Ex Libris 
 ; C. K. OGDEN ; 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 EXCURSIONS, 
 
 ETC.
 
 G. WOODFALL, angel court, skinner street, London.
 
 
 f5)&A©7- vai^f b::5S1' i?i'".75^j.riS .
 
 EXCURSIONS 
 
 THROUGH THE 
 
 HIGHLANDS AND ISLES OF SCOTLAND 
 
 IN 
 
 1835 AND 1836, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. C. LESINGHAM SMITH, M.A. 
 
 FELLOW, AND LATE MATHEMATICAL LECTURER, OF CHRIST's 
 COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 
 NORTH COAST, FROM CAPE WRATH. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. 
 
 stationers' HALL COURT, LUDGATE STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXXVII.
 
 DA 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER CROMBIE, 
 
 LL.D., F.R.S., AND M.R.S.L^ 
 
 AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT FOR HIS TALENTS, 
 AND OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS, 
 
 THIS ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE A PORTION OF HIS 
 NATIVE COUNTRY, 
 
 IS DEDICATED, 
 
 BY 
 HIS OBLIGED AND SINCERE FRIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1 = rl ^>:
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Scotland has been so copiously illustrated b>' 
 the WTitings of eminent men, and so often ex- 
 plored by the Southron for himself, that any book 
 upon the subject of that country may seem to 
 require no common apology. Yet the untravelled 
 public have, in all ages, been predisposed to re- 
 ceive with favour an author, who professes to 
 carry them into distant lands ; justly regarding 
 his work as an additional glass, through which, 
 unless it be very opaque, they may speculate once 
 more on scenes remote, and obtain more accurate 
 notions of objects, viewed hitherto perhaps only 
 in fictitious colourings, or distorted proportions. 
 And even those, who have already trodden the 
 same ground, and who may be supposed to have 
 exhausted curiosity by a personal examination, 
 disdain not to turn over the pages of some suc- 
 ceeding adventurer ; and sometimes linger with
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 delight over descriptions of scenery, which they 
 had almost forgotten, or of manners, which they 
 had scarcely observed. No book of travels, there- 
 fore, as such, stands in need of much excuse; it 
 may take its place in the library among its pre- 
 decessors, as the last picture is suspended in the 
 hall among the family portraits; each of which 
 bears a general resemblance to the others ; but 
 each also is distinguished by peculiarities in age, 
 or fashion, or feature. 
 
 But the finished portrait is not the only one 
 which may command attention. We may derive 
 pleasure and instruction from the examination 
 of a mere sketch, provided the outlines, as far as 
 they go, be executed with grace and fidelity. 
 Hence the foregoing remarks upon books of tra- 
 vels in general are applicable, in some degree, to 
 such light productions as the following Journals ; 
 which do not profess to exhibit a picture con- 
 tinuous, and perfect in all its details. Accordingly 
 this little volume must depend for success, or 
 failure, on its own intrinsic qualities. It can 
 neither conciliate applause, nor stifle censure, by 
 bearing on its front an elaborate apology ; which, 
 if the book become popular, will not be required ; 
 and if it fall into neglect, will never be heard.
 
 PREFACE. ijt 
 
 In the autumns of 1835 and 1836, while the 
 Author was rambling, for the pui*pose of recrea- 
 tion, through some of the wildest districts in 
 Scotland, he kept these dim-nal records of his 
 adventures. The former Journal was written solely 
 for his own amusement and that of his family ; 
 but, on his return to England, he was induced to 
 print a few copies for the use of his friends. In 
 this narrow pale, embracing, however, a few for 
 whose judgment and learning he entertains great 
 respect, his little volume acquired considerable 
 popularity; relying, therefore, upon their decision 
 on its merits, and not unwilling, perhaps, to listen 
 to encouragement generally so questionable, he 
 DOW ventures to produce it, with the subsequent 
 Journal of 1836, upon a more extended theatre. 
 
 His object, throughout his travels, was to re- 
 cord at night, for his own future reference, the 
 impressions which his mind had received, and the 
 information which it had acquired in the course 
 of the day; so as to arrest ideas, which might 
 otherwise have been transient, and to create a 
 picture, as vivid and as faithful as he could, of 
 the various scenes, which passed in array before 
 him. This is a task, which, if executed with 
 fidelity, demands more than an ordinary degree 
 
 A 3
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 of perseverance ; especially in a mountainous re- 
 gion like the Highlands, where the remoter and 
 more romantic glens are accessible only to the 
 pedestrian, are deficient in wonted food and shel- 
 ter, and are often exposed to long-continued rains 
 and storms. 
 
 To retire at eve to a cheerful home, and there, 
 amid the comforts and luxuries of life, to write at 
 leisure the story of the day ; to paint the beautiful 
 or magnificent in scenery ; to discuss the monu- 
 ments of antiquity or art ; to describe the locali- 
 ties of events, historical or legendary ; to nairate 
 the amusing or instructive incident or dialogue — 
 all this to a cultivated mind may be a labour, not 
 only of ease, but even of delight. It was the 
 Author's lot, however, to write under very dif- 
 ferent auspices. In fragments of time, snatched 
 from his meals, or houi's of rest, often in discom- 
 fort and fatigue, and occasionally even in hunger 
 and cold, the following pages, especially the latter 
 part, were compiled. These circumstances are 
 not advanced with a view to deprecate criticism 
 upon the Work at large, which, if the Author 
 shrink from examination, ought never to have 
 been obtruded upon the public ; but rather to 
 account for those duller portions of it, which he
 
 PREFACE. . xi 
 
 would gladly have withdrawn altogether, if he 
 could have done so without sacrificing the force 
 and concatenation of the whole. It is of the 
 natiue of a journal to be unequal; and all that 
 should be demanded of such a composition is, 
 that the interesting should decisively predominate 
 over the dull. 
 
 The Author's random sketches and reflections, 
 then, marked down within a few hours, or at 
 furthest, within a day or two of the transactions 
 which they delineate, are here presented to the 
 reader, with few curtailments, additions, or alter- 
 ations, save such as are merely verbal, or such 
 as a respect for the feelings of individuals ne- 
 cessarily demands. He cannot, of course, ima- 
 gine, that a perusal of them will impart to 
 others the same distinct conceptions, and agree- 
 able associations, which he himself derives from 
 thera ; yet he ventures to hope that they may 
 not be without interest, nor wholly destitute 
 of instruction to his readers, more particularly 
 to such as have already preceded, or may here- 
 after follow him, in exploring the same ground. 
 
 The proper end of writing, it has been ob- 
 served, is to make men better enjoy life, or better
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 endure it. And if these pages should impart to 
 the reader a more lively perception of the beau- 
 tiful scenes, social as well as natural, which the 
 Highlands present; or if they should animate 
 him to bear with philosophy the little privations 
 and disappointments, which await him abroad ; 
 then surely they will not have been written in 
 vain. Neither is the Autlior without a still more 
 adventurous hope, that he may, however humbly, 
 have promoted the cause of that Almighty Being 
 in whose service he is enlisted, by teaching his 
 brother travellers, without the formality of pre- 
 cept, that we should not rest satisfied with a bare 
 inconsequential admiration of nature, but should 
 habitually refer the glories of earth to the great 
 Author of all ; blessing Him, that He has made 
 this our mortal home so beautiful and so grand, 
 and has endowed us with faculties to appreciate 
 its -wondrous perfection. 
 
 As the Author has now explored nearly all the 
 most attractive localities of that great section of 
 Scotland lying north of Edinburgh and Glasgow, 
 which not without inaccmacy he has included in 
 the term " Highlands ;" and has, moreover, tra- 
 velled over a considerable portion of the Conti-
 
 PREFACE. Xill 
 
 nent; he trusts he may, without the charge of 
 presumption, advance his opinions respecting the 
 claims of the northern extremity of our island 
 upon the notice of the English traveller. 
 
 The object of most general interest in every 
 country is its scenery ; and in this respect the 
 Highlands may be classed in the foremost rank. 
 In absolute magnitude the mountains are ex- 
 tremely inferior to the Alps ; and are conse- 
 quently destitute of those perennial snows, which 
 in Switzerland produce such grand and startling 
 effects. The glacier with its azure pinnacles and 
 horrid clefts, and that tremendous chain of snow- 
 clad mountains, bristling up into gigantic battle- 
 ments, and pyramids, and domes, from whose 
 summit descends the dreadful avalanche — these, 
 indeed, in the Highlands will be sought for in vain. 
 
 Yet who can look down from the ci'ags of Ben 
 Nevis without a shudder, or survey with in- 
 difference the gloomy magnificence of Coruishk r 
 It is true that Mont Blanc soars to the elevation 
 of 15,000 feet, and that the highest of the Scottish 
 hills attain to little more than a fourth ])art of 
 that enormous altitude. The geometer with his 
 quadrant assures us, that these things are so. 
 But without adventitious aid, the mind is in-
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 capable of making such nice admeasurements. It 
 has no ready scale of comparison, by which to 
 decide ; and that which would appear insignifi- 
 cant in Savoy, may assume the character of great- 
 ness in Skye. 
 
 The truth is, that, after a certain limit, varying 
 according to the experience of each individual 
 mind, magnitude ceases to be a necessary ingre- 
 dient in the sublime ; form, or figure, becoming 
 after that point more important than dimension. 
 Hence it is, that all, who visit Scotland, whether 
 travelled or untravelled, come away with a strong 
 impression of the grandeur of its scenery. 
 
 And, if this character be allowed to the inland 
 tracts, how much more must be granted to the 
 coasts and isles ! The huge mountains arrayed 
 along the western shore ; the vast perpendicular 
 cliffs which, terminating the land all around, are 
 fantastically chiselled into columnar islets, or sub- 
 ten'anean caves ; the boundless ocean, so prolific 
 when calm, and so fearful in its wrath, but ma- 
 jestic alike in sunshine or in stonn ; — these are 
 features which compensate, in no slight degree, 
 for the soaring granite, and the everlasting ice. 
 
 And if, turning from such tragic pictures, we 
 would view Nature in her mood of loveliness and
 
 •PEEFACE. XV 
 
 repose, let us hie to the glens and lakes, the 
 streams and waterfalls, the woods and glades of 
 the interior : and as we gaze on the landscape, 
 while it glows under the radiance of a setting 
 sun, when every object is subdued and blended 
 into harmonious softness by the summer's warm 
 and brooding atmosphere ; we shall neither envy 
 the Tyrolese his valleys, nor the Italian his skies. 
 It may well be doubted, whether in all the wide 
 world a scene of more exquisite sylvan loveliness 
 can be found, than that which Loch Katrine pre- 
 sents. 
 
 If we next consider the Highlands with regard 
 to historical association, we shall find them, 
 though greatly inferior in the eyes of the scholar 
 to the classic lands of the south, by no means 
 un worth )^ of attention. The Scottish annals 
 abound in romantic incident ; and while we listen 
 to the story of a Bruce, a Wallace, or a Douglas, 
 marvellous as the legendary tales of our infancy, 
 we can hardly imagine, that we are attending to 
 the sober voice of history. 
 
 In all the contests between the two kingdoms 
 into which our island was divided, the object of 
 the one was dominion, and of the other, liberty : 
 and accordingly the scene of every great battle is
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 laid in Scotland, the weaker of the two. After 
 the Union also, the Stuarts made their stand in 
 the Highlands, where their cause was most 
 warmly supported. The traveller, therefore, is 
 frequently conducted to spots, which become 
 deeply interesting, as the stages whereon deeds of 
 chivalrous daring were enacted, or the critical 
 points where the fate of revolutions was decided. 
 As he contemplates the rocky citadel of Edin- 
 burgh, his blood may run cold at the recollection 
 of the intrepid Randolph's desperate adventure ; 
 he may exult in the triumph of liberty upon the 
 field of Bannockburn ; or lament the disasters 
 of mistaken heroism on the w^astes of Culloden. 
 
 In monuments of anticpiity Scotland is not 
 rich ; the fury of the Reformers having destroyed 
 so many of those religious edifices which once 
 adorned the land. Yet there are two noble 
 structures still remaining, which have become 
 doubly precious, as the sole survivors of all the 
 mighty and gorgeous temples, which the zeal or 
 munificence of earlier generations had piled upon 
 the plains. The cathedral of St. Mungo at 
 Glasgow, and St. Magnus at Kirkwall, and I 
 believe the cathedral in old Aberdeen, are in 
 good preservation ; the rest are little more than a
 
 PREFACE. XVn 
 
 heap of crumbling walls, broken columns and 
 mutilated statues. The remains of castles and 
 towers, but generally in a very dilapidated con- 
 dition, abound in the Highlands ; and Scandina- 
 vian or Pictish tumuli, cairns, burghs, memorial- 
 stones, and vitrified forts, occur throughout to 
 delight the antiquarian. 
 
 Passing from history to fiction, we may safely 
 affirm, that no ground in modem times has been 
 so hallowed by the spells of genius, as the 
 country which we are now considering. The 
 poet and the novelist have combined to render 
 classical the isles and straths of Caledonia ; and 
 the pilgrim rarely wanders far among them, with- 
 out the cords of his memory awakening with a 
 thrill to the hai-p of Scott, or the lyre of Bums. 
 
 Lastly, let us advert to tlie inhabitants ; to their 
 language, and character. Throughout the High- 
 lands, Enghsh is now spoken by the meanest 
 peasant. Lowland Scotch occasionally prevails 
 in the more Southern districts ; but this has now 
 become so familiar to the public, that few expe- 
 rience any difficulty in comprehending it ; and 
 many of its expressions have to the Southron all 
 the raciness of a foreign tongue, without any of 
 its obscurity. This universal capability of oral
 
 XVlll PREFACE. 
 
 communication, prevailing down to the lowest 
 ranks, gives to the Highlands a considerable ad- 
 vantage over Switzerland and Italy, where the 
 multiplicity of dialects b*^wilders the most accurate 
 linguist. 
 
 It is, however, in the character of her mountain 
 peasantry that Scotland may most proudly chal- 
 lenge competition with all the kingdoms of the 
 world. The Author speaks not here of the Low- 
 lands, where the people being congregated into 
 cities, the great nurses of coiTuption as well as of 
 civilization, differ very little fi-om his own coun- 
 trymen, and where they do differ, are not always 
 superior: neither do the following observations 
 extend to the most beaten part of the Highlands, 
 in which the temptation to make a harvest of the 
 wealthy traveller is often too great to be resisted. 
 But in the more secluded districts, and especially 
 near the great mountains on the extreme North- 
 western coast, and in the distant isles, there is a 
 simplicity, and moral beauty of character among 
 the lower orders, which cannot be contemplated 
 without an emotion of delight. A winning gentle- 
 ness of manners, with a constant readiness to 
 oblige, prevails throughout ; and their honesty, 
 which is as conspicuous as their poverty, often
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 induces them to refuse from the stranger a remu- 
 neration which they consider exorbitant. There 
 is not a nation in Europe among whom security 
 of person is more absolute and undoubted ; so 
 that the traveller in these virtuous regions, finding 
 a friend in every man he meets, cannot even 
 dream that he is unsafe. 
 
 That there are some exceptions to this agree- 
 able picture is more than probable ; but the 
 Author certainly met with none. Temptations 
 arise in every stage and mode of human existence ; 
 and that vice may lurk occasionally in the lowly 
 hut, and that distress may sometimes point the 
 way to crime — these are propositions too consist- 
 ent with human nature to admit of any long dis- 
 pute : nevertheless the moral aspect of the coun- 
 try has been, upon the whole, correctly repre- 
 sented. 
 
 Hitherto, only the attractive qualities of the 
 Highlands have been enumerated ; and candour 
 demands, that those circumstances, which may 
 appear repulsive to the tourist, should not be con- 
 cealed. As long as he confines his wanderings 
 to the usual routes, he will find the modes of 
 travelling easy and agreeable. He must not, 
 indeed, hope to enjoy the luxuries of a metro-
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 politan hotel in every Highland inn ; nor to roll 
 his can'iage over crags and torrents as speedily 
 or as smoothly, as on the polished roads of 
 Macadam. Still, he vnl\ meet with no incon- 
 veniences, which cannot be borne with a moderate 
 share of patience and of health ; and none for 
 which he will not be more than repaid, by an 
 examination of the grand objects around him. 
 But he, who attempts to explore the sequestered 
 glens, and to thread his way along the western 
 shores, requires a robuster frame, and a more 
 resolute mind. To one who possesses these 
 qualifications, the upper counties of Scotland 
 present an ample and alluring field for adven- 
 ture. 
 
 But the most solid objection to the Highlands 
 arises from the nature of the climate. All moun- 
 tainous countries are liable to rapid variations of 
 weather; and, if the land suddenly terminate in 
 bluffs and precipices along the coast, so as to 
 intercept the prevailing winds, which sweep over 
 the ocean, it is sure to be exposed to heavy rains. 
 The whole western coast of our island steuids in 
 this predicament ; and the humidity of the Scot- 
 tish portion of it is still further increased by su- 
 periority of latitude.
 
 PREFACE. XXI 
 
 The Author was singularly unfortunate in the 
 selection of his periods for visiting the Highlands. 
 The weather in the autumn of 1835 was very- 
 unsettled ; and in 1836, the quantity of rain 
 which fell at that season nearly doubled the 
 average throughout Scotland ; preventing the 
 scanty crops of the North from coming to ma- 
 turity, and thus involving the great mass of the 
 population in severe distress. Sincerely must it 
 be hoped by every friend of humanity that it will 
 be long, ere another year so unpropitious to the 
 peasant will occur : but as for the tourist, he may 
 almost secure move favourable weather by select- 
 ing the months of June and July for his excursion. 
 The Author has learned by experience that the 
 autumn is too late. 
 
 From the foregoing investigation the conclusion 
 is, that the Highlands of Scotland in spite of oc- 
 casional deficiency in accommodation, and hu- 
 midity of climate, will richly reward the perse- 
 verance of the traveller by the beauty and sub- 
 limity of their scenery — by the association of so 
 many localities with the undying names of war- 
 riors and poets — by the rude but curious monu- 
 ments, which illustrate the history of the Scandi- 
 navian and Pictish Tribes — and by the gentle
 
 XXll PREFACE. 
 
 manners and generous hospitality of the present 
 inhabitants : that by far the most extended and 
 interesting section of this country can be explored 
 without real annoyance by the moderately strong : 
 and that the remainder affords an ample stage for 
 the exertions of the hardier and more inquisitive 
 tourist. 
 
 It only remains for the Author to acknowledge 
 his great obligations to the Messrs. Anderson, for 
 the accurate and various information contained in 
 their " Guide to the Highlands ; " a book which 
 has been compiled with great diligence and learn- 
 ing, and is worthy of a place in the library as 
 soon as it is withdrawn from the knapsack. 
 
 Shurdington, 
 21st Jan. 1837-
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 1835. 
 
 " O Nature ! a' thy shows an' forms, 
 To feeling, pensive hearts hae charms ! 
 M'hether the simmer kindly warms 
 
 Wi' life an' light. 
 Or winter howls in gusty storms 
 
 The lang dark night ! "
 
 IMJ, ^ Y 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 1835. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Liverpool on the 15th of August, 
 and after seeing the Exchange and a few of the 
 principal streets of this noble city, 1 repaired to 
 the Dock-yards — an inexhaustible scene of amuse- 
 ment. "What multitudes of ships and men ! What 
 stores of sugar and wool ! What long lines of am- 
 ple warehouses ! — The activity, the vital energy, of 
 this queen of commercial cities, is truly wonderful. 
 Some vessels are being stripped of their precious 
 freights, while fresh ventures of merchandise are 
 being consigned to the bowels of others. Part 
 are undergoing repairs — the carpenters and black- 
 smiths being busy on their decks ; and part of 
 them, by the excellent order of their tackle, indi- 
 
 B
 
 2 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 cate a readiness to brave at once the " billows and 
 the breeze." On the Quay, the exciseman is 
 weighing, in gigantic scales, the huge bales in 
 succession ; and the ganger, with his arithmeti- 
 cal rod, is probing the casks of sugar. All is 
 life and spirit, and motion : no idleness, and no 
 repose. 
 
 At three o'clock, I entered the City of Glasgow 
 steamer — a beautiful boat — which, after a very 
 awkward exit through the narrow lock, moved 
 along the smooth waters most majestically. The 
 Manchester, a rival packet, followed us imme- 
 diately. About dusk, as we were passing the Isle 
 of Man, I was much amused in watching the 
 beautiful phosphoric lights, brightening among the 
 agitated waves below us — evanescent sparklings, 
 that reminded me of the glow-worm's lamp of love. 
 All at once I saw some brilliant blue lights, from 
 the deck of the Manchester, and on asking our 
 helmsman what they meant, he said they were 
 signals to another vessel, which was certainly 
 beaiing towards them, but was much more dis- 
 tant than we were. I have since learned that this 
 was a signal of gi*eat distress, and that we ought 
 immediately to have put about and helped them. 
 It appeared that one of their engines gave way,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 3 
 
 and for some time they were in momentary expect- 
 ation of being blown up ; but at last they con- 
 trived to clear avv^ay the broken engine, and work 
 the vessel with the sound one, the calmness of the 
 weather being highly favourable to them, in this 
 disabled situation. My berth was in the fore- 
 cabin, and I retired to it at ten o'clock ; but, for 
 all the sleep I had, I might just as well have staid 
 on deck. It was so small that I could but just lie 
 down in it — an admirable fit! — and then the in- 
 cessant jolting of the engines, the roll of the vessel, 
 the rumbling of ropes and tackle above, and the 
 coughing, snoring, and restlessness of my very 
 near neighbours around, altogether compounded 
 such a distracting confusion of noises, that even 
 Morpheus himself would have been bothered out 
 of his sleep. 
 
 August 16. — Understanding that it rained very 
 hard, and that nothing was to be seen, though we 
 were so near Ailsa Craig, I did not think it worth 
 while to turn out of my berth till six o'clock. 
 The mist and rain continued till we anived at 
 Greenock, so that I saw nothing of the fine scenery 
 of the Clyde. 
 
 As I entered the inn, the White Hart, all the 
 good citizens were going to kirk, and if my coat had 
 
 B 2
 
 4 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 not unfortunately been wet, through my portman- 
 teau, which I had laid on the deck, I should have 
 gone too ; but 1 was told that it would be scarcely 
 decent to appear there in a shooting-jacket. Now 
 that the people are in the kirk, the town looks 
 like a desert, not a soul stin'ing, and the very dogs 
 having gone to kennel. And the same silence and 
 stillness continues, till the evening kirk is past, as 
 it is thought improper to walk about between 
 the services. 
 
 In the afternoon, a discussion took place among 
 four or five of us, with respect to infant baptism. 
 A gentleman who had gone over from our church 
 to that of the Baptists, maintaining tlie unlawful- 
 ness of it. 1 never heard any discussion, still less 
 a religious one, carried on with so much temper 
 and gentleness. Of course, we all ended with 
 being of precisely the same opinion as when we 
 started the subject. 
 
 August 17. — The same disagreeable small rain. 
 I left Greenock, at nine, by the steamer, which 
 traverses Loch Long and Loch Goyle. At the 
 head of this last, we found a coach waiting to 
 convey us on to St. Katherine's Feny. The dis- 
 tance is about eight miles, through a fine pass, of 
 which, as well as of the Loch scenery, we saw
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 5 
 
 nothing, in consequence of the weather. The road 
 is very hilly and bad, severe work for these poor 
 tired horses. The ferry-boat conveyed us across 
 Loch Fine to Inverary. Though the sky has 
 cleared a little since I have been here, I am very 
 much disappointed at present ; however, with such 
 a gloomy atmosphere around me, and a prospect 
 not much more cheerful within, I am, perhaps, 
 incapable of giving an impartial opinion : T there- 
 fore, for the present, suspend my judgment. 
 
 The Castle of Inverary, which I have visited, is 
 undoubtedly ugly : an uniform, modem building, 
 with all the clumsiness, but none of the real strength 
 of a proper castle ; built with a slaty blue stone, 
 and surrounded with formal laurels, low and regu- 
 lar, disposed in the shape of a geometrical laby- 
 rinth. The interior contains very commodious 
 apartments : in the hall are ranged, in circular 
 form, a quantity of guns and bayonets that were 
 used in the '45. The Flemish tapestry in the bed- 
 rooms is worth noticing, and the Parisian tapestry 
 in the drawing-room is really superb. I now 
 passed thi'ough the grounds, which are clothed 
 with trees, and intersected by the course of the 
 Aray, a clear mountain stream, from which the 
 town takes its name ; and then ascended Duna-
 
 6 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 quaich, a beautiful mountain, most romantically 
 clothed with wood, from the summit of which 
 there is a grand prospect. But these envious 
 clouds ! 
 
 Strolling along the banks of the Loch, I fell in 
 with the man who rents the salmon fishery. He 
 says that the fish come up in shoals, headed by a 
 leader who may always be seen sporting at the 
 surface of the water, or throwing himself out of it. 
 I watched two or three of these adventurous admi- 
 rals at the head of their squadrons, while I was 
 walking with the lessee. When they reach the top 
 of the Loch, they usually turn and coast along the 
 sides, so as to fall into the nets spread for them. 
 The herring fisheiy, which is peculiarly fine in 
 this water, has been very inferior in its produce 
 this year, as to quality and quantity. The 
 steamers are supposed to injure the fisheries ma- 
 terially. 
 
 August 18. — Set out with four other gentlemen 
 for Oban, through Dalmally. As we approached 
 the head of Loch Awe, the scenerj- became mag- 
 nificent, but, unfortunately, it was much concealed 
 by the clouds. Perhaps, however, we were in 
 some measure compensated for this concealment 
 by the strange and magic lights and shades thro\vn
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 7 
 
 upon the prominences and hollows of the moun- 
 tains. — The isles in Loch Awe are beautiful, some 
 clothed with graceful trees, and some adorned 
 with monastic ruins. But the finest object that 
 presented itself was Kilchuni Castle, seated on a 
 rocky prominence that overhangs the loch. The 
 effect of this time-worn, massive, and deeply- 
 shaded edifice in the midst of the bright waters, 
 with the heather-stained hills and blue mountains 
 beyond, was most imposing. 
 
 We continued to skirt the base of the enormous 
 Ben Cruachan, commanding, throughout, enchant- 
 ing prospects, and at length following the course 
 of the Awe, came in sight of Loch Etive. The 
 character of its scenery is extremely wild and soli- 
 tary on all sides, and the view towards Ben Crua- 
 chan is sublime. 
 
 Two miles beyond Connel Ferry, on a jutting 
 promontory, is seated Dunstaffnage Castle, a very 
 interesting ruin which I hope to say something 
 more of by and by. 
 
 Just as we were descending to Oban, we per- 
 ceived the smoke of the Staffa steam-boat, by 
 which we had intended to visit that island, ascend- 
 ing above the hill, in front of us ; we were just 
 one quarter of an hour too late, a sad disappoint-
 
 8 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ment to my companions. I fully meant to proceed 
 at once in an open boat, but unluckily I had not 
 strength of body enough to weather out a night's 
 sail, having taken a severe cold. The next boat 
 does not sail till three days hence, and the beds 
 at the inn here are all bespoken to-morrow, in 
 consequence of the boat-races. I must therefore 
 retire again to Inverary,wherel have left my port- 
 manteau. 
 
 August 19. — Mounted the coach at ten o'clock, 
 and retraced my steps back as far as Taj'nuilt 
 along the shore of Loch Etive. On the opposite 
 coast is the residence of Gen. Campbell, the pro- 
 prietor of this territory, and, what is of infinitely 
 more interest to me, a neat white church sleeping 
 among the quiet woods, with not a house visible 
 for miles around it. One wonders how so deso- 
 late a region as this can possibly supply a congre- 
 gation, but I understand that people attend fi-om 
 immense and almost incredible distances. There 
 it stands upon a dreary shore, peacefully rearing 
 its slender spire among the stunted trees that sur- 
 round it, a temple in a desert ! And what spot 
 more appropriate could be selected, from which to 
 send up homage from the creature to the Creator? 
 In these vast and trackless regions man is nothing.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 9 
 
 and can scarcely imprint one trace of his existence 
 upon the huge mountains that surround him ; but 
 God — the everlasting — it is He who poised them 
 by the ocean side, and robed their summits mth 
 clouds and storms ! 
 
 Again I passed Dunstaffnage Castle, and again 
 I admired its venerable form, which now appeared 
 more commanding from the tide being out. Flocks 
 of voracious crows were seeking a meal on the 
 dripping beach, and the gull was keeping stirless 
 but eager watch for his prey upon some rock, that 
 had just emerged from the sea ; while a solitary 
 heron lazily flapped her way just above the surface 
 of the water. The road which we are traversing 
 must have been extremely expensive on account 
 of the difficulty of making a firm foundation on 
 these bogs and moors. Great quantities of peat 
 are dug in the month of May ; it is spread on the 
 ground, turned two or three times, and by the end 
 of August it is sufficiently dried and fit for the 
 stack. They make charcoal here also to supply 
 the smelting furnaces at Bunaw. These are very 
 valuable, and have made the fortunes of the pre- 
 sent lessees, who have held a large tract of waste 
 land of the Campbell family on a ninety years' 
 lease now near expiring — their rent was about 
 
 B 3
 
 10 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 £200 ; the land is now worth iESOOO, from the 
 abundance of wood which it produces. 
 
 Leaving Taynuilt, we wound along the banks 
 of a rapid stream at the bottom of a romantic 
 glen ; the mode in whicii the hills that skirted it 
 were wooded, reminded me very much of Tyrolean 
 scenery. Neai* the highest point there is a small 
 heap of stones rudely thrown together, called the 
 Exciseman's Cairn. It seems that a collision 
 took place here between this officer and the pea- 
 sants, who used him wath great ci-uelty, cutting off 
 his ears and nose. It is customary with the Scots 
 to hand down the memory of any remarkable 
 transaction by these rude cairas or monuments, 
 every passenger adding a stone to the heap ; but 
 in spite of their pious labours the pyramid sel- 
 dom rises to any gi-eat height, being subject to 
 be knocked down by cattle, and to other acci- 
 dents. 
 
 At Kilchrenan we left the coach and were 
 ferried across Loch Awe, to Port Sonachan, where 
 another coach awaited us. The view towards the 
 head of Loch Awe was majestic, and the weather 
 was now so far improved as to leave little else to 
 desire. The heights of Ben Cruachan were oc- 
 casionally revealed, his canopy of clouds con-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 11 
 
 stantly shifting both in form and position. Gleams 
 of sunlight ever and anon found their way to the 
 mountains, and imparted to those, which re- 
 mained in shade, a still more gloomy hue. The 
 effect of changing the light is really magical : it is 
 like shifting the scenes of a theatre. We soon 
 an-ived at the top of denary, where, according to 
 our coachman, one gains a true idea of Burke's 
 sublime and beautiful. I do not altogether coin- 
 cide with him of the whip in this opinion, for the 
 scene is too baiTen and lonely to excite any idea 
 of the beautiful — sublime, however, it truly is. 
 Range succeeding range of heathery mountains, 
 from the near and awful Ben Cruachan to the 
 distant and majestic Ben More, with every grada- 
 tion of colouring, from the greens and browns in 
 the foreground to the misty pui*ple in the dis- 
 tance; the whole scene, too, invested with the 
 most absolute solitude, no trace of animal ex- 
 istence being discernible all around. 
 
 I arrived at Inverary at six, and mean to stay 
 here some days, for the Duke of Argyle's grounds 
 are most inviting ; and the Argyle Arms is a very 
 comfortable hotel. 
 
