One can reach Oban either by the Caledonian Railway, by way of Stirling and Callander, or on the water through the Crinan Canal. This is an artificial highway, nine miles long, which was cut to avoid the much longer passage of seventy miles round the Mull of Cantyre, when going from Glasgow to Inverness. This shorter canal was excavated toward the end of the eighteenth century, but its life has not been without those accidents which we, from digging the Panama Canal, have learned are inevitable. In 1859, after a heavy rain, one of the three reservoirs which supply the canal, the highest being eight hundred feet above the canal, burst. The torrent of water rushing down the mountain-slope washed away part of the bank and filled the canal with earth and stones for upwards of a mile. Nevertheless, both the Crinan and Caledonian Canals pay well, and from the surplus earnings are kept in good order. At Oban, sheltered and with a delightful climate, we look out upon the pretty little island of Kerrera, an old fortress of the MacDougalls, which now serves for use as well as beauty. It not only screens the town from the Atlantic gales, but virtually converts the bay into a land-locked harbor. Instead of the little village and fishing-station, which Dr. Johnson looked upon in 1773, Oban is now a bustling town, which is very lively and crowded in summer, withal the paradise of the tourist and shopper. Here any _pater familias_, with loose change in his pocket, when travelling with his wife and daughters, is apt to be, on entering one of those splendid shops, as wax in their loving hands. Silks, plaids, gay woollens, delightful things of all sorts in dry goods--which ladies especially can so well appreciate--are here in luxurious abundance, and at prices that do not seem to soar too high. As for tartans, one can study in color and pattern not only a whole encyclopædia of the heraldry of the clans, but may be shown combinations of checks and stripes, wrought into tartans never known in dream, use, or history, by any Highland clan. Nevertheless these unhistorical and expensive plaids are delightful to look at and will make “cunning” sashes and “lovely” dress goods.