ffrbe talleelfg Entlit 10 Jir.ft/lAnif.

Tan resumed narrative of the Queen's progress begins with the re- embarkation from the Crinan Canal. The squadron anchored on Wed- nesday night at Crinan, and on Thursday morning left Crinan Loch about seven a.m. The weather was all that could be wished. The Royal yacht, followed by the Scourge, passed out of the Northern corner of Jura, keep- ing the celebrated gulf of Corryvreckan, the Maelstrom of the West, and Scarba Island, to the left. The course was then laid up the Sound of Luing into Loch Linnhe, passing next Seil Island and Easdale on the right. The Easdale slate quarries belong to the Marquis of Breadalbane, and are well known for giving employment to a thriving population. The scene in the Sound of Jura is graphically described by the Morning Chronicle reporter- " The sea was like glass; and the distant Atlantic swell came rolling in almost imperceptible undulations, hardly observable except when they creamed and rippled round the rocky ledges of the shore. 'Tis a rude archipelago, this cliffy labyrinth island loch, sound, and headland; and there are few places I should think which would look more utterly and desolately dreary in coarse rainy weather, when the sea is black and raging, and the mountains sloping upwards until their dark sum- mits are lost in driving vapours. But in such weather as that of today the pano- rama is glorious: the shining sea—the ever changing forms of rocky islets and precipitous headlands—the scaured and furrowed cliffs—the brown ranges of heathy hill—and the distant glimpses caught, now of a far-off cloudlike coast, anon of a blue towering mountain, perhaps in Islay, perhaps in Jura, perhaps in Off Seil Island, upwards of three hundred boats, each manned with six Breadalbane men, were drawn up in two lines, making all avenue for the Queen's yacht to pass. This difficult manoeuvre was executed with the greatest precision. The boats in each of the lines were so close that the men, while receiving the Queen, resembled two solid bodies of infantry drawn up two or three deep as a guard of honour on the waters. After passing the entrance of Loch Feochan on the right, and Gylen Castle on the left, the yacht entered the narrow channel between Kerrera Island and the mainland, and ran into Oban Bay. Here the usual preparations were made; but the yacht merely remained long enough to receive a royal salute from the batteries and steam round the bay; which lost sight of the Royal visitors soon after eleven. The course now lay Westward to the Sound of Mull, peat Lismore, the most fertile of the Western Isles, once boasting a Roman Catholic college. The squadron made for Staffs; where the whole cast anchor. Boats were immediately lowered, for the purpose of affording the Queen and suite an opportunity of witnessing the cele- brated caves with which the place abounds. The boat which contained her Majesty and the Prince Consort was rowed into the principal cave. "Imagine, then, the rusty-looking reddish rock, with its seried columns, or rather its upright ledges, crowned by a thick layer of solid stone, somewhat after the fashion of a covering of thatch; imagine the deep cavern, with the arched and groined roof, trending inwards, a solemn stony tunnel, damp and slimy. and echoing, streaked stalactites hanging from above, and long surging ridges of the clear Atlantic swell sweeping in below, foaming over the broken columns and peaked rocks at the entrance, and rippling upwards in undu- lating succession to the further end of this glorious cavern. So much for the every-day look of the place. Now, imagine a long heavy swell setting sullenly inwards from the Westward; imagine the Royal yacht, the trim little Fairy, and the ponderous form of the Scourge, blowing off their steam, and slowly rising and falling on the hazy swell; further, people the entrance to the cave with three or four barges from the squadron, one of them with the significant Royal standard hoisted at the bows, jerking and rolling in the broken water at the entrance; imagine, in a word, the brown rocky waste of Staffs, the heaving expanse of the Atlantic beaded with barren islets, and the half-dozen steamers forming the Royal squadron and its escort lying lazily upon the summer sea; and you have a notion, more or less accurate, of the whole scene." The Queen almost immediately returned to the yacht; but Prince Albert, with the Prince of Leiningen, remained for some time examining some of the =taller cum From Staffa the yacht steamed on to Iona, the burial-place of many ancient kings and chieftains. Here Prince Albert, the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Grey, add Sir James Clarke, landed for the purpose of visiting the different antique remains. The flotilla anchored for the night in Tobermory Harbour; and went forward early on Fridar morning. It proceeded down the Sound of Mull, between the mainland and the Island of Lismore, with the accompaniment of a Scotch mist; it entered Loch Eil about ten, and anchored off Fort William about eleven, under a salute from the artillery of the fort. lit consequence of the cloudiness of the weather, Prince Albert deferred his intended ascent of Ben Nevis; contenting himself instead with an excur- sion to Glencoe, accompanied by the Prince of Leiningen and the Royal children. The Queen did not land till Saturday morning; which broke in clouds and rain.