 August 20. — This morning by great perse- 
 verance I have at last succeeded in purchasing a
 
 12 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 palette. The vendor, a hosier, grocer, &c., &c., has 
 just given up the pursuit of drawing, and is there- 
 fore dehghted at this opportunity of selling off 
 so capital a portion of his old stock. He says, 
 assizes are held here twice a year, and that there 
 are usually a great number of prisoners ; assaults 
 and sheep-stealing being the most prevalent 
 crimes. The temptations to this last must be 
 very great, when such numerous flocks graze at 
 large upon the mountains ; indeed the little ani- 
 mals are so active and graceful in their motions, 
 and so very elegant in their forms, that 1 am 
 more than half disposed to steal one myself. 
 Accoutred at all points, \vith pencil, palette and 
 brush, 1 sat me down on a rock in the middle of 
 the Ary, and endeavoured to transfer to paper 
 a very lovely scene ; but I did not at all suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 In the evening I found the coffee-room filled 
 with a very noisy set of people, " bit Glasgow 
 bodies awa' on a pleasurin' tour." There was one 
 solitary man with a weather-stained countenance, 
 who, when I took my seat near him, addressed a 
 few ordinary words to me. I was soon after called 
 away by the waiter to another table, where tea 
 was placed for me, and the weather-beaten man
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 was again left alone. He seemed so utterly aban- 
 doned by his kind, that I could not refrain from 
 speaking to him again ; on which he immediately 
 drew his chair to my table, seeming delighted to 
 have a human being to associate with. He said 
 he was just returned from Canada, where he had 
 been residing for the last four years. The Go- 
 vernment he described as being in a very un- 
 settled state, on account of the animosity existing 
 between the English and French population. In 
 their House of Assembly, some of the speeches 
 are delivered in French, and some in English. 
 He resided within gun-shot of the American fron- 
 tier, and spoke in no very measured terms of the 
 American character. It is a frequent practice 
 with them, he says, to get into debt upon the 
 Canada side, and then step over the frontier, and 
 defy their creditors. Mrs. Trollope's book is very 
 little exaggerated, for they have no manners, and 
 no feeling. They speak of attending an execution 
 as " taking a day's pleasure !" They are utterly 
 selfish, even within the pale of their own family ; 
 and when the cholera raged there, many deserted 
 their own parents and brethren. This disease 
 was so destructive that churchyards were covered 
 with dead bodies, for w^hich neither coffins nor
 
 14 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 graves could be provided. A friend of his was 
 tossed with other carcasses into the general heap, 
 and quicklime was actually strewn over the whole, 
 the poor man being perfectly conscious all the 
 while, but unable to stir : at last he contrived to 
 crawl out, and is now alive and well. Many per- 
 sons were buried in this horrid and premature 
 way, for the Americans never keep any body for 
 more than a day, a man being good for nothing 
 when he is dead. He told a singular story of 
 three Irishmen, who were seized with cholera 
 when perfectly intoxicated, and were carried in a 
 cart to the sheds erected outside the town for tlie 
 reception of the sick. The surgeon, who was ex- 
 hausted with his day's work, said he should not 
 attend to men who had no respect for their own 
 lives; and so having administered medicines to 
 the other patients, he left the Irishmen to their 
 fate. When he returned in the morning, all were 
 dead except the neglected Paddies, who, on 
 seeing the doctor, immediately exclaimed, " When 
 will your honour be ordering us a drop of drink ?" 
 — One of the victims of this pestilence was 
 Brandt, the chief of the Huron tribe : he was a 
 fine young man, much beloved by his people, a 
 captain in the English service, and a descendant
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 15 
 
 of that General Johnson who had such great in- 
 fluence with the Indians. He died as much from 
 drinking, as from cholera ; and it seems that 
 this fatal habit is destroying numbers of the red 
 people. My new acquaintance stated, that, on 
 arriving at Glasgow, he wished to see three of his 
 friends who were living there when he left Scot- 
 land ; but, on enquiring, he found that they were 
 all under the sod. 
 
 " I am a native," said he, " of this very coun- 
 try, and was born under the sides of Ben Crua- 
 chan : I am a true Highlander, and Gaelic is my 
 native tongue. But, though this is my birth- 
 place, I am as much a stranger here as you, who 
 are a Southron. My father and mother died when 
 I was a lad, and I am now alone in the world." 
 
 Poor fellow ! I pitied him from the very bottom 
 of my soul. Yet he was of a sturdy frame, and 
 seemed fully competent to push on through life 
 without a friend. He afterwards told me, that in 
 Canada he had resided with English people, and, 
 though bom a Presbyterian, he had joined our 
 Church, at first from necessity, but since from 
 choice : our funeral service he deeply admired, 
 his own countrymen having nothing of the kind. 
 When we separated, I held out my hand, for
 
 16 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 which he seemed scarcely prepared ; for he shook 
 it very heartily, and said most feelingly — 
 
 " God bless you !" 
 
 I involuntarily replied — " Thank you ;" and 
 surely a benediction so unsolicited, and so sincere, 
 was a proper subject for gratitude. 
 
 August 21. — His Grace's grounds are really 
 most enchanting. I have never seen such a va- 
 riety of fine timber trees so tastefully disposed. 
 The limes are gigantic ; the sycamores, Spanish 
 chestnuts, ash, and beech, are nobly grown. The 
 oaks are not very striking in size, but the firs 
 again are monstrous. 
 
 This is the season of hay -harvest, and I observe 
 that here it is made with rakes, as in the South ; 
 but in general the people toss it about with their 
 hands. Every little bit of ground on the moors, 
 which has been so fortunate as to possess a na- 
 tural drainage, is mown with care ; and the crop 
 of rush, heath, and grass, when, after a dozen 
 soakings, it is finally dried, is dignified with the 
 name of hay. Yet their horses seem to thrive 
 well too ; and I am sure their cattle do — little 
 black sprightly things, the very personifications 
 of health and activity. A young bull that I saw 
 the other day was a perfect picture. 1 thought
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 17 
 
 very highly of Landseer's " Highland Drovers," 
 before I had seen the animals which he has so 
 faithfully depicted ; but my admiration is now 
 still further increased ; for I see that it is painted 
 indeed to the life. 
 
 August 22. — I walked six or seven miles up 
 the Glen-shira, or Yale of the Silent Stream, and 
 back again, but was scarcely repaid for my 
 trouble, the scenery being merely pretty. My 
 landlord, Mr. M'Kellar, having been bom within 
 it, has very naturally contracted a great partiality 
 towards it, which leads him to exaggerate its 
 beauties. 
 
 In the evening I fell in with a Gloucestershire 
 man, residing in or near Cirencester ; of course a 
 magnetic attraction sprung up between us, di- 
 rectly we discovered ourselves to belong to the 
 same county — and such a county ! We agreed 
 prodigiously with regard to its merits. 
 
 August 23. — I have just returned from kirk, 
 whither I went in company with my Gloucester- 
 shire friend. The doors were opened at half- 
 past eleven, and the service began at a quarter 
 before twelve. The clerk took his place first, in 
 a seat that looked like our reading-desk ; and 
 then the minister entered the higher one, corre-
 
 18 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 spending to our pulpit. These seats were covered 
 with black cloth, as was also the front of the 
 opposite gallery. The body of the kirk was 
 crowded. The minister opened the senice by 
 saying, " Let us begin the worship of this day by 
 singing a portion of the 65th Psalm." He then 
 read the psalm, and the clerk sang it afterwards — 
 the people joining when he had entered upon the 
 second line of the first verse. The people now 
 all stood up, (having continued to sit during the 
 singing,) and the minister uttered an extempore 
 prayer, offering up praise and glory to God, and 
 invoking his blessing upon the proceedings. A 
 portion of scripture was now read by the minister, 
 beginning Acts xxiv. v. 26. on which he pro- 
 ceeded to comment, and to give, in fact, what we 
 call a sermon. It was extempore, long, and de- 
 sultory. At the conclusion of it, one of their 
 scripture translations in verse was sung — the 
 people sitting — and then the minister offered 
 another prayer, in which he besought God that 
 the people might be benefited by that day's ser- 
 vice, and prayed Him to bless the king, royal 
 family, the established churches of the land, 
 and that particular parish and congregation. 
 Then another psalm, and the final blessing, which
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 19 
 
 differed but little from ours. During the pre- 
 fatory and concluding prayers, the people stood ; 
 all the rest of the time they sat— no kneeling 
 whatever. 
 
 Such is the service of the Presbyterian kirk of 
 Scotland. I went to hear it with a predetermina- 
 tion that 1 would not allow myself to judge 
 hastily or harshly ; yet my firm conviction is, 
 that in no single respect whatever can it bear 
 a comparison with the service of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 In the first place, not a line of scripture is read, 
 except for the text. Perhaps it is thought that 
 people may study their bibles at home. But to 
 shew the fallacy of this reasoning, let us put two 
 simple questions : Do all who attend the kirk 
 study the bible at home? — Are there not some 
 among them who cannot read ? — Until it can be 
 shewn, that none of our congregation neglects the 
 scriptures, I trust that our church will continue 
 to adopt a portion of them into her services. 
 
 In the second place, the Scottish kirk has no 
 Liturgy, for I cannot dignify by such a name the 
 wretched versification of the Psalms, which they 
 use so copiously. To me this has always appeared 
 to be the most satisfactory part of our public
 
 20 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 worship : it is something which one can depend 
 upon ; and however feeble or incapable the clergy- 
 man may be, he cannot prevent us from offering 
 up this noble and affecting homage to God. The 
 ignorant, as well as the learned, are benefited by 
 it; for while its language is intelligible to the 
 simplest understanding, it cannot fail to satisfy 
 the most refined. 
 
 Lastly, let us compare the sermons of the two 
 churches. The comparative merits of these, it 
 may be said, must, of necessity, be determined by 
 the individual talents of the respective preachers. 
 But let it be remembered that the Presbyterian 
 discourses are generally uttered extempore, whilst 
 ours are very rarely, and ought never to be so. I 
 have heard many extempore semions from clever 
 populai" preachers ; but never one which I admired 
 throughout ; or in which the poorest scholar could 
 not have detected faults of grammar, diction, or 
 argument. Cases, in which a man can speak better 
 than he can write, may, by possibility, occur; but 
 such cases must be rare indeed. For this simple 
 reason, therefore, I think our church has greatly 
 the advantage even in the sermon, which is the 
 Presbyterian's pride. 
 
 August 24. — Bade adieu to my countryman, and
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 21 
 
 also to my landlord and his daughter. Mr. 
 M'Kellar reminds me of the description given by 
 an old historian of a Scotch knight ; " he was a 
 handsome man with a broad face, a red nose, and 
 large flat ears ; with an awful look when he was 
 displeased." The little bare-legged Gaels about 
 the town seem to regard him with the most pro- 
 found veneration, and he stalks among them like 
 a giant. — He is more than six feet high, three feet 
 broad, and as to his legs, which are displayed in 
 tights, I am convinced that if they were seen in 
 the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, they would be 
 taken for the Pillars of Hercules. He has a glance 
 of the eye when pleased, that is inexpressibly 
 droll ; and when I said a few civil things of his 
 native Glen-shira, it twinkled preposterously. He 
 promises me a fine day to a certainty ; he can 
 always predict the weather, for he has only to 
 send his fleet of geese to the loch-side, and if they 
 put out to sea, it will be fair ; if they anchor on 
 shore, it will be rainy. Upon my expressing my 
 satisfaction with his hotel, he said, 
 
 " Well, Sir, I doot that'll be no great compli- 
 ment, for my dochter says you are easily pleased." 
 
 " I am always pleased," I rejoined, " when I 
 meet with civility, and still more when I meet with 
 kindness."
 
 22 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 " May you never meet with any thing less, and 
 God bless you." 
 
 This is the second benediction I hare re- 
 ceived. So I bade the old man good bye, and 
 also his little daughter, whom I then saw for 
 the first time. How she could possibly discern 
 the placability of my temper I was at a loss to 
 discover ; but I suppose she must have overheard 
 me extolling the beauties of Glen-shira ; or per- 
 haps expected that I should have stormed at 
 having been delayed by M'Kellar's horses on 
 Tuesday, so as to lose the Staffa boat. 
 
 A wretched gig, and worse horse, (whose name 
 I am not likely to forget, as every little ascent eli- 
 cited it from the driver ; " Yep ! Jenny, Yep ! 
 Jenny ! ") conveyed me safe to Dalmally ; or rather 
 my luggage, for I walked the greater part of the 
 way, both up hill and down, Jenny having no idea 
 of trotting any where but on level ground. Arrived 
 here, I set off after a hasty lunch to see the ruins 
 of Kilchuni Castle, one of the most picturesque 
 in the Highlands. By dint of jumping over rivu- 
 lets, and wading through morasses, I contrived to 
 gain the extremity of the swampy peninsula upon 
 which it stands. — It is an absolute ruin, no trace 
 of any thing remaining but the bare walls, and here 
 and there a recess for a fireplace. Its situation is
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 23 
 
 admirable, elevated on a platfomi of rock, and 
 commanding beautiful views of Loch Awe and its 
 numerous islands. The square tower, erected by 
 the celebrated Sir Colin Campbell, founder of the 
 Breadalbane family, is easily distinguishable amid 
 the general ruin. 
 
 On the island of Fraoch Elan, very near Kil- 
 churn, are the remains of another castle ; and those 
 of a third upon the lovely Innis Chonnel, once the 
 residence of the Argyll family. Still another 
 crumbling edifice, sole remnant of a noble con- 
 vent, may be seen upon the island of Innis-hail. 
 
 This realm would serve for a bridal portion to 
 the haughtiest owl that ever whooped ; for all is 
 desolation and ruin. Shattered towers and ivy- 
 mantled walls, mouldering staircases and dripping 
 vaults, all attest the slow but inevitable encroach- 
 ments of time. And the gloom and solitude of 
 these decaying stones make a still deeper impression 
 upon the imagination, when one reflects that they 
 were all perhaps existing in their pride and strength 
 at the same £era, and were tenanted by restless and 
 scheming men ; that the clang of armour or the 
 wassail shout echoed along the waters of the lioch, 
 while the bell of vespers swung in the tower of 
 Innis-hail.
 
 24 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 From the neighbouiliood of the castle-walls 
 there is a singular and striking view of my old 
 friend Ben Cruachan ; one looks into a vast semi- 
 circular crescent scooped out of the bosom of the 
 mountain; which crescent was now brilliantly illu- 
 mined by the sun, while all the rest of his vast 
 fonn was enshrouded in gloom. I know not how 
 to describe the effect of this immense hollow thus 
 filled with liquid light, better than by saying that 
 it resembled a giant's bowl of sun-beams. 
 
 I also visited the church at Dalmally, or Church 
 of Glenorchy ; there are many very ancient tomb- 
 stones, with rude figures of warriors in armour 
 carved upon them in the church-yard. They were 
 brought from Innis-hail, and very probably were 
 intended to be memorials of the mail-clad men, 
 who lived and died in the neighbouring fortresses. 
 
 August 25. — This has been the worst day's 
 weather I have met with in the Highlands, the 
 rain pouring down in torrents without a moment's 
 cessation. In an open car, or cart, with springs to 
 the seat, but none to the wheels, I set out for 
 Oban, above twenty -four miles ; which journey I 
 accomplished in five hours. Having travelled this 
 road before, and sufficiently admired its beauties, 
 I cared but little for the clouds.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 25 » 
 
 As we passed along the shores of Loch Etive, 
 near the Connel Feny, the tide happened to be 
 out, so that the marine cataract, caused by the 
 narrowing of the opposite rocks of this salt-water 
 loch, was in full force. 
 
 At Oban I dined with Colonel C, a gentleman 
 of great propeily and influence in this neighbour- 
 hood, and five or six others, at the Caledonian 
 Hotel ; several of them had come hither in order 
 to be present at a great dinner given yesterday to 
 the Member for Argyleshire, all Whigs. At six 
 o'clock, the rain still pattering, I walked down to 
 the Staffa boat, having fully resolved to go, be the 
 weather what it would. On reaching the quay, I 
 was given to understand that the captain wouH 
 not sail till the next morning, so I had just to walk 
 back again, being thoroughly wet through. The 
 evening however was passed agreeably with Co- 
 lonel C, w^ho was well acquainted with America 
 and India: he told me that the red deer are very 
 abundant in his neighbourhood ; and that in the 
 winter when the snow is deep, they are often 
 caught in the Isle of Mull, exhausted by their ef- 
 forts to extricate themselves. There were also in 
 the company two young Swiss, very handsome 
 and agreeable men. They were bom at Fribourg, 
 
 c
 
 26 JOUKNAL OF A 
 
 in Switzerland, but the elder had resided all his 
 life at Paris ; the younger had been a great tra- 
 veller, and was delighted to meet with a person 
 who had witnessed, and could appreciate the sub- 
 limities of his native sceneiy. He sketches ad- 
 mirably. They speak very little English, but 
 French is to them as easy as their native tongue. 
 
 August 26. — Rose at five o'clock and went down 
 to the steamer, resolved to visit Staffa, even if I 
 saw nothing. There were very few passengers in 
 consequence of the wretched state of the weather, 
 but my young Swiss friends were fortunately 
 among the adventurers. I found them throughout 
 the day lively and instructive companions. At 
 six o'clock we left the quay. As we none of us 
 expected any great degree of gi*atification from 
 the day's trip, we were in the end most agreeably 
 disappointed. 
 
 Rain, however, abundant rain, w^as our portion 
 at first. We could scarcely discern the Isle of 
 Lismore, though we were veiy near it. " Tradition 
 says, that it was once a deer-forest, and that some 
 of Fingal's huntings took place here. The inha- 
 bitants point out Sha-nan-ban-Fioun, the hill of 
 the Fingalian ladies." Entering the sound of 
 Mull, we saw on om* left the remains of Duart
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 27 
 
 Castle held formerly by the Macleans, upon a fine 
 headland, and further on upon the mainland we 
 passed the ruins of Ardtornish Castle, rendered 
 classic by Sir Walter's Lord of the Isles. Below 
 the Castle is the bay, according to the same au- 
 thority, where Robert Bruce, with his brother 
 Edward, and sister Isabella, cast anchor after their 
 passage from Ireland. Tobermory on the Isle of 
 Mull, is situated securely at the bottom of a fine 
 bay, in which the Admiral's ship of the Invincible 
 Spanish Armada was blown up, having been forced 
 to take refuge here by a violent storm. 
 
 Steering close to the shores of this Island, ad- 
 miring its bold and beautifully coloured headlands, 
 and leaving some very picturesque and rocky 
 islands to the right, we at length came in sight of 
 the object so much longed for; and here, as our 
 good fortune would have it, the rain ceased, and 
 we were enabled to enjoy all the wonders of this 
 most extraordinary spot without a single draw- 
 back. 
 
 Approaching from the North, there is nothing 
 in the first view of Staffa to elevate it in interest 
 above its neighbours. As we neared it in a boat, 
 we began to distinguish the clustered pillars of 
 basalt, small indeed in this quarter, and covered 
 
 c 2
 
 28 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 with patellae, bullae, &c., so as to lose a great deal 
 of their effect. But on rounding a projecting 
 point, one commands at once an uninterrupted 
 view of the gigantic columns, and fearful recesses 
 of Fingal's cave. The sides of this stupendous 
 cavern are composed of basaltic columns, dark, 
 yet shining from the ocean's spray, arranged in a 
 vertical position with such symmetry, and such 
 variety, that the imagination is vividly impressed 
 with all the hannonies of an architectural per- 
 spective. The roof also being fonned of horizontal 
 sections of the pillars, which are generally penta- 
 gonal, has the appearance of being fretted and 
 embossed, while the colours of the stalagmites, 
 suspended from its crevices, add greatly to the 
 • splendour of its decorations. The floor is the 
 green and crystal sea, of a hue indescribably 
 beautiful, and transparent beyond imagination ! 
 In the calmest weather it is ever in motion ; mark- 
 ing, like some mighty pulse, the vibrations of the 
 vast Atlantic. From this circumstance it derives 
 its Gaelic appellation Uaimh Binn, or the musical 
 cave. 
 
 Our boats entered with perfect safety, there not 
 being a breath of wind ; and I was the first to 
 spring upon the rock and scramble to the end of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 the cave along a line of broken columns, forming 
 a tolerable pathway for those, who are not subject 
 to giddiness. At the extremity of the cave, then, 
 at a considerable height, and quite alone, I watched 
 the party carefully passing to the rocks from the 
 boat ; while beneath me the heaving waters were 
 ever and anon sullenly dashing against their final 
 barrier, with a roar of thunder and a sheet of foam. 
 I shall never forget the animation of that scene ! 
 The booming of the sea at stated intervals against 
 the reverberating rocks, the wild and irregular 
 cries of the Gaelic mariners, echoed and re-echoed 
 along the roof and pillars of the cave, — the agita- 
 tion of the great sea-boats, now borne inwards by 
 the entering tide, and now swept back by its re- 
 sorbent power — while the steamer in the distance, 
 seen through the opening of the cavern, appeared 
 utterly devoid of motion, sleeping on the waveless 
 main — oh what a combination of sights and sounds, 
 what a scene of enchantment and diablerie ! 
 
 Tearing ourselves with reluctance from this most 
 wondrous spot, we passed along the grand cause- 
 way, which is a slope, intervening between the 
 base of the cliff and the sea, composed of irregu- 
 larly fractured columns, at first vertical, with ho- 
 rizontal sections exposed ; but afterwards inclining
 
 30 JOURNAL OP A 
 
 in various degrees. To our right lay the detached 
 islet of Bouchaille, or the Herdsman, consisting 
 entirely of small columns, closely attached to each 
 other, and sloping in the most grotesque and un- 
 expected directions. 
 
 We now came to the Clam-Shell Cave, where 
 the basaltic columns increase in size, and, on one 
 side of the aperture, are most singularly distorted, 
 so as to resemble the timbers of a ship, with traces 
 of transverse fractures occurring at nearly regular 
 intervals. Ascending to the green platform, which 
 constitutes the main surface of the isle, we obtained 
 some striking views of Mull and the adjacent 
 islets. 
 
 We now re-embarked, and as we receded from 
 the shore, there was displayed before us the whole 
 grand columnar fa9ade, pierced here and there by 
 the various caves, whose gloomy recesses were 
 strongly marked out by a transient gleam of sun- 
 shine. 
 
 By what mighty convulsion, in the dim epochs 
 of the past, the crust of the earth has been broken 
 up, and compacted into these prismatic shapes — 
 by what devices of mechanic force, or chymic 
 skill, the hand of nature has fashioned into geo- 
 metric form the mouldings, and shafts, and capi-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 31 
 
 tals, and all the other decorations of this her mas- 
 terpiece in her architectural composition — we 
 still remain in ignorance the most profound. Some 
 crude and feeble theories have been invented by 
 speculative men, but how unsatisfying are these — 
 and how unphilosophical ! 
 
 Before we had lost sight of Staffa, lona, the 
 Island of Waves, sometimes also called Icolumkil, 
 or the Isle of Columba's cell, claimed our atten- 
 tion. Its first appearance was still more unpre- 
 tending than that of Staffa ; but the interest which 
 attaches to it, is not physical but moral. Its ca- 
 thedral tower, rising over a flat green plain, ab- 
 stracted from its traditionary and historic associ- 
 ations, is a simple unobtrusive ruin ; yet, when 
 first descried among these wild and rock-girt isles, 
 peopled only by the silent cormorant, or the wail- 
 ing gull, it assumes an interest of the most im- 
 pressive kind. When it was in its flourishing 
 state, there existed a firm belief that the great 
 fountains of the deep would be broken up once 
 more, seven years before the end of the world ; 
 and that all the nations of the earth would be 
 again destroyed in this general cataclysm, while 
 lona alone would float upon the face of the 
 waters. To this belief in its prophesied security.
 
 32 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 joined to the sanctity of its monastic buildings, 
 the island owes its celebrity as a burying-place. 
 The kings of three separate and mighty nations, 
 Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, are entombed 
 among these crumbling ruins, and chiefs and war- 
 riors, without number, repose by their side. 
 
 An anxiety to hand down to posterity one's 
 own mortal remains, can prevail only in a barba- 
 rous age ; but the desire of preserving memorials 
 of others — the loved, the great, the good — will 
 never be extinguished among nations, however 
 civilised and refined, as long as human ties and 
 human sympathies shall exist. Let man philoso- 
 phise as he will, he cannot regard, with ordinary 
 concern, the decaying monuments of greatness 
 that has passed away ; nor tread without emotion 
 upon the bones of a monarch or a hero^ 
 
 Yet, not because of its mighty dead does lona 
 assume its most imposing aspect to me : it is as a 
 sanctuary of religion and learning — as the sole 
 beacon of an age immersed in the darkness of su- 
 perstition and ignorance — that T venerate the Isle 
 
 ^ When these sentences were •WTitten, the Author had not 
 read Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides : he was afterwards 
 much struck with the resemblance which they bear to the reflec- 
 tions of the great IMoralist upon the same subject.
 
 llAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 33 
 
 of Waves. Who, that has experienced the conso- 
 lations of religion, and the pleasures of knowledge, 
 can contemplate unmoved this little spot, which 
 in such ferocious times sent up to Heaven — not 
 the roar of battle — but the voice of prayer ; and 
 scattered among the neighbouring hordes the 
 treasures of knowledge, instead of the seeds of 
 strife. 
 
 As we landed upon the red granite rocks, the 
 whole population came out to meet us, half- 
 clothed and squalid, from their wretched hovels. 
 One of them, an old man, either drunk or mad, 
 who spoke more Gaelic than English, assumed the 
 office of Cicerone : he pointed out the different 
 tombs, and their dates; but as these were all 
 comprehended in one general formula — " 500 
 years beside Christ," — I became very sceptical 
 with regard to his chronology, which, at all events, 
 was extremely monotonous. After detailing the 
 history of some heroine who lies buried here, he 
 concluded with declaring — 
 
 " i\.nd that's all true and plain, and it's she 
 that's down at home there," pointing to the grave- 
 stone. 
 
 Lastly, he summed up the exploits of a High- 
 land chieftain, with this doubtful eulogy — " That's 
 
 c3
 
 S4 JOUEI^AL OF A 
 
 Macfarlan o' Ulva, the vera mon to like the whisky, 
 when alive." 
 
 The rain began to fall in torrents directly we 
 re-entered the steam-boat, and continued without 
 cessation for the remainder of the day. We did 
 not reach Oban till past nine, and as there was do 
 moon, we found some difficulty in passing up the 
 Sound of Kerrera : we were obliged to send out 
 some boats to reconnoitre the rocks which lie in 
 the middle of it. We amved, however, in safety 
 after a most interesting day, and a most fortunate 
 one too, for the weather held up just at the very 
 time we needed. I sat up with the young Fri- 
 bourgers till twelve o'clock, comparing our im- 
 pressions of continental scenes ; and then bid them 
 adieu with regret. 
 
 August 27. — No steamer for Inverness arrived 
 this morning, in consequence of the Crinan canal 
 having burst. I therefore set off for DunstafFnage 
 Castle, about four miles from Oban. The clouds 
 had all passed away, and I now, for the first time, 
 enjoyed Scotch scenery in Italian weather. I 
 begin to think that the " Land o' Cakes" will 
 rival even Switzerland in my estimation ; for the 
 landscapes I have gazed on this day have been 
 faultless. The castle, which I went in quest of,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 35 
 
 Stands upon a rock at the extremity of a flat pro- 
 montory on Loch Etive. It is, like all other castles 
 in this region, a bare ruin ; but is interesting from 
 its being the place where was deposited the regal 
 stone, removed hence to Scone, and afterwards to 
 Westminster Abbey. From the summit of the 
 castle there is a noble view of Ben-Cruachan, 
 rising majestically over the blue waters of the loch. 
 One may descry also at its base the green and level 
 plain, through which flows " the roaring Lora," 
 after having descended the Fall of Connel, and 
 on which the Fingalians were supposed to live in 
 winter when driven from the gloomy retreats of 
 Glencoc. More to the left is seen an isolated 
 mound, conjectured to be the site of the Pictish 
 capital, Beregonium, on which exists a good spe- 
 cimen of a vitrified fort. The Gael who ferried 
 me across to the Castle declared, that seven castles 
 once existed there, and that the cinders of their 
 remains may still be seen. 
 
 Near the castle is a small roofless chapel, with 
 some fine windows, where some of the kings of 
 Scotland are said to be buried. Descending the 
 steep external staircase of the castle, w'ith the 
 young Highlander who served as my guide, and 
 passing by what he called " ta loupin on stane for
 
 36 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ta leddies," I entered this monastic ruin. It is 
 now used as a burying place, and a poor woman 
 had been interred there the day before. Over the 
 grave they had jDut the broken portions of a sculp- 
 tured stone, so that the same monumental ho- 
 nours, that had graced the obsequies of a chief- 
 tain, were now applied to the funeral of a peasant. 
 What a sermon was here ! On asking the lad 
 where the echo was, which I had heard so much 
 of, he said, 
 
 " Och, she's over yonder; her nain sell will 
 shew her." 
 
 So placing me opposite to the chapel, he re- 
 tired behind a rock, and sang a Gaelic song, 
 which appeared to issue from some person within 
 the building. This is certainly a very curious 
 acoustic phenomenon. I had a delightful walk 
 home, lingering here and there to enjoy the mag- 
 nificent scenery of Loch Etive. 
 
 August 28. — Dunolly Castle, within a mile of 
 Oban, stands upon the summit of a great basaltic 
 rock ; it is an ivy-clad square keep four stories 
 high, but it is now a mere shell. This, as well as 
 Dunstaffnage, is an ancient seat of the Macdou- 
 gals of Lorn. It commands a fine view of the 
 Sound of Kerrera. There is a large Golden Eagle
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAxVD. 37 
 
 kept here. These birds are now becoming scarce 
 in consequence of the great exertions of the shep- 
 herds to destroy them. The method of proceed- 
 ing is this. They throw a dead sheep within mus- 
 ket-shot of some good hiding-place; the ravens, 
 who track their prey by the smell, are the first to 
 discover it, and come down in flocks; the mus- 
 keteer now frightens them away, and the lordly 
 eagle from afar seeing these birds, which are to 
 him what the jackall is to the lion, or the pilot- 
 fish to the shark, comes swooping down like an 
 an'ow. After looking around him a little while 
 he sets greedily to work, and becomes an easy 
 prey to the concealed marksman. The red deer 
 are likewise in danger of becoming extinct; but 
 the roe, in consequence of the large plantations on 
 the mountains recently made, is increasing too 
 rapidly. This information I obtained from a 
 Capt. G., a sensible well educated man, whom I 
 met on board the Inverness steamer, which at last 
 arrived at Oban. 
 
 I was landed at Coran Ferry with a Scotch 
 gentleman, and proceeded with him in a car to 
 Ballochulish, where we crossed another ferry. 
 These fenies are situated of course at the narrow- 
 est part of the lochs, and the consequence is
 
 38 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 that there is always a tremendous current either 
 up or down, according as the tide flows or ebbs, 
 along the middle of the channel, while a less 
 powerful back-cun-ent takes place along the sides ; 
 hence in crossing, we describe a curve like the 
 letter S. 
 
 August 29. — Set out with the stout young Scots- 
 man to see the pass of Glencoe, celebrated for the 
 abominable massacre committed by the Campbells 
 on the Macdonalds in the reign of William. But 
 we staid to see a large drove of black cattle 
 " swum" across the loch. The animals were 
 driven to the water's edge by dogs and men, 
 and appeared to enter, as if they were well 
 accustomed to such exercise. There was some 
 difficulty at first in making them start properly, 
 as they attempted to come to shore again ; but at 
 last one of them struck right out, and they all 
 followed him closely, the drove being kept in the 
 right direction by men in boats behind them. 
 The mass of heads and horns upon the surface of 
 the water presented a curious appearance. They 
 had great difficulty in landing, in consequence of 
 the extreme slipperiuess of the wetted rocks. 
 
 Crossing " the roaring stream of Cona," so 
 often alluded to by Ossian, we entered the dark
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 39 
 
 and deep ravine of Glencoe. The porphyritic 
 mountains on the north side, are magnificent in 
 shape and colour, rearing their ruddy, rugged ridges 
 to the clouds of Heaven, while the more gloomy 
 and precipitous crags on the south frowTi horror 
 and desolation on the glen. There is a small lake 
 called Treachtan, which adds greatly to the natu- 
 ral grandeur of this pass, and which discharges 
 itself into Loch Leven, by the river Cona. This 
 was the birth-place of Ossiau, and there are 
 many wild traditions in the neighbourhood illus- 
 trative of the manners of his heroes. For instance, 
 the Ferry at Ballachulish is called Phalas or Pha- 
 tric, fi*om Patrick, a son of the king of Denmark, 
 who was drowned here. It seems the Fingalians, 
 when they went forth from Glencoe to hunt, used 
 to jump over this ferry with their hunting-spears; 
 Patrick's leaping-pole unfortunately broke, and 
 he fell into the middle of the loch, and was 
 drowned. 
 
 In the middle of the pass we overtook the Kil- 
 lin carrier, who promised to show us the Devil's 
 stairs. 
 
 " A routh o' gentles comes to see thae stairs," 
 " And does the De'il himsel' walk up them 
 sometimes?" asked my companion.
 
 40 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 " I canna say as I ever seed him." 
 " May be ye're no muckle acquent ? " 
 " Na, na ; I diuna like to hae ower mony deal- 
 in's wi' the likes o' him." 
 
