Here we have the culmination, as regards beauty, of the waterfalls of
Scotland. This is one of the scenes that struck the imagination of
Burns, as, standing by the fall, he wrote in pencil words that can
never be omitted in any description for they fulfil all that
description can effect--
'Among the heathy hills and rugged woods
The roaring Foyers pours his mossy floods
Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds
Where thro' a shapeless breach his stream resounds
As high in air the bursting torrents flow
As deep recoiling surges foam below
Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends
And viewless Echo's ear, astonished, rends:
Dim seen through rising mists and ceaseless showers
The hoary cavern, wide surrounding, lowers,
Still, thro' the gap the struggling river toils
And still, below, the horrid cauldron boils.'
The last idea is one that ever recurs in the presence of a great
waterfall, and in every respect the description is perfect, the
shapeless breach, the bursting torrent and the deep recoiling surges
are each impressed on the mind, even if the visitor has not read
Burns's lines. When Dr. Johnson visited Scotland, he too saw the Fall
of 'Fiers' as it is called in his _Journey to the Western Islands_,
and although a long continuance of dry weather had robbed the fall of
much of its promised grandeur, Dr. Johnson, while philosophically
remarking that 'Nature never gives everything at once,' gives a
striking word-picture, exercising as he says, his thoughts 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.'
This is splendid, and if old Samuel Johnson had seen Foyers at its
best he could not have improved on the description.
The steamers on Loch Ness invariably stay at the pier of Foyers,
affording time to walk to the grand falls. The hotel here is built on
the site of 'General's Hut,' and still in Johnson's day it is 'not ill
stocked with provisions.' The name is given because General Wade, when
superintending those roads that are rendered famous by his epitaph,
was lodged at this spot. There are two falls, with a distance of about
a quarter of a mile between them, the lower or great fall being that
shown in the view. Over the upper fall there is a light bridge thrown,
and the scene here is very fine, though it is exceeded in grandeur by
the snow-white rush of the lower waterfall. The latter earns its
title of the 'fall of smoke,' the spray rising in never-ceasing clouds
of grey mist-like smoke.
A notable scene in the immediate vicinity of Foyers is the Pass of
Inverfarigaig, with vast cliffs, and many interesting geological
points of study. By ascending this pass and striking westward a fine
approach can be obtained to the upper fall of Foyers. Again, by a
ferry near the pier, the loch can be crossed, and the quaintly shaped
hill of Mealfourvonie can be ascended. Again, a short distance brings
the visitor to Castle Urquhart, while a little further on is
Drumnadrochit, rendered famous by _Punch's_ Fat Contributor,--'your
health sir, in a dram!'--where but for the telegraph wire, and the
post office, and the newspaper, and the frequent steamboats, a man
might moon away his time, and never tire of the fine air, the
wonderful surroundings, and the remote stillness. If a man wished to
be a hermit, and yet see much of the world, to be unoccupied, yet
never fail of variety of occupation, to be rested and refreshed, yet
interested and employed, he could not do better than take up his abode
at Foyers for the four or five months of the long days between April
and October.