effect upon the constitution, producing when taken to excess, thin, emaciated forms, with sallow, smoky countenances instead of the rotundity and rosy complexion of the English. Although "the age of chivalry is gone" with the Highlanders; though the lofty spirit of the clans has been broken down by conquest in war, and the oppressions of the government; and though inroads have been made upon their language and peculiar habits, by the establishment of English schools among them, and the commercial intercourse of modern times; yet a sort of twilight of national manners still lingers upon their hills, and in some of the remoter glens, the original cast of character is preserved in its pristine simplicity. An attachment to the former modes of dress, and a fondness for music and dancing almost universally prevail. A majority of the passengers of both sexes on board the boat wore the plaid, not only in the shape of cloaks, but of coats, trowsers, gowns, and full suits. All the military and many of the citizens wear kilts, leaving the leg entirely naked from the knee downward. They even attend balls, and fashionable parties, in this costume, especially if their limbs chance to be well formed. His majesty mounted a pair of these trowsers, in his visit to Edinburgh, which exposed him to the ridicule of the higher classes of society, since it manifested an ignorance of this part of his dominions. The kilt is peculiar to the Highlands, and by no means the national dress of Scotland. But to return from these remarks upon the people, to the country they inhabit:-The whole of our tardy march this day was along the great Caledonian Canal, which is the most extensive work of the kind in Great-Britain, opening a chain of inland navigation through the mountains of Scotland, from the Irish sea to the Baltic. Ships of the largest burthen, with full cargoes, may pass, and occasionally have passed through this channel; but the delay in going through the great number of locks, the difficulty of navigating with sails in narrow lakes, hemmed in by mountains, and above all the enormous tolls levied by government, have led mariners almost universally to prefer the outward passage, and go north about, even between the Clyde and Moray Firth. The foreign trade carried on through this channel is next to nothing. We did not see more than half a dozen vessels in the whole extent. The Caledonian Canal occupies the bed of the principal pass through the Highlands of Scotland, running from Moray Firth, in the north-east, to Loch Linnhe, an arm of the Irish sea, in the south-west, a distance of sixty miles, thirtyseven of which consist of navigable lakes, and the remaining twenty-three of artificial channels connecting them together. A survey of the route led to a belief, that the work could be constructed at an expense of £20,000, and an appropriation to that amount was first granted by the government. The trifling sum of £980,000 was subsequently added, making an aggregate nearly as great, as the whole cost of the Erie Canal, with an artificial excavation of 360 miles! From a careful examination of both canals, I have no hesitation in saying, that there is no part of the Caledonian which will bear a comparison with the locks of the Little Falls, and the Mountain Ridge, or even with the aqueduct at Rochester. Such is the difference between the two countries in enterprise, skill, and the mode of expending public money. The artificial part of the Caledonian Canal is 120 feet wide at top, 50 at bottom, and 20 deep. There are twenty locks in all, forty feet in width, with an average of eight or ten feet lift, the summit level being 94 feet above tide-water. Two of these are sea-locks, one at the northern extremity on Moray Firth, and the other at the head of Loch Linnhe, where it meets the tides of St. George's Channel. The foundations of the former reach 1200 feet into the Firth, from high water mark; and a basin is connected with it, 3000 feet in length and 400 in breadth. From this dock four other locks lift the canal to the level of Loch Ness, distant eight miles, for which extent a supply of water is derived from the outlet of the lake. The construction of the locks is similar to those on the Erie canal, though in workmanship certainly inferior; and I saw nothing about this gigantic structure, which could apparently be imitated to any advantage in our country. Fifteen minutes were on an average occupied in passing a boat through a lock; which, if my recollection serves me, is about three times as long as our boatmen require. But from a dry detail of facts, I hasten to give a concise sketch of the country, through which our march upon the waters this day conducted us, with some of the little adventures of the voyage. The society of two intelligent American tourists from New-England, and of two graduates from Oxford, all on the same errand with ourselves, served to alleviate the inconveniences and heighten the enjoyments, to which I have already alluded. If Highland scenery chanced to grow tame, and a crowd of strangers ceased to excite interest, there was always a resource in the conversation of our little circle. No complaint however can fairly be made of a want of a sufficient variety of natural objects on this route, to keep the attention awake, and excite the curiosity of the traveller. Loch Ness opens a beautiful vista through the mountains for a distance of twenty-four miles, in a line so direct, that it may be seen from end to end. Its shores near the margin are deeply wooded, and the hills on either side rise in bold and lofty swells. Its breadth is uniformly about a mile, giving it a striking resemblance to the passage of the Hudson through the Highlands. A profound abyss yawns below, which is said to be in some places six or seven hundred feet deep, with almost perpendicular banks. Owing to its great depth, it never freezes, and the vapour rising from the surface in the frosts of winter has led to the popular belief that it rests on a bed of subterranean fires. Its waters are dark, and are said to possess cathartic properties, ascribed to the decomposition of vegetable matter. The great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755 rocked this remote little glen, cra dled among the mountains, and the lake tumbled in tremendous tides towards the south-west. Several deep, wild, and romantic glens open laterally from the mountains into Loch Ness. The first of these on the right, in descending from the north, is called Glen-Urquhart, the seat of the Grants. It is watered by two streams, which form a little bay at their junction with the lake. On a promontory projecting boldly from the shore, are seen the ruins of Castle Urquhart, once the strong-hold of a Highland chief. Edward I. of England is said to have captured it after a gallant defence, and to have put the Governor and garrison to the sword. At a distance of a mile from the left shore of the lake, are the falls of Fyers, which certainly make a great noise on paper, whatever may be the reality. When we took passages at Inverness, the captain of the steam-boat promised to set us ashore, and give us an opportunity to look at them. On arriving opposite the place for landing, the request was renewed, and the steward was sent below in search of him, but made a return of non est inventus. Our companions from Boston, who had been at the expense of a ride from Inverness to the cascade, consoled us with the assurance, that little had been lost by the forgotten promises of our commander; that there is no water; and that nothing is to be seen save a skeleton of rocks. Dr. Johnson paid a visit to this spot in his northern tour, and gave it celebrity by one or two of his sonorous periods. Tourists who quote him, take care to leave off precisely at the point, where he begins to complain of a drought. Justice perhaps does not require them to give evidence against themselves; but if they choose to cite the Doctor as a witness, they should surely permit him to tell "the whole truth." If the representations made to us were literally true, he might have added, that his twenty-four dishes of Mrs. Thrale's tea would produce as fine a cascade. But let me not speak lightly of a scene, which Johnson deigned to honour with a paragraph, and Burns, with a poetical stanza. The former of these two distinguished men here took his departure for the Hebrides, passing up Glen-Morrisson, on the opposite shore of the lake. The boat reached the head of Loch Ness about noon. Here is another piece of artificial canal, with six locks of the ordinary lift and construction. An hour and a half was |