 Having walked nine miles along the glen, I 
 left my friend to proceed to Fort William, while I 
 returned back again to Ballachulish. So much 
 had I been fascinated with the sublimities of High- 
 land scenery, that I did not feel the slightest fa- 
 tigue, though \^ath by -excursions I had walked up- 
 wards of twenty miles. 
 
 August 30. — There was no service in English 
 in any of the churches of this sequestered neigh- 
 bourhood. In the evening, after shaking hands 
 with my landlord and his daughter, the bonniest 
 lass I have seen in all the Highlands, I left with 
 regret this little inn. I had been the only person 
 there, and finding every thing strictly clean 
 though homely, and the inmates simple in man- 
 ners and kindly in disposition, I could scarce 
 prevail with myself to relinquish so congenial a 
 habitation. But I have heard much of the gran- 
 deur of Skye scenery, and I am anxious, while 
 the weather is so calm, to make a voyage to this 
 now classical island. A gig conveyed me and my 
 luggage to Fortwilliam along the shores of Loch
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 41 
 
 Linnhe, which presented at every step the most 
 varied and romantic mountain views. Within 
 about three miles of the Fort, I obtained a sudden 
 glimpse of the lofty Ben Nevis, elevating his ta- 
 bular and massive summits far above the adjacent 
 hills. At the Caledonian Hotel I have again en- 
 countered my Scotch acquaintance, and have 
 agreed with him and another gentleman to ascend 
 Ben Nevis to-morrow morning. 
 
 August 31. — The same glorious weather invites 
 us to our toilsome march. The distance from the 
 inn to the summit and back again is said to be 
 only fourteen miles ; but these are the hardest 
 fourteen miles in Britain, The ascent is more 
 difficult than that of any of the mountains, which 
 I scaled in Switzerland : this is owing chiefly to 
 the loose stones that retard one's progress, and 
 the sharp ridges that bruise one's feet ; and also 
 to the extreme steepness of the mountain, which 
 rises directly, a well-defined mass, from the shore 
 of Loch Linhe. When we had accomplished the 
 first most laborious brae, B. was so ill that he 
 wanted to return ; however we waited for him 
 some time, and he gradually recovered, so as to 
 proceed with increasing strength. The rills of 
 water are abundant and most refreshing, especially
 
 42 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 when qualified with a little whisky. At length 
 we amved at the fii'st summit, and looked down 
 the fearful precipices on its northerly side — they 
 are quite perpendicular, and from this point of 
 view appeared to form a circular hollow of gigan- 
 tic proportions, at the bottom of which a man 
 would have dwindled to the size of a crow. It 
 was magnificent to watch the wreathing clouds 
 boil up from this infernal cauldron. 
 
 The highest point is considerably above the one 
 I am describing, and we now, therefore, began 
 our last ascent, comparatively an easy one ; and 
 when we sat down at the rude cairn, which the 
 travellers have piled up there, we felt fully re- 
 warded for our perseverance and fatigue. I know 
 not whether, even in Switzerland, I have wit- 
 nessed finer crag scenery, than the summit of Ben 
 Nevis presents. That there are more enonnous 
 rocks and deeper abysses among the Alps, I readily 
 grant ; but none which can be grasped more pal- 
 pably by the sense of vision — none which speak 
 in more appalling tones to the sense of fear. 
 With regard to the surrounding view, I, perhaps, 
 cannot speak with justice, because the weather 
 was hazy, and the clouds occasionally veiled it 
 entirely from our sight ; but I think it cannot bear
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 the slightest comparison with the panoramic gran- 
 deur of the Righi or the Faulhom. The moun- 
 tains are too monotonous, all the outlines being 
 rounded and swelling, instead of soaring into mi- 
 narets and aiguilles. Still the views are varied by 
 the windings of the shore, the indenting lochs, and 
 the inland lakes, which are seen in all directions ; 
 and the great chain of lakes forming the Caledo- 
 nian Canal, is a very striking feature. My com- 
 panions were so tired and came down so slowly, 
 that I left the guide with them, and hastened on, 
 to order a substantial meal against their amval. 
 I must not omit to mention that we were so singu- 
 larly fortunate, as to espy a huge red deer grazing 
 in one of the glens near the first summit, a noble 
 animal, but too distant to be seen to advantage. 
 Ravens and ptarmigans were flitting through the 
 fog, and one of the former came so near me while 
 I was sketching, that I was positively startled by 
 the amazing noise of his wings. 
 
 September 1. — Breakfasted with B., who is a 
 W. S., and has invited me to spend a day with him 
 in Edinburgh. Having a great desire to see the 
 far-famed parallel roads of Glen-Roy, I hired a 
 gig to the Bridge of Roy, and then walked four 
 miles up the glen and back again. It is a deep
 
 44 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 gorge in the mountains, at the bottom of which, 
 roars and winds a considerable ton'ent; but the 
 most remarkable objects in the glen are those 
 three horizontal ten^aces or roads, which, keeping 
 always at the same level, and always parallel to 
 each other, skirt the sides of the mountains. They 
 exist on both faces of the glen at con-esponding 
 elevations, so as to impress one forcibly with the 
 idea that they mark the successive levels of a lake 
 or sea J but the firm belief of every lover of romance 
 is, that these were once vast roads, made by the 
 Fingalians through the deep forests, which once 
 flourished on these desolate hills, in order to assist 
 them in the chase of the deer. And to him, who 
 looks on this wild scene with a poet's eye, it will 
 require but a slender stretch of the imagination to 
 re-clothe the braes with oaks and pines, and catch 
 the spectral forms of the gigantic huntsmen, hur- 
 rying with their spears along these level paths. 
 Yet to the calmer reason every thing bespeaks, 
 that the roads of Glenroy are of natural and not 
 artificial formation. For it has been well remarked, 
 that in those rude ages no engineer could have 
 been found with suflicient skill, to construct three 
 routes so exactly horizontal and parallel; nor 
 would he have taken the trouble to carry them
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 45 
 
 roimcl every nook and recess in the mountains. 
 Besides, if the roads had been cut out of the side 
 of the hill, the slopes above and below them would 
 have been continuous, whereas the slopes are dis- 
 continuous, that is, if produced they will not meet 
 each other. Still there is great difficulty in ac- 
 counting for the phenomenon by natural causes, for 
 since the fossils found in the glen are none of them 
 marine, it is clear that these banks, if ascribable to 
 the operation of water at all, must have been the 
 boundaries of a fresh water lake, successively 
 standing for long periods at three different levels. 
 In this case there must have been some limiting 
 barriers which successively gave way, of which 
 however no trace can be now discovered. Similar 
 terraces have been observed in other parts of the 
 Highlands, and also in Peru ; these of Glenroy 
 are generally about sixty feet wide, but the Ame- 
 rican roads are so broad, as to put the supposition 
 of their having been constructed by human labour 
 quite out of the question. After dining at the 
 Bridge of Roy, 1 returned in the gig to Fort Wil- 
 liam, highly pleased with the examination of this 
 geological valley. 
 
 September 2. — A gig conveyed me as far as 
 Kinloch Aylort, through scenes as lonely and sa-
 
 46 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 vage as can well be imagined. At Glenfinnan a 
 monument is erected on the very spot where Prince 
 Charles, surrounded by that small but gallant band 
 of Camerons, unfurled his standard, previous to 
 the disastrous day at Culloden. From this wild 
 spot he went forth, in the very spirit of adventu- 
 rous daring, to claim and do battle for the crown 
 of his fathers ; he returned with blighted hopes 
 and ruined fortunes, an outcast and a wanderer, 
 amid the sternest regions of this remote and savage 
 country. Yet who can read of his patient endur- 
 ance of cold, fatigue, and hunger; of his uncon- 
 quered spirit in the extremity of misfortune ; of 
 his activity in escaping the toils of his enemies ; 
 without paying him the homage due to a gallant 
 soldier, if not that which he claimed as a royal 
 prince. 
 
 At Kinloch Aylort I discharged the gig, and 
 shouldering my knapsack, commenced the walk to 
 Arasaig, twelve miles. The hills were most ex- 
 quisitely clothed with heath, birch, and rock, and 
 being lighted by the evening sun, presented at 
 every step different combinations of the most 
 brilliant colours. At last from a bower of birch I 
 beheld before me Lochanamougal sea, a branch of 
 the broad Atlantic, dotted with innumerable rocky
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND, 47 
 
 isles, and rippled by the gentle breeze. In the 
 distance rose the Scuir of Eig, a remarkably shaped 
 mountain in that island, and beyond this the dark 
 majestic mountains of Rum. The scenery of this 
 coast is magnificent, and I wonder extremely, that 
 I have never heard it praised or mentioned ; but I 
 believe it is very little visited. Mistress Fraser, 
 the landlady of the small inn, according to the 
 predictions of mine host at Fort-William, is a very 
 tidy widow. Her husband was drowned in making 
 the very voyage that I am to attempt to-morrow ; 
 but he was too bold a sailor. 
 
 September 3. — Walked down to the beach, two 
 miles, and there embarked in a small boat, with a 
 couple of men and a boy, for Isle Oransay. The 
 morning was most propitious, a bright sun and a 
 fair breeze, so that our little vessel danced over 
 the waters, her cordage straining, and her mast 
 cracking with the weight of canvass. Sometimes 
 the gusts came so heavily that we shipped water, 
 and were obliged to let go the sail. I found that 
 the two men were brothers and fishermen ; one of 
 them spoke no English at all, and the other very 
 little, so that in making my bargain with them, I 
 was obliged to employ Mrs. Fraser as interpreter. 
 They were highly delighted with my pocket com-
 
 48 JOUENAL OF A 
 
 pass, never having seen oi* heard of such a thing 
 
 before ; and this circumstance shewed me that, in 
 
 case of being driven out to sea, I sliould have to 
 
 play the captain's part myself, being furnished 
 
 with both chart and needle. In the practical 
 
 management of the sail and rudder, however, they 
 
 were perfect masters of their craft, and amused me 
 
 very much by their animated dialogues in Gaelic. 
 
 Their smoking apparatus was very original. One 
 
 of them took out of his pocket a roll of skin, which 
 
 proved to have belonged to an animal, the seal, 
 
 which he had killed with his own gun. In this 
 
 was most carefully deposited, what appeared to me 
 
 to be a small dark cord coiled together. From 
 
 the coil he tore off a portion, and unrolling it, 
 
 shewed me that it W'as tobacco leaf: dividing it 
 
 into small pieces he crammed it into the bowl of 
 
 his pipe. The stem of the pipe was not a whit 
 
 longer than the bowl, each being about an inch. 
 
 He next extracted from his pocket a flinty stone, 
 
 against which he laid some lint blackened with 
 
 gunpowder water ; then striking the stone with a 
 
 piece of iron, he obtained a light instantaneously. 
 
 I can really recommend this method of procuring 
 
 fire to my smoking friends. Once set going, the 
 
 pipe was not allowed to be idle, for while one of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 them talked or sang, the other enjoyed the sweets 
 of King Jamie's diabolical herb, puffing away 
 with amazing energy. They had stipulated for a 
 bottle of whisky, to which they now made frequent 
 application; but it did not appear to produce the 
 slightest effect upon their seasoned frames. They 
 had put into the boat a small bowl of water, with 
 which I presume they originally intended to mo- 
 dify their liquor; but unfortunately the bowl 
 leaked, and all its contents stole away before they 
 thought of examining them; — a circumstance, 
 which gave them no manner of concern. If the 
 whisky had departed by this illegal vent, the case 
 would have been very different. 
 
 I was landed safely at the Isle of Oransay, or 
 rather opposite to it on the coast of Skye, after a 
 speedy and agi'eeable passage, having been de- 
 lighted throughout with fine views of the adjacent 
 isles, Eig, Rum, and Skye, and of the magnificent 
 coast of Inverness-shire. After dining on some 
 eggs and potatoes, which being enveloped in their 
 shells and skins, were the only things I could relish 
 in the smoke-enveloped public, whose kitchen 
 had no chimney, I resumed my knapsack, and 
 walked ten miles to Broadford Inn. The first part 
 of the road skirts the shore, and commands a 
 
 D
 
 50 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 heart -delighting prospect of Loch Hourn, and the 
 precij)itous rocks of the opposite coast, with the 
 Isle of Oransay and some jutting crags in the fore- 
 ground. 
 
 Leaving these fascinating shores, I struck into 
 the heart of the island, over a long, dreary, in- 
 hospitable moor, which could supply no subject 
 of interest to any one but Copley Fielding. I 
 would rather ascend a mountain, than traverse one 
 of these forlorn and miserable wastes ; for on the 
 fonner, one can always meet with pure cold w^ater, 
 whereas one cannot look without loathing on the 
 dark red stagnant pools, that every now and then 
 are seen in the hollows of the blackened peatr 
 mosses. As I trudged along the lonely road, the 
 hawk whistled over my head, and the hooded 
 crow arose from some knoll, to view from a se- 
 curer distance this intruder on his domains. At 
 last I saw on the left some very remarkable moun- 
 tains rising above the heaths and peat, and was 
 much relieved by having such grotesque forms to 
 amuse my fancy with, instead of the monotonous 
 objects on the moor. These are the famed Cu- 
 chullins so often mentioned by Ossian. I find 
 the inn at Broadford extremely comfortable, and 
 the landlord speaks good English, a great accom-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 61 
 
 plishment in these sequestered districts of the 
 Gael. 
 
 September 4. — It was my full intention to have 
 made a long day's excursion, but I have been 
 disappointed by the weather. I rode a little 
 pony as far as Killbride, but might as well have 
 walked, so great was the exertion of putting the 
 animal into motion. He seemed perfectly aware, 
 that an umbrella was but a poor substitute for 
 whip or spur, and therefore resolved to take the 
 matter coolly. A mile before we reached Kill- 
 bride, which consists, by the way, of a single 
 house belonging to a minister, one of the sailors, 
 who was to row us to the celebrated spar cave 
 and Loch Coruishk, met us on the road, and told 
 us that he did not think we could go to sea, be- 
 cause of the wind. I told him it was only a 
 capful, and he must take me as he had promised. 
 When I arrived at the shore, however, I found 
 there was a very fresh breeze, though I had not 
 an idea of such on the other side of the island ; 
 but I was resolved to go, if they would take me. 
 After settling that they were to have a pound, and 
 a bottle of whisky for their fare, four men took 
 their oars, and I sat at the stern. We launched, 
 and were soon tossing and rocking upon the At- 
 
 D 2
 
 52 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 laiitic. The breeze freshened, and the spray from 
 the breakers washed our clothes gratis, while 
 every moment the men found their task more 
 arduous and, I suppose, more dangerous. The 
 one who spoke a little English asked me if I 
 wished to put back ; I said, " Certainly not," for 
 I was sure there was no real danger then, what- 
 ever there might be thereafter ; and I enjoyed to 
 ecstacy being swung up and down in our little 
 cockle-shell upon the mighty billows. The man, 
 a minute after, said I should never be able to 
 reach Sligachan Inn during day-light, and it was 
 dangerous travelling in the glen by night. 1 said 
 I would take my chance of that, and if night 
 overtook me 1 could gain a night's lodging at 
 Mr. M'Millan's, at Camasunary. A few minutes 
 more, and he again asked 
 
 " Are you willing to turn back, sir ?" 
 " Not if you think you can pull me through this 
 sea, but if you see danger let us return." 
 " Well then, sir, we wall run ashore." 
 So the boat was turned in a moment, and in 
 two or three minutes the wind drove us back the 
 same distance, which we had been half-an-hour in 
 making. It was extremely provoking to be robbed 
 of a day's pleasure, and the more so at the time,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 because I did not think there was any danger, 
 but only suspected the men of wishing to get 
 more money or whisky ; however, the wind after- 
 wards blew a strong gale, and the sea ran so 
 high, that the small open boat would not have 
 easily weathered it. I gave the men a few shil- 
 lings for their labour and fright, and then walked 
 back to Broadford, with the master of the boat, 
 over the Macdonald country. The M'Leod coun- 
 try I understand begins at Glen Sligachan. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have travelled in a 
 cart to Sligachan Inn, fifteen miles ; for I am 
 resolved to see this noted glen by land, since I 
 may not reach it by sea. I preferred riding to 
 walking, because there was every appearance of 
 rain. It held off, however, for the first ten miles, 
 during which we wound among some of the ex- 
 terior and smaller of the famed Cuchullins. The 
 dark assemblage of clouds on their summits gave 
 them a deep metallic hue, and an aspect, which I 
 can only characterize by the tenn diabolico-sub- 
 lime. Some of the precipitous glens, which run 
 up between them, were every now and then 
 drenched with streams of rain, while others near 
 them at the same moment were illumined by 
 torrents of sun-beams. Boisterous gusts of wind
 
 54 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 swept fitfully past us, as we penetrated farther 
 and farther ; then an occasional shower ; and at 
 last the genuine Highland storm burst on us with 
 all its fury. If any one desire to learn how thick 
 and fast rain can fall, let him witness a tempest 
 in the midst of the Cuchullins. 
 
 Thoroughly drenched, we arrived at what the 
 guide-book calls " the \incomfortable inn at the end 
 of the glen ;" but, to me, it is a perfect palace, 
 when contrasted with the cart in which I have been 
 soaked and shaken. In fact, it is a recent building, 
 infinitely superior to the old one. Its situation is 
 the dreariest spot, that could have been selected 
 for the abode of man : it stands at the base of the 
 mountains, just in front of a toiTent, which, for a 
 hundred yards on each side of its channel, has 
 strewn the ground with fragments of rock, hur- 
 ried down from the crags. Beyond this is a peat- 
 moss — then a portion of Loch Sligachan, sur- 
 rounded by the bleak hills beyond. Such is the 
 view fi'om my bed-roora, which serves me for 
 parlour also. The interior, however, is more 
 cheerful, and I am enjoying extremely the humble 
 luxury of a peat fire, while the clean napkin on 
 the table, and the fine coloured tea-things, invite 
 me to a sober meal. I am content. If they will
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 56 
 
 but add kindly feelings to cleanly hands, I ast no 
 more of these poor Highlanders. And I will do 
 them the justice to declare, that I have hitherto 
 invariably found them ready to meet more than 
 halfway, the proflfer of social intercourse, and to 
 anticipate, as far as they can, the wants of their 
 visitors. For instance, to mention only what has 
 occurred to-day; M'Innes, at Broadford, put his 
 own good plaid cloak into the cart for my use 
 without solicitation, saying, 
 
 " You'll no be the waur o' this among the Cul- 
 lins." 
 
 And the coarse featured damsel who is now 
 taking away the stewed meat, kipper salmon, and 
 oat cake, expressed much regret at my having 
 eaten so little. When she saw me ringing the wet 
 from my clothes as I entered, she said, in a tone 
 of compassion, 
 " Ye'll be the better o' a spark o' fire !" 
 September 5. — The moraing was what the 
 country people here called " very coarse," that is, 
 very rainy; however, when I stepped from the 
 door of the little public, the sun shone, though 
 the air was as keen as in the middle of winter. 
 Happening to fall in with one of Lord Macdo- 
 nald's foresters, and entering into conversation
 
 56 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 with him, as was my general custom, I learned 
 that to go to Coruishk would take five hours, and 
 that indeed the whole day was requisite for the 
 task. The weather being so very uncertain, I 
 determined to take breakfast, and then settle whe- 
 ther to venture or not. Before I had dispatched 
 the countless mutton-chops, the eggs, and the 
 corresponding quantum of bread, which now con- 
 stitute my very extensive breakfast, the sky cleared 
 considerably, and the forester said, he was sure 
 there would only be a few showers. I knew very 
 well what a Cuchullin shower meant, but I re- 
 solved to go, saying, 
 
 " If I get wet through, I can but go to bed." 
 " Oh ! you need na do that," said my obliging 
 landlady, " for I'll just be lending you a goon." 
 
 So with this curious reserve to retreat upon in 
 case of discomfiture, I set out with the forester, 
 who, from having been employed fifteen years 
 in preserving the red deer among these glens, is 
 acquainted with every stone in them. He wore 
 a sailor's jacket, and canied a stout staff in his 
 hand ; and a telescope in a leathern case swinging 
 by a leathern belt round his shoulders, served him 
 to watch for the deer, and also for poachers. He 
 said, that when he first came, there were scarce a
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 dozen head of deer, but now there were three 
 hundred or more. Some of the bucks weighed 
 sixteen stones. Their horns were occasionally of 
 great size, though cast every year in May ; they 
 were at first, when full grown, rough and soft, 
 and just about this time they became smooth and 
 hard. The deer seldom found any difficulty in 
 getting food in winter, for very little snow falls in 
 these glens ; and there is always pasturage to 
 be found at the margins of the burns. But though 
 there is seldom snow, the storms are awful, 
 and the gusts of wind so violent as to take up 
 large stones. He has often heard one of these 
 hurricanes coming down the hollow, and has 
 been obliged to lie flat down, till it has passed 
 over him. 
 
 The path we travelled at first, though extreme- 
 ly rough and wet, was much better than I had 
 anticipated; and I was enabled to gaze upon 
 the singular mountains, that rose up perpendi- 
 cularly from each side of this desolate glen. 
 The sharp ridges, and spiry cones of Blaven, and 
 the soaring peak of Scuir-nan-gillean, the loftiest 
 of all the Cuchullins, irresistibly an'ested the at- 
 tention. These ai*e favourite haunts of the red 
 deer, which contrive to pick up their dangerous 
 
 D 3
 
 58 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 meals fi'om the little patches of verdure, scattered 
 here and there on some flat, or slope. These ani- 
 mals delight in what the forester called " clean 
 ground;" i. e. ground, on which no other animal 
 whatever is to be seen or scented. Their sense of 
 smell is so acute, that though they allow him 
 sometime to come within a hundred yards of them, 
 yet, if he have a gun and powder, he is sometimes 
 half a day before he can get a shot. 
 
 After we had proceeded about an hour along 
 the rough footway, my companion said, 
 
 " Now, Sir, we have a long day before us, and 
 if you like, I'll just shew you a glen here, that 
 some of the gentlemen, who come to shoot, think 
 finer than Coruishk." 
 
 So we diverged across the moorish ground and 
 ascended a steep hill ; but here unfortunately one 
 of those sliowei's that he had predicted, came on. 
 
 " We'll just take shelter awhile," said he, " till 
 it clears up." 
 
 1 was much at a loss to imagine, where any shelter 
 could possibly be hunted out in this savage glen ; 
 but at last we came to a great stone, that had fallen 
 from the rocks above ; and sitting down behind this, 
 we thus obtainedonly about half the portion of rain, 
 which would otherwise have fallen to our share.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 59^ 
 
 Being very much heated with the ascent, I did 
 not much rehsh this Highland shelter, and so we 
 proceeded to view the glen. Of course I saw it 
 at a great disadvantage, yet could not help won- 
 dering at the extraordinary forms of its outlines, 
 and the still more extraordinary colours of its 
 component mountains. The glen was called 
 Harticory, but I was destined to revisit it in the 
 course of the day under much brighter circum- 
 stances. 
 
 We now descended along the course of a bum 
 at one time expanding into a small lake ; till at 
 last, turning round the shoulder of a mountain, 
 we came in sight of Loch Coruishk, the Bay of 
 Scavaig, and the Islands of Eig and Rum in the 
 distance. We descended to the very margin of 
 this most deservedly celebrated lake, and beheld 
 the wild and wondrous picture which it presents, 
 under a bright sun and a blue sky. The water 
 itself is two miles long, and naiTow in breadth ; 
 while in colour it is as dark as Erebus, from the 
 reflection of the black hypersthene mountains that 
 rise up precipitously, and almost immediately 
 from its surface. The hue of these rocks is indeed 
 remarkable ; and one might imagine the whole 
 gorge to be some vast Cyclopean cave, while the
 
 60 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 enormous tabular fragmentSj strewn along the 
 shores of the lake, bear no inapt resemblance to 
 the anvils of the giants. This is the first time T 
 have seen hypersthene, and 1 am lost in astonish- 
 ment at the supernatural effect it gives to the 
 scene. When quite dry it really is absolutely 
 black; and where it is moistened by the rills 
 which flow down from the heights, and at the 
 same time lighted by the sun, it sparkles with a 
 gem-like lustre ; thus reminding one very forcibly 
 of the affinity that exists between diamond and 
 charcoal. No trace of moving thing is discernible 
 in this fearful glen, the very lichens and time- 
 stains being banished from the greater portion of 
 it. All is bare and gloomy, and one cannot con- 
 template without an appalling thrill such a deso- 
 lation of sterility. 
 
 We proceeded along the small slope that inter- 
 venes between the precipice and the lake, in order 
 " just to view the whole thing," as my guide ob- 
 served. When we arrived at the end of the water, 
 he turned round and said, 
 
 " We have been just two hours and a half in 
 coming this journey, which takes most gentlemen 
 at least five. I never came so quick before. Now 
 we've a long day before us still ; and a shepherd
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 61 
 
 told me that it was possible to get up the rocks 
 just above, and that it was much shorter than to 
 go all the way round as we came. I'll just tell 
 you the truth, I've never been over myself, and 
 I've never liked to propose it to any one I've 
 brought here ; but you are a light gentleman, and 
 if you like we'll try. We can but turn back, if we 
 can't manage it, and I think we are now sure of 
 fine weather." 
 
 After listening to this oration with great atten- 
 tion, I replied, 
 
 " This is a very weighty proposition, for to scale 
 those rocks is no trifle ; so if you please, we'll sit 
 down by this brook, and take our dinner fii'st, and 
 then hold a council of war." 
 
 Accordingly we attacked the mutton-ham and 
 biscuits, which we had brought for the occasion, 
 and made a considerable vacuum in my whisky- 
 flask. 
 
 " Now," said I, as I clasped my knife, and in- 
 serted it into my pocket, " if you are for the' 
 rocks, I am ready to start." 
 
 " Very well ; then I think we'll try over yonder ; 
 for I remember chasing some deer with the dogs 
 along this bottom, and they made their escape up
 
 62 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 there. We'll, may he, have to angle round a bit, 
 but we've a long day before us." 
 
 This was usually the chorus of all his jjroposi- 
 lions, and I knew from experience that it boded 
 no easy task. 
 
 Well, we began to ascend, and at first suc- 
 ceeded admirably ; though the labour was indeed 
 tremendous. 
 
 " I am sure we shall do well," said I. 
 
 " Best not be too sure, Sir ; one step may send 
 us all the way back." 
 
 We now came to a steeper part, where we were 
 obliged to crawl upon our hands and knees, and 
 1 here found my umbrella a sad nuisance ; but 
 the forester's two dogs were much worse, for they 
 were constantly in my way. Sometimes we climbed 
 up a cleft, in the bare rock, just like a chimney ; and 
 sometimes the one was obliged to push the other 
 up ; and he in return, pulled up the first. A single 
 false step would have hurled us to destruc- 
 tion, and there was moreover very great danger 
 that the first man would loosen some stone that 
 might sweep down the hindmost. I once pushed 
 down a tremendous rock, the percussion of which 
 against the crag below, sent up a strong smell of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 68 
 
 sulphur; fortunately for the forester he was 
 above me. In the midst of all these difficulties, 
 we arrived at a spot, where the crag rose up so 
 smoothly and pei-pendicularly, that it was vain to 
 attempt ascending it; we were obliged therefore 
 to turn back a little, and " angle round," as he 
 called it. But in the end we surmounted every 
 obstacle, and stepped forth proudly and joyously 
 upon the very topmost crag ! 
 
 And what a scene of unparalleled sublimity and 
 grandeur was spread around us ! On our right 
 was the infernal chasm from which we had just 
 emerged, paved by the waters of Coruishk ; on 
 the left we looked into Harticory, (the glen we 
 had seen imperfectly in the moniing,) Lotecory 
 which is a continuation of it, and Glen Sligachan, 
 from which these two diverge. Immediately be- 
 fore us lay the bays of Camasunary and Scavaig, 
 the open sea and the isles of Eig and Rum, with 
 others of the Hebrides. The tops of the mountains 
 were now fully displayed, and astonished me by 
 the grotesque forms of their ridges and peaks. 
 One of them has been chiselled by the frost and 
 storm into the exact profile of a handsome giant, 
 whose majestic head appears rising above the 
 black and beetling precipices, — the guardian of
 
 64 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 those majestic realms, — tlie genius that presides 
 over the glens of Cuchullin. 
 
 Such is a faint description of what I saw this 
 day ; faint and feeble indeed compared with the 
 original, which defies alike the representative 
 power of epithet, metaphor, and language itself. 
 The forester was delighted with our success. 
 
 "You are the first gentleman," said he, "that 
 ever made this pass ; nothing but a shepherd or a 
 red deer has ever been here before us, take my 
 word for that." 
 
 After a pause, he added, " I often think in my 
 own mind that it is very strange you noblemen 
 should come to see these wild hills of ours, 
 and our noblemen should go to London to ruin 
 themselves ; but you've the best of it, Sir, for you 
 gain health and strength, and our lords lose both 
 that and fortune too." 
 
 I was surprised to hear this man moralizing so 
 philosophically, and also to find him speaking 
 such good English. But the fact is that the High- 
 landers, having Gaelic for their native tongue, are 
 taught English grammatically in their schools; 
 and thus avoid almost entirely the curious patois 
 of the Lowlander, with which every one is familiar 
 from the writings of Bums and Scott.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 65 
 
 We now descended with comparative ease to 
 Harticoiy, and thence wound our toilsome way 
 along Glen Sligaclian till we airived at the inn. 
 We have been but seven hours in accomplishing 
 our most arduous task, and the landlady, not ex- 
 pecting us so soon, has been unable to prepare the 
 pudding, which she had fully intended to honour 
 my dinner withal. She has provided me however 
 with a much better thing, a pair of her own best 
 cotton stockings. The sturdy forester is having 
 his dinner below at my expense ; he has shared 
 with me in peril, it is but fair that he should share 
 with me in luxuries also, 
 
 Sept. 6. — This moraiug is the Sabbath ; but it 
 is of course in vain to expect an English service 
 in the Isle of Skye. The forester told me that 
 there is service within four miles of Sligachan 
 every twenty days, but Portree is properly the 
 parish kirk, at the distance of ten miles. His 
 father lives in a place which is twenty miles fi-om 
 kirk. Feeling myself perfectly refreshed after a 
 long night's rest, I resolved to walk to Broadford, 
 (fifteen miles) with my knapsack, in order to be 
 in time for the steam-boat to-morrow. So I called 
 for my thick shoes, which displayed lamentable 
 proofs of yesterday's exploits, and were still wet
 
 66 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 and discoloured; and bidding adieu to my kind 
 hostess, who wanted to know when she should see 
 me again, I started on my lonely walk. And I 
 think 1 spent the Sabbaih among the red Cuchul- 
 lins as profitably, as I could have done in a clois- 
 tered cathedral ; for though doubtless one's devo- 
 tional feelings are exalted when one kneels down 
 among the carv ed and clustering shafts of some 
 gothic pile, while the sun through the painted 
 oriel streams down on pavement and pillar all 
 hues that are lovely and bright, and the slow and 
 solemn tones of the choral hymn harmoniously 
 vibrate through nave and aisle — yet still perhaps 
 the perception of God's majesty, and the sense of 
 our own littleness are more vivid, when we roam 
 amid these impressive solitudes with the torrent 
 rushing below, and the clouds careering above. 
 We then behold a temple, in every mountain, an 
 altar in every rock ; and for the pealing notes of 
 the organ, we have the deafening roar of the 
 glen-blast. 
 
 From reflections like these I was awakened by 
 the state of my feet, which as I proceeded began 
 to be very painful. It was in vain that I took off 
 my shoes and shook out the gravel ; but at last I 
 bethought me of the true cause of my suffering,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 and on examination discovered that the nails had 
 been driven quite through the soles ! so that I had 
 literally been doing penance upon iron spikes. 
 The upper leather too was cracked and gaping, 
 and the lower was in rags, so that I was obliged 
 at last to relinquish these old and faithful friends* 
 They had bonie me through great part of Switzer- 
 land, over crag and glacier, through streams and 
 snows ; but the precipices of Coruishk were too 
 much for leather to bear ! I laid them down in 
 the very middle of the road, and taking another 
 pair from my knapsack, I resumed my journey 
 with a lighter burden, but a heavier heart. The 
 wind occasionally came rushing past me with 
 such violence as to blow me off the road, and 
 several times, when it was directly against me, I 
 really could not stir till it relaxed, when I was 
 very nearly tumbling forwards. I arrived how- 
 ever very safely at Broadford. 
 
