on account of the flatness of the shore, to place this lock 400 yards within sea-water mark, an operation attended with difficulty on account of the softness of the bottom. This lock is 170 feet long, 40 wide, with a lift of 8½ feet; and proceeding from it, the canal is formed by embankments till it passes the sea-mark, where another lock of the same size, with a lift of 6 feet, is built on firm ground. On the south of this is the Muirton basin, 967 yards long and 162 yards broad, with a wharf for the trade in that quarter, being about a mile from Inverness. At the southern extremity of this basin is a swivel or swing bridge for the public road between Beauly and Inverness; and then four locks, which, however, from their being connected, have only five double gates in the whole. These raise the canal 32 feet, which puts it on the ordinary summer level of Loch Ness. Each lock is 180 feet between the gates, and 40 feet wide. The canal thence proceeds until it meets, and runs along the north-west bank of the river Ness to the small lake Doughfour, which is about 2100 yards long, and from 5 to 9 fathoms deep, and is 6½ miles from Clach-na-Carry. It communicates with Loch Ness by the pass of Bona Ferry. The intended line of canal being on the west side of the river Ness, which in three different places approached close to the steep sides of the hills on the west, it was necessary to alter the course of that river, so as to obtain room for the canal without cutting into the hills. At the entrance to Loch Doughfour is a regulating, or guard-lock, without any lift, to prevent any overflow from the lake. It is 170 feet long, and 40 wide. It was necessary to deepen this small lock in several places by dredging, and to raise it 6 feet to the level of Loch Ness by a weir, and embankment. The next part of this navigation, and by far the most extensive lake in it, is Loch Ness, a fine sheet of water about 24 miles long, and from 1 to 1½ miles broad. Its depth is so great that it never freezes, being from 5 to 129 fathoms, and along the middle it averages 100. It affords good anchorage at each end, and also in a few bays, although the sides of this lake are generally straight. It was proposed to introduce buoys for more convenient moorings. There are nowhere in it either rocks or banks detached from the shore. Loch Ness receives the river Oich in its western shore not far from its southern extremity, and a little south of this the canal leaves the lake, whilst almost quite at the southern end stand the fort and village of Fort Augustus. From this the canal ascends 40 feet by five locks, and at Callachie, about 2½ miles further on, it rises 8 feet by another lock. Three miles more bring it to Loch Oich, where a regulating lock raises it 30 inches, so as to be even with that lake, which is on the summit level.