Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

LOCH AWE DALMALLY.
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crowned with trees, and others are rendered interesting by the
remains of bygone times.
Dalmally, 6 miles.
Leaving Cladich, and descending gradually towards the
hanks of the loch to Dalmally (a distance of six miles) the road
is shaded for the first few miles by trees, until it reaches Loch
Awe side, when Kilchurn Castle, backed by the proud moun¬
tains of Glenorchy, is seen to great advantage.
Dalmally \lnn : Alexander Fraser] is the ancient capital,
as it might be termed, of the Breadalbane Campbells. It is
situated near the head of the loch, and commands a beautiful
view of the vale of Glenorchy. The old church of Glenorchy
is of great antiquity, and the churchyard contains many ancient
gravestones.
At the eastern extremity of Loch Awe, at the base of Ben
Cruachan, where the conjoined waters of two rivers, the Strae
and the Orchy, descend from their respective glens, and empty
themselves into the lake, stands Kilchurn Castle.* The great
number of ancient tombstones, curiously carved. The MacArthurs formerly inha¬
bited the shores of Loch Awe, opposite Inishail, and numerous stones in the church¬
yard bear the name of an ancient clan.
On Innis Fraoch, or the Heather Isle, are the ruins of an ancient castle of the
chief of the MacNaughtons. This isle was the Hesperides of the Highlands, and i@
fabled to have derived its name from Fraoch, an adventurous lover, who, attempting
to gratify the longing of the fair Meyo for the delicious fruit of the isle, encountered
and destroyed the serpent by which it was guarded, but perished himself in the con¬
flict. The island of Fraoch, with the contiguous lands, were granted, in 1267, by
Alexander III. to Gilbert MacNaughton, whose descendants took part with Mac-
Dougal of Lorn in the attack on Robert the Bruce at Dalrigh, near Tyndrum.
* Our space will not admit of our quoting the whole of Wordsworth’s fine
Address to Kilchurn Castle, but we give the introductory part of the poem and the
prose extract with which it is prefaced.
“From the top of the hill a most impressive scene opened upon our view—a
ruined castle on an island (for an island the flood had made it), at some distance
from the shore, backed by a cove of the mountain Cruachan, down which came a
foaming stream. The castle occupied every foot of the island that was visible to us,
appearing to rise out of the water,—mists rested upon the mountain side, with
spots of sunshine; there was a mild desolation in the low grounds, a solemn gran¬
deur in the mountains, and the castle was wild, yet stately—not dismantled of tur¬
rets—nor the walls broken down, though obviously a ruin.”—Extract from the
Journal of my Companion.
“ Child of loud-throated War 1 the mountain stream
Boars in thy hearing: but thy hour of rest