Towards evening we crossed, by a bridge, the river which makes the
celebrated fall of Fiers. The country at the bridge strikes the
imagination with all the gloom and grandeur of Siberian solitude. The
way makes a flexure, and the mountains, covered with trees, rise at once
on the left hand and in the front. We desired our guides to shew us the
fall, and dismounting, clambered over very rugged crags, till I began to
wish that our curiosity might have been gratified with less trouble and
danger. We came at last to a place where we could overlook the river,
and saw a channel torn, as it seems, through black piles of stone, by
which the stream is obstructed and broken, till it comes to a very steep
descent, of such dreadful depth, that we were naturally inclined to turn
aside our eyes.
But we visited the place at an unseasonable time, and found it divested
of its dignity and terror. Nature never gives every thing at once. A
long continuance of dry weather, which made the rest of the way easy and
delightful, deprived us of the pleasure expected from the fall of Fiers.
The river having now no water but what the springs supply, showed us only
a swift current, clear and shallow, fretting over the asperities of the
rocky bottom, and we were left to exercise our thoughts, by endeavouring
to conceive the effect of a thousand streams poured from the mountains
into one channel, struggling for expansion in a narrow passage,
exasperated by rocks rising in their way, and at last discharging all
their violence of waters by a sudden fall through the horrid chasm.
The way now grew less easy, descending by an uneven declivity, but
without either dirt or danger. We did not arrive at Fort Augustus till
it was late. Mr. Boswell, who, between his father's merit and his own,
is sure of reception wherever he comes, sent a servant before to beg
admission and entertainment for that night. Mr. Trapaud, the governor,
treated us with that courtesy which is so closely connected with the
military character. He came out to meet us beyond the gates, and
apologized that, at so late an hour, the rules of a garrison suffered him
to give us entrance only at the postern.