Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/155

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
PART OF SCOTLAND.
137

milar to that of a mill continually in motion; and the gude kirk-folk, who reverence the Sabbath, maintain, that as this mill pays no more respect to the Sunday, than it does to the other days of the week, it must be the Devil's Mill. I was much pleased with a view of the bridge on the south side of the river, above it, and also below it, from a huge rock in the middle of the water, looking close into the chasm under the bridge, where the towering rocks on each side, covered with beautiful wood, form a magnificent and awful shade over the murmuring water, issuing from its dark and confined passage. The latter station is a very difficult one to gain, and is still more difficult to be maintained. It is in the middle of the river, on a huge slippery rock, amidst other innumerable fragments, over and against which the impatient water loudly dashes; having huge towering rocks, full of clifted chasms, over-run with wood on each side; and in front, the small arch of the bridge just visible, through the thick shade of wood and rock, at least one hundred feet above the eye. In such a situation it is almost impossible to preserve one's head from swimming. I attempted to sketch this scenery; but in the attempt I was several times obliged to shut my eyes, and