 Sept. 7. — I entered the steam-boat at half-past 
 eight instead of seven, the hour at which she 
 ought to have arrived ; but she had been unable 
 to start from Portree in consequence of the wind. 
 This had now subsided in a gi'eat degree, so that 
 we had a very comfortable passage : excepting
 
 68 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 that we were detained half an hour at Kyle Rhea 
 by a linchpin giving way in the machinery. 
 
 At Kyle Akin, there is on the Skye coast, a 
 ruined square keep, said to have been erected by 
 some Norwegian princess for the purpose of levy- 
 ing a tax upon all vessels passing through the 
 Kyles. The ruin is called Castle Muel or Maoil ; 
 and the spot where the toll-chain, stretching across 
 from Skye to the mainland, was fixed to the rock, 
 is still shewn. We passed by Glenelg on the 
 mainland, an extremely beautiful vale, with glo- 
 rious mountains all around it. 
 
 I now bid adieu to the shores of Skye where I 
 had spent so many pleasant hours, and left both 
 its scenery and its inhabitants with regret. These 
 last are in general extremely poor, and wretchedly 
 dressed ; the women, indeed, never wear any head- 
 dress, whatever may be the state of the weather ; 
 and I saw one of these poor things in the midst 
 of a tremendous storm with the rain streaming 
 down her face from her long and unprotected hair. 
 They are in general dark and wild looking, but I 
 know that these islanders have gentle hearts under 
 this forbidding exterior. The gentry are very 
 numerous, and according to Mrs. Fraser at Arasaig,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 69 
 
 very fashionable ; I saw one young girl whose 
 flaxen hair, fair complexion, and light blue eyes 
 gave token of her Norwegian origin. 
 
 In the steam-boat, I was much struck with the 
 appearance of an extremely handsome man, be- 
 tween forty and fifty years of age. He was dressed 
 in tartan trews and a tartan vest, or waistcoat, of 
 a different pattern ; which last I afterwards learned 
 was the proper badge of his clan. In his cloth 
 cap, he had stuck a heather sprig ; his hair was 
 black, a little grey perhaps, and his whiskers were 
 superb. His figure, too, firm and commanding. 
 I entered into conversation with him, and in the 
 course of the morning he became extremely com- 
 municative, not only respecting other people's 
 affairs, but his own also. I happened to commend 
 the scenery of , when he observed, 
 
 "All that property once belonged to me, but 1 
 was so unfortunate as to put it into the hands of 
 those cursed lawyers at Edinburgh, and they've 
 sold it all. I thought I was living very quietly on 
 a third of my income, and when I came to examine 
 into matters, I found myself obliged to sell half 
 ray property. And that's the way they are ruining 
 
 all the Highland gentlemen. There's Lord 
 
 just in the same way, but he lost his by gambling ;
 
 70 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 if mine had gone so, 1 should not regret it so 
 much. There has always been sad waste going 
 on by the connivance of our factors ; I dare say 
 you must have remarked the quantity of timber 
 
 rotting in the lake and river near ; well, all 
 
 those mountains, now so bare, were once covered 
 with fine timber trees, which were cut down in 
 the year '45, to assist Prince Charles. The 
 factor was so negligent that he never examined 
 how, or what, the purchasers felled ; and so they 
 swept away the whole, and had so good a bargain 
 that they did not think it worth while to carry off 
 all that they had cut ; so there it lies rotting to 
 this day." 
 
 I became extremely curious to know who this 
 man was, and found no difficulty. Every body 
 
 seemed to know all about him. He was 
 
 of , commonly called , the head 
 
 of one of those clans which were so faithful to the 
 cause of the Pretender. It was highly curious to 
 contrast the account which he had so freely given 
 of himself, with the observations of other people. 
 They represent him as a most wild and extrava- 
 gant man. His estates were enormous, when he 
 took possession of them at the age of twenty-two ; 
 the islands of , , great part of Island,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 71 
 
 and an immense tract of country on the mainland, 
 belonged to him ; his kelp alone brought in 
 £40,000 per annum. But he has contrived to 
 run through all this princely fortune, to sell all 
 that was not entailed, and to execute a deed of 
 trust with respect to the remainder, reserving 
 to his own use only the poor pittance of four 
 hundred a year. He was very intimate with 
 George IV. who probably was the cause of his 
 extravagance and dissipation. By his first wife 
 he had a large family, who are now supported in 
 opulence by some of their relations ; his second 
 
 wife was Lady , who was endowed by 
 
 her first husband with an enormous fortune ; she 
 would have paid his debts and redeemed his affairs 
 if he had behaved with tolerable civility to her ; 
 but his career was such that she obtained a divorce, 
 and died about six weeks ago without leaving him 
 
 a shilling. Such is of , the 
 
 representative of an ancient and influential family 
 and clan. In consequence of his reduced and 
 
 beggared state, his clan now look up to 
 
 as their chieftain, so that poor is deposed 
 
 from his hereditary honours as well as lands. And 
 yet he has a spirit to bear all this with very great
 
 72 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 pliilosophy and nonchalance ; and is still a lively 
 social companion, with most gentlemanly and 
 fascinating manners. The poor people speak very 
 highly of his generosity, and say that never any 
 man had a wanner heart ; and that was one cause 
 of his fall, for he never saw distress without re- 
 lieving it with foolish prodigality. A Scotch 
 lawyer, who was on board told me, that " excepting 
 in the article of economy, he was allowed to be 
 vera clever." He shook hands with me very 
 heartily when I left the steamer at the point of 
 Arasaig bay. 
 
 The only boat which was going ashore was one 
 that belonged to a young lady, who came with 
 us from Armadale. She is about twenty years of 
 age, extremely pretty, and the very picture of 
 cheerfulness and health. In return for her polite- 
 ness in putting me ashore, I assisted her up the 
 rocks ; and on learning that I was about to walk 
 with my knapsack fom- miles to Arasaig, she said, 
 
 " I am very sony, that I have no boat to offer 
 you, but" — 
 
 Of course I would not listen to any proposal 
 of this kind, and, indeed, having become rather 
 cold in the steamer, I greatly prefeiTed walking ;
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 73 
 
 SO, apologizing for my intrusion, and thanking 
 her for her Highland politeness, I bade her adieu, 
 and in less than an hour was at Arasaig. 
 
 Mrs. Fraser, seeing me rather wet, (for there 
 had been some smart showers,) insisted on my 
 coming into her parlour, and drinking a glass of 
 brandy ; this is the highest compliment one can 
 receive in this district, where brandy is A^ery 
 dear and difficult to be procured. This poor wo- 
 man, I think I mentioned, lost her husband a 
 short time ago. His boat was floated into the 
 bay, turned upside down. He left her with a 
 large family of very young children, whom she 
 has now to support. 
 
 Sept. 8. — Mrs. Fraser procured for me a very 
 good cart, which convej-ed me within ten miles 
 of Fortwilliam. The rocks and woods of Clan- 
 ranald are enchanting, and I think I derived more 
 pleasure from inspecting them the second time, 
 than I did when I first passed through. It is 
 impossible to find more exquisite studies for the 
 painter, than these alienated domains of the High- 
 land Chieftain present. The pendent boughs and 
 silvered stem of the birch, the light and tender 
 foliage of the ash, the dark-leaved oak, and the 
 bushy nut, with here and there the bright scarlet 
 
 E
 
 74 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 berries of the mountain ash, assemble into beau- 
 tiful and varied groups ; while, strewn more 
 humbly on the soil, the blossoms of the heath, 
 and the plume-like frond of the fera, are enli- 
 vened by the yellow spire of the St. John's wort, 
 or the clustered disk of the tansey. And what a 
 jDOwer and vigour of vegetation reigns among 
 these dew-besprinkled hills ! what a lustrous and 
 living green does every plant assume ! what bright 
 and spotless colours in their blossoming ! what 
 unrestrained and graceful direction in their stems ! 
 But as we approach Glenfinnan the aspect of 
 the country changes. The trees become more 
 rare and insignificant, the gi'owth of a few years ; 
 and the mountains, at last, are clothed only with 
 fern and heather, save where, on some lonely emi- 
 nence, the blackened trunk and stiffened limbs of 
 some patriarchal oak remain, to tell the tale of 
 primeval generations and forests swept away. 
 And for whom ? For him, whose monument now 
 greets my eye, marking the point where he met 
 those few, and faithful, and daring followers in 
 arms, when he first unfurled the standard of war. 
 Over the waters of this quiet loch he came in his 
 barque; at that point his prow must have touched 
 the shore; it was at the pebbled beach, that he
 
 EAAfBLE IN SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 leaped on what he deemed his own and his fa- 
 ther''s land ; and on that grassy flat he received 
 the welcome, the homage, and the oaths of alle- 
 giance of the gallant Camerons. How many a 
 heart, that then beat high with the hope of Aic- 
 tory and the thirst of fame, was soon to become 
 cold and decaying ! There is something in the 
 story of this unfortunate prince, that is to me 
 painfully interesting ; and though there were traits 
 in his character, which one would not willingly 
 imitate, yet his patient and cheerful spirit under 
 aflfliction, jDresents a model even for a Christian 
 minister. 
 
 I had a pleasant walk to Fortwilliam, where 
 Cameron, the landlord of the Caledonian, con- 
 trived to get me a room. After so long an ab- 
 sence from my portmanteau, I find the few books, 
 it contains a perfect treasure. 
 
 Sept. 9. — I have this day travelled in the 
 steamer through the great Caledonian canal to 
 Inverness. Perhaps I am scarcely qualified to 
 judge dispassionately of its attractions, after ram- 
 bling so long among the sublimer regions of 
 Skye ; yet I think no one can deny, that they are, 
 at all events, monotonous. The straightness of 
 the great glen is very remarkable; either way 
 
 E 2
 
 76 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 you look between two parallel ranges of similar 
 mountains, succeeding each other with the greatest 
 regularity, in a prolonged vista. The whole re- 
 minded me very much of the series of images 
 reflected from two parallel looking-glasses. The 
 first part of the line consists of a canal, from 
 which Ben Nevis is seen to gi'eat advantage ; but 
 this morning he had put on his nebular diadem. 
 There are some fine ruins of Glengarry Castle on 
 Loch Oich, and of Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness, 
 particularly the latter ; and the fall of Fyers is 
 well worth visiting. But all these things are 
 known to every body, and I think their beauty 
 has been greatly over-rated. I was very sorry to 
 learn, that the canal does not answer the com- 
 mercial expectations, that were anticipated from 
 its construction ; this appears to be chiefly owing 
 to their having made the depth of the canals 
 much less than was originally intended, so that 
 vessels of considerable burden are prevented from 
 entering. 
 
 Sept. 10. — I have nothing to record this day, 
 but that it rained without ceasing from morning 
 to night. 
 
 Sept. 11. — Craig Phadrick is a vitrified fort 
 within two miles of Inverness, and being con-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 77 
 
 sidered as a good specimen of these singular 
 structures, 1 made a point of examining it as 
 soon as possible. It is placed on a commanding 
 eminence, and consists of a parallelogram, eighty 
 feet by thirty feet, enclosed by a low wall. This 
 wall is generally concealed by the encroaching 
 turf, but here and there its component materials 
 are exposed to the eye of the observer. They 
 appear to be cinders or scoria?, agglutinated by 
 the action of fire, so as in this case to give great 
 compactness to the wall ; and those stones, which 
 have not been thus far transmuted from their 
 original state, still bear evident tokens of having 
 been subject to an intense heat. There are traces 
 of a similar wall, or fence, surrounding the one I 
 have described, at a short distance below it on 
 the slope of the hill. Within the interior pa- 
 rallelogram there is a well-spring. Fir trees are 
 now growing all around the fort, and some stand 
 upon the wall itself. 
 
 Such is the appearance of this vitrified fort. 
 In other cases the vitrification is more partial; 
 and sometimes strings of the slag or melted stone 
 may be seen penetrating the interstices of the 
 inferior blocks. There are forts also, resembling 
 these in every other respect, which present no
 
 78 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 trace whatever of the vitrifying process. The 
 common belief is, that the forts were places of 
 strength, constructed by piling up the walls of 
 loose stone, and then by some process, now lost, 
 fusing the whole into a solid and durable mass. 
 That the vulgar should adopt such an opinion is 
 not surprising ; for they are fond of exaggerating 
 the mental and bodily capacities of their ances- 
 tors. They love to think, that other men are as 
 ignorant as themselves, in comparison with those, 
 who have passed away. But who can believe 
 that the Picts or Scandinavians, or whatever 
 other barbarous tribe may have erected these 
 singular forts — who can believe that they were in 
 possession of chemical power beyond the research 
 of the modems ? It is true, that some valuable 
 arts have been lost to mankind, but these arts 
 have been invented and practised, not by piratical 
 or pastoral hordes, but by nations the most civi- 
 lized and refined. Besides, it is expressly stated, 
 that the vitrification is frequently partial, which 
 is a conclusive argument against the skill and 
 science of the constructors. 
 
 The most plausible theory seems to be that, 
 which represents these remains as so many bea- 
 con-stations, where vast fires were lighted to give
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 notice of the approach of some incursion of the 
 Danes or Northmen. A regular chain of them 
 seems to be traced across the country. 
 
 In the evening, after having walked to the 
 islands in the Ness, which are prettily wooded, 
 and seen the castellated building now being 
 erected for gaol and other county business, I 
 drove over in a gig with another gentleman to 
 Nairn. When we arrived, we understood that Dr. 
 Wardlaw, the celebrated Independent minister 
 of Glasgow, was preaching, and we immediately 
 went to hear him. His sermon was written, and 
 very long, though we only came in time for the 
 half of it. Many parts were highly eloquent, and 
 upon the whole the diction was simple ; but the 
 ideas and connections were far too complicated 
 for his audience, several of whom very na- 
 turally fell asleep. The singing, as usual, was 
 abominable ; I do wonder at their wretched 
 taste. 
 
 Sept. 12. — A coach conveyed me, through tor- 
 rents of rain, to Elgin. One of the young Bro- 
 dies, of Brodie, was my fellow traveller, a fine 
 spirited little fellow. He is now at Harrow,. and 
 is destined for Cambridge, about which he made 
 many inquiries. In return for this information,
 
 80 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 and for the protection, which my umbrella afforded 
 him, he told me the names of all the houses and 
 places of note. He said, that his family were still 
 in possession of an ancient charter, whereby Ro- 
 bert Bruce granted to his ancestors certain lands 
 in that neighbourhood. 
 
 Arrived at Elgin, I set off immediately for the 
 cathedral, in spite of rain and wind. It is a mag- 
 nificent ruin, seen to gi'eat advantage in conse- 
 quence of the labours of Johnny Shanks. This 
 old man has had the merit of clearing away 
 thousands of loads of rubbish with his own hands, 
 and rescuing some of the finest portions of the 
 edifice from concealment. Many fragments and 
 beautiful specimens of carving and sculpture he 
 has " howket up," and arranged along the sides 
 of the choir, or round the chapter house. Two 
 of these were so curious, that I have brought 
 away sketches of them ; one represents the ser- 
 pent emerging from the tree of knowledge; the 
 other a witch riding on the moon. Tliere are 
 many others of the same grotesque character. 
 The old man himself is one of the greatest cu- 
 riosities about the place; he is indefatigable in 
 his researches, and is justly proud of his labours. 
 On some one's remarking to him, that he was
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 81 
 
 quite an antiquarian, he replied, " Indeerl ye may 
 weel say that." Alexander of Badenoch, com- 
 monly called the Wolf of Badenoch, burnt this 
 cathedral to the ground, and is therefore the spe- 
 cial abhorrence of Johnny Shanks. To give vent 
 to his indignation, the old man has placed at the 
 summit of one of the towers a grinning face, 
 which he has picked out of the ruins, and has 
 made it look towards the former residence of 
 " the Wolf." A lion also looks wrathfully from 
 another eminence towards the same quarter. The 
 Barons of the Exchequer have very properly 
 made this enthusiastic " Old Mortality " conser- 
 vator of the ruins. The proportions of the ca- 
 thedral are beautiful ; the arched entrance superb ; 
 the two great towers on each side of it very im- 
 posing ; the choir at the proper extremity richly 
 decorated ; and the chapter-house beside it, oc- 
 tagonal in form, most elegantly groined, and sup- 
 ported by a central clustered pillar. Many of the 
 inscriptions on the tombs were highly interesting ; 
 and indeed it is impossible to glance on any spot 
 within these venerable precincts without excite- 
 ment. After sketching till my hands were be- 
 numbed with cold, and my book almost spoiled 
 by the rain, I was fairly driven out by the 
 
 E 3
 
 82 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 weather. It is too late in the season to enjoy 
 a scene like this, every portion of which should 
 be pondered and digested. As it was, I did little 
 more than listen to the old man's story of how 
 " good Bishop Moray laid the first stone on the 
 nineteenth day of Jullij^ in the year one thousand 
 two hundred and twenty-four, and that's six hun- 
 dred an' eleven year ago an' more;" and how 
 " the monks had a fine long dry walk, a' round 
 the wa's o' the buleding," &c., &c. 
 
 I returned by the mail at three o'clock to In- 
 verness. Just before we came to Nairn, we passed 
 by the Hard Muir, where tradition says that the 
 witches met Macbeth and Banquo ; the precise 
 spot, on which the interview took place, is marked 
 by a cluster of dark firs, whose peeling bark and 
 murky shadows, form no inapt memorials of the 
 " skinny lips," and mystic vaticinations of " the 
 weird sisters." 
 
 On entering Macdonald's Hotel, at Inverness, 
 
 I immediately inquired whether Colonel W 
 
 was still here, and was sorry to hear that he had 
 gone back to Fort ^Mlliam. I had dined with 
 this gentleman the day before, and had been 
 much delighted with his conversation. He is a 
 remarkably fine man, about sixty years of age.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAXD. 83 
 
 short grey hair, with whi.skers and moustache, and 
 of dark complexion. A soldier in make as well 
 as by profession, his manners are singularly gentle 
 and unobtrusive ; and they are the more striking 
 from the strong and warrior-like appearance of his 
 frame. He reminded me of the Douglas " tender 
 and true," courteous in peace, and brave in war. 
 He had visited every quarter of the globe, and 
 his account of the little difficulties he had to 
 endure in travelling through Persia, Armenia, and 
 Circassia, was highly amusing. When I bade 
 him adieu, previous to my setting out for Elgin, 
 he expressed a hope that we should meet again, 
 and thought we probably should in Edinburgh. 
 For the present, however, I have lost him. 
 
 Sept. 13. — This morning being Sunday, I have 
 had the very great pleasure of attending the 
 Church of England service. It was performed in 
 a very neat little church, by a Scotchman. He 
 was a fair reader, and gave a good explanatory 
 sermon on the uses of the Mosaic law ; but it was 
 all explanatory, with no practical addi'ess. There 
 was one curious innovation, adopted probably out 
 of deference to the Scottish Presbyterian notion ; 
 he himself gave out the Psalm, and read the two 
 first lines of it. He also wore white gloves. The
 
 84 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 singing was excellent, and the organ respectable. 
 The reading desk and pulpit were both in the 
 chancel ; the altar between them. Over the whole 
 a mitre was placed, to symbolize the Episcopal 
 church ; I thought this would have been as well 
 away. The audience was numerous, and consisted 
 almost entirely of gentry. 
 
 In the afternoon, notwithstanding the rain, 
 which has continued with little inteniiission ever 
 since I first came to Inverness, I took a walk to the 
 Druidical Temple near Leys Castle, about three 
 miles off. It is situated in the centre of a small 
 detached wood of fir trees, not on an isolated 
 eminence, but at the extremity of a ridge. It 
 consists of two ch-cular rows of stones, with feeble 
 indications of a third intennediate ; all being con- 
 centric. The outer circle is composed of large 
 upright stones placed at considerable intervals ; 
 and of these there are two cut into a regular square 
 form much higher than the others, (particularly 
 the western one,) and situated at something like 
 the East and West points, but not accurately. 
 Next to the large upright western stone, and the 
 next in the circle proceeding northwards, is ano- 
 ther equal in size nearly, but procumbent. The 
 inner circle is foraaed of smaller stones, very
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 85 
 
 closely an-anged, and inclined inwards ; there are 
 two interruptions in it, both towards the south- 
 west ; the one directly opposite the great western 
 stone ; the other having a number of stones lead- 
 ing from it towards the centre of the circle. 
 
 It was long supposed, that this and other re- 
 mains of a similar character, were Druidical ; but 
 the best antiquarians consider them as the work 
 of Danish pirates; whose first business, when 
 they made any settlement, was to erect one of 
 these temples, for the double purpose of transact- 
 ing religious and state affairs. 
 
 Sept. 14. — When I entered the breakfast-room 
 this morning, I found a young man reading the 
 newspaper to a gentleman, whose peculiarly- 
 shaped dark spectacles at once told the tale of 
 blindness. My poor father ! I at once resolved 
 to introduce myself; but before I found an oppor- 
 tunity, I had time to examine his personal appear- 
 ance more exactly. He was very tall and finely 
 proportioned; perfectly upright, with a clear com- 
 plexion, well-formed features, and a most impres- 
 sively gentleman-like mien. 
 
 When the young man, whom I took for his son, 
 came to a pause, I asked, if " I might be per-
 
 86 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 mitted to relieve him ; my own father had been 
 blind for many years previous to his death, and 
 therefore I was familiar with the task." 
 
 He seemed pleased with my offer, but would 
 not accept it; so we sat down to breakfast to- 
 getlier. 
 
 I said " I fear, Sir, from the ease, with which 
 you contrive to help yourself, that you have long 
 been deprived of sight." 
 
 " Yes, for nearly forty years ; I lost it fi-om a 
 gunshot wound at the age of twenty. But I do 
 very well, and make the best of it." 
 
 We then spoke of Scotland and the Continent ; 
 and he seemed interested in the account I gave 
 him of Northern Italy and the Tyrol. At the 
 close of our conference, he asked me if I was 
 going farther North, and on my explaining that 
 I was obliged to go the other way for letters that 
 I expected, he said that I might come to Scot- 
 land again, and if so, he hoped I would not fail 
 
 to pay him a visit. His name was Capt. , 
 
 and he described his residence near , in 
 
 , very particularly. He saw, I had mistaken 
 
 the young man for his son, and said, 
 
 " I am a bachelor, and amuse myself with
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 87 
 
 farming ; my brother, to whom I sold my estate, 
 has a beautiful place near me, and is worth four 
 thousand pounds a year." 
 
 The invitation was given so cordially, that I am 
 I'csolved to avail myself of it, if I revisit this very 
 interesting country. 
 
 Bidding adieu to my new acquaintance, I set 
 off in a gig for Cawdor Castle (fourteen miles). 
 It is seated upon a rock and overhangs a little 
 torrent. The square tower is ancient, but sur- 
 rounded with comparatively modern buildings ; 
 the drawbridge over the surrounding moat is 
 curious. But there is nothing picturesque in the 
 castle itself, though it is situated among magnifi- 
 cent trees ; and all its interest depends upon the 
 traditionary lore connected with it. Here it is 
 said, that the gi'acious Duncan was murdered by 
 Macbeth ; and the bed, whereon the deed was 
 peii^etrated, was preserved till lately, when a fire 
 destroyed all this portion of the edifice, except 
 the bare walls. However willingly every lover of 
 Shakspeare would believe this legend, (though by 
 the way our bard makes the castle at Inverness 
 the scene of action,) it seems clear, that the King 
 was inurdered in a smithy, near Elgin or Inver- 
 ness. Macbeth died at the foimer place, and was
 
 88 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 buried at lona, so that probably I have walked 
 over his dust. There is a singular place of conceal- 
 ment between the ceiling and roof in a different 
 part of the castle, called Lovat's hall, accessible 
 only by going out on the roof, and scaling a 
 wall eight feet high. In this retreat old Lord 
 Lovat remained after the battle of Culloden, till 
 obliged by the strict search his enemies were 
 making for him through the castle, to let himself 
 down an amazing height by a rope. He escaped 
 to Morar, but was there apprehended, and after- 
 wards executed. In the dungeon was shewn a 
 hawthorn tree still rooted in the earth, and ex- 
 tending its well-seasoned stem to the roof; it is said 
 to be coeval with the castle ; the story being, that 
 the founder was miraculously directed to build his 
 tower at the third hawthorn tree, where an ass 
 laden with a chest of gold should stop. The re- 
 mains of the chest, a coat of mail, and a Lochaber 
 axe are shewn to the stranger. 
 
 Sept. 15. — Though I had passed over Culloden 
 moor, and had glanced at Clava yesterday, I de- 
 termined on devoting this spare day to a more 
 full examination of these interesting localities. 
 
 To begin with the first. It should properly be 
 called Drummossie Muir, but since the battle it
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 89 
 
 has always retained the name of the house, where 
 the prmce had his head quai'ters. I think no one, 
 who looks around upon this almost level waste, 
 can help wondering, that Highlanders should be 
 brought to it by choice as a battle ground ; espe- 
 cially against a force greatly superior in cavalry. 
 But here the stand was made; and here whole 
 ranks of Highlanders were swept away by the 
 cannonade, before they made their last, and their 
 only most impetuous and desperate charge. But 
 in vain ! for though they annihilated the front line 
 of the Duke, they were bayoneted to death by 
 the second line. If they had been more united 
 in council and in action, the case might have 
 been different. The Macdonalds, affronted at 
 being placed on the left, refused to advance ; one 
 of their chiefs, Keppoch, exclaimed, " My God, 
 have the children of my tribe deserted me ! " and 
 rushing into the thickest of the enemy, this noble 
 gentleman soon perished by their swords *. Lord 
 George MuiTay did all, that an intrepid but dis- 
 trusted General could do ; but unless a ready obe- 
 dience be given to his orders, the ablest com- 
 mander can do no more than the common soldier. 
 I do not wonder at the Prince desponding so 
 
 ^ See Tales of a Grandfather.
 
 90 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 early of success ; nor ai his refusal to take a per- 
 sonal share in the engagement. He never shewed 
 any symptoms of timidity, either before or after 
 this unfortunate day. 
 
 There is but little upon the moor to mark the 
 spot where so fierce a conflict took place, yet 
 what there is, claims the deepest attention. In 
 the midst of the heather, now embrowned by the 
 autumn, is seen a long line of turf, slightly raised 
 above the general level, and of a brilliant green. 
 This is the tomb of the brave men, who fell at 
 Culloden. No stone, or monumental pile, records 
 the names or actions of those beneath the sod. But 
 they live in the memory of their countrymen. 
 Probably many of them fell not in the heat of 
 battle, but were of the number of those who, after 
 lying wounded three days on the field, were then 
 deliberately shot by order of his royal highness. 
 The cruelties, which this person sanctioned and 
 perpetrated, were such as would disgrace a tribe 
 of cannibals. If these roast their enemies, it is at 
 least for the gratification of eating them. But for 
 him, who consigns whole hecatombs to destmc- 
 tion, w^hen the din of war has long been hushed ; 
 and who authorizes his brutal soldiery to cut 
 down in cold blood an unoffending peasantry ;
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 91 
 
 tliere is no shadow of excuse or palliation. It 
 is useless to urge, that he wished to inspire ter- 
 ror by the severity of punishment ; for he must 
 have known that the Gael would do the bidding 
 of his chief, even in the face of death ; or if he 
 did not know this, he was partly an idiot, instead 
 of an entire brute. If he had selected some of 
 the principal conspirators as examples, few would 
 have blamed him ; but since even they were gal- 
 lant gentlemen, acting from the most honourable 
 though mistaken motives, how gi'eat a name he 
 might have gained, by interceding with the so- 
 vereign even for these. Victory never wins so 
 much honour and homage from the hearts of men, 
 as when Mercy follows in her train. I can for- 
 give Napoleon for his indifference respecting 
 human life ; for he never tossed it to the winds, 
 but to advance some scheme of ambition. This 
 man, on the contrary, seems to have made him- 
 self a butcher without a motive. But I pass to 
 a more agreeable subject. 
 
 About a mile to the south-east of Culloden, 
 on the bank of the River Nairn, lies the plain of 
 Clava. It is a perfect flat, surrounded on all 
 sides by moderate hills, rising rather abruptly from 
 its level. Part of it is cultivated, but the greater
 
 92 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 portion is heath ; the whole strewn with cairns, 
 Scandinavian circles, and stones of memorial. 
 Its appearance from the heights above the Nairn, 
 is singularly striking, and obliged me to exclaim 
 at once " Lo ! Thebes, or Memphis, and the sa- 
 cred Nile!" Among all these curious remains, 
 the attention is soon arrested by three great cairns 
 surrounded by circles of stones. They very much 
 resemble eacli other, but I shall describe the most 
 perfect. The great conical heap of small stones 
 is hemmed in at its base, by a circle of larger 
 ones fixed in the ground. There is another circle, 
 exterior and concentric to this, the stones of which 
 are enormous ; some vertical, and some procum- 
 bent. These are arranged at considerable inter- 
 vals from each othei*, whereas the stones of the 
 smaller circle touch each other. In the midst of 
 the cairn there is a hollow chamber, the walls 
 being formed of layers of loose stones, or slabs ; 
 and I believe, this was domed over originally, 
 though the vaulted portion is now destroyed. 
 To the chamber there is an access by a straight 
 passage towards the south, or south-west. — 
 " Eighteen inches below the floor of the chamber, 
 which I have described, were discovered two small 
 earthen vessels, or urns, of the coarsest workman-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 ship ; but containing calcined bones." There can 
 be no doubt, therefore, that these cairns were 
 cemeteries, erected to contain the mortal remains, 
 and preserve the memory, of kings or warriors. 
 How singular that the notions of the barbarous 
 Scandinavian should coincide so nearly with those 
 of the polished Egyptian ! Other cairns, how- 
 ever, exhibit no traces whatever of funeral rites ; 
 and were, perhaps, erected to commemorate some 
 ev6nt, or to celebrate some games. Many of the 
 edifices, once reared on this remarkable plain, 
 must have been connected with the popular re- 
 ligion ; and often, perhaps, has the blood of a 
 human victim been poured out among them, to 
 propitiate their great divinity, Thor, 
 
 Towards the west, in the midst of these pagan 
 structures, there is a mound of an oblong square 
 form, called the Clachan, and supposed to be the 
 remains of an early Christian church. What an 
 interesting object ! Here, then, the standard of 
 the Cross was first unfurled, in the very midst of 
 its enemies : the dark and cruel rites of heathen 
 superstition were replaced by the pure and gentle 
 doctrines of a holier religion, and the ministers of 
 Christ succeeded to the priests of Thor. 
 
 Before I dismiss this subject, let me mention a
 
 94 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 very ingenious suggestion of the Messrs. Ander- 
 son, viz., that the circles usually called Druidical 
 temples, (that, for instance, near Leys Castle, be- 
 fore described,) are nothing more than cairns 
 without the loose stones. 
 
 September 16. — I rose at the miserable hour of 
 four, this morning, to mount the Perth coach at a 
 quarter before five. The air was bitterly cold, 
 and, in spite of the sun's rising, it did not much 
 improve when we were toiling through the great 
 chain of the Grampians. I intended to stop at 
 Blair Atholl, but finding that there was only a 
 waterfall to detain me, I determined on proceeding 
 to Dunkeld. Till we surmounted the highest part 
 of the Grampians, there was nothing of any inter- 
 est, save the majestic chain of these mountains 
 themselves, stretching far round the horizon. To 
 this point, all was, with this exception, flat and 
 moorish ground ; clothed here and there, however, 
 with fine natural woods of birch. Beyond, all 
 was desolation and grandeur. The hills slope 
 down towards the bed of the Garry, and end ab- 
 ruptly in rugged precipices ; through which the 
 impetuous torrent rushes with headlong speed. 
 Great blocks of stone are strewn in the channel, 
 and lie scattered also upon the heathery hills, tell-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 95 
 
 ing tales of elemental violence and wax. Couched 
 among the fern, within a hundred yards of the 
 road, we saw two fine red deer ; we had only a 
 momentary glance through projecting rocks, but 
 it was sufficient to display their fine proportions. 
 It was dark (eight o'clock) before we reached 
 Dunkeld ; and having felt the cold most keenly, 
 and been wet with the violent storms which we 
 encountered among the Grampians, I was delighted 
 to leave the coach. 
 
