Coming round the base of Ben Cruachan by rail, and leaving the Pass of
Brander and the rapids of the river Awe, the observant traveller will
not fail to notice that the large and spreading water he now
approaches has the character of a sea loch. If no other indication
were given, the presence of brown sea-wrack along the margin of the
water would show that here the tides ebb and flow. Far away to the
right, surrounded by grand hills, and closed in at the distance by the
bulky shoulders of Buchael Etive, is the upper reach of the loch,
forming in itself a most attractive portion of Highland scenery. The
railway, however, confines itself solely to the south side of the
lower and salter reach of the water, separated from the inner loch by
a reef of rocks, through the chief opening in which the receding tide
rushes with the character of a waterfall. Passing along the loch,
there is seen on the north side the remains of Ardchattan Priory, one
of the three religious houses established in Scotland after the
pattern of those in the Val de Choux (Cabbage Valley, or, _Scottice_,
Kale Glen, as the recent historian of Pluscardyn ingeniously puts it)
near Chatillon, in Burgundy. Loch Etive narrows at its mouth at
Connell Ferry, and then opens grandly into Loch Linnhe.
Dunstaffnage Castle, shown in the view, is one of the royal castles of
the Duke of Argyle. The building, which is of great antiquity and
strength, was destroyed by fire in 1715. Some guns supposed to have
belonged to the Spanish Armada are in the castle, and the remains of a
chapel are seen, in which are supposed to rest, not only the remains
of the actual King Alexander II, but of various more or less
apocryphal Dalriad kings. Over the water is shown the site of the
Pictish capital of Beregonium, (said to have been destroyed by fire
from heaven!) and, near it, on Bal-an-righ, is a vitrified hill fort,
the _Selma_ of the poems of Ossian.
At Dunstaffnage was at one time kept the Coronation Stone, or Stone of
Destiny, of which the tradition says that it was the veritable stone
on which Jacob laid his head when he had the dream on his way to
Padan-Aram! Geologists say that the structure of the _Lia Fail_ agrees
with that of the stones at Dunstaffnage. Leaving out tradition, the
stone is said to have been removed from this place to Scone, near
Perth, where the kings of Scotland continued to be crowned till Edward
Longshanks removed this Scottish palladium to Westminster Abbey, where
it remains to-day, fixed beneath the coronation chair. It is said that
Edward II. was willing to restore the Stone of Destiny to Scotland,
but was prevented by the London mob. The 'destiny' was proclaimed in
verses that have been rendered in this form
'Unless the fates are faithless grown
And prophets voice be vain
Where'er is found this sacred stone
The Scottish race shall reign.'
Without a doubt, the house of Brunswick claims the throne of those
realms in consequence of their Stuart descent, so that the stone has
not as yet failed in its effect, and every one desires that the
'destiny' should continue in the same line, whether the boulder from
the borders of Loch Etive has anything to do with the matter or not.