On the road between Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine is seen Inversnaid Fort, now in ruins, having in itself a chequered history. Built in 1713 to check the Macgregors, it is said to have been at one time resided in by General Wolfe. Now, like some doomed city of old, 'the cormorant and the bittern possess it,' for the Macgregors are at peace, their name and tartan are no longer proscribed, and now no black-mail is levied on any one in the district but the strangers, and for their protection the government has no need to provide. It is at times a costly thing to travel in the Highlands, when beds are at a ransom, and all the wealth of Ind will not secure the coveted box seat of the coach. But a Macgregor who levies black-mail in a Scottish city has put the thing in a nutshell, for when remonstrated with about his charges he said, 'What for should I charge less?--my hoose is fu' every nicht!' There is true political economy shaking hands with the plunderer of the Saxon! LOCH KATRINE. The most brilliant gem in the loch scenery of Scotland is unquestionably Loch Katrine or Ketturin, and it is needful, however attractive or deserving of praise other waters may have proved, to avoid exhausting upon them the vocabulary of praise, lest no words of greater admiration should be left for this, the loveliest of them all. Even if Scott had not superadded to Loch Katrine the witchery of his genius, and made Ellen's Isle as famous among the abodes of heroines as the Fountain of Vaucluse, this water would have asserted its claim to public regard. True, it was Scott that gave the impetus for touring in Scotland--or Scott-land as some have called it!--and Loch Katrine thus obtained a first hold upon the admiration of the world. But spite of all rivals, it maintains first rank, and although it cannot cope with Loch Lomond or Loch Maree in point of size, neither of those great lochs command the same admiration. Scott in _The Lady of the Lake_, has depicted the scene in words of fire; taking sunset for the time. The 'gallant grey' has fallen,--the guides still point out the very spot!--and the huntsman pursues his way till the end of the glen is reached, and Loch Katrine bursts on his view, 'An airy point he won, Where, gleaming with the setting sun One burnished sheet of living gold, Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled, In all her length far winding lay With promontory, creek and bay, And islands that, empurpled bright Floated amid the livelier light, And mountains that like giants stand, To sentinel enchanted land.'