 I must not, however, forget my partner in coach- 
 payments. This was a farmer, with whom I agreed 
 that we should alternately pay the coachman six- 
 pence at the end of every stage — that is, three- 
 pence each. The coachman is most inconve- 
 niently changed with the horses ; and unless one 
 makes some compact of this kind, one must give 
 sixpence every time, which is rather hard upon 
 one's pocket. The farmer was a great stout man 
 — a true representative of the Dandie Dinmont 
 tribe. He was really a capital fellow : whenever 
 it rained, he insisted upon sitting on that side of 
 me from which the rain came, so as to shelter me 
 as much as possible. He pointed out all the cu- 
 riosities, singular rocks, and waterfalls that we 
 passed ; shewed where the strata changed their
 
 96 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 inclinations, (for he was a bit of a geologist,) and 
 gave me much information with respect to High- 
 land fanning. He said ten thousand acres was a 
 common size for a farm, and some extended to 
 thirty thousand, almost entirely pasture. 
 
 Dr. , the Presbyterian preacher, and his 
 
 lady, had seats inside the coach ; but as long as 
 the rain kept off, they sat with me and the farmer 
 in front. I could make nothing of the doctor. 
 His conversation consisted of" That's very pretty," 
 " Very beautiful," and those ordinary exclamations, 
 which form the stock in trade of Messieurs les 
 Voyageurs in general. His lady also, whom 1 
 wrapped up in half my cloak, and thereby caught 
 a wretched cold, though very chatty, was likewise 
 very common-placy. 
 
 On the box was a young spark, who clearly was 
 a personage of some importance in his own esti- 
 mation. He was going to Trinity next October, 
 but he had four or five balls in different counties 
 to attend first. He should keep a servant or two ; 
 but he should not stay more than a year, just to 
 see what the place was like. When he had done 
 with this rattle, I told him I hoped he would ex- 
 cuse me, as an old Cambridge man, if I ventured 
 to give him a little advice. I then informed him, 
 that almost all the young men of fortune and con-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 97 
 
 sequence now entered the list with the rest, and 
 often earned literary fame and honours, instead of 
 wasting their time in trifling or worse pursuits. 
 And I subjoined a caution about making his first 
 friendships, which I always endeavour to impress 
 upon every one, who is for the first time entering 
 into that scene of temptation and danger. He 
 took it all in very good part, and 1 suppose was 
 even pleased with this unexpected sermon, for he 
 gave me an invitation to come and see him at 
 
 R . 
 
 September 17. — The Duke of Atholl's policies, 
 or pleasure-grounds, are the finest and best-tim- 
 bered in Scotland. The first thing of note, which 
 struck me after entering, was the venerable cathe- 
 dral tower embosomed in noble trees. Near it is 
 the first larch ever planted in this country; it was 
 brought from Switzerland ; was long an inhabitant 
 of the green-house ; and was at length transplanted 
 to this spot, where it has attained a prodigious 
 size, and height, measuring fifteen feet in girth, 
 two feet above the ground. It is the patriarch 
 and monarch of its tribe. Near the cathedral re- 
 mains, the late duke planted several more; and 
 upon his whole estate, with other trees, he has 
 planted thirty millions. What a benefactor to 
 
 F
 
 98 JOUENAL OF A 
 
 posterity ! He had begun a noble house in the 
 gothic style, but the walls were only raised to the 
 first story, when he was cut off from all mortal 
 pursuits ; so true it is that men build halls sixty 
 by forty, forgetful of that which is six by two. It 
 is lamentable to behold so magnificent a com- 
 mencement, assuming already the aspect of a ruin. 
 The lin e is beginning to ooze from the crevices, 
 and to stain the goodly stone ; while the straw, 
 laid thickly on the unfinished walls, betokens that 
 the frost is corroding the masonry. The great 
 oflSces erected for the workmen are closed and te- 
 nantless ; and the silence of these woods is no 
 longer broken by the cries of the builders, and the 
 noises of their instruments. But painful as it is 
 to behold these things, it is still more so to reflect 
 on the moral ruin of their unfortunate inheritor; 
 he has long been confined in consequence of de- 
 cided lunacy. His brother will in time be the 
 possessor of his title and property. 
 
 Crossing the Tay, the most majestic river 1 have 
 seen in Scotland, the guide led the way to the 
 Hermitage ; a small building erected on a project- 
 ing rock, so as to command a beautiful view of the 
 falls of the Braan. A picturesque bridge is thrown 
 over the stream as it dashes downwards j and the
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 99 
 
 whole, when seen in a small miiTor, reduced in 
 size, exhibits a most exquisite picture. It is cu- 
 rious as exhibiting a solution of that most difficult 
 of all problems to the painter ; how to represent 
 water running in the opposite direction to the 
 spectator. I now left the guide who told me, that 
 I should have to pay twopence toll at the bridge ; 
 a great nuisance, as I had now nothing but large 
 notes about me. 
 
 Proceeding onwards in the way he directed me, 
 I came to the Rumbling Brig, another bridge 
 thrown over a narrow chasm, through which the 
 Braan rushes after a fine fall. Its name is derived 
 from the circumstance of its being sensibly shaken 
 by the concussion of the water against its support- 
 ing rocks. Just as I came to the spot, I saw a 
 young Scot stepping on the road, and I asked him 
 if it was possible to descend. 
 
 " I canna say it's no possible, but it's vera deef- 
 ficult." 
 
 The way down is very singular, the roots of the 
 trees forming handles to help one's passage; so 
 very conveniently are they placed, that it is almost 
 hard to believe their position accidental. The 
 view from the rocks below is superb, and well 
 worth getting dirty and wet for ; but I was repaid 
 
 F 2
 
 100 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 in another way for my trouble, and in more sub- 
 stantial coin. Having gotten into an awkward 
 place in reclimbing, I cast my eyes about for a 
 helping root, when I discovered a penny. " Well," 
 thought I, " this is fortunate ; if I could but find 
 another, my toll is paid." I soon hit upon a half- 
 penny, and after that upon another halfpenny ; 
 making up the desirable twopence. " Now if all 
 this treasure 'does not belong to the Scot; or if 
 I can't catch him to ascertain the fact, I shall in- 
 deed be Hans in luck." I really kept a sharp look 
 out for him and walked fast ; but he must have 
 gone the other way, for I saw no more of him, and 
 so made no further scruple in applying the trea- 
 sure-trove to my own necessities. There is an old 
 proverb that says " luck in one thing is luck in 
 another;" I wish it may prove so. 
 
 September 18. — The pass of Killiecrankie occurs 
 at a short distance on this side of Blair Atholl. 
 From the bed of the Garry the mountains rise very 
 abruptly, especially on the western side ; where 
 for the most part the rock is quite bare. The 
 base of it, however, and nearly the whole of the 
 eastern mountain, is covered with graceful birches; 
 some growing erect and stately, others drooping 
 in the most fantastic forms over the projecting
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 rocks. At the end of this pass, where it terminates 
 in the Blair or plain of Atholl, the famous battle 
 of Killiecrankie took place ; at the close of which, 
 in the very moment of victory, that most accom- 
 plished but sanguinary general, Dundee, lost his 
 life. He had allowed Mackay to defile through 
 the pass, in order to give his Highlanders the op- 
 portunity of making their tremendous charge. I 
 ought to have mentioned all this the day before 
 yesterday, but I unaccountably forgot the subject, 
 when writing; I am the more surprised at this, 
 because I sometimes accuse myself of taking too 
 much pleasure, in examining and describing these 
 battle scenes. 
 
 To-day I have jounieyed from Dunkeld to Killin. 
 At Aberfeldy I stopped to see the falls of the 
 Moness. They are indeed exquisitely beautiful ; 
 especially the middle one. It consists of a long 
 series of cataracts, some vertical, some slanting ; 
 with enormous precipices above, appearing to 
 converge over the highest fall. From the crevices 
 of the rocks, hang pendent birch and ash, whose 
 colours are rendered vividly green by the perpetual 
 spray. Higher still, the gloomy pine and the 
 sturdy oak contribute, by the density of their fo- 
 liage, to give breadth and shadow to the picture.
 
 102 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Attractive as are the natural beauties of the Moness 
 Falls, they assume a still higher charm from being 
 associated with the muse of Burns. There is a 
 rapture in treading the same footsteps with genius 
 — in being where it has been : to breathe the 
 same air, to press the same ground, to gaze on the 
 same objects — all these are so many cords of union, 
 enabling us to scan its loveliness more steadily, 
 and to become familiar with its might. And what 
 a genius did Scotland neglect in Robert Burns ! 
 Who ever felt the thirst of fame or the pride of 
 independence, the sacred fervor of patriotism or 
 the melting tenderness of love — who ever felt these 
 things, and read one page of those strains, so nobly 
 free, so wildly sweet, without bursting into his 
 own heartfelt and eloquent exclamation, " Come 
 to my arms, my friend, my brither ! " The works 
 of many modern poets have afforded me extreme 
 delight J but I have never felt any strong desire 
 to become acquainted with the authors — not so 
 with Robert Bums : I rarely rise from the penisal 
 of his poems without a mental ejaculation, " How 
 I should have liked to know that man ! " But it 
 is time to bid adieu to him and " the birks of 
 Aberfeldy." 
 
 At Kenmore we come in sight of Loch Tay, a
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 103 
 
 majestic sheet of water ; and close by is Taymouth 
 Castle, the residence of the Marquis of Breadid- 
 bane. It is modem, but handsome; and built 
 with tolerable taste. There are some curious fa- 
 mily portraits, especially one of Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell, the famous black knight of Rhodes, who was 
 the founder of this powerflil branch of the clan 
 Campbell. The grounds near the castle are a 
 little formal ; but the trees are superb, each being 
 in itself a fine picture. The Tay sweeps through 
 the lawns, and a little beyond it rises a wooded 
 hill, which is now beginning to exhibit the hues 
 of autumn. The views over Loch Tay from some 
 of the points are considered " the finest in Scot- 
 land." They are indeed enchanting, so that I was 
 agreeably disappointed ; for this expression gene- 
 rally means nothing more than that you can see a 
 very long way, beauty being considered identical 
 with extension, just as among the Hottentots. 
 
 As to Killin, where I am now scribbling, I can 
 say nothing about it yet, for I entered, as usual, 
 in toiTents of rain. For the last three weeks there 
 has been a constant series of wet weather in the 
 east of Scotland ; and 1 have had occasion to use 
 my umbrella every day since I arrived at Inver-
 
 104 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ness: however fair the sky may look, I am not 
 such a fool as to leave it behind me now. 
 
 September 19. — Killin deserves all the enco- 
 miums that have been lavished upon it. The firs, 
 beech, and birch, upon broken mounds, form an 
 endless variety of fine foregrounds, the lake and 
 distant mountains filling up the picture. Fingal 
 is said to be buried here, and a rough stone, in a 
 corn-field, marks the sjjot where the hero lies. 
 The church-yard, which is quite detached from 
 the kirk, contains many very ancient tombs ; the 
 prevailing device upon them being, the death's 
 head and cross-bones. 
 
 The Falls of the Lochy are situate three miles 
 fi'om the inn, and well repay the trouble of a walk. 
 They consist of six cataracts, arranged into two 
 groups, three and three, with a deep circular pool 
 intermediate. Standing on a prominent rock, 
 overhanging the lower series, one commands a 
 splendid view of the whole. There is a singular 
 variety in the mode, in which the water descends 
 these several falls, as to heiglit, form, and inclina- 
 tion. Its colour, when not shivered into spray, is 
 a bright sienna, in consequence of the late violent 
 rains; and from the same cause its quantity is
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 veiy imposing. The intervening pool is deep, and 
 dark, and troubled ; and it is amusing to watch 
 the foam-bells floating on its surface : some are 
 hurried down and obliterated in the lower cas- 
 cades, to be regenerated below, after their turbu- 
 lent transit ; while others, collected into the little 
 bays and inlets of the shore, form masses of daz- 
 zling whiteness, cradled and rocked upon the 
 gloomy surface of the heaving waters. The crags, 
 at first bare, or concealed only by the hardy lichen, 
 have their summits adorned chiefly with oaks, 
 which being perpetually refreshed by the rising 
 spray, exhibit the purest and most brilliant hues. 
 In short, the whole is a masterly composition of 
 giey rocks, green trees, and bright waters. 
 
 As I journeyed on to Callander, I left the gi- 
 gantic cone of Benmore on my right, and soon 
 beheld the summit of Ben Voirlich in front. 1 
 am approaching classic lands. Meanwhile, let 
 me not omit to record the beauties of Loch Lub- 
 naig, or the Crooked Lake, which supplies many 
 a grand and inviting subject for the painter ; and 
 the sublimities of the Pass of Leni. 
 
 September 20. — A most wretched day, — nothing 
 but storms. This, however, is not of any conse- 
 quence, inasmuch as being the Sabbath, I do not 
 
 f3
 
 106 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 mean to proceed. I have attended the kirk, where 
 a most extraordinary sermon, two hours long, was 
 dealt forth extempore. In the middle of it a psalm 
 was sung, in order to give the preacher breath. 
 The proper subject of it was the purport of the 
 Mosaic Law, but he contrived to introduce a 
 thousand others. Before the blessing, several little 
 boxes on handles were handed about, to collect 
 offerings for the poor. Every one seemed to think 
 it indispensable to give something ; so that a con- 
 siderable sum must have been collected in half- 
 pence. 
 
 September 21. — The morning proved to be very 
 propitious, and I therefore once more commenced 
 pedestrian, and walked to the Trosach's house. 
 The road passing to the left of Ben Ledi, or " the 
 Hill of God," soon brings us to Coilantogle Ford, 
 the scene of the combat between Fitzjames and 
 Rhoderick Dhu. Soon Loch Venachar comes 
 into view, but has no very great claims to admira- 
 tion : above it, where the road diverges from its 
 banks, is Lanrick Mead, the mustering place of 
 the clan Alpin. Then follows a lovely burst of 
 Loch Achray, at whose farther extremity the 
 wooded hills of the Trosachs are grouped into a 
 glorious landscape.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 107 
 
 After ten miles' journeying, I entered the Tro- 
 sach's house, and leaving my linapsack, went forth 
 
 with Mr. r and his daughter to explore 
 
 the beauties of Loch Katrine. To this gentleman 
 I introduced myself in a very summary manner, 
 by walking into his parlour, which I took for the 
 public room. He was alone, and on my stating, 
 that I meant to proceed to the Lake, he said that 
 he would accompany me, and bring his daughter 
 with him. Accordingly, the young lady was sum- 
 moned — about eighteen, not pretty, but lively, and 
 abundantly romantic. We soon found ourselves 
 in the very heart of the Trosachs, or " bristled 
 tenitory," enclosed between the precipices of 
 Benan and Ben Venue. The former mountain 
 threw up, on our right, his craggy and blunted 
 cone, while the latter sent down, from his sides, 
 detached and ridge-like masses, terminating in 
 bluffs or steep acclivities. The wood is most 
 abundant and varied ; detracting, by its richness 
 and verdure, from the gi'andeur of the scene ; but 
 adding infinitely more to its loveliness. At length, 
 the Lake, in all the pride of nature and of poetry, 
 gleamed through the trees, just beyond the spot 
 where Fitzjaraes's horse, " the gallant gi"ey," fell 
 exhausted by the chase, I will not attempt to
 
 108 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 describe this fairy region, after so great a master 
 as Sir Walter, but will only remark that his seems 
 to me as correct, as a poetical description is likely 
 to be. Indeed I see no exaggeration in it, save, 
 perhaps, in the " thunder-splintered pinnacles," 
 which expression conveys the notion of acute 
 rocks, not to be seen, save by a poet's eye. Ellen's 
 Isle is about two miles from the east end of the 
 lake ; it is most beautiful, and covered with fo- 
 liage. Soon after, the lake assumes a less interest- 
 ing aspect, and we therefore retraced our steps 
 along the rough and watery path. This little 
 walk was about six miles. I spent the evening, 
 after sketching, with these new acquaintances, 
 and was delighted to escape from the little room, 
 into which all single pedestrians, and indeed all 
 those who are unaccompanied by ladies, are obliged 
 to nestle. 
 
 September 22, — Rain, continuous and tremen- 
 dous rain, with furious gusts of wind sweeping 
 down the sides of Ben Venue. We are all wea- 
 ther-bound. I, at last, persuaded Mr. F. to re- 
 main here, instead of daring such a tempest in an 
 open boat. And now that we had decided on 
 retaining our present quarters, what were we to 
 do for amusement? — An odd volume of Tristram
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 109 
 
 Shandy served for an hour. I read it aloud, but 
 with the due precaution of examining well, what 
 was coming. Then we obtained from the waiter a 
 quantity of old cards, out of which we contrived, 
 by great assiduity and skill in the use of the pen- 
 knife and pen, to form a complete pack. Well ! 
 who was to play ? — Could the waiter find us a 
 substitute for dummy ? — Oh yes, there was a gen- 
 tleman and lady who wanted company very much, 
 and they were ushered in accordingly. ]\Jr. M., 
 an old East Indian, and his daughter, I suspect, 
 an old maid. She declined the whist table, and 
 so we four sat down. We played for love, at 
 least not for money. But we were not sufficient 
 enthusiasts to find amusement in this pastime 
 long, and at last resolved, in spite of wind and 
 weather, to have a promenade. Of course, we 
 saw nothing, and were quite wet through : so 
 much the better, for we had variety, at all events, 
 and something whereon to discourse thereafter. 
 
 The little inn, in which we suffered this block- 
 ade, is the only one within ten miles, and is there- 
 fore crowded throughout the season. There are 
 but three sitting rooms — one for pedestrians and 
 gentlemen, another for promiscuous parties of 
 both sexes, and a third which is reserved for ex-
 
 110 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 traordinary occasions, such as the arrival of a co- 
 ronet. The bed-rooms are all doubly furnished, 
 except in those cases where the original room has 
 been divided into two, by a partition which abuts 
 upon the window ; allowing half a window to each 
 closet. The division is so thin, that, in fact, it 
 is nothing whatever more than a screen, hiding 
 the two occupiers from each other's eyes — not 
 ears. In the summer, such crowds arrive here, 
 that many are compelled to shift with something 
 far worse than this ; a dozen of them occasionally 
 sleeping on " shake-downs," in the sitting room. 
 The weather being by far the most important 
 study going on within this curious hive, there are 
 no less than three barometers in the house j not 
 one of which, however, is good for any thing; 
 the worthy tourists, in their efforts to procure 
 favourable prognostics, have so bethumped the 
 poor machines, that they are all completely out 
 of order. 
 
 September 23. — The weather to our great de- 
 light seemed extremely favourable, and we there- 
 fore at eight o'clock walked to Loch Katrine, and 
 took our seats in the passage-boat. The party 
 consisted of Mr. F. and his daughter, three bro- 
 thers, Messrs. B., Scotchmen, an Irishman, and
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND, 111 
 
 an American, with myself. The boat had four 
 oars, and 1 undertook to steer ; but did not shew 
 myself so expert in that office as the old boatman 
 desired ; for the scenery attracted so much of my 
 attention that I forgot the rudder, the boat, and 
 all it contained. The wind was extremely violent^ 
 hurrying the clouds along the sky, and here and 
 there piling them on each other, till they burst in 
 torrents of rain. But though we saw many a fly- 
 ing storm, we were so fortunate as to escape them 
 all, and to enjoy, unmolested, the grand and im- 
 posing scenes around us. 
 
 It is, I think, impossible to view Loch Katrine 
 under more favourable circumstances, than those 
 which attended us. The sudden and unexpected 
 lights thrown down on the rugged mountains, 
 the dark storms that swept along their sides, the 
 blue waters of the fairy lake, now curled into 
 snowy foam by the rushing wind, and now 
 snatched up into one long-continued sheet of fly- 
 ing spray — all these, and a thousand other airy 
 beauties, transient and indescribable, were per- 
 petually passing in array before us. 
 
 We soon bade adieu to the Trosachs, which, as 
 beheld reflected in the sheltered bay, present a 
 vision more lovely, than ever painter sketched or
 
 112 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 poet sung — it defies all description, even Sir Wai- 
 ter's. We passed by Ellen's Isle — an isle of rock, 
 and verdant trees — so beautiful ! — so lonely !— 
 and looked back towards the lofty summits of 
 Benan and Ben Venue. Then we approached 
 the western shore, over which are seen the mag- 
 nificent mountains beyond Loch Lomond ; and 
 leaving the boat, all set out to walk to Inversnaid 
 on that loch, a distance of five miles. I thought 
 this a good walk for the young lady, but she made 
 nothing of it. 
 
 On descending to Loch Lomond we perceived, 
 that the surface of it was violently agitated by the 
 wind, which was much more powerful here than 
 on Loch Katrine. The men, whose duty it was 
 to put us on board the steamer, stated that this 
 was impossible in such weather, and that the 
 steamer itself dared not leave the opposite shore. 
 This proved to be the case, for we soon had the 
 mortification of seeing her pass by us without 
 notice, and keeping close in to the western side. 
 To add to our misfortunes, the rain now com- 
 menced, and we had these three resources. We 
 might return as we came ; but nobody would hear 
 of walking back five miles, and being rowed 
 eight more in such weather; we might stay at
 
 E AMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 113 
 
 Inversnaid, a wretched hovel with broken win- 
 dows, and a host of rats, who had the assurance 
 to cany on their squeaks and quanels all around, 
 while we were taking a little whisky ; or, lastly, 
 we might walk ten miles over a mountain path 
 along the flank of Ben Lomond to Rowerdinnan, 
 where there was a good inn. A guide whom we 
 consulted said, that a pony could not be taken 
 this way ; what then was to become of the young- 
 lady.'* The elder B., who was a minister, and a 
 rather corpulent man, and had never been from 
 home before in his life, groaned in spirit ; the Ame- 
 rican looked miserable ; the Irishman said nothing. 
 But Miss F. declared that she could walk ten 
 miles very easily; and her resolution animating 
 the others, we at last all set out for Rowerdinnan. 
 I who had lately been so much on the mountains 
 knew very well, what we had to encounter; and I 
 could not help feeling very apprehensive for this 
 poor girl ; but her spirit was invincible, and she 
 not only accomplished this most arduous task 
 herself, but by her example encouraged and 
 shamed into similar exertion some, who would 
 otherwise have given up in despair. The rain 
 was incessant, and occasionally was borne along 
 in sheets by the gusts of wind. The path also
 
 114 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 was very trying; sometimes ascending a long 
 way up the mountain, where its slope to the loch 
 was precipitous; sometimes leading over burns, 
 across which there was either no bridge at all, or 
 merely a couple of slippery poles. My whisky 
 flask was very serviceable, being the only one in 
 the party. The American was the sole person 
 besides myself who carried his own knapsack; 
 the B — s took a carpet bag between them part of 
 the way ; but soon got assistance from one of the 
 little huts that we passed. 
 
 With such a numerous party, of course our 
 progi'ess was not very quick ; but the lady was by 
 no means the last. It was impossible to give her 
 any assistance, because the path admitted only 
 one person. Three of us at last agreed to walk 
 forward without the guide, and make the people 
 at the inn piepare fires and dinner. This was of 
 much service to the others. All the party at 
 length arrived in safety, and soon changed their 
 
 dress. Mr. F and the second Mr. B , 
 
 borrowed trowsers of the landlord, the others were 
 provided with a change of their own, except the 
 minister and myself. We were obliged to resume 
 our wet coats and trowsers, a man'ellously un- 
 comfortable plan ; but a good dinner and a meiTy
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 115 
 
 party soon made us forget our hardships, or re- 
 member them only as jests. Mr. F was pre- 
 sident, and I was vice-president. I took the 
 earliest opportunity of proposing a bumper to the 
 health of the young lady, who had so heroically 
 achieved a perilous journey, and had cheered us 
 all by her fortitude and courage. This toast was 
 drunk with great applause. We began to look 
 back to history, in order to discover some parallel 
 to our mountain march. One of us instanced the 
 passage of the Alps by Hannibal ; another the 
 retreat of the ten thousand under Xenophon ; a 
 third that of the French under Ney ; but all these 
 were abandoned, as not rising sufficiently near the 
 sublime. The evening was concluded in great 
 hilarity, to which port and whisky contributed 
 considerably. 
 
 Sept, 24. — We all met in good spirits and 
 health at the breakfast table. The morning was 
 
 lowering and rainy ; but Mr. F and his 
 
 daughter resolved to ascend Ben Lomond, and 
 
 actually set out with the B s, in spite of all I 
 
 could say on the excessive folly of such a scheme. 
 However it ended, just as I expected, by their 
 returning in a quarter of an hour, well pelted by
 
 116 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 the rain. They now agreed to go with me by the 
 steamer to the top of the loch, and accordingly 
 we were put on board. The weather most for- 
 tunately cleared, and the sun shone once more, 
 cheerily and brightly. 
 
 I was enchanted with this majestic sheet of 
 water, especially with the upper portion of it. 
 Here the mountains rise more boldly from the 
 lake, and exhibit scener}- truly sublime. The 
 great ranges of Ben Lomond on the east, and of 
 Ben Voirlich on the north, catch the eye at once 
 by their impressive grandeur; and on the western 
 shore the mountains, though less lofty, are still 
 more wild and picturesque in their outlines. Ben 
 Arthur is very extraordinary ; on its summit is a 
 singular rock called the Cobbler, from its resem- 
 blance to a man of that craft. Rob Roy's cave is 
 on the eastern side, a mile above Inversnaid : we 
 saw the entrance to it distinctly, a mere aperture 
 among masses of broken rock. Near the upper 
 extremity on the opposite coast is an immense 
 block of stone, out of which a very small rude 
 chamber has been carved; in this a minister is 
 obliged to do duty three times a year ; but in 
 reality the service is much more frequent. There
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 117 
 
 is only room in so small a kirk for the minister 
 and a few of the elders ; the mass of the congre- 
 gation stand unsheltered without. 
 
 The southern extremity of the loch is altogether 
 of another character ; the mountains recede from 
 each other, and thus display an ample surface of 
 water; they also are less bold and lofty, assuming 
 the aspect of beauty, instead of sublimity. Many 
 a wooded island lies sleeping in the placid lake, 
 which reflects every rock and tree with the fide- 
 lity of a mirror. The sun sets brightly over the 
 western hills, illuming the summits of Ben Lo- 
 mond with his glorious rays ; the shadows are 
 growing longer and longer ; and the grey of twi- 
 light is stealing on the eastern clouds. 
 
 Passing the residence of Smollett, we arrived 
 at Balloch, where I remained for the night. I 
 
 parted with Mr. F and his daughter, who 
 
 were going on to Glasgow. He gave me a very 
 cordial invitation to come and see him, in order 
 that he might shew me a coal-mine. Thus, at 
 last, I have contrived to see this celebrated lake, 
 which most richly merits the praises which it has 
 received. It combines in itself an epitome of all 
 the other Scotch lakes, and from the great variety
 
 1 18 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 of its scenery, raulis jnstly pre-eminent among 
 them all. 
 
 Sept. 25. — Another equinoctial day, with rain 
 and furious wind. I asked the captain of the 
 steamer, whether he would undertake to land me 
 at Rowerdinnan, (in which case I should have 
 ascended Ben Lomond, if clear weather; or 
 walked t v,r its shoulder to Aberfoil,) but the Scot 
 would not promise, saying the wind was hard 
 on the eastern shore. I had therefore no alter- 
 native, but to get back to Callandar by land. I 
 hired a gig to Aberfoil ; we passed through Dru- 
 mond : in the house now used as a toll-bar, " the 
 Dougal creature" is said to have lived; and I now 
 found myself in the heart of the temtory of the 
 Gregarach. It is a wild moorish tract of country 
 — fit resort for robbers and caterans. There are 
 great numbers of this clan left, to this day, in 
 spite of the cruel and exterminating persecutions 
 directed against it. Tliose, whom I have seen, are 
 generally tall dark men, and seem fully capable 
 of resimiing the dangerous occupations of their 
 forefatliers ; but I believe, in reality, that they are 
 as civilized as the rest of the Highlanders. 
 
 At Aberfoil, the rain fell in such toiTents that I
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 119 
 
 was unable to go up to the Clachan, fearing that 
 night would overtalie me, before I reached Cal- 
 landar. As I buckled my knapsack on, the grey- 
 headed old landlord advised me not to venture, 
 but on my expressing my determination to pro- 
 ceed, he said, 
 
 " Aweel, aweel, yell be sairly drowkit, afore ye 
 win to Callander." 
 
 Without the slightest doubt of the verity of 
 this prediction, I started, and managed the twelve 
 miles very easily in three hours. The rain was 
 in my back, so that it incommoded me very little ; 
 and on arriving at M'Gregor's hotel I ransacked 
 once moi*e the treasures of my portmanteau. 
 
 Sept. 26. — A coach conveyed me through 
 Doune, where there is a fine view of the old 
 castle, to Stirling. The castle here also is the 
 grand object of interest. It is situated on a rock 
 rising precipitously from the plain ; but, in spite 
 of its commanding position, does not form a veiy 
 picturesque object, in consequence of the heap of 
 modern buildings, intruded among the more an- 
 cient. In the interior are several points, that de- 
 serve attention :— the old parliament house ; the 
 palace, adorned with gi-otesque statues; the cham- 
 ber where James II. stabbed the Douglas; another
 
 120 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 wherein Queen Mary was confined ; and a third, 
 where our own James received iessons of scho- 
 lastic learning, but not of worldly prudence, from 
 old Buchanan. The dens of the royal lions, and 
 the apertures through which they were fed, are 
 still to be traced. Outside, far below the castle 
 walls, are seen the remains of the king's gardens, 
 teiTaces arranged into formal shapes, and a round 
 eminence surrounded by circular terraces, where 
 the game of the knights of the round table was 
 sometimes played for the amusement of James V. 
 In a different quarter is the tilt-yard, where the 
 tournaments were held ; and above it a crag 
 called " the ladies' rock," from which the gentler 
 sex beheld the rough sports below. Beyond the 
 precincts of the castle is seen the fann of Bal- 
 langeich, well known in the annals of James V.'s 
 frolics. A clear view is hei'e presented also of 
 the field of Bannockburn near St. Ninians, with 
 the Gillies' hill rising above it. Sheriffmuir is 
 just over the Ochill hills, which are seen stretch- 
 ing boldly and beautifully over the rich and varied 
 landscape. The noble Forth meanders in the 
 most fantastic curves through the fertile plain 
 below, and the Grampians are seen far in the 
 distance, rising in successive lines, mountain be-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 121 
 
 yoiid mountain ; while the ruins of Cambusken- 
 neth Abbey give interest to the foreground. 
 
 Just as I was about to mount the Perth coach, 
 I had the pleasure of recognizing an old Glouces- 
 tershire friend ; how an incident like this draws 
 closer to the heart every tie that unites us to our 
 homes ! Heavy showers fell during our ride, but 
 we had notwithstanding very superb views nearly 
 the whole way ; but particularly when the plain 
 of Perth bursts suddenly on the eye, the land- 
 scape is enchanting, and might well extort from 
 the astonished Romans their well known ex- 
 clamation ; " Ecce Tibur ! Ecce Campus Mar- 
 tins !" 
 
 Sept. 27. — Attended the Episcopal church, 
 where a very fine sermon was delivered by a 
 Mr. Skeat. 
 
 Sept. 28. — Scone Palace is two miles from 
 Perth ; I walked there before breakfast, taking 
 my chance of admittance. I could not see the 
 interior, but was allowed to walk round the house. 
 It is quite modem, castellated, red, and hand- 
 some. The view from it is beautiful ; and this 
 morning I think peculiarly so, for the Grampians 
 are covered with snow, and give a Swiss cha- 
 racter to the scene. The only remains of the old 
 
 G
 
 122 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 palace, consist of a gateway, and two flanking 
 round towers ; a low ruin adorned with coats of 
 arms. Near it is a singular old cross, marking 
 the site, I believe, of the ancient town. Lord 
 Mansfield is at present residing there. The phea- 
 sants are numerous and tame as fowls. 
 
 Since writing the above I have again walked 
 to Scone, with an order from the factor to see the 
 interior. It contains some valuable paintings, two 
 Rembrandts, a portrait of Charles I. by Van 
 Dyck, a Virgin and Child by Guido, &c., &c. 
 Lady Mansfield herself is no mean artist, and 
 several of her ladyship's paintings are exhibited 
 to the stranger ; among the rest a portrait of her 
 youngest daughter, extremely interesting. The 
 old cabinets, chairs, tapestry, &c., preserved from 
 the original palace, are highly curious; Queen 
 Mary's looking-glass, that must have so often re- 
 flected the image of perfect loveliness ; and her 
 bed, the quilt of which she wrought with her own 
 royal hand, while a prisoner in Loch Leven 
 Castle, are objects for ev^ery mind to moralize on. 
 In the gallery are many specimens of Italian 
 marble, good sculptures, a sleeping cupid by 
 Chantrey, &c. 
 
