But if ever there was such an eccentric island it has now settled down and occupies a fixed place; but whether, as at Delos, this is the result of Phœbus’ action our philosophers do not determine. However, according to the old saying, that wonders will never cease, there is still another in connection with this loch. At long intervals Scotland seems to have been pushed up from her watery bed by the aid of mighty subterranean forces, which have raised the lake about 20 feet above the sea level, and converted it into a fresh-water lake. This has been already referred to, but here the next and last wonder comes in. This loch, thus raised, contains among a variety of other fishes one called the powan, which resembles a herring, the descendant, it is thought, of some one which had been too late in getting out. It is said, that there is only one other loch in Scotland in which powans are found. The descent can be made with great ease, zigzagging it, in one and a half hours; and on no account should you either come down quickly or make short cuts unless you wish to have strained muscles for days to come, which will lessen the pleasant memories of a day you are not likely to forget. As you sail homewards on the loch below, you can sympathise somewhat with the man who had never been beyond the parish of Buchanan, and who, on ascending Ben Lomond, declared that he “never ken’t that the world was sich a big affair till it was a’ spread oot before” him. MOUNT MISERY. Guide-books are but too often blind guides, as they present certain objects for our admiration, which are accordingly visited and admired, but leave out all mention even of others of as great, if not greater, interest. For example, there rises up from the margin of the Queen of Scottish Lakes, Lomond, at its south end, about 3 miles from Balloch, a little mount, easy of access even to those who can only afford a Saturday afternoon to visit it, from which undoubtedly the best view of the loch is to be obtained. Here, if anywhere on earth, are congregated the choicest elements of pictorial wealth. Take a return ticket to Balloch Station (not Balloch Pier); on arriving cross the Leven by the graceful suspension bridge, keep on the Kilmaronock road till you come to Haldane’s Mill, so-called from a former proprietor; then turn to the left, pass Balloch Castle, the seat of A. D. Brown, Esq., and when arrived at Boturich Castle, R. Finlay’s, Esq., you will find a path on the right which will lead you, without any difficulty of a physical kind, to the top, a quarter of a mile up. It would be as well to ask permission, however, at some of the officials close by to make the ascent, as, on account of a stupid vandalism on the part of excursionists, the proprietor has had lately to become somewhat conservative in his policies.