THE  BLACK-INDIES;
135
light, and her lungs inhale freely this vivifying
and salubrious air. The green of the trees,
the varied shades of the plants, the azure of
the sky, had unfolded before her eyes the scale
of colors.
The train which they took at the General
Railway Station brought Nell and her com-
panions to Glasgow. There, from the last
bridge thrown over the Clyde, they could ad-
mire the curious maritime movement of the
river. Then, they passed the night at Com-
rie's Royal Hotel.
The next day, from the depot of the Edin-
burgh and Glasgow Railway, the train would
conduct them rapidly, by Dumbarton and Bal-
loch, to the southern extremity of Loch Lo-
mond.
" It is the country of Rob Roy and of Fergus
MacGregor !" cried James Starr, "the dis-
trict so poetically celebrated by Walter Scott!
You are not familiar with this country, Jack ?"
" I know it by its songs, Mr. Starr," replied
Jack Ryan, " and when a country has been so
well sung, it ought to be superb !"
"It is, indeed," cried the engineer, "and
our dear Nell will return with the best remem-
brance of it !"
" With such a guide as you, Mr. Starr," re-
plied Harry, " we shall derive double benefit,
for you will tell us the history of the country
while we are looking at it."
"Yes, Harry," said the engineer, "as
much as my memory will permit, but, mean-
while, on one condition, it is tho merry Jack
will come to my assistance ! When I grow
weary of relating he will sing."
"It will not be necessary to tell me twice,"
replied, Jack Ryan, sending forth a vibrating
note, as if he would stretch his throat to la of
the diapason.
By the railroad from Glasgow to Balloch,
between the commercial metropolis of Scot-
land and the southern extremity of Loch
Lomond, is only about twenty miles.
The train passed by Dumbarton, royal city
and chief place in the county, whose castle, al-
ways fortified, in compliance with the Treaty
of the Union, is picturesquely situated in the
two peaks of a great basalt rock.
Dumbarton is situated at the confluence of
the Clyde and the Leven. In connection with
it, James Starr related some particulars of the
adventurous history of Mary Stuart. In fact,
it was from this city that she set out to marry
Francis II. and become Queen of France.
There, also, after 1815, the English ministry
thought of confining Napoleon ; but the choice
of St. Helena prevailed, and that is the reason
that the prisoner of England went to die on a
rock in the Atlantic, to the great benefit of his
legendary memory.
Soon the train stopped at Balloch, near a
wooden stockade which descended to the level
ofthe lake.
A steamboat, the " Sinclair," awaits the
tourists who make the lake excursion. Nell
and her companions embarked in it, after get-
ting their tickets for Inversnaid, at the north-
ern extremity of Loch Lomond.
The sun shone brightly when the day began.
He was quite free from those British fogs, with
which he generally vails himself.
No detail of this trip, which extends over an
extent of thirty miles, would escape the travel-
ers on the " Sinclair." Nell, seated in the
stern between James Starr and Harry, inhaled
by means of all her senses, the grand poetry
-with which this beautiful Scotch nature is so
largely impressed.
Jack Ryan walked backward and forward on
the deck of the " Sinclair," never ceasing to
interrogate the engineer, who, really, had no
need of being interrogated. As fast as the
country of Rob Roy spread before his eyes, he
described it as an enthusiastic admirer.
In the first waters of Loch Lomond, ap-
peared numerous little isles or islets. It was
like a seed plot. The " Sinclair" coasted along
their rugged banks, and, in the space between
the isles, were sketched, now a solitary valley,
now a wild gorge, bristling with sharp rocks.
"Nell," said James Starr, "each of these
islets has its legends, and perhaps its songs, as
well as the mountains which encircle the lake.
It may be said, without too much pretention,
that the history of this country is written with
these gigantic characters of isles and mountains.
" Do you know, Mr. Starr," said Harry,
" what this part of Loch Lomond puts me in
mind of?"
"What does it remind you of, Harry?"
"The Thousand Isles of Lake Ontario, so ad-
mirably described by Cooper. You should be
struck with this resemblance as much as lam,
my dear Nell, for, it is only a few days since I
read to you that romance, which has been
justly named, the clief d'ceuvre of the American
author.
" In fact, Harry," replied the young girl,
" it is the same kind of scenery, and the ' Sin-
clair' glides between these isles as Jasper
Eandonce's cutter did on Lake Ontario!"
"Well," replied the engineer, " that proves
that the two sites deserve to be equally well
sung about, by two poets. I do not know those
Thousand Isles of Ontario, Harry, but I doubt
if the scenery is more varied than this little
archipelago of Loch Lomond. Look at this
landscape ! Behold Murray Isle, with its old
Fort Lennox, where the old Duchess of Albany
resided, after the death of her father, her hus-
band, and her two sons, beheaded by the order
of James I. Here are Clar Isle, Cro Isle, Torr
Isle, some rocky, wild, and without the appear-
ance of vegetation; others, showing their ridges
green and rounded. Here, larches and birches.
There fields of heath, yellow and dry. In
truth ! I have some difficulty in believing that
the Thousand Isles of Lake Ontario offer such-
a variety of views !"
" What is that little port?" asked Nell, who
had turned toward the eastern bank of the
lake.
" That is Balmaha, which forms the en-
trance to the Highlands," replied James Starr.
" There commence our high lands of Scotland.