 While we were examining these, a very elegant
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 123 
 
 girl continued undisturbed at the piano. I was 
 surprised to leani on inquiiy that she was Lord 
 Mansfield's eldest daughter, and could not help 
 casting an involuntary glance at my old weather- 
 beaten shooting jacket. A young man, who had, 
 like myself, come to see the castle, on learning 
 into what august presence the major domo had 
 intruded him, was perfectly in hon'ors, and in- 
 sisted on leaving the gallery directly. 
 
 " If I am not afraid of bringing you here, sir," 
 said the man of office, " I don't see, why you 
 should be so very modest." 
 
 And then he w^ent on explaining more fully and 
 loudly every article in the room. But the other 
 would not hear him, and at last we all retired 
 from the presence of the young lady. I never 
 longed so much for a black coat, which would 
 have enabled me to apologise for our involuntary 
 intrusion, and express our gratitude for being 
 allowed to examine the whole castle, even at the 
 expense of intenupting the domestic arrangements 
 of its inmates. As the case stood, however, I took 
 another look at my old jacket — saw a little rent 
 in front — it would not do ! — and followed the rest 
 in silence. 
 
 At three o'clock I left Perth by coach for Edin- 
 
 g2
 
 124 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 burgh ; the road, after leading us through a beau- 
 tiful glen, passes by the shore of Loch Leven. 
 The island and ruined castle are distinctly seen. 
 Its appearance is mournful and desolate in the 
 extreme, adapting it admirably to the office, for 
 which it was employed, a royal prison. Perhaps 
 the keys, which the Douglas threw into the lake, 
 are still corroding below ; and some chance may 
 even yet, before they are resolved into their ele- 
 ments, bring to light these testimonies of a ro- 
 mantic and perilous escape a. 
 
 The cold was intense, and seemed to blow 
 through one, in consequence of the violence of 
 the wind; and it was dark before w'e reached 
 Queen's-feny, where we embarked with our lug- 
 gage in a small steamer. Another stage of nine 
 miles brought us, after a bitter and rainy voyage, 
 to the metropolis of Scotland ; and as we passed 
 along Princes Street, the glimmering lights in the 
 windows of the eight or ten storied houses of the 
 old town on the right, piled one over the other 
 
 a A friend of mine assures me that this prediction is of a 
 somewhat Irish complexion, being uttered after the fulfilment 
 of the event. For it appears that these identical keys were 
 actually discovered three or four years ago, and are now in the 
 possession of a gentleman in the neighbourhood.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLx\ND. 125 
 
 on a precipitous hill, gave one tlie notion of an 
 illuminated fairy city. 
 
 Sept. 29. — Oh ! how beautiful ! how magnifi- 
 cent! Edina, thou art fairer than all the cities 
 of the earth, for the powers of nature and of man 
 have united in thy decoration ! How finely do 
 the venerable, irregular, and lofty buildings on 
 the one side, ascending, tier above tier, on the 
 crowded hill, contrast with the geometric squares 
 and rectilinear streets, the gardens and the statues 
 on the other ! How the eye delights to dwell on 
 the architectural splendour of Grecian temple or 
 Gothic pile ; and to behold arising frequent from 
 the general mass, pinnacle and spire, and dome 
 and tower, meet symbols of a Christian city ! 
 And with what pre-eminence of majesty does that 
 rock-built fortress stand firm and peerless over all, 
 bringing home to the memory many a fearful tale 
 of siege and sally, and chivalrous emprise ! North- 
 ward, beyond the port of Leith, the Firth of 
 Forth rolls fast its ample tide, bearing home- 
 wards on its bosom the goodly barque, freighted 
 with the produce of other climes : while in the 
 opposite quarter, Salisbury Crags, upreared in all 
 the grandeur of desolation, frown over the popu-
 
 126 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 lous scene below ; and higher still soars the lion- 
 like fonn of Arthur's seat. 
 
 Such is the view from Gallon Hill. This emi- 
 nence itself is an extremely picturesque object, 
 being crowned with an unfinished model of the 
 Parthenon, the columns of which shew finely 
 against the azure sky, and also a tall monument 
 to Nelson, the High School, and other buildings 
 of doubtful taste. 
 
 I afterwards took a long planless ramble among 
 the avenues and passages of the Old Town, de- 
 lighting myself with its time-worn tenements, so 
 shattered, yet so aspiring ! Sometimes the backs 
 of these are nearly twice as high as the fronts, 
 owing to the very abrupt change in the level of 
 the ground; but the lowest side is lofty compared 
 with ordinary houses. At the distance of about 
 every twenty yards along the main streets there 
 branch off steep, narrow, dark alleys, called 
 " wynds " or " closes," each of them a study for 
 the painter ; their curious windows and external 
 staircases supplying all that intricacy, which is 
 essential to the picturesque. But besides all these 
 natural attractions, every spot where I wandered 
 was familiarized and hallowed by associations of
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 127 
 
 history or romance. Think of Holyrood House, 
 Heriott's Hospital, the Canongate, the Grass- 
 market, the Nether Bow, and a multitude of 
 others — their very names have, like Aladdin's 
 lamp, a creative power ; and present to the mind's 
 eye in magic array the chronicles and legends of 
 the past. 
 
 Where all things claim regard, it is difficult to 
 fix upon a point to commence with. But let us 
 first turn to the Castle, the loftiest and most 
 striking object in the city. Its external appear- 
 ance, in spite of some unconformable modem 
 buildings, is majestic and threatening; but it has 
 been so forcibly described by Burns that I shall 
 make no scruple in bon'owing a stanza : 
 
 There, watching high the least alarms, 
 
 Thy rough rude fortress gleams afar ; 
 Like some bold vet'ran, grey in arms. 
 
 And mark'd with many a seamy scar ; 
 
 The pondrous wall and massy bar, 
 Grim-rising o'er the rugged rock. 
 
 Have oft withstood assailing war, 
 And oft repell'd th' invader's shock. 
 
 Among the various pieces of Ordnance, which 
 firom time to time have grinned from the summit 
 of the rock, none is more illustrious than Mons
 
 128 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Meg. This enormous cannon was long the pride 
 of Edinburgh, but was at length burst in conse- 
 quence of being overloaded, a catastrophe which 
 is humorously described by Fergusson: 
 
 Oh willawins ! Mons IMeg, for you ; 
 'Twas firin' crack'd thy muckle mou ; 
 
 I fear, they bang'd thy belly fu', 
 Again the law. 
 
 Right seenU am I gien to bannin ; 
 But, by my saul, ye was a cannon. 
 Could hit a man had he been stannin' 
 
 In shire o' Fife, 
 Sax lang Scots miles ayont Clackmannan, 
 
 An' tak his life. 
 
 In the " Old Canteen," or soldiers' pot-house, 
 the stranger is shewn into a little closet, now used 
 as a common drinking room, in which the unfor- 
 tunate Mary gave birth to James I. and VI. The 
 walls are defaced with stains and inscriptions ; 
 and a few miserable daubs of paintings, suspended 
 from them, add still further to the degradation of 
 the apartment. From the window there is a cu- 
 rious view down to the Grass market, which lies 
 far below, and to which a bell-string is said to have
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 129 
 
 been conducted, in order to announce to the citi- 
 zens by tolling, the birth of a prince. 
 
 But the most si3lendid attraction of Edinburgh 
 Castle is the crown room, in which are deposited 
 the ancient regalia of Scotland. The interest at- 
 taching to them, however, depends not on their 
 splendour, but on the many momentous historical 
 events, with which they are associated. The 
 principal object is the crown, which has oversha- 
 dowed the brows of so many monarchs, from the 
 heroic restorer of Scottish independence to the 
 boyish James. For there seems to be good reason 
 for believing, that the lower and massy portion, 
 consisting of the purest metal, was the identical 
 golden circlet worn by Robert the Bruce. Lateral 
 ornaments were added by succeeding monarchs, 
 and at last it assumed its present elegant shape, 
 and was closed in at the top, to distinguish this 
 royal badge from the coronets then generally 
 adopted by the nobles. When one of these as- 
 pired to regal power, he was said to be about " to 
 close his coronet." 
 
 In the time of the Commonwealth, the Regalia 
 naiTowly escaped falling into the hands of the Re- 
 publicans, and were only preserved by the courage, 
 
 G 3
 
 130 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 sagacity, and good faith of those, to whom they 
 were consigned. At the period of the Union, 
 though a stipulation was inserted in the National 
 Treaty that they should never be removed from 
 Scotland, yet it was deemed pradent to withdraw 
 from the public gaze such explicit tokens of her 
 ancient independence ; and they were accordingly 
 deposited in a strong oaken box, and walled up in 
 the apartment, which still contains them. Here they 
 remained for one hundred and ten years, secreted, 
 but not forgotten. In 1817, in consequence of ru- 
 mours that they had been abstracted from Edin- 
 burgh, Sir Walter, then Mr. Scott, and others,memo- 
 rialized the crown upon the subject, and obtained 
 a commission empowering certain gentlemen to 
 search for them. Accordingly a solemn j^rocession 
 and investigation took place ; the result was waited 
 for with the most breathless anxiety by all classes 
 of the people. Success soon attended the scrutiny, 
 and the joyful discovery was announced to the ex- 
 pecting citizens by the hoistiugof aflagon the castle 
 walls, and the firing of cannon from the batteries. 
 Who can wonder at the Scots regarding with 
 such jealous affection the honom'able testimonies 
 of their long and oft contested independence ?
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 131 
 
 They may indeed be justly proud of those ances- 
 tors, who, though often conquered in battle and 
 borae down by the weight of a mightier nation, 
 always rose again with irrepressibly elastic cou- 
 rage, and nobly vindicated the freedom of their 
 native hills. But while they reflect with pride on 
 the deeds of their forefathers, and look with vene- 
 ration upon these emblems of their national ho- 
 nour, they should remember, — and I firmly believe 
 they do remember, — that all cause of quarrel be- 
 tween the two nations is now withdrawn — that 
 under such circumstances generous foes always 
 make kindly friends — and that the hall of the 
 English noble is not more sacred than the hearth 
 of the Scottish peasant. 
 
 But we must leave the precincts of the castle, 
 and step down the esplanade. At its eastern ex- 
 tremity, and on the northern side, a little removed 
 from the main causeway, stands the house, which 
 was built for his own special occupation by the 
 author of the Gentle Shepherd. The central por- 
 tion is of an octagon shape, and still remains a 
 monument of Allan's architectural taste ; but the 
 other part has been so altei'ed by succeeding pro- 
 prietors, that the whole no longer bears any re- 
 semblance to the " goose-pye," to which it was
 
 132 JOURNAL Of A 
 
 at first facetiously and provokingly compared by 
 the wags of Edinburgh. The premises still pass 
 under the name of " Ramsay Gardens," and the 
 little street, which leads by them, is called "Ramsay 
 Lane." Hither, then, the veteran poet retired to 
 enjoy, in despite of envy and of criticism, his 
 well-earned fortune and reputation. His wealth 
 he had acquired, partly in his original vocation of 
 wig-maker, or " scull-thacker," (as he more hu- 
 morously expressed it,) and partly in that of a 
 bookseller; in which latter capacity he opened the 
 first circulating library in Edinburgh, or perhaps in 
 Britain. His poetical fame is known among us 
 Southrons almost solely by his great poem, the 
 Gentle Shepherd, " the sweetest pastoral in any 
 language;" but his loftiest effort is decidedly to 
 be found in " the Vision." The admiration with 
 which Bums regarded his writings is well known, 
 and the compliments bestowed on him by the 
 Ayrshire bard are familiar to all ; 
 
 The teeth o' time may gnaw TamtaJlon, 
 But thou's for ever ! 
 
 This, by the way, was very much Allan's own 
 opinion on the matter : it is extremely amusing to 
 mark the Horatian complacency, with which he
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 133 
 
 contemplates the immortality of his own produc- 
 tions. In this quiet retreat, he passed a peaceful 
 and a meny old age; enjoying his family party, 
 his friend, and his jest — and whyles may-be, his 
 " wee bit drappie," discreetly : and furnishing to 
 the world the rare example of a wealthy and a 
 prudent poet. 
 
 At the extremity of Castle Hill, the steep street 
 called the West Bow, lately communicated with 
 the Grass-market ; but here a great opening has 
 recently been made, by which almost all traces of 
 this very singular and picturesque old street have 
 been swept away. A few of the loftiest houses 
 have been left only half destroyed ; the remainder 
 of them exhibiting to the eyes of the curious an 
 edifying section of the interior. The main street 
 also is under repair ; perhaps in the numerous 
 perforations of the soil for pipes and sewers, 
 chance may lead to some of those subterranean 
 passages, which tradition asserts to exist between 
 the Castle and Holyrood House. 
 
 Opposite to this new opening is Blyth's close, 
 one of the tall dark alleys, which I have before 
 described. At the bottom of it stands, on the 
 west side, the Palace, and on the east the oratory 
 of Mary of Lorain, Queen Regent of Scotland at
 
 134 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 the disturbed period of the Reformation, widow of 
 James and mother of Mary. Defying the various 
 comphcated exhalations which, arising from the 
 several entries in the wynd, 
 
 " To nostrils gie great discontent," 
 
 I walked down to examine these once important 
 buildings ; but so actively have time and poverty 
 been employed in their metamoi^^hosis, that 
 scarce a single vestige of their former character 
 remains. 
 
 Further on, directly opposite Bank Sti'eet, for- 
 merly ran Libberton's Wynd : the County Hall, a 
 beautiful model of an Athenian temple, now forms 
 the eastern side of it. In this wretched entry, 
 about thirty yards down, on the west side, stood 
 a little tavern, the favourite resort of Robert 
 Bums during the brief period of his sojourn in 
 Edinburgh. It was afterwards called Bums' Ta- 
 vern, but all traces of it are obliterated by the 
 late alterations. I walked over the spot where 
 for many a 
 
 night 
 
 Rob had got planted unco right, 
 Fast by an ingle bleezing finely, 
 Wi' reamin' swats that drank divinely.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 135 
 
 Poor fellow ! all his thoughtless pleasures were 
 transient indeed ! 
 
 Next comes St. Giles's church, which, not to 
 be out of fashion, has lately put on an entirely 
 new suit of stone — thus losing all just claim to its 
 familiar appellation of " Auld Saunt Giles." In 
 the southeni aisle of the Old Church (for this is a 
 group of three churches) are the tombs of the sa- 
 gacious, but unscrupulous. Regent Murray ; and 
 of the greater Napier, whose invention of loga- 
 rithms advanced the science of calculation, as 
 much as Watt's discovery of the steam engine did 
 that of mechanics. There is an inscription on the 
 exterior wall of the church next the High Street, 
 running thus — 
 
 SEP. 
 
 FAMILI^ NAPERORV INTERIVS 
 
 HIC SITVM 
 
 EST. 
 
 In this neighbourhood, formerly stood a cluster 
 of lumbering old buildings, which will long be 
 remembered with interest. Adjacent to the north 
 side of St. Giles were the Luckenbooths, a pro- 
 jecting row of old stone buildings, consisting 
 chiefly of shops. And at the north-west comer
 
 136 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 of the same church, the tall, narrow, oblong edi- 
 fice called the Tolbooth, better known as the 
 Heart of Midlothian, stretched directly across 
 the High Street. The executions took place here 
 on a platform looking towards the Castle. 
 
 Opposite to the present Royal Exchange, also 
 in the Street, rose the Cross of Edinburgh, where 
 many a momentous proclamation was made, and 
 where the merchants assembled to transact their 
 affairs: — 
 
 The lawyers eke to Cross repair 
 Their wigs to shaw, an' toss an air : 
 While busy agent closely plies, 
 An' a' his kittle cases tries. 
 
 Even after it was taken down, the men of business 
 for a long while insisted on meeting at the spot, 
 instead of retiring to the less disturbed precincts 
 of the Exchange. 
 
 Eastward still, and on the same side of the 
 causeway rose another well known building, the 
 Town Guard-house, the head quarters of 
 
 that black banditti 
 
 The City Guard.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 137 
 
 These gentry seem to have been always peculiarly 
 obnoxious to the random mob of Edinburgh, who 
 took every possible opportunity of annoying and 
 insulting them : — 
 
 the City Guard 
 
 In military art v/eel lear'd, 
 
 Wi' powder'd pow, an' shaven beard, 
 
 Gang thro' their functions ; 
 By hostile rabble seldom spar'd 
 
 O' clarty unctions. 
 
 That they succeeded, however, in inspiring fear as 
 well as hatred, is evident from the following. 
 
 Gude fouk ! as ye come frae the fair. 
 
 Bide yont frae this black squad ; 
 There's nae sic savages elsewhere 
 
 Allow'd to wear cockad' ! 
 Than the strong lion's hungry maw. 
 
 Or tusk o' Russian bear, 
 Frae their wanruly fellin' paw 
 
 Mair cause ye hae to fear 
 
 Your death that day. 
 
 Still passing down the High Street, the next 
 object of interest is the Tron Kirk, which, like its 
 neighbour St. Giles, has been recased with stone ;
 
 138 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 it can boast also of a more harmonious bell than 
 that 
 
 Wanwordy crazy dinsome thing, 
 
 which excited so much indignation in Fergusson : 
 
 For when I've toom'd the meikle cap, 
 An' fain wou'd fa' oure in a nap ; 
 Troth I cou'd doze as sound's a tap 
 
 Were't no for thee, 
 That gies the tither weary chap 
 
 To wauken me. 
 
 Lower down, on the opposite side, at the extre- 
 mity of the Netherbow, a house projects into the 
 street. In this John Knox lodged for some time, 
 and from one of its windows he was in the habit 
 of preaching to the populace below. At the pro- 
 truding corner of the house there is a rude image 
 of the Scottish Reformer in his pulpit, the whole 
 of which is duly and carefully painted, as occasion 
 requires, by the present tonsorian proprietor. The 
 dates of Knox's birth "and death are recorded on 
 the pannel of the pulpit, and on one side of the 
 image is a device representing the sun, on the disk 
 of which the name of God is inscribed in three 
 languages, Greek, Latin, and English. It was, per-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 139 
 
 haps, from this veiy abode that he was summoned 
 before Queen Mary and her councillors to answer 
 for a sermon, in which he had inveighed against 
 the massacre perpetrated at Vassy, by the Duke 
 of Guise's sei-vants. The firmness of the Protest- 
 ant champion elicited from the Queen's attendants 
 the involuntary exclamation — 
 
 " He is not afraid!" 
 
 To which the old man retorted — " Why should 
 the pleasing face of a gentlewoman affright me ? 
 I have looked in the faces of many angry men, 
 and yet have not been affrighted above measure." 
 
 Along this identical street, which I have trodden 
 so lately, he was often seen passing to his church 
 with difficulty, according to the graphic descrip- 
 tion in Melvill's Diary : — " I saw him every day 
 that he taught, go slowly and warily with a fur- 
 ring of martins round his neck, a staff in the one 
 hand, and good godly Richard Bellenden, his ser- 
 vant, holding up his other armpit, from the abbey 
 to the parish church; and there, by the same 
 Richard and another, Hfted up to the pulpit, where 
 he was obliged to lean at his first entrance ; but 
 before he had done his sermon, he was so active 
 and vigorous that he was " like to ding the pulpit 
 in blads, and fly out of it." His remains are de-
 
 140 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 posited near St. Giles, and, I believe, are destitute 
 of a monument ; but none is requisite for the im- 
 mortality of his fame. His noblest eulogy was 
 pronounced by the Regent Murray, who, as he 
 gazed upon the corpse of the intrepid Reformer, 
 exclaimed — 
 
 " Here lies one, who never feared the face of 
 man ! " 
 
 The remainder of the street, which we have 
 been pursuing, down to the precincts of Holyrood 
 House, is called the Canongate : it was formerly 
 the most important in the city, containing, in 
 Catholic and monarchical times, the mansions of 
 the priests and nobles. Scarce a vestige of its 
 former greatness remains, except in the magnitude 
 and loftiness of the houses, whose squalid aspect 
 and shattered windows, bespeak the degradation 
 of tlie modern inmates. A large gloomy building 
 on the right was formerly the residence of the 
 Dukes of Queensferry : it is now converted into a 
 Refuge for the Destitute ! These scenes reminded 
 me mournfully and forcibly of the decaying pa- 
 laces of Venice, and of her glory passed away ! 
 
 On the left of the street, stands the Canongate 
 church, to which I made a special pilgrimage, for 
 the purpose of inspecting the tomb erected to the
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 141 
 
 memory of the unhappy Fergusson, bj' his brother 
 poet, Bums. There ai'e notices put up in several 
 places in the churchyard, forbidding any person 
 from walking on the turf; and six or seven men, 
 who were at work, attempted to stop me from ap- 
 proaching the tomb ; but if they had been six or 
 seven devils, I should have persevered. The stone 
 is very simple — a mere upright slab — on which 
 the well-known epitaph is inscribed : the whole 
 runs thus : — 
 
 Here lies 
 
 Robert Fergusson, Poet ; 
 
 Born Sept. 5, 1751. 
 
 Died Oct. 16, 1774. 
 
 No sculptur'd marble here, nor pompous lay, 
 
 No storied urn, nor animated bust ; 
 This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way, 
 
 To pour her sorrows o'er her Poet's dust. 
 
 By special grant of the Managers 
 
 To Robert Burns, who erected this stone, 
 
 This burial-place is ever to remain sacred to 
 
 Memory of 
 
 ROBERT FERGUSSON. 
 
 To the top of the tomb-stone is affixed a board, 
 on which the following verses, altered from Bums's
 
 142 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 own elegy on Captain Matthew Henderson, are 
 neatly painted : — 
 
 O Robbie Burns, the man, the brither, 
 And art thou gone, and gone for ever, 
 And hast thou crost the unknown river, 
 
 Life's dreary bound ! 
 Like thee when shall we find anither, 
 
 The world around. 
 
 Go to your sculptur'd tombs, ye great, 
 In a' the tinsel trash o' state ! 
 But by thy honest turf I'll wait, 
 
 Thou man of worth ! 
 And weep the sweetest Poet's fate 
 
 E'er liv'd on earth. 
 
 Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori. 
 
 My own opinion is, that the sooner this spurious 
 epitaph is removed the better. To say nothing 
 of the absurdity of determining on this spot to 
 " wait by the honest turf" of a man who lies 
 buried at Dumfries ; nor of the bad taste of the 
 concluding quotation in Latin, which Burns de- 
 clared to be to him " a fountain shut up ;" the 
 addition thus rashly made is felt to be a dis- 
 agreeable intrusion, reminding us of the church- 
 wardens or workmen who erected it, when we
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 143 
 
 would fain ponder only on those two youthful 
 poets, their genius and their misfortunes. A 
 simple memorial erected by one eminent man 
 over the remains of another, is an object of un- 
 doubted interest ; but when to the top of this 
 is tacked on a memorial to the memorialist, some- 
 thing of clumsiness and complexity is introduced, 
 which is extremely offensive. A fine man on a 
 gallant steed is a noble sight ; but let a monkey 
 be placed on the shoulders of the man, and the 
 whole scene becomes ludicrous. 
 
 With an effort I turaed away my thoughts 
 from this profane and incongruous addition, and 
 gazed only on the unscnlptured stone — the un- 
 pretending lay — meet tribute of a generous heart 
 to kindred and fallen genius ! And who could 
 have refused a tear to the memory of one so 
 j'oung and so joyous, so precocious in intellect, 
 so premature in its decay ! — Unhappy Fergusson ! 
 — He drained the cup of pleasure to the dregs, at 
 his very first entrance into life ; yielding himself 
 a prey to the temptations, to which his unprotected 
 condition and vivacity of spirit were constantly 
 exposing him. Penury and remorse soon drove 
 him to despair ; and that vigorous understanding, 
 which had beamed with such early promise of
 
 144 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 future splendour, was now dimmed and darkened 
 for ever. How painful to contemplate the young 
 poet at this mournful period of his brief and 
 troubled career, bereaved of his mother's soothing 
 presence, and conscious at intervals of his misery 
 and madness ! That mother, too, who had owed 
 her support to his exertions, and who loved him 
 with all the fervor of a mother's love, what an 
 agonizing lot was her's, when torn from the couch 
 of her maniac boy ! Retire we from this hal- 
 lowed ground. Child of misfortune ! — may thy 
 broken spirit, cleansed from its mortal stains, find 
 pardon and peace in heaven ! 
 
 Holyrood House next claims our attention. I 
 will not attempt to add one more to the numerous 
 descriptions, which have already appeared of this 
 celebrated palace ; but content myself with tran- 
 scribing the sentiments, which it elicited from the 
 muse of Robert Bums : — 
 
 With awe-stnick thought, and pitying tears, 
 
 I view that noble stately dome. 
 Where Scotia's kings of other years, 
 
 Fam'd heroes ! had their royal home : 
 Alas ! how chang'd the times to come ! 
 
 Their royal name low in the dust ! 
 Their hapless race, wild-wand'ring roam ! 
 
 Tho' rigid law cries out 'tis just !
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 145 
 
 But before I dismiss this subject I cannot refrain 
 from expressing my astonishment that such gross 
 impositions as Rizzio's blood, Loi'd Darnley's ar- 
 mour, &c., &c., should still be obtruded on the in- 
 credulous visitor : they internipt and almost de- 
 stroy the deep interest, with which he would other- 
 wise regard these far-famed localities — scenes of 
 such fearful and momentous transactions. It 
 is, indeed, not a little remarkable that the citizens 
 of Edinburgh, who have displayed so refined a taste 
 in their modern structures, should suffer the an- 
 <;ient palace of their kings to be desecrated by the 
 presence of this disgraceful trumpery, without an 
 effort to remove it. 
 
 I shall here conclude my observations upon the 
 Old City, though I am fully aware that I have left 
 untouched many objects of importance. 
 
 New Edinburgh is of course more remarkable for 
 its buildings and plan, than for its associations with 
 eminent persons or events. 
 
 In the last western house on the south side of 
 St Andrew's Square, entering from St. David 
 Street, David Hume lived for many years, and 
 there died. 
 
 In a flat of the house immediately opposite to 
 Hume's, on the north side of the square, and like- 
 
 H
 
 146 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 wise in St. David Street, Lord Brougham first 
 saw the light. 
 
 Lastly, on the east side of Castle Street, a little 
 north of George Street, is the house occupied by 
 Sir Walter Scott ; its number, 39, has been 
 considered curious, inasmuch as one of its digits 
 expresses the number of the Graces, the other that 
 of the Muses. 
 
 Almost the whole of the new city has been built 
 with stone from Craigleith quarry. This quarry 
 is worthy of a visit, not only from its great extent, 
 but also on account of the gigantic fossil tree which 
 has been recently discovered embedded there. It 
 has not been removed fiom the position, in which 
 it was originally found ; and indeed a great por- 
 tion of its matrix still remains undisturbed. It 
 stands inclined at a considerable angle from the 
 vertical, and whether its roots are at the summit, 
 or at the base, the learned still dispute. Mr. 
 Nicol, by a most ingenious process of microscopic 
 obsen'ation, has detennined it to be an Araucaria ; 
 a tribe of plants, whose habitat is now, I believe, 
 wholly confined to Australia, or regions south of the 
 Equator. 
 
 How startling to meet with these unexpected 
 records of primeval years — these singular and con-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 147 
 
 vincing proofs that our lands have changed their 
 surface and their clime ! And how wonderful, to 
 find the organization of an antediluvian stem, pre- 
 served in all its freshness and intricacy down to 
 our times ! The structure of its various cells and 
 vessels, and the exquisitely delicate reticulations 
 exhibited by thin sections of the fossil through 
 the lens, are seen as distinctly as those of similar 
 sections from a modem plant : and all this after 
 the lapse of so many thousands of years ! after the 
 shock of so many stupendous convulsions ! after 
 the whole of the vegetable substance has b^en 
 withdrawn, and the present stony matter been de- 
 posited in its stead ! 
 
 Through the interest of Mr. Ellis I was admitted 
 to see Mr. Nicol's extensive and beautiful collec- 
 tion of fossil and recent vegetables, arranged for 
 examination through the microscope. His method 
 of preparing them is as follows. He cuts from the 
 specimen to be examined a slice as thin as pos- 
 sible ; one side of this he grinds on plate glass, till 
 the requisite smoothness is acquired ; the polished 
 side is then attached to a piece of clear glass by a 
 transparent varnish, and when the adhesion has 
 become firm, the other side in its turn is ground, 
 till the section is reduced to a proper degree qf 
 
 H 2
 
 148 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 thinness. The last operation demands some prac- 
 tice and manual dexterity. For, if on the one 
 hand the process be not carried on far enough, the 
 result does not exhibit a simple section of the 
 cells, but a system of two or more sections one 
 above the other, thus creating an appearance of 
 undue complication ; this circumstance has given 
 rise to numerous errors, in assigning the genera of 
 plants by a reference to their intimate structure. 
 And if, on the other hand, the grinding is continued 
 a single turn too long, the web-like texture of the 
 specimen is torn and broken up, and all the labour 
 bestowed on it is thrown away. 
 
 Some of the facts, which Mr. Nicol has esta- 
 blished by patiently and carefully examining a 
 vast number of different plants, are extremely cu- 
 rious. In the pine tribe, and also in the arauca- 
 riae, the microscopic section displays a series of 
 parallel and equidistant fibres, perpendicular to 
 which are disposed rows of circular vessels or an- 
 nuli; in the former tribe these annuli ai'e invariably 
 placed exactly under each other ; in the latter 
 they always alteniate with each other. By this 
 simple test a piece of wood can at once be pro- 
 nounced to belong to one or other of these genera. 
 The yew may be recognized by the circumstance,
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 149 
 
 that the spaces between the parallel fibres are oc- 
 cupied, not by rows of aunuli, but by a set of zig- 
 zag lines, each of which passes backwards and 
 forwards from one to the other of the parallel 
 fibres. The poplar may be detected very readily, 
 by examining the section of the pith, which is al- 
 ways pentagonal. Of coiu:se a longitudinal section 
 of any plant exhibits a very different appearance 
 firom the transverse section ; but I have hitherto 
 been speaking only of the latter. This in general 
 appears the same, from whatever side of the stem 
 the slice be taken, provided it be at the same dis- 
 tance from the pith : but Mr. Nicol has discovered 
 one remarkable exception to this uniformity. It 
 occurs in a taxodium, where it seems that, though 
 the plan of the reticulations, if I may so speak, is 
 symmetrical in the main stem, yet if transverse 
 sections of a branch be taken, then those from the 
 lower side of it exhibit a very different plan from 
 that, which sections of the upper side exhibit; the 
 difference consisting in a much greater complica- 
 tion of plan. I thought these facts well worth 
 recording. 
 
 By the kindness of the same friend, who intro- 
 duced me to Mr. Nicol, I w^as enabled to inspect 
 the Botanical Gardens to great advantage. They 
 were arranged under the superintendence of Mr.
 
 150 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Mac Nab, whose valuable services still continue 
 to improve their beauty and importance. I was 
 surprised to find myrtles and magnolias flourishing 
 in the open air, and enduring this exposure with 
 perfect impunity throughout the winter. The 
 truth is, I beheve, that though their winter is 
 longer than ours, it is by no means equally severe. 
 Snow is very rare at Edinburgh. 
 
 I have now recorded, faithfully, but capriciously, 
 the principal impressions, which I received from a 
 sojourn of exactly one fortnight in the capital of 
 Scotland. 
 
 It was my full intention to visit Glasgow, Gala- 
 shiels, Abbotsford, Melrose, &c., but the weather 
 continued to persecute me so obstinately, that I 
 was compelled, with reluctance, to give up schemes 
 so promising. This circumstance may account 
 for the very slight notice contained in this journal 
 of Sir Walter Scott ; my purpose having been to 
 speak of him more fully, when I came to Abbots- 
 ford. My disappointment, at first, was great; 
 but I can now look back with equanimity to events, 
 which have, perhaps, merely postponed my gra^ 
 tification ; for having left so many points of in- 
 terest unexplored, I shall hereafter have the larger 
 excuse for revisiting Scotland. 
 
