Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

CORUISK. 481
when evening has actually come on, that the western
end Keems involved in the deepest shadows of niglit
while, from the contrast, the day still seems bright over
the entrance; of the valley.
Wishing- to witness the effect of night, and finding the
men unwilling to risk themselves in this enchanted
ground, 1 left them with the boat, and ascended the
eastern hill as far as it was accessible. The clouds of
evening soon began to settle over the Cuchullin and to
overshadow the valley, which now extended in all its
length beneath me ; no longer deceiving, but deep,
broad, and distant. As cloud after cloud continued to
arrive from the western sea, their huge leaden masses
began to curl round the mountain top, and the whole
was soon involved in one mysterious shadow, concealing
entirely those forms which even the morning light had
but dimly shown. The glassy surface of the lake still
served to define its figure; and a few livid lights, re-
flected from the overhanging curtain of clouds, tinging
the nearer shores and promontories by which it was
bounded, conducted the eye gradually on to the place
where all objects at length disappeared, and beyond
which the valley seemed interminably prolong^id into the
regions of endless night.
When I returned to the boat, I found it moored
against the rocks ; but the men were gone. It was now
nearly dark. The mountains were all confounded in un-
distinguishablc blackness, and their outlines alone were
discernible on the dark grey sky. It was in vain to call
where there were none to hear ; it was impossible to seek
after the men, as I could no longer find my way among
those deep shadows where some chasm or cavern seemed
to open at every step; and to carry off the boat alone,
was out of the question. I sat down on the rock, watch-
ing the waves that curled against it, and listened to the
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