The ruins which you perceive, Nell, are those
of an old nunnery, and these scattered tombs
inclose various members of the family of the
MacGregors, of which the name is still cele-
brated in all the country."
" Celebrated by the blood that this family
shed and caused to be shed !" remarked Harry.
" You are right," replied James Starr, " and
it must be acknowledged that celebrity due to
battles is still the most far-spread. These re-
citals of combats travel far down the ages."
" And they are perpetuated by songs,"added
Jack Ryan.
"And, in support of what he said, the brave
fellow sang the first couplet of an old war
song, which related the adventures of Alex-
ander MacGregor, of Glen Trae, against Sir
Humphrey Colquhour, of Luss.
Nell listened, but she received only a sad
impression from these recitals of combats..
Why so much bloodshed on these plains,
which tho young girl found so large, where
there was room enough for all ?"
The banks of the lake, which measured from
three to four miles, converged at the outskirts
of the little port of Luss. Nell could perceive
for an instant the old tower of the ancient
castle. Then the "Sinclair" made the cape
at the north, and Ben Lomond appeared to the
eyes of the tourists. This mountain rises
nearly three thousand feet above the level of
the lake.
"What a magnificent mountain!" cried
Nell; "and how beautiful the view must be
from its summit !"
"Yes, Nell," replied James Starr. "Notice
how this summit rises proudly from the basket
of oaks, birches and larches which adorn the
base of the mountain. From there we can see
two-thirds of our old Caledonia. It is here
that the Clan MacGregor fixed its residence, on
the eastern side ofthe lake. Not far away the
quarrels of the Jacobites and Hanoverians have
more than once ensanguined these desolate
gorges. There, during fine nights, rises this
pale moon, which the narratives call " Mac-
Farlane's Lantern." There the echoes still
repeat the imperishable names of Rob Roy and
MacGregor Campbell !"
Ben Lwnoud, the last peak of the Grampian
Hills, truly merits being celebrated by tne
great Scotch novelist. As James Starr re-
marked, there are much higher mountains,
whose summits are clothed with an eternal
snows, but there are none, perhaps, more
poetical in any corner ofthe world.
" And," added he, " when I think, this Ben
Lomond belongs entirely to the Duke of Mon-
trose ! His Grace owns a mountain as a citi-
zen of London owns a grass-plot in his
garden."
During this time the "Sinclair" arrived at
the village of Tarbet, on the opposite shore of
the lake, where it landed the passengers for
Inverary. From this place Ben Lomond ap-
peared in all its beauty. Its sides, streaked
like a zebra by the beds of the torrents, glis-
tened like silver in melting.
As the " Sinclair" left the base ofthe moun-
tain behind, the country became more and
more abrupt. Here and there isolated trees—
among others a few of those willows whose
wands served in other days to hang men of low
condition.
" To economize hemp," observed James
Starr.
Meanwhile the lake grew narrower and
longer toward the north. The lateral moun-
tains hemmed it in more closely. The steam-
boat again skirted some isles and islets—In-
veruglas, Eilad, Whow, where stood the re-
mains of a fortress which belonged to the Mac-
Farlanes. At last the two banks joined, and
the "Sinclair" stopped at the station of
Inverslaid.
Then, while breakfast was being prepared,
Nell and her companions went to visit near the
landing-place, a torrent which precipitated
itself into the lake from a considerable height.
It seemed to be put there as an ornament for
the delight of tourists. A-euspension bridge
spanned the tumultuous waters, in the midst
of a liquid dust. From this place the view em-
braced a large part of Lake Lomond, and the
" Sinclair" appeared like a dot on its surface.
Breakfast over, the intention was to visit Lake
Katrine. Several carriages having tho coat of
arms of the Breadalbane family—that family
who formerly furnished bread and water to the
fugitive Rob Roy—were at the disposal of the
travelers, and offered them all that comfort
which distinguishes English coaches. Harry
placed Nell on the imperial, according to the
fashion of the day. His companions and he
took places before her. A magnificent coach-
man held in his left hand the reins of his four
horses. The equipage commenced the ascent
of the mountain, following the winding bed of
the torrent.
The way was very steep. As they ascended,
the forms of the surrounding summits seemed
to change. They saw all the chain of the op-
posite shore of the lake enlarge magnificently,
and the summits of Arroquhar overlooking th»
valley of Invernglas. On the left arose Ben
Lomond, which thus showed the sharp decliv-
ity of its northern side.
The country lying between Loch Lomond
and Loch Katrine presented a wild aspect. The
valley commenced by narrow defiles, which
ended in the glen of Aberfoyle. This name
sadly reminded the young girl of those abysses
fill- d with terror, at the bottom of which she
had passed her infancy. So James Starr
hastened to attract her attention by his narra-
tives.
Besides, the country helped him. It was on
the borders of the little lake of Ard that the
principal events of Rob Roy's life took place.
There the calcareous rocks rise with a sinister
aspect, containing pebbles which the action of
time and weather had hardened like cement.
Miserable huts, like dens—of those which they
called "bourrochs"—lay in the midst of ruined
sheep-folds. One could not have said if they
were inhabited by human beings or wild
beasts. Some marmoto, with hair already
white from the severity of the climate, watched
the carriages pass with amazement.
"Behold," said James Starr, "what may V
more particularly called the County of Rob
Roy. It is here that the excellent Bailie
Nichol Jarvie, worthy son of his father, th»
7