" Her Majesty," says the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, "landed under cover of a goodly umbrella carried by her own royal hands. The judicial authorities of the county of Inverness, Mr. Tytler the Sherif4 and Mr. A. Fraser one of his Substitutes, were in due attendance; and there was a tolerable turn-out of the men of Lochaber, with plaids, kilts, claymores, and cotton umbrellas; who waved glittering blades and dripping ginghams, and shouted Gaelic salutations to the ' wife of the King,' for such 1 understand is the literal signification of Bhan Bigh—the Erse words meaning Queen."

The worthy Highlanders thought it necessary to waive their exclusive attachment to the Stuarts. At the termination of the pier was an arch,

composed of heather and holly, surmounted by a crown and the words " V. A."; under the latter was a Gaelic inscription, signifying two in one; beneath was a cockade in black and white, the colour being emblematic of the union of the houses of Brunswick and Stuart. The Union jack floated from the fort, and also from many other prominent points.

Several of the neighbouring magnates were in attendance to receive her Majesty; among them Lord Lovat, Lord Ward, and Sheriffs Lintley, Col- quhoun, and Fraser. The Royal party immediately entered carriages, of which they filled four, and proceeded on to Ardverikie Lodge, a distance of about thirty miles. On arriving at her Highland home, the. Queen was received by the Dutchees

of Bedford, the Marquis of Abercorn, Cluny Macpherson, Sir James Mackenzie, and other chiefs of clans. The Highlanders, under Cluny

Macpherson, wearing swords and shields, were draws up on one

side, while the other was occupied by the members of indiscriminate bodies. Sir J. Mackenzie Davison of Tulloch, and Cluny, wore Highland costumes of a most superior description. The Marquis of Abercorn alsp wore a splendid Highland dress, and exhibited the star and insignia of the Order of the Garter. On all sides there were large assemblages to greet

her Majesty. Cluny's men hoisted the venerable green silk flag of the Macphersons, which was "out " in the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Cluny himself wore the shield which Prince Charles Stewart earned at Culloden.

Ardverikie is said to have been used as a hunting-park by King Fergus of Scotland, who had his residence on an island in Loch. Laggan, now known as King's Island.

" The present lodge was erected by the Marquis of Abercorn about seven years ago; and is a plain, unostentatious building, rather irregular im its construction,

the windows, roof, and chimney-stalks a good deal in the cottage style, and the

whole suiting pretty closely one's idea of what quarters for the accommodation of a large shooting-party ought to be. And the interior of the lodge corresponds pretty closely with its external appearance; the rooms being more comfortable than spacious, and their chief decoration being the antlers of deer shot in the surrounding forest. On the bare walls of two of the principal apartments are

roughly sketched, by the masterly hand of Landseer, several of his best known and finest productions, and among them ' The Challenge' and ` The Stag at Bay.' There is a splendid collection of stags' heads in the long corridor from which the

rooms on the ground-floor are approached. Many of these have thirteen and fourteen points; the greater number are royal heads, and to none would the moat experienced or successful deer-stalker take exception. The ornaments of the cart ridor are also those of the bedrooms above stairs."

" The surrounding scenery is quite in keeping with the style of the lodge and its internal arrangements. The loch in front is a sheet of water about eight miles in length, with less than the usual complement of islands on its surface, and pos- sessing nothing in its appearance which raises it above mediocrity among the lists of Highland lakes." The weather continued very boisterous during the whole of Saturday night and Sunday; and the storm caused considerable damage at the Lodge, blowing down a wooden house and a tent used for the accommoda- tion of the retinue. The Queen did not ,leave the Lodge on Sunday; divine service being privately performed there.

On Monday morning, the return of fine weather enabled Prince Albert and the Prince of Leiningen to commence grouse-shooting on the farm of Shervamoor in Glensherva. The Princes bagged eight brace of grouse and one hare. Earl Grey and the Honourable Captain Gordon went shooting in another direction, and the other members of the suite amused themselves by fishing on the lakes. The Queen walked through the garden and grounds, watching with evident amusement the sport of the fishing-parties.

On Wednesday morning about eight o'clock, Prince Albert, with keep, era and dogs, rode from the lodge to Ben-Aulder Forest, to enjoy the sport of deer-stalking, The Prince succeeded in bringing down a royal stag and a roebuck, and returned to the lodge in time for dinner. While the Prince was in the forest, her Majesty, the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal, rode out on small Highland ponies.