in Latin Tayus, or Taus, the largest river in Scotland, rises in Braidalbane, on the frontiers of Lorn; and having in the paillage of a few miles augmented its stream by the accession of several small rills, spreads itself into the lake called Loch Dochart; out of which having run but a little space, it expands itself again. Leaving this second lake, it rolls some miles with a considerable body of water, and then diffuses itself in the spacious Loch Tay; which, reckoning from the sources of the river, is 24 miles in length, though, strictly speaking, speaking, the lake is but 13: almost as soon as it issues from hence, it receives the river Lyon, coming out of Loch Lyon, and running through Glen Lyon; which, having travelled in a manner parallel to it, from its source, for a space of 25 miles, at length joins the Tay as it enters Athol, which it next traverses, and, directing its course in a manner due east, receives almost all the waters of that country. Bending then to the south, at the distance of six miles, it reaches Dunkeld; which, in the language of our ancestors, signifies "the hill of hazels," was the very centre of the old Caledonia, and is at present esteemed the heart of the Highlands. The river is very broad here, insomuch that there is a ferry-boat over it at each end of the town. Declining still to the south-east, with a winding course, for above 12 miles, the Tay receives a large supply of waters from the county of Angus; and then running south-west for eight miles more, is joined in that space by several rivers, the most considerable of which is the Almond. Turning then to the south-east, at the distance of about three miles, this copious river comes with a swelling stream to Perth.

The Tay, continuing still a south-east course, receives, a few miles below Perth, the river Erne; which, issuing from a loch of the same name, traverses the county of Strathern, and passes by Abernethy, once the capital of the Pictish kingdom. Swelled by the waters of this last river, the Tay, running next directly east, enlarges itself till it becomes about three miles broad; but contracts again before the town of Dundee; soon after which it opens into the German ocean. At the entrance of the frith, there are sands both on the north and on the south side; the former styled Goe, the latter Aberlay and Drumlan; and before these, in the very mouth of the frith, those which are called the Cro's Sands. At Buttonnels, which is the northern promontory, there are two light-houses. The space between the north and the south sands may be near a mile, with about three fathoms water; but being within the frith, it grows deeper, and in the road of Dundee is full six fathoms. The frith of Tay is not indeed so large or so commodious as that of Forth, but from Buttonnels to Perth it is not less than 40 miles; and the whole may be, without any great impropriety, styled a harbour, which has Fife on one side, and the shires of Perth and Angus on the other, both very fertile and pleasant countries.