lochs in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Skye. As to the means of
executing these improvements, he suggested that Government would be

justified in dealing with the Highland roads and bridges as
exceptional and extraordinary works, and extending the public aid

towards carrying them into effect, as, but for such assistance, the
country must remain, perhaps for ages to come, imperfectly opened up.

His report further embraced certain improvements in the harbours of
Aberdeen and Wick, and a description of the country through which

the proposed line of the Caledonian Canal would necessarily pass--
a canal which had long been the subject of inquiry, but had not as

yet emerged from a state of mere speculation.
The new roads, bridges, and other improvements suggested by the

engineer, excited much interest in the north. The Highland Society
voted him their thanks by acclamation; the counties of Inverness

and Ross followed; and he had letters of thanks and congratulation
from many of the Highland chiefs. "If they will persevere," says he,

"with anything like their present zeal, they will have the
satisfaction of greatly improving a country that has been too long

neglected. Things are greatly changed now in the Highlands. Even
were the chiefs to quarrel, de'il a Highlandman would stir for them.

The lairds have transferred their affections from their people to
flocks of sheep, and the people have lost their veneration for the

lairds. It seems to be the natural progress of society; but it is
not an altogethersatisfactory change. There were some fine

features in the former patriarchal state of society; but now
clanship is gone, and chiefs and people are hastening into the

opposite extreme. This seems to me to be quite wrong."*[10]
In the same year, Telford was elected a member of the Royal Society

of Edinburgh, on which occasion he was proposed and supported by
three professors; so that the former Edinburgh mason was rising in

the world and receiving due honour in his own country. The effect
of his report was such, that in the session of 1803 a Parliamentary

Commission was appointed, under whose direction a series of
practical improvements was commenced, which issued in the

construction of not less than 920 additional" target="_blank" title="a.附加的，额外的">additional miles of roads and
bridges throughout the Highlands, one-half of the cost of which was

defrayed by the Government and the other half by local assessment.
But in addition to these main lines of communication, numberless

county roads were formed by statute labour, under local road Acts
and by other means; the land-owners of Sutherland alone

constructing nearly 300 miles of district roads at their own cost.
[Image] Map of Telford's Roads.

By the end of the session of 1803, Telford received his
instructions from Mr. Vansittart as to the workingsurvey he was

forthwith required to enter upon, with a view to commencing
practical operations; and he again proceeded to the Highlands to

lay out the roads and plan the bridges which were most urgently
needed. The district of the Solway was, at his representation,

included, with the object of improving the road from Carlisle to
Portpatrick--the nearest point at which Great Britain meets the

Irish coast, and where the sea passage forms only a sort of wide
ferry.

It would occupy too much space, and indeed it is altogether
unnecessary, to describe in detail the operations of the Commission

and of their engineer in opening up the communications of the
Highlands. Suffice it to say, that one of the first things taken in

hand was the connection of the existing lines of road by means of
bridges at the more important points; such as at Dunkeld over the

Tay, and near Dingwall over the Conan and Orrin. That of Dunkeld
was the most important, as being situated at the entrance to the

Central Highlands; and at the second meeting of the Commissioners
Mr. Telford submitted his plan and estimates of the proposed

bridge. In consequence of some difference with the Duke of Athol as
to his share of the expense--which proved to be greater than he had

estimated--some delay occurred in beginning the work; but at length
it was fairly started, and, after being about three years in hand,

the structure was finished and opened for traffic in 1809.
[Image] Dunkeld Bridge.

The bridge is a handsome one of five river and two land arches.
The span of the centre arch is 90 feet, of the two adjoining it 84

feet, and of the two side arches 74 feet; affording a clear
waterway of 446 feet. The total breadth of the roadway and foot

paths is 28 feet 6 inches. The cost of the structure was about
14,000L., one-half of which was defrayed by the Duke of Athol.

Dunkeld bridge now forms a fine feature in a landscape not often
surpassed, and which presents within a comparatively small compass

a great variety of character and beauty.
The communication by road north of Inverness was also perfected by

the construction of a bridge of five arches over the Beauly, and
another of the same number over the Conan, the central arch being

65 feet span; and the formerlywretched bit of road between these
points having been put in good repair, the town of Dingwall was

thenceforward rendered easily approachable from the south. At the
same time, a beginning was made with the construction of new roads

through the districts most in need of them. The first contracted
for, was the Loch-na-Gaul road, from Fort William to Arasaig,

on the western coast, nearly opposite the island of Egg.
Another was begun from Loch Oich, on the line of the Caledonian

Canal, across the middle of the Highlands, through Glengarry,
to Loch Hourn on the western sea. Other roads were opened north

and south; through Morvern to Loch Moidart; through Glen Morrison
and Glen Sheil, and through the entire Isle of Skye; from Dingwall,

eastward, to Lochcarron and Loch Torridon, quite through the county
of Ross; and from Dingwall, northward, through the county of

Sutherland as far as Tongue on the Pentland Frith; while another
line, striking off at the head of the Dornoch Frith, proceeded

along the coast in a north-easterly direction to Wick and Thurso,
in the immediate neighbourhood of John o' Groats.

There were numerous other subordinate lines of road which it is
unnecessary to specify in detail; but some idea may be formed of

their extent, as well as of the ruggedcharacter of the country
through which they were carried, when we state that they involved

the construction of no fewer than twelve hundred bridges. Several
important bridges were also erected at other points to connect

existing roads, such as those at Ballater and Potarch over the Dee;
at Alford over the Don: and at Craig-Ellachie over the Spey.

The last-named bridge is a remarkablyelegantstructure, thrown
over the Spey at a point where the river, rushing obliquely against

the lofty rock of Craig-Ellachie,*[11] has formed for itself a deep
channel not exceeding fifty yards in breadth. Only a few years

before, there had not been any provision for crossing this river at
its lower parts except the very dangerous ferry at Fochabers.

The Duke of Gordon had, however, erected a suspensionbridge at that
town, and the inconvenience was in a great measure removed.

Its utility was so generally felt, that the demand arose for a second
bridge across the river; for there was not another by which it

could be crossed for a distance of nearly fifty miles up Strath Spey.
It was a difficult stream to span by a bridge at any place, in

consequence of the violence with which the floods descended at
particular seasons. Sometimes, even in summer, when not a drop of

rain had fallen, the flood would come down the Strath in great
fury, sweeping everything before it; this remarkable phenomenon

being accounted for by the prevalence of a strong south-westerly
wind, which blew the loch waters from their beds into the Strath,

and thus suddenly filled the valley of the Spey.*[12] The same
phenomenon, similarly caused, is also frequently observed in the

neighbouring river, the Findhorn, cooped up in its deep rocky bed,
where the water sometimes comes down in a wave six feet high, like

a liquid wall, sweeping everything before it.
To meet such a contingency, it was deemed necessary to provide

abundant waterway, and to build a bridgeoffering as little
resistance as possible to the passage of the Highland floods.

Telford accordingly designed for the passage of the river at