Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/409

with thick wood, through which, one winding path leads to the top of prodigious crags hanging over the Mouse, and another pointing down to the bottom of them; these are Cartland Crags. The river, when I was there, was fortunately low; and the polite owner of Borronauld took the trouble of accompanying one of my amiable young friends and me, through the bed of the river, for about three quarters of a mile. It is impossible to describe the sublimity, beauty, richness, and variety of that spot. We first crossed the river from Borronauld, by stepping from one great piece of rock to another, and landed on the small meadow not far from the bridge, from whence the opening into the crags over the Mouse is wonderfully grand; but as the view of a small part was only increasing my desire to see the whole, we ventured to follow our good guide through the extent of the craggy passage. The rocks on each side, though covered with wood, are too steep and broken, at the edge of the water, to bear a path to be made, or to be preserved if made, by reason of the violence of the water in hard rains; we were therefore obliged to step from stone to stone, in the middle of the water; and at the sides, to creep along, and round the points of