 As I crossed the Cheviot Hills in my retreat to
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 151 
 
 England, I gazed for the last time with unaffected 
 regret on this land of mountains and of lakes. A 
 country, in which I have met with so many natural 
 scenes of grandeur or of beauty, — with localities 
 so hallowed by history or song, — with oft recur- 
 ring instances of kindness, and even of friendship, 
 when I was but a stranger — must needs be long 
 and gratefully remembered, and always with re- 
 newed sensations of delight. I had oiiginally 
 determined on passing the winter in Rome, but 
 was dissuaded by various arguments from leaving 
 my native kingdom. The harvest of entertainment, 
 which I have reaped in the Highlands, joined to 
 the course of events in the countries, through which 
 I must have passed, has long made me cease to 
 regret the substitution of Scottish for Italian 
 scenes. And I can now unfeignedly sympathise 
 in these patriotic thoughts of Fergusson, with 
 which I close my Journal. 
 
 The Arno an' the Tiber lang 
 Hae run fell clear in Roman sang ; 
 But save the reverence o' schools ! 
 They're baith but lifeless dowie pools. 
 Dought they compare wi' bonny Tweed, 
 As clear as ony laumer-bead ? 
 Or are their shores more sweet an' gay 
 Than Fortha's haughs or banks o' Tay ?
 
 152 JOURNAL OF A RAMBLE. 
 
 Though there the herds can jink the showers"' 
 
 'Mang thriving vines an' myrtle bowers, 
 
 An' blaw the reed to kittle strains 
 
 While echo's tongue commends their pains ; 
 
 Like ours they canna warm the heart 
 
 Wi' simple, saft, bewitching art. 
 
 On Leader haughs, an' Yarrow braes,^ 
 
 Arcadian herds wou'd tyne their lays. 
 
 To hear the mair melodious sounds 
 
 That live on our poetic grounds.
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 1836. 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here ; 
 My heart's in the Highlands, a chasing the deer; 
 Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, 
 My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. 
 Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North, 
 The birth-place of valour, the country of worth ; 
 Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, 
 The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. 
 
 h3
 
 ■ n ^^^ d 'i j w*! m I «N 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF 1836. 
 
 On the 22nd July I once more reached Liver- 
 pool, on my way to the Highlands of Scotland, 
 and on the following day embarked in the Vulcan 
 for Glasgow. Our passage was rather rough ; 
 and, though I escaped in my own person the 
 usual penalties of a landsman, yet I was com- 
 pelled to endure the almost equal torment of wit- 
 nessing the misery of others. The interior of a 
 steamer, in a gale of wind, is as fine a model of 
 the regions below, as can be looked for so far 
 from the centre of the earth ; the sea-sick per- 
 sonifying the tortured ghosts, and the dark gaunt 
 forms of the fire-feeders below, illumined, as they 
 move, by the red glare of the steam-fire, repre=
 
 156 JOUllNAL OF A 
 
 senting their fiendish tormentors. I wonder if 
 any creature, compounded of flesh and blood, can 
 possibly sleep in those wretched berths. I am 
 sure I cannot ; unless I flatter with the name of 
 sleep that fitful and dreamy doze, stealing on at 
 morn, when nature is exhausted, and conscious- 
 ness will no longer keep watch in her citadel 
 above. Then dream we of tumbling over pre- 
 cipices; of inability to stir or speak, when a 
 step or word would save our lives ; and of a 
 thousand other such fantastical perils, impressed 
 upon the teeming fancy with all the fulness of 
 reality. 
 
 July 24. — Rousing myself from this uncom- 
 fortable state, how delightful to emerge from the 
 cavernous recesses of the berths, and upon the 
 open deck to breathe once more the fresh morn- 
 ing air, and gaze on the dancing waves. We 
 were just passing Ailsa Crag, and though a small 
 portion of its summit was screened by the lower- 
 ing clouds, we approached so near, as to see the 
 rest distinctly. It is a very singular island, rising 
 up on the north-west side, along which we coasted, 
 almost perpendicularly from the dark sea, and ex- 
 hibiting several stories of prismatic columns, very 
 much resembling those at Staffa, but decidedly
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 157 
 
 inferior in size and regularity. These successive 
 tiers of parallel pillars, differing from each other 
 in section and altitude, reminded me of those 
 Venetian palaces, in which the several stories are 
 built in different styles of architecture. The 
 proportions of the island are curious ; its height 
 being 1100, breadth 2200, and length 3300 feet; 
 but still more so are the countless flocks of gulls, 
 kittiwakes, and cormorants which frequent this 
 lonely spot, the acropolis of sea-fowl. There they 
 are, huddling together in snowy clusters on the 
 rocks, or roaming over the expanse of waters in 
 search of their prey; now wheeling far on high in 
 gi-aceful and steady gyrations, or flitting rapidly 
 just above the surface of the heaving waters; and 
 now floating proudly over the crested billow, or 
 diving far into the green depths below. 
 
 We soon neared the isle of Arran, on which I 
 wished to be landed ; but the wind was still fresh, 
 and the rain kept drizzling on, so that there was 
 no chance of a boat coming out from Lamlash 
 bay. 
 
 We now entered the Firth of Clyde, in weather 
 which was no better than that which I encountered 
 last year ; but it gi-adually improved, and the rain
 
 158 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ceased entirely, before I landed at the port of 
 Greenock . 
 
 July 25. — Verifying the prognostics of the sailors, 
 the sky was become bright and cheering. Green- 
 ock, viewed under auspices so favourable, seems 
 to me one of the most stirring and amusing little 
 places, I ever visited. 
 
 The view across the Firth is enchanting : to the 
 East rises Dumbarton cliff', and in front a grotesque 
 range of mountains, called the Duke of Argyle's 
 bowling green, is displayed, with Roseneath, the 
 beautiful seat of his Grace beneath them. 
 
 The docks are commodious, and furnish per- 
 petual entertainment to the idler. I was much 
 struck with the number of ingenious mechanical 
 contrivances, by which they ship or unship pon- 
 derous goods. Part of a boiler, which I saw 
 conveyed on board a steamer, weighed upwards of 
 thirteen tons. Vessels of all sizes are being 
 freighted, or unfreighted. From those, which are 
 undergoing repair, baskets full of shavings and 
 rubbish are tossed ashore ; and immediately a 
 dozen old women and children pounce upon the 
 heap, and secure all the larger chips and pieces 
 of wood for firing. Do not the rich and gi-eat
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 159 
 
 often squabble as vehemently for objects quite 
 as insignificant, and far less useful than these little 
 fragments of fuel ? 
 
 The custom-house is a very handsome building; 
 and its size and importance seem more adapted 
 to what this flourishing little town will be here- 
 after, than to what it is now. The quay is close 
 at hand, and I know nothing more amusing than 
 to watch one steamer after another dash up to it, 
 discharge and receive tons of goods and dozens of 
 passengers, and then dash off again with, perhaps, 
 a bulky merchantman in tow. These are objects, 
 which impress the beholder with a full sense of 
 the importance of steam ; and yet the day may 
 arrive, when even this boasted agent may be 
 ranked among the weak things of the olden time, 
 and be superseded by the vaster but more myste- 
 rious powers of electricity. 
 
 Be that, however, as it may, the benefit which 
 Watt conferred on his kind, will never be for- 
 gotten ; nor will his name cease to be repeated, 
 as it is now, in accents of admiring gratitude by 
 millions of his fellow-countrymen. This great 
 man was born at Greenock, and by a happy fa- 
 tality there are more steamers passing and re- 
 passing his native town, than any other spot in
 
 160 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 the world. I was delighted to find, that the gen- 
 tlemen of this neighbourhood have made large 
 subscriptions to erect a handsome edifice to his 
 memory. The gothic exterior is very beautifiil ; 
 and the interior, which is to be fitted up as a 
 library, is still more so ; a large niche is reserved 
 within for the purpose of receiving a statue of the 
 great mechanician by Chantrey. 
 
 It was a curious coincidence, that in the steamer, 
 which has conveyed me to Ardrossan, I fell into 
 conversation with a Glasgow gentleman, who told 
 me, that he had only a week ago buried a son-in- 
 law of Watt, a relation of his own, upwards of 
 eighty years of age. 
 
 At last I have seen the scenery of the Clyde 
 to perfection, and am now made fully aware, 
 how much I lost in my first two voyages along 
 it. The openings of Loch Long and Holy Loch 
 are especially attractive, on account of the noble 
 contours of the bounding mountains ; and, as I 
 passed them, a lively foreground was formed by a 
 dozen boats of the Royal Yacht Club, which were 
 racing, with every inch of canvass spread to catch 
 the gentle breeze. The shores of the Firth are 
 dotted with innumerable villas, rural retreats of 
 the rich Glasgow merchants : and many a pretty
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 161 
 
 town or village, with its simple kirk, and crowded 
 pier, claims the notice of the traveller. 
 
 Largs is exceedingly pretty, and the view of the 
 distant mountains over the majestic expanse of the 
 Clyde, is gracefully sublime. On leaving this Ut- 
 ile town we passed to the eastward of the two 
 Cumbrays. The first and largest of these islands 
 contains a small town called Millport, at which we 
 touched. The scene, just before we entered the 
 strait, which separates the isles, was indescribably 
 magnificent. Immediately in front lay the rich 
 purple sandstone rocks, forming the beach of Great 
 Cumbray, with the vivid green sward above them ; 
 and between the two isles rose the grand and deep 
 blue masses of the hills of Arran. The ocean was 
 smooth and voiceless all around, reflecting like a 
 miiTor all nearer objects, marked out as they were 
 by the broad and deepening shadows, peculiar to 
 the hour of twilight : 
 
 " It was a sight to see, not to hear." 
 
 The smaller Cumbray is comparatively flat ; on 
 its highest point stands a lighthouse, and lower 
 down on the shore a ruined tower : another, cor- 
 responding to this, is seen on the opposite coast 
 of Ayrshire; and their situation is such, that,
 
 162 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 whenever they chanced to be in different hands, 
 the inheritor of the one must have been morally 
 bound to fall in love with the heiress of the 
 other. 
 
 At about eight o'clock I reached Ardrossan, 
 respecting which I could gain no accurate or 
 satisfactory'' information, and I shall therefore say 
 no more of it at present, than that it contains a 
 very excellent inn. 
 
 July 26. — The morning is most dreary ; heavy 
 rain and a strong gale from the southward causing 
 a most tremendous swell. If ever I am to be sea- 
 sick, now is the time. Such seemed to be the 
 opinion of a rough farmer, who breakfasted in the 
 same room with me ; for, when I said I did not 
 fear being ill, he shook his head with a smile, 
 and advised me to keep good hold of my break- 
 fast. 
 
 So far, however, fi'om having been ill, I have 
 seldom enjoyed any voyage so much. Just as we 
 left Ardrossan Pier the rain ceased, and the wel- 
 come sun burst through the parting clouds. Our 
 little steamer was tembly pitched about in the 
 rolling sea, her bowsprit now seeming to strike the 
 clouds, now dashing through the roaring wave. 
 Ever and anon, beautiful as brief, a momentary
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 163 
 
 rainbow was formed in the rushing spray. The 
 glorious mountains of Arran gradually thrust off 
 their canopy of clouds, while far to the south 
 arose the dim and solitary cone of Ailsa Rock. 
 
 I was landed at Brodick, a very pretty village at 
 the bottom of a fine bay. In the evening I visited 
 the Standing Stones, near the village, which are 
 without inscription of any kind, and are merely 
 two huge upright blocks, hewn from the sandstone 
 of the beach. What were they designed to record ? 
 The victories, or the death, of some mountain 
 warrior ? The conflict, or the alliance, of ancient 
 tribes ? Or were they raised with superstitious 
 zeal to the pagan divinities of the island ? To 
 such questions, tradition returns not an answer ; 
 and whatever may have been the original purport 
 of these rude columns, they are now only monu- 
 ments of the transitory natiue of all earthly great- 
 ness, and attestations of that longing after immor- 
 tality which pervades our kind, from the philosopher 
 down to the savage. The view of Glen Rosie 
 from this spot, with the tall stones in the fore- 
 ground, is worthy of a more skilful pencil than 
 mine. 
 
 Brodick Castle is occasionally the temporary 
 residence of the Duke of Hamilton. It is not
 
 164 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 picturesque, except from situation : it stands on 
 the summit of a woody hill overhanging the bay. 
 The inn is very comfortable, considering always, 
 that it is in the Highlands. I have been w'aited 
 on by a lassie without shoes or stockings, articles 
 which seem very generally dispensed with through- 
 out the island. 
 
 July 27.— My landlord predicted that this would 
 be a fine day, and such confidence had he in his 
 own prophetic powers, that he meant to cut his 
 grass immediately. His language, and that of all 
 the people of Arran, is tolerably pure English ; 
 but there is an occasional admixture of Lowland 
 Scotch, and a strong guttural accent. By dint of 
 various queries, which he put without any diffi- 
 dence, he elicited from me, a very full account of 
 myself. When I mentioned that I belonged to the 
 • Universitj^ of Cambridge : 
 
 " Oh then," says he, " ye'll know Mr. Sedgwick: 
 awful bothers I've had wi' him. He was in Arran 
 for three weeks, examining the island. But about 
 a fortnight ago, here were two Germans, one of 
 them practical engineer to the King of Prussia, 
 indefatigable fellows. They found out two veins, 
 that neither Sedgwick, nor Murchieson, nor Jame- 
 son, nor any of them had noticed. They didna
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 165 
 
 care what they had to eat or drink a' the day, if 
 they could but get a good supper • just gie them a 
 bellyfu' before they went to bed, and it was a' 
 they cared about." 
 
 Bidding adieu to Hamilton, who is a shrewd 
 man, and especially conversant in practical geo- 
 logy, I mounted a sheltie, which carried me six 
 miles along the shore to Sannox. I then set off 
 on foot with a guide to ascend Glen Sannox, and 
 pass homeward by Glen Rosie. The rain soon 
 came on in torrents, and the clouds, rolling down 
 the steep sides of the mountains, entirely concealed 
 all the fine peaks and crags, which adom their 
 summits. This was a grievous disappointment, for 
 the glens are said to be the wildest in Arran, and 
 I saw enough from the occasional shifting of the 
 mist, to be fully aware of the grandeur of the 
 scene. The ascent is not difficult, except at the 
 highest part, separating Glen Sannox from Glen 
 Rosie, where we had to climb a barrier of rocks. 
 The footing throughout was wretched; treacherous 
 peatmosses and concealed dykes, continually oc- 
 cun'ing to annoy the traveller. 
 
 Under these circumstances I had only to look 
 to my guide for amusement. He combines the 
 three occupations of weaver, shore-porter, and
 
 166 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 guide ; and, as might be expected from the mul- 
 tipHcity of his vocations, is a very active Httle man 
 for his years, of which he numbers fifty-six. He 
 was extremely inquisitive respecting my history, 
 asking whether my father was ahve, and if I were 
 the heir, and if I had a wife. 
 
 " There are vera few things," said he, " better 
 than a good wife, only they are hard to find ; but 
 I wish you may soon hae one that's good an bon- 
 nie too. We had a gi'eat man from Glasgow here 
 a wee while ago, that studied natural philosophy ; 
 and the advice he gave to the lads in our glen 
 was, aye to tak a wife out of a genteel family, for 
 if a good one was to be had, that was where to 
 find her." 
 
 He then began to expatiate on the virtues of 
 his own helpmate, from which, by a very natural 
 transition, he passed on to his own merits. 
 
 " May be," said he, " in the summer, when the 
 weather is clear, I'll be making fiom four to five 
 shillings a day from the gentlefolks ; and I always 
 carry it home to my wife — not spend it in drink- 
 ing. But if ye'll be wanting a cask of whisky, I 
 can get one of the real sort ? " (with a wink 
 of the eye,) " vera good ! " (and a smack of the 
 lip.)
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 167 
 
 I told him I had no doubt of its goodness, but 
 I was going far away from home. 
 
 " Well then," said he, " I'll just tell you ho- 
 nourable ; that same drinking whisky is a bad 
 thing; an' I'm an old man, an' ye'll just tak my 
 advice, not to drink it regular, so as to go to your 
 bed without your senses. A little now an' then 
 in your travels is a' vera well, but no to get drunk 
 with it daily." 
 
 This disinterested piece of advice was given, 
 with all the emphasis and solemnity of a philoso- 
 pher addressing a tyro. — Gracious Heaven ! that 
 I who am notorious for limiting my potations to a 
 modicum of small ale, not from any merit of absti- 
 nence, but from an absolute dislike of their fiery 
 liquors — that I should be coolly recommended 
 "no to get drunk with whisky just every day !" 
 I laughed immoderately ; and still more when the 
 jolly weaver, after emptying the last drop from my 
 pocket flask, out of which I had scarce taken a 
 quarter of a wine glass, said very deliberately, as 
 he put the cork in again, " We've divided it vera 
 nicely ! " 
 
 However, I must do him the justice to observe, 
 that all, which I did not drink myself, was still 
 drunk in my cause ; for he never put the cup to
 
 168 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 his lips without prefacing his draught with 
 " Here's luck t'ye, Sir." 
 
 He lives in a small cottage close to the farm of 
 Glen Kosie, the tenant of which is looked up to 
 by the weaver as being, next to the Duke of Ha- 
 milton, the greatest man in the world. As we 
 passed by, he asked if he might leave the bit of 
 bread and cheese, which had survived the keen- 
 ness of our appetites, for the bairns. He had 
 seven of them alive, and two were dead. 
 
 I entered the cottage with him ; it was very 
 dark, and made so chiefly by the great loom, which 
 occupied nearly half the ground floor : but there 
 was an air of comfort and tidiness about it, not 
 usual in the dwelling of a Highland peasant. His 
 wife had a very prepossessing appearance, and 
 seemed to justify all the encomiums, which he had 
 bestowed upon her. Her manners were excellent. 
 There is a politeness of nature, which is quite as 
 agreeable as that of the drawing-room. Nearly 
 all the baims were at home, and a set of finer 
 children I have rarely seen. On leaving the cot- 
 tage, the weaver put his finger upon my arm, and 
 looking back upon his home ^ith an air of pride, 
 
 " It's no gi-and jjlace, yon," said he, " but it does 
 vera well, and we are just content wi' it, an as 
 happy as the vera farmer himsel."
 
 tit 

 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 169 
 
 When we came to the obelisks, which I had 
 sketched the preceding evening, I would not take 
 the poor fellow further ; and, having been much 
 pleased with his cleanly cottage, and large family, 
 I gave him five shilings for his guide-fee, saying 
 
 " Here's sixpence a-piece for yourself and wife 
 and seven bairns, and sixpence over for luck.'''' 
 
 If I had given him a thousand pounds, he could 
 not have been more surprised, or more grateful. 
 He looked at the two half-crowns for some time, 
 without uttering a word, and then burst out: 
 
 " Ye're a gentleman, a rale gentleman ; give us 
 your hand ! I'll be up to carry your luggage the 
 morning for nothing. Thank ye, thank ye kindly." 
 
 And then as I turned away towards the inn, he 
 slapped me on the shoulder, and once more ex^ 
 claimed " ye're a gentleman !" with a marked em- 
 phasis on the word, as if it embodied the highest 
 compliment which one man could pay to another. 
 And the Gael was so far right ; but whether 
 giving him a crown proved me to be a gentleman, 
 is another matter ; I know those who will rather 
 think, it proved me to be a fool. 
 
 Upon the whole, I was much diverted with this 
 my first excursion in the mountains. True, it 
 poured with rain the whole way, and I saw very 
 
 I
 
 170 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 little of the wild and desolate crags, which soaring 
 above and around us, were swept out of the land- 
 scape by the rolling clouds. Yet 1 felt a compens- 
 ation for all in the freshness of the mountain air, 
 in the roaring of the swollen torrent, in the little 
 difficulties of our path, and above all in the droll 
 conversation of my friend the weaver. 
 
 July 28. — The Isle of AiTan, where it does not 
 bristle up into mountains, and especially the 
 southern portion of it, is tolerably fertile. Almost 
 the whole belongs to the Duke of Hamilton. His 
 Grace will not grant leases for a longer term than 
 nineteen years, in consequence of which there is 
 but little encouragement for building, or for im- 
 provements of any kind. A great deal of the land 
 was formerly let in run-rig as it is termed ; i. e. 
 twenty or thirty families hold parallel strips at the 
 mouth of some glen, and keep eight or ten horses 
 among them, for their common agricultural pur- 
 poses. 
 
 Such families formed a little tribe, united by 
 one common interest, and almost cut off from the 
 rest of the world by the seclusion of their situa- 
 tion. This system originating in a very primitive 
 state of society, must no doubt have had its disad- 
 vantages ; and among them, a very serious one
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 171 
 
 must have arisen from the difficulty of bringing 
 over each individual family of the little republic, 
 to acquiesce in any change for the benefit of the 
 whole. Perhaps some considerations of this na- 
 ture induced the noble proprietor to put an end to 
 the system, by the wholesale expatriation of these 
 humble feuars. For I should be loth to think, 
 that he would drive so many human beings from 
 the soil they were reared on, merely for the pur- 
 pose of keeping his game in greater security; as 
 many do not scruple to allege. 
 
 From Sannox, now rented by a single farmer, 
 no less than twenty families were shipped off for 
 Canada. It is true, that their passage was paid, 
 and, I believe, an additional gratuity was supplied 
 to assist them in establishing a new settlement ; 
 but what compensation was this to men banished 
 for ever with their wives and little ones from their 
 native isle, and long-loved homes — from the spots 
 which they haunted in childhood — from those 
 majestic mountains with whose every crag they 
 were familiar in youth ? It was a bitter and 
 heart-rending spectacle that morning, when the 
 rugged Highlanders, not without tears in their 
 own eyes, dragged their sobbing ^-ives, and 
 wailing babes to the vessel, which was to bear 
 
 i2
 
 172 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 them for ever from their native shore to a strange 
 and distant clime. 
 
 Torrents of rain confined me to the inn during 
 the whole morning, and I amused myself with 
 finishing the sketch of Glen Rosie. Towards the 
 close of day, there was a sudden and unexpected 
 clearing in the western sky, and soon after I 
 reached Ardrossan in the steamer, the setting 
 sun went down in vnispeakable glory. Oh ! that 
 I could paint that gorgeous scene ! 
 
 The clouds in light and airy shapes suiTound 
 his dilated orb, and reflect from their curled bor- 
 ders the golden splendour of his beams. Less 
 brilliant, but more lovely still, are the hues of the 
 mountains beneath him, a blending of all pinks, 
 and puiples, and greys. Then cometh the ocean 
 with its flood of rosy light, every one of its count- 
 less and laughing wavelets forming a mirror for the 
 departing sun. To the left, and more near, the 
 pier of Ai'drossan, dimly seen in the fading light, 
 stretches half across the landscape. Its dark re- 
 flection gives the noblest breadth to the picture, 
 while the tall masts of the vessels, that are moored 
 to its side, have their images marked out in long 
 shadowy lines of tremulous softness. To the right 
 is a small bay, upon whose yellow sands the in-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 173 
 
 effectual ripple, rolling onward in curves concen- 
 tric with the shore, falls almost without a murmur. 
 The whole is bound in by a foreground of sand, 
 strewn with fragments of rock and sea-weed. 
 
 Ardrossan Castle is a mere ruin, but it forms a 
 picturesque foreground to the views towards 
 An'an. 
 
 It appears, that this spot was selected by the 
 late Earl of Eglinton, in the hope of making it a 
 flourishing commercial town. He commenced a 
 canal from Glasgow, through which he meant to 
 divert the trade from the Clyde, and I believe 
 half of the bed is already excavated. The 
 harbour, though not completed, is very useful. 
 From what causes the speculation failed, I could 
 not learn ; probably from the want of capital, for 
 the undertaking was enormous ; and partly also 
 from the persevering exertions of the merchants 
 of Glasgow, to render the navigation of their river 
 more practicable, and more secure. 
 
 July 29th. — The hope of a fine day in conse- 
 quence of the serenity of yesterday's sunset, 
 proved to be most fallacious ; for more rain fell 
 last night, than has been known to fall in so short 
 a space, within the memory of the oldest inhabit-
 
 174 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ant of this district. The whole day was most 
 tempestuous, so that I only went as far as Green- 
 ock in a steamer, intending to step into the In- 
 verness boat, as she passed down. But not a single 
 vessel has come down the river this day ; the 
 spate, or flood, is so high, and the stream so im- 
 petuous, that they are afraid of being dashed 
 against the banks, if they stir from their moorings. 
 I confess, I was not displeased to find myself 
 reduced to inaction, and compelled to pass the 
 night at a good inn, rather than on board a com- 
 fortless steamer. 
 
 July 30th. — The sun has once more made his 
 appearance, but the wind is strong and keen. 
 Not a boat arrived from Glasgow till eleven o'clock, 
 when a little steamer brought the news, that the 
 water was up to the houses in Glasgow, and that 
 there was little chance of large vessels getting off' 
 yet. On hearing this, and considering the per- 
 severance of the bad weather, I resolved to change 
 my route, and go by Glasgow and Edinburgh. 
 
 The Firth of Clyde throughout its whole ex- 
 panse is discoloured by the flood, and its appear- 
 ance reminds me of the accounts they give of the 
 great Hoang Ho, or Yellow River of China.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 175 
 
 Several gentlemen said, they had often observed 
 the sides muddied, but never the whole channel 
 till now. 
 
 The banks of the Clyde are beautiful, especially 
 near Dumbarton, that well-defined and insulated 
 rock, which seems framed on purpose to receive a 
 fortress on its summit. Had the weather been 
 tolerable, I should have visited this spot, so in- 
 teresting from the many traditionary stories con- 
 nected with its wasting towers, but as it was, I 
 v^'as obliged to content myself with a passing 
 glimpse. There are many excellent mansions 
 and fine policies, on each side of the river. Seve- 
 ral of the latter lay partly under water; and it 
 was curious to see a board, a little above the 
 surface, containing the usual notice, " To be 
 feued," when not a foot of land was visible all 
 round it. 
 
 A forest of iron chimneys, belonging to the 
 weatherbound steamers, now shewed us that we 
 were approaching Glasgow ; and soon with a little 
 difficulty we were safely landed. 
 
 The first object I went in search of was the 
 cathedral, the only one on the mainland of Scot- 
 land, which has perfectly survived the religious 
 fury of the Reformers. It is a very noble temple.
 
 176 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 combining at once simplicity with grandeur. The 
 interior, especially, with its tall clustered massive 
 pillars, and its strong lights and deep shades, is 
 slrikingly picturesque. The nave is at present 
 divided by a great ugly wall into two portions, 
 one of which is used for service. It is a pleasure to 
 find, that this monstrous partition is to be removed 
 forthwith, so as to restore the grand proportions 
 of the original plan. But the point of greatest 
 interest is the crypt, so admirably described in Rob 
 Roy ; judge, therefore, my chagrin, when I learned, 
 that it was closed for repairs, and that no one 
 could gain admittance. 
 
 " But," said the woman who gave me this dis- 
 agreeable intelligence, and who probably saw 
 consternation depicted in my countenance, " ye 
 can gang to the outside, an' keek through some 
 o' the windows amaist as weel's within." 
 
 Accordingly I made the circuit of the exterior, 
 climbing up to the openings, which were only 
 guarded by iron bars. I was thus enabled to 
 examine the crypt from a number of points, and 
 was amply repaid for my exertion by the singular 
 and impressive scenes revealed to the eye. Of 
 course a portion of light is admitted through every 
 window ; but it is soon absorbed by the groined
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 177 
 
 and vaulted roof, or intercepted by the massive 
 pillars that support it. The height, I think, does 
 not exceed seven or eight feet, a circumstance 
 that adds still more to the gloom of these mys- 
 terious regions. They are no longer used, as in 
 the time of Rob Roy, for religious assemblies ; but 
 are much more appropriately dedicated to the 
 reception of the dead. 
 
 Look at that long line of simple graves, mound 
 succeeding mound of bare cold earth, till the 
 series is lost in the murky distance ! The fitful 
 gust sweeps over them vtith a sigh, and the damp- 
 drop beats time, as it plashes on the tomb. Never 
 a beam of the blessed sun penetrates that drear 
 abode, and not a blade of gi'ass, nor a solitary 
 weed, can sustain existence within its precincts. 
 It is the mansion of Death ! 
 
 I could not help shuddering at the notion of 
 being inhumed in a sepulchre so desolate. Yea, 
 rather let my frail remains be consigned to the 
 modest churchyard of my native village, where 
 the wind blows freely, and the sun shines cheer- 
 fully, and the grass grows greenly ! And let no 
 proud monumental pile, but only one simple stone 
 preserve my name ; that the peasant in future 
 times, when he spells over the record on the 
 
 I 3
 
 178 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 sabbath-day, may think of me as one who did 
 some good — not much perhaps — but still some 
 little good to his kind. Reason may coldly laugh 
 at such conceits ; but something seems to whisper, 
 that it is but a shallow philosophy, to deride any of 
 those ties, that knit us to our homes, and kindred, 
 and neighbours, and country ; and that it is a 
 very questionable humanity, which would anni- 
 hilate a single prejudice, tending to promote the 
 great good cause of social love. 
 
 There is a delight in lingering among the me- 
 morials of the dead, not only because of the mourn- 
 ful, yet not unpleasing reflections, which such 
 objects are calculated to raise with respect to our 
 own approaching end, but because eveiy monu- 
 ment tells a tale of enduring sympathy, and un- 
 quenched affection ; and because every lonely 
 stone, though barely scored with the initials of a 
 name, proves that the being, whose corruptible 
 part is wasting beneath, was once within the 
 pale of human endearment — was valued as a 
 friend, clung to as a parent, fostered as a child — 
 was loved, in short, while living, and consigned 
 with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 " Ah ! surely, nothing dies but something 
 mourns."
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 179 
 
 1 was led into this train of thought by my sub- 
 sequent visit to the new cemetery, which is near 
 the cathedra], and divided from it by a little glen, 
 watered by a murmuring stream. In the more 
 ancient place of sepulture, (I speak now of the 
 space around the cathedral, not of the crypt,) 
 there is much neglect; many of the "lairs," as 
 they are called, being overrun with nettles, docks, 
 and other rank weeds : but here, all is neatness 
 and order; handsome iron fences inclosing the 
 burial spots, and beautiful flowers, or shrubs, 
 adorning them within. The whole area inclosed 
 occupies the steep slope of a hill ; so that the 
 tombs are, for the most part, arranged in hori- 
 zontal terraces : in some few places there are con- 
 siderable excavations in the solid rock. The most 
 conspicuous object is a monument to the memory 
 of John Knox, and of the earh'^ martyrs, erected 
 by voluntary contribution. 
 
 From the cemetery I went to the college, which 
 has no great claims to admiration, excepting so 
 far as regards its museum, to which I could not 
 gain admittance. 
 
 The High Street of Glasgow, to a spectator 
 looking up from the Trongate, is very picturesque. 
 Immediatelj' on the left is the Tolbooth, with its
 
 180 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 tall blackened tower, in which is laid the scene 
 of Rob Roy's famous rencontre with Bailie Nicol 
 Jarvie. 
 
 The new bridge over the Clyde is justly ad- 
 mired for the solidity of its masonry, and the 
 great breadth of its caniage-way and pavements ; 
 and the Exchange may challenge competition 
 with any building of the kind in Britain. 
 
 July 31st. — This morning I made a point of 
 attending the Presbyterian service in the choir of 
 the cathedral : it differs in no respect from the ser- 
 vice of the humblest chapel. The contrast between 
 the simplicity of their religious forms (for, let them 
 simplify as they will, there must be some forms) 
 and the splendour of the edifice in which they 
 were assembled, was by no means agreeable. Oh ! 
 how I longed to hear the sacred tones of our own 
 majestic organ, and the rich melody of our cho- 
 risters, instead of the meagi'e notes of one poor 
 clerk, and the accompaniment of an unmusical 
 congregation. 
 
 Another thing which offended my English preju- 
 dices especially was, that the men walked into the 
 cathedral with their hats on, and never took them 
 off, till they had reached their pews. The moment, 
 too, that the blessing was ended, on went the hats
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 181 
 
 again; as if the place were only sacred, wliile the 
 voice of the pastor echoed along the aisles. 
 
 In the afternoon I went to hear Dr. Wardlaw : 
 his sermon was written, and very excellent. What 
 a contrast to the tautological, disjointed harangue 
 of the morning ! He belongs not to the Kirk of 
 Scotland, but differs I believe only in forms, not 
 at all in doctrine. I observed two circumstances, 
 in which there was a departure from the rules of 
 the national kirk. The first was, that the con- 
 gregation stood up to sing, instead of keeping 
 their seats : the second, and much the most im- 
 portant, that a chapter from the Old Testament, 
 and another from the New, was read before the 
 sermon commenced. 
 
