Towns > Helensburgh > 1875 - Battrum's guide and directory to Helensburgh and neighbourhood

THE smuggler's, OR THE WHISTLER'h GLElf. 63
the bark of many an honest fisherman, now appearing a mere
speck, or the noble vessel with its living freight, ploughing its
way through its peaceful waters; the opposite shore stretching
out into the Frith of Clyde, forming the peninsula of E,ose-
neath. Almost at the extremity, and partially hid by noble
trees, stands the place of Koseneath, the seat of the Duke of
Argyll ; and at a short distance westward, near the shore, is
the Clachan, with its picturesque school house, and troops of
merry children. Towering in the background are the rugged
and heath-clad hills which border Lochs Long and Goil,
while away to the west, and almost lost in the distance, the
craggy mountains of Argyllshire ; and a little to the south,
disappearing in the clouds, rise the shattered and thunder-
splitten peaks of Arran. In former days this glen, as ita
name implies, was a favourite and secure retreat for smug-
glers, and not a few drops of " mountain-dew " have been car-
ried from it unscathed by government influence.
This glen is worthy the attention of the botanist, and
wo\ild amply repay his toil; he might spend days in sup-
plying himself with many rare and beautiful plants, espe-
cially of the fern tribe, and mosses of every variety and rain-
bow-coloured hues.
Tradition records that many years ago, beside the black
linn, and always when the moon was at its full, the figure
of a woman in gray might be seen by night on a stone,
crouched down with clasped hands and murmuring in a low
soft wail to the bubbling stream. Her lover was said to
have been slain by some rival in the lady's afiections, and
his body subsequently discovered at the spot. "We never
met with any one who saw the apparition, and do not vouch
it as a positive fact.
This glen is sometimes known as the Whistler's Glen; by