 These alterations indicate, that there is a ten- 
 dency to revert to the forms of the Church of 
 England, and that the servile dread of imitating 
 its customs will speedily die away. I hope they 
 will soon borrow from us another of our practices, 
 that of kneeling down while in the act of prayer. 
 It is perfectly true, that, if our homage be but 
 sincere, all ceremonies are alike in the eye of 
 Him, who is the common object of our faith and 
 worship ; but with reference to ourselves, and to
 
 182 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 the effect produced upon our own minds, one 
 religious form may undoubtedly be more or less 
 approj^riate than another. Now the act of kneel- 
 ing has in all times, and nations, been considered 
 as expressive of humiliation, and as the proper 
 attitude of a suppliant: nay, it is used by the 
 Presbyterians themselves in their family worship, 
 and in the solitude of their own chambers. Then, 
 why not bring back to their temples a custom so 
 decent and so impressive ; so consonant to our 
 earliest notions of adoration, and so grounded 
 upon the authority of Scripture itself? 
 
 In no place are the peculiarities of a Scottish 
 sabbath more distinctly exhibited than in the city 
 of Glasgow. Throughout the greater part of the 
 day, the streets are absolutely deserted, and often 
 down the noble vista of Argyle Street and the 
 Trongate, not a single human being is visible. 
 But at the hours of assembly at the various places 
 of worship, or of dispersing from them, such a 
 tide of population is poured along every avenue, 
 as is not surpassed in the greatest thoroughfares 
 of the British metropolis itself 
 
 In the afternoon I found many of the inhabit- 
 ants congregated on " Glasgow green," a large
 
 Ramble in Scotland. 183 
 
 park-like inclosure on the banks of the Clyde, 
 in which is a monument to the memory of Nel- 
 son. 
 
 August 1st.— From Glasgow I retreated through 
 the rain to Edinburgh, determined there to abide 
 the pelting of the pitiless storm, and not to stir 
 from its precincts, till the weather took a favour- 
 able turn. 
 
 No man with a grain of taste or discernment 
 can be at a loss for amusement in Auld Reekie. 
 If therefore I pass over without notice the few 
 pleasant days I spent there — if I stop not to ex- 
 patiate on the comfort of the hotel, the accidental 
 meetings with old acquaintances, and above all, 
 on the delight of a domestic society, which, 
 though most unpretending, was also most refined, 
 and to which I was always welcomed with a cor- 
 diality, that could not be mistaken — let it not be 
 imagined for one moment, that I ever felt any 
 thing approaching to ennui. 
 
 Added to all these sources of entertainment too, 
 was a public dinner given on Friday, August 5th, 
 to Thomas Campbell, at which Professor Wilson 
 presided ; and in spite of the absence of Lord 
 Jeffre}', and many of the leading literary charac-
 
 184 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ters, from Edinburgh, I was highly amused at 
 the various displays of eloquence, and attempts at 
 eloquence, which occun'ed in the course of the 
 evening. Wilson was far above all in the fluency 
 of his language, and the fire of his sentiments; 
 the interest, with which he was listened to by his 
 audience, never wavering for a single instant. 
 Campbell is not a practised orator, but there were 
 occasionally bursts of feeling, which is always 
 eloquence, that brought down the most rapturous 
 applause. Not to criticise the speeches seriatim, 
 I shall merely remark that, with a few decided 
 exceptions, one uniform and well-defined vein of 
 national partiality pervaded the whole of them ; 
 so that, to take their word for it, there was neither 
 art, nor science, nor species of literature, nor any 
 branch of any of these, in which Scotchmen were 
 not absolutely pre-eminent. Such sentiments may 
 elicit a smile, but will, I am sure from their in- 
 nocency never provoke a challenge : only let the 
 good Scot beware, lest a patriotism so outrageous 
 fail to expand, as it ought to exjjand, into uni- 
 versal philanthrop}'. 
 
 The weather has at length resolved to amend, 
 so I mean to make my way as speedily as I can to
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 185 
 
 Thurso. The road, as far as Inverness, I described 
 last year, and having passed over it tliis time by 
 night, I have nothing to add to my fonner ac- 
 count. 
 
 Aug. 9th. — At ten o'clock this morning, I left 
 Inverness by the mail. Two men, conspicuous 
 by their dress and air, were fellow-travellers with 
 me. They addressed each other in French, but 
 were arrayed in the extreme of the Highland 
 costume, which, of all the modes of clothing the 
 human frame, is surely tlie most graceful. They 
 had gold-hilted daggers in their belt, and orna- 
 mented pistols also. Their liair was very long, 
 and curled in drooping ringlets ; which circum- 
 stance, with the handsome countenances beneath, 
 reminded me strongly of the portraits of the 
 Stuarts. This, in fact, is their family name, and 
 they claim to be lineally descended from the 
 royal house. It is said, that upon a certain 
 occasion, when the health of the king was pro- 
 posed in their presence, the younger rose imme- 
 diately, and, making a profound bow to his 
 brother, drank his wine in silence. I was unfor- 
 tunately so placed, that I could not converse witli 
 them ; but a gentleman who sat near them after-
 
 186 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 wards, assured me that they were extremely 
 agreeable men. 
 
 The neighbourhood of Beauley, which every 
 body pronounces Buly, is interesting and deserves 
 its appellation, " Beau lieu," supposed to have 
 been bestowed on it by Queen Mary. The Abbey 
 is near the road, but is not a very striking object, 
 having the common fault of nearly all the Scottish 
 ruins, that of being ruined too far. The views of 
 Ben Wyvis, so vast and so lofty, with a summit 
 cloud-cap t, even on this splendid day, are grand 
 and imposing. 
 
 Dining at Tain, we soon after passed over the 
 Meickle Feny, and then traversed the mound 
 across Loch Fleet. Looking up the Strath from 
 this elevated terrace, there is seen, bounded on 
 both sides by a perspective series of lofty moun- 
 tains, a perfectly level tract of land clothed with 
 heath and grass, and threaded by a winding 
 silvery stream. This space was formerly part of 
 the loch, but has been redeemed by the construc- 
 tion of the mound. There are some scenes in the 
 valley of the Rhone, which are the very counter- 
 parts of this. 
 
 On a neighbouring mountain, the late Duke of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 187 
 
 Sutherland's monument is now being erected, and 
 will form a conspicuous object to all the surround- 
 ing country. 
 
 It was nearly dark when we passed through 
 Golspie and by Dunrobin Castle, the residence of 
 the Duke of Sutherland. But I was much struck 
 with the noble breed of cattle, and with the im- 
 mense inclosure in which so many separate herds 
 of these animals were roaming. The extensive 
 plantations, too, on all sides, indicate the exist- 
 ence of capital, and the spirit to employ it. 
 
 Near Wick the sea presented a most singular 
 spectacle ; for miles and miles its calm surface 
 was dotted with myriads of herring-boats, some 
 of which had a small square sail set to catch the 
 almost imperceptible morning breeze. As there 
 must have on the average at least two men to 
 every boat, it seemed wonderful how such a po- 
 pulation could be collected out of such a country. 
 But I understand, that 7000 or 8000 men annually 
 migrate from the western parts, solely for employ- 
 ment in the fishery. 
 
 In this neighbourhood, I observed several of 
 those " Picts' houses," as the country people call 
 them, or Scandinavian Burghs, and also several 
 of the obelisks or memorial stones, which have
 
 188 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 furnished so much food for the antiquary. These 
 singular remains abound in the northern counties, 
 and I hope to find an opportunity of examin- 
 ing some of them more leisurely and minutely. 
 
 The aspect of the country near Wick is inde- 
 scribably wretched, the soil being peaty, and not 
 a single tree appearing on all the long line of dull 
 swelling hills, that rise up one after the other iu^ 
 inexhaustible succession. Here and there may 
 be seen an attempt at cultivation ; and those lands 
 which, being just redeemed, are bearing their 
 first scanty crop, speak volumes on the poverty 
 of the soil. Occasionally, however, but at dole- 
 ful intervals, a respectable farm-house may be 
 seen. The staddles for the hay and com ricks are 
 curious to a southern eye : they consist of circles 
 of not more than two yards in diameter, pitched 
 with large pebbles, and very little raised above the 
 general level. Whether you look diagonally or di- 
 rectly, they are arranged with the greatest nicety, 
 so that in fact they suggest the notion of their be- 
 ing intended as so many stands for nine-pins. I can 
 readily perceive, how the foundation of pitching 
 may serve to drain off the wet, but how it can 
 repel the familiarities of Messieurs les Rats, gen- 
 tlemen whose pi'ofessional avocations lead them
 
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 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 189 
 
 into every hole and corner in the kingdom, is past 
 my comprehension. As we advanced into Caith- 
 ness, the country became much more fertile, but 
 not a whit more picturesque. 
 
 August 10th. — After a weary ride of two and 
 twenty hours we reached Thui'so at eight o'clock. 
 But before I proceed, let me record my agreeable 
 sui'prise at the very early hour of dawn. At two 
 o'clock twilight commenced, so that we had only 
 about four hours of night ; a strong indication of 
 northerly latitude. 
 
 Thurso is a very miserable little town, with 
 streets so vilely neglected, that it is an absolute 
 penance to pass over them in a carnage : to make 
 a poor pun it was I who was pitched, and not the 
 streets. But the bay and cliffs, which are really 
 superb, redeem the place from condemnation. 
 
 In the evening I walked out to Holbom Head, 
 a bold promontory ; near which is the Clett, a 
 very singular detached rock, or stack. It is quad- 
 rangular in form, and of the same imposing height 
 as the neighbouring cliff, from which it has, doubt- 
 less, been sundered by the action of the sea. Its 
 flat summit was covered with a politic assemblage 
 of enormous gulls, who are vested with the fee- 
 simple of this sea-girt islet, and complain very
 
 190 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 bitterly when any human being comes even within 
 sight of their domain. The adjoining cliffs are 
 undermined in all directions by the everlasting 
 play of the breakers ; in some cases dark and sub- 
 ten-aneous caverns are hollowed out, and the long 
 rolling moan of each billow that enters, tells of 
 the mysterious depth of their recesses. In other 
 cases, there are huge fissures in the line of cliff 
 running far up into the land, over the entrance of 
 which a bridge of rock has been left by the foiled 
 waves ; and in one instance, two natural bridges 
 may be descried, the one at a vast height over the 
 other, and both far above the usual level of the 
 sea. At the distance of several hundred feet from 
 the edge of the cliff there occur many vertical 
 fissures in the land, at the bottom of which may 
 be heard the muffled roar of the pent up and 
 raging waters. Often you may actually see them 
 in the far and gloomy depths below, foaming and 
 lashing up the sides of the vexed rocks, and then 
 rolling back, exhausted, to their parent main. 
 The strongly defined stratifications of the rocks 
 are as nearly as possible horizontal, and being 
 exposed and worn away in all directions, they 
 exhibit some very extraordinary conformations ; 
 in one spot, particularly, there are many clusters
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 191 
 
 of tabular laminae, accidentally carved into rect- 
 angular forms ; each cluster resembling a heap of 
 wrought slabs, of slightly different sizes, piled one 
 upon the other. 
 
 August 11th. — Thurso Bay is indeed a mag- 
 nificent picture. Ascending one of the numerous 
 creeks that run up into the cliff, you view it 
 through a framework of rock, with the two inclos- 
 ing promontories stretching inwards from the 
 right and left, the bold isle of Hoy immediately 
 in the centre, and between that and Dunnet 
 Head, the dim low soil of the more distant Orkney 
 isles. The bay is enlivened by the boats of the 
 salmon fishery, which has been unsuccessful this 
 year on account (strange to say) of the extreme 
 drought of the season ; for it appears, that while 
 our provinces have been drenched and flooded, 
 these hyperborean realms have hitherto scarcely 
 received a shower of rain. 
 
 While I was sauntering along the shore, now 
 examining the profusion of algse which are strewn 
 along it, and now watching some little urchins 
 who were angling for sillocks, an Indiaman, with 
 every sail set, came into the bay. Her object 
 was to land her captain, who had been taken ill. 
 What a goodly sight is a vessel so stately, obedi-
 
 192 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 ent to rudder and sail, wending her appointed 
 way over the pathless waters ! AVhat a test of 
 our civilization ! What an epitome of human in- 
 genuity ! How countless the series of improve- 
 ments w'hich must have taken place, ere the rude 
 canoe of the savage, scooped out of a single trunk, 
 could have expanded into the merchantman, or 
 the man-of-war. 
 
 The paddle required no great inventive effort 
 in man ; for the notion of it may have been sug- 
 gested to him, by the play of his own limbs in 
 swimming ; an art, which he must soon have learnt 
 from the wild animals around him. A couple 
 of paddles would lead the way to a pair of oars. 
 Then the mast was hoisted with its sail; and the 
 mariner, no longer relying solely upon his own 
 strength, imposed upon the winds the task of 
 impelling his boat along the waves. Next came 
 the faithful compass to lead him from the shore ; 
 followed by a host of delicate instruments and 
 subtle theories, enabling him to circumnavigate 
 this whole stupendous globe, to measure his path 
 over the wilderness of waters, and to read the 
 present, if not the future, in the stars of heaven. 
 Last link of all is the power of steam, by which 
 we are not only rendered indei)endent of the mo-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 193 
 
 derate winds, and the points they blow from ; 
 but are also enabled by superior speed to escape 
 the rage of those irresistible storms and hurri- 
 canes, which will probably for ever defy all the 
 strength and the arts of man. 
 
 Few large vessels enter this port except in the 
 steadiest weather, on account of the extreme 
 difficulty of beating out against a north wind. 
 
 August 12th.— To my extreme delight I found 
 the long anticipated letter, for which I had been 
 waiting here two days, and am able to set 
 out for Orkney with a mind unburdened of its 
 cares. I reached Houna in a gig by one o'clock. 
 The road is bare and uninteresting in all respects, 
 and was made perfectly dreary by the thickening 
 of the clouds, which circumstance, with the gra- 
 dual rising of the wind, makes me fearful of a 
 serious change. The last part of the journey lay 
 over a long moss, and I observed the road shake 
 under the horse's feet. 
 
 It fortunately happened, that the tide would 
 sen-e very well to cross at once to South Ronald- 
 sa ; so I merely took a little refreshment at this 
 famous inn of " the north countree," and then 
 embarked with four fine sailors in the open boat 
 
 K
 
 194 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 which usually carries the mail, but may be hired 
 when not thus employed. I was carried a-pick-a- 
 back through the shoal water by one of the men 
 in jack-boots. It was so long since I had caught 
 myself in such a juvenile attitude, that I was 
 irresistibly struck with a sense of the comic, and 
 nearly tumbled into the water from laughing. 
 The man pitched me into the boat like a sack. 
 We pulled out a little with oars, and then hoisted 
 sail, coasting along to the eastward, passing close 
 to the site of John o'Groat's celebrated abode, 
 and reaching as far as Duncansby Head, 
 
 Hitherto all had been steady work ; but we now 
 struck across the Firth, and were soon involved 
 in its agitated currents. And here I freely confess, 
 that I felt, for the first time in my life at sea, 
 considerable apprehension ; for I could not help 
 reflecting that I was seated in a frail bark, and 
 scudding before the gale in those perilous seas, 
 which have proved fatal to so many gallant ves- 
 sels. The breeze freshened, and we took in a reef. 
 It fi'eshened still, and we took in another. 
 
 " Oh ! 'twill be a smooth passage yet," said one 
 of the youngest sailors. 
 
 " Ye'll no want wind, any how," retorted the
 
 KAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 195 
 
 old man at the helm, as he looked towards the 
 weather quarter; " take in another reef! I think 
 the tide's mad ! " 
 
 I thought so too, for never had I seen such 
 monstrous billows : on they rolled, with their 
 huge dark masses crested with snowy foam, and 
 seeming about to devour our little bark with all 
 she contained ; when the practised helmsman, by 
 a slight turn of the rudder, avoided the fury of 
 the blow, and brought us through with a mere 
 sprinkle. In this mancEuvre he was assisted by the 
 man, who held the sheet of the mainsail, slackening 
 it occasionally ; indeed it was never belayed for a 
 single instant, but kept constantly ready to give 
 way. 
 
 When I saw the admirable skill of the men, 
 their coolness, and vigilance, my confidence was 
 perfectly restored, and I could almost have trusted 
 myself with them to circumnavigate the globe. 
 Having thus vanquished the first tremors of the 
 landsman, I did indeed enjoy the wild tumultuous 
 scenes around me. I never saw a sea till this 
 day. And this is nothing compared with the ef- 
 fect of the winter's gales ! If, even with a tem- 
 porary summer breeze, 1 gaze with awe and won- 
 der at the fierce conflict of the mighty currents, 
 
 K 2
 
 196 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 gurgling and bellowing onward through this nar- 
 row throat — here by their counteraction produc- 
 ing a frightful calm — there piling wave on wave 
 with their combining force— what should I think 
 of these ocean scenes in winter, when such effects 
 are increased a hundredfold, and the vexed waters 
 are maddened by weeks of tempest ? 
 
 Oh ! thou great Being, who madest the stedfast 
 earth, and the moving sea, how unspeakably 
 magnificent are the works of thy creation ! I be- 
 held the ponderous mountains, whose inaccessible 
 summits are crowned with the snows and ice of a 
 thousand years, and I said. These are the migh- 
 tiest efforts of thine hand. But when mine eye 
 wanders over the stormy surface of this tremen- 
 dous main, and mine ear listens to the dread voice 
 of its waves, I now exclaim. Surely, oh ! surely, 
 this is the master-piece of power. 
 
 The pretty isle of Stroma we passed nearly at 
 the beginning of our career in smooth water: 
 Swana lay at the termination of it. The coast of 
 South Ronaldsa is a fine geological section, and 
 exhibits admirably the stratification of the dis- 
 integrating rocks, which here dip in opposite 
 directions. In colouring, as well as form, they 
 are extremely picturesque. The lauding place is
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 197 
 
 most wretched, and it was wdth gi-eat difficulty, 
 that I gained the dry ground over the broad ridge 
 of low rock, which was covered with slippery sea- 
 weed. 
 
 Many houses are visible from the shore, and 
 the land assumed an appearance of cultivation 
 which I did not expect. But as I directed my 
 steps across the island, with my knapsack on my 
 back, the scene soon became widely different. 
 Long tracts of heathery land appeared all around, 
 intersected, now and then, with low turf walls to 
 prevent the straying of the horses, which were 
 picking a scanty meal from the chance bits of 
 pasture. An occasional cottage, or town, as it is 
 called by the natives, wdth its accompanying peat- 
 stack, rose amid the waste ; and two or three 
 roods of land immediately around it were cropped 
 with oats, or bere, a species of barley. Not a 
 road, and scarce a vestige of one, traverses the 
 island ; but there are so many paths along the 
 heath, that I was perpetually losing ray way, and 
 obliged to apply for directions at the cottages. I 
 vi^as always answered with the greatest readiness 
 and civility, every possible direction being sup- 
 plied to me, that such a country admitted of 
 
 One old man told me, that there ought to be a
 
 198 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 parliamentary road between the Ferries, for the 
 inhabitants had been taxed for it two or three 
 years, On my observing that, however useful it 
 might be to strangers, I thought it could not 
 benefit the inhabitants much : 
 
 " Not a bit," he cried eagerly, " no more than 
 the peat we tread on. — It is not as if we were in 
 the Highlands, where the country is so bare ; but 
 here there's a toon at every step, and we know 
 the paths as well as you do the gi-eat road. It's 
 hard to be taxed for what'll be of no use to any of 
 us, when it's done." 
 
 I must say his complaint appeared perfectly 
 reasonable, and I cannot imagine, that these poor 
 peasants will derive any advantage, that will 
 repay them for the expenditure. The country can 
 be traversed in all directions on horse-back, and 
 their heavy goods can be transported b}' water. 
 
 Soon after I lost this old man's company, I wan- 
 dered from the path again, and came unexpectedly 
 in sight of Widewell Bay : it was covered with 
 ships and boats employed in the hemng fishery, 
 and being lighted by a gleam of sunshine pre- 
 sented a most exhilarating contrast to the dull 
 solitary moor, over which I had been travelling. 
 
 Ascending another brae, I at last came in sight
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 of St. Margaret's Hope, with its beautiful bay, 
 whicli is another great resort of the herring boats, 
 and exhibited a scene as animated as the former. 
 Before I seated myself in Allan's inn, 1 must have 
 walked eight or ten miles, instead of the six which 
 ought to have brought me to my journey's end ; 
 so that in spite of the old man's objurgations 
 upon the scheme of the high road, I began to 
 perceive that it would not be altogether without 
 its advantages. 
 
 The village of St. Margaret's Hope consists of 
 little more than a single row of houses with their 
 gables huddled as closely as possible to each other, 
 and to high water mark. Between them and the 
 sea there is, however, just room for a rude path- 
 way, formed partly of the solid rock, and partly of 
 stone steps, leading the passenger more easily over 
 the inequalities of the pathway. A sort of pier or 
 landing place, occasionally runs out into the sea, 
 enabling the sailors to land very conveniently 
 witli small craft. 
 
 A loaded herring-boat had arrived a little 
 before me, and had deposited her whole cargo of 
 fish upon the shore. A dozen women were kneel- 
 ing before the scaly heap, each with a large and 
 a small tub before her. They take a herring in
 
 200 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 their left hand, and with a small knife in the 
 right, nick out its gills and entrails, in the twink- 
 ling of an eye ; consigning the garbage to the 
 small tub, and the cleansed fish to the large one. 
 In this operation they are wonderfully expert, but 
 it may be readily imagined that, as it proceeds, 
 they become any thing but agreeable objects. 
 When the large tub is full, it is carried to another 
 set of women, who pitch its contents into a vat ; 
 and throwing in loads of salt with a circular dish, 
 mingle the whole together with their hands, and 
 arms. When this process has been carried on for 
 a few minutes, the cured fish are consigned in 
 double handfuls with more salt to the proper 
 herring-barrel, which is at first piled far over the 
 top ; but the mass soon sinking, it is piled up 
 again, and so on, till the whole is compact, and 
 full. It is then fastened down, and is ready for 
 the smack, which calls at stated seasons, to carry 
 it to the London markets. 
 
 The men take no part whatever in curing, but 
 merely catch the fish, and dry their nets, with 
 which the shores are covered. They fish chiefly 
 by night, and are therefore, in these high latitudes, 
 exposed to considerable cold. To protect them- 
 selves against it, they are arrayed in skins, some-
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 201 
 
 times in woollen, and huge jack-boots ; which all 
 together give them a most outlandish aspect. 
 They have hitherto been rather unsuccessful in 
 this quarter, during the present season. 
 
 August 13th. Taking leave of Mrs. Allan, who 
 is a delightful specimen of the genus old woman 
 in Orkney, I walked to the North Ferry at Water 
 Sound. This likewise is a station for herring- 
 boats ; and several foreigners may be seen among 
 them. The ferry-man told me, that those French- 
 men fished more than any Orkney boat. They 
 once went out on the Sabbath, and took sixteen 
 crans ; but, if they were to try that again, they 
 would be sent off the station. It appears, that 
 they have full liberty to fish on terms of perfect 
 equality with the British. 
 
 I landed on the little island of Burra, in the 
 midst of sailors and herring-curers, who all re- 
 garded me as a great curiosity. Having ascended 
 the gentle brae, that leads across the isle, I looked 
 back to the bustling scene which lay below me. 
 The surface of the little strait was merely rippled 
 by the breeze, for it is so land-locked that the sea 
 can never be heavy. Multitudes of herring boats, 
 with their two bare masts, lay at anchor in various 
 parts of the sound, while as many more, with 
 
 K 3
 
 202 JOURNAL OP A 
 
 Iheir double sail set, crossed and recrossed along 
 it. Here lay the huge dark hulk of a Dutchman, 
 with its spiry mast, towering far above the others; 
 and on the other side, the flag of a Frenchman 
 was trembling to the breeze. On the shore, men, 
 women, and children were collected in groups, 
 talking over the success of the fishing ; while some 
 were still actively employed in curing the few 
 herrings that remained unpacked. The barrels 
 were piled in heaps against the sides of the houses, 
 or scattered in masses along the sands. 
 
 The interior of Burra resembles South Ro- 
 naldsa in all respects, only that it is adorned with 
 a considerable fresh-water loch, the resort of va- 
 rious aquatic birds. The walk over it is about 
 two miles. 
 
 The next ferry across to Pomona, or Mainland, 
 takes about an hour's sail. Two or three pedlars 
 were fellow passengers with me ; they are going 
 to Kirkwall fair, which commences on Tuesday 
 next, and lasts eleven days. The poor inn at 
 Holm, the landing place, supplied me with a few 
 biscuits, before I undertook the remaining seven 
 miles. 
 
 The aspect of the country is precisely similar 
 to that of the other islands, except that the wastes
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 203 
 
 and heathery braes are upon a grander scale. 
 The road is well marked, but miserably dusty, a 
 fault, however, which the climate does not often 
 allow to be laid to its charge. The roof of an 
 Orkney cottage is curiously constructed. Instead 
 of tiles, they use what they call dyvots, i. e. thin 
 square pieces of turf; over these is placed a layer 
 of straw, which is bound down by ropes of 
 twisted heather. The ropes are not attached to 
 the roof at all, but are kept tight by means of 
 long slabs of stone, suspended from both their 
 extremities. The window, when there is one (and 
 it is by no means a sine qua non) is a small hole 
 towards the bottom of the roof, consequently not 
 vertical, about a foot square, glazed in a rude wa}'. 
 The chimney, or rather the orifice for the egress 
 of the smoke, is at the top, but not immediately 
 over the peat fire ; so that the said smoke is 
 generally very deliberate in its exit, and peers into 
 every nook and cranny of the dark walls, before it 
 determines upon the right one. Sometimes the 
 refinement of a herring-barrel may be seen stick- 
 ing out of the roof, and acting by way of lum. 
 There is a singular round tower, of most ancient 
 aspect, attached to almost every one of these cot-
 
 204 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 tages ; it is nothing more than the kiln used for 
 drying their gi-ain. 
 
 I was rejoiced on regaining the summit of the 
 last hill, to see beneath me the noble tower of 
 St. Magnus, rising far above all the other build- 
 ings of Kirkwall ; but it was not without difficulty 
 that I found my way to a good inn. I went 
 about, asking for Macdonald's hotel, to which I 
 had been recommended. Not a soul could tell 
 me any thing about such a place. At last I 
 thought I would give up all idea of discovering 
 it ; and so after receiving from an old woman the 
 questionable answer of " What's your wull ?" and 
 the subsequent shake of the head, 
 
 " Well, then," said I, " if you can't tell me 
 where MacdonakVs hotel is, tell me which is the 
 best inn in the place." 
 
 " Inn!" retorted the old dame in a most thea- 
 trical attitude, " is it Macdonald's Inn ye're 
 speerin' for ? " 
 
 " Yes, to be sure it is." 
 
 " Oh ! then, ye'll just gae down by St. Magnus' 
 Kirk, that's the great toor ye see there, an' then 
 ye'll just hae to speer again." ^ 
 
 a " You will just have to ask again."
 
 
 ,V; 
 
 > 
 
 P8^ 
 
 6 
 
 1^. 
 
 
 
 
 
 -?"H
 
 IL^MBLE IN SCOTLAND, 205 
 
 With these very expHcit directions for seeking 
 directions, I was obHged to be content; and by 
 dint of cautiously banishing the word " Hotel " 
 from my vocabulary, I soon succeeded in reaching 
 ray destination. The inn is considered by the 
 people of these parts, as something very magnifi- 
 cent, and is really a good one. It boasts of a 
 capital garden, in which there are actually several 
 green trees, a sort of sight it does one good to 
 look on. The house was formerly occupied by a 
 whimsical old gentleman, who invented a curious 
 contrivance to save himself and his servants 
 trouble. It consists of a slide, reaching from the 
 parlour to the kitchen below. At the top, there 
 is an index marked with the words breakfast, 
 dinner, salt, bread, &c., &c. ; and there is a corre- 
 sponding index down below. The old gentle- 
 man, therefore, had only to set his slide properly, 
 before he rang the bell ; and his wants were sup- 
 plied with magical and silent alacrity. 
 
 Aug. 14th. — There was divine service in a part 
 of the great cathedral of St. Magnus, and we had 
 a very eloquent sermon from the minister. This 
 magnificent old cathedral is built with red sand- 
 stone, a material which unfortunately cannot 
 withstand the influence of time and weather. All
 
 ^06 JOURNAL OP A 
 
 the fine carved work in the arches and doors, is 
 undergoing the process of obliteration, and several 
 parts of the solid structure are becoming loose 
 and insecure. 
 
 The effect of the first view along the grand 
 west aisle, is indescribably grand. Tlie vast 
 solidity of the plain circular columns, the noble 
 he'ight of the overarching roof, and the ma,jestic 
 simplicity that reigns throughout the structure, 
 are admirabh' shewn oflF by the struggling light 
 which penetrates through the narrow Saxon 
 windows, and falls in scattered pencils athwart 
 the mystic gloom. The colouring is perfectly 
 unique ; its general tint is a vivid green, arising 
 from the mosses and confervge, which flourish 
 upon the mouldering walls and pillars, varied b\' 
 the dead white, or yellow patches of the lichens, 
 and by occasional glimpses of the fresh peeling 
 stone itself There are many tomb-stones, with 
 curious antique sculpturings, which have been 
 removed from the kirk-yard, to protect them from 
 the effects of the weather. Among others is that 
 of Haco, a Norwegian king. The rose window 
 at the east end is a beautiful circular light, with 
 elegant tracery, which is unfortunately fast de- 
 caying.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 207 
 
 The extreme western end of the gi'eat aisle is 
 not properly roofed ; it was built at a period sub- 
 sequent to the erection of the main body, and 
 tradition assigns a curious reason for the addition. 
 On the west side of the cathedral, in " the Broad 
 Street," are the poor remains of Kirkwall Castle ; 
 and eastward lie the ruins of the earl's and 
 bishop''s palaces, which at one time were con- 
 nected together, and occupied as one grand resi- 
 dence. Now it is reported, that one of the earls 
 and the contemporary commander of Kirkwall 
 Castle, bore such ill will towards each other, 
 that after any of their usual explosions of wrath, 
 they were in the habit of firing upon each other's 
 castles. The good Bishop of Orkney, to put a 
 stop to such unchristian proceedings, is said to 
 have interposed the mediation of the church in 
 the most effectual of all possible manners ; by 
 prolonging the western aisle, so as to cut off each 
 combatant from the view of his enemy's fortress. 
 
 A small sum has been left by a patriotic indi- 
 vidual, the interest of which is to be expended in 
 the repairs of St. Magnus, but it is not by any 
 means sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 The bishop's palace presents nothing to in- 
 terest the enquirer, except a solid round tower,
 
 208 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 with square apartments in its interior. The 
 earl's palace is more attractive, from the beauty 
 of its hanging turrets, which, however, do not 
 give one any very satisfactory idea of architectural 
 security. The arched chimney-piece in the great 
 hall is worth examining ; on .each side are the 
 initials P. E. O., denoting the founder's name and 
 title, Patrick, Earl of Orkney. The size of the 
 kitchen lum, or chimney, is something portentous, 
 and surpasses all that a modem can conceive. 
 
 Aug. 15th. — To any one coming directly from 
 the south, Kirkwall would probably appear a mise- 
 rable town : but to me, who have made a proba- 
 tionary tour through the north of Scotland, and 
 am become familiarized with humble dwellings 
 and dirty villages, it appears a very cheerful and 
 important little j)lace. It consists, chiefly, of one 
 long, iiTegular, unpaved street, called the Broad 
 Street, for no discoverable reason than because it is 
 not broad. In several places there is not room for a 
 gig and a foot passenger to pass each other, 
 without the most delicate adjustment of distances. 
 The houses are neatly white-washed, and have their 
 zigzagged gables turned to the street ; an airange- 
 ment which is extremely picturesque, and reminded 
 me strongly of some of the fine old Belgian towns.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 209 
 
 Over the doors of some of the most ancient dwell- 
 ings, their date is nidely sculptured ; the earliest 
 claimed to belong to the 17th centiu-y. The har- 
 bour is small, and not very secure : but it now 
 contains several schooners, whose crews may be 
 seen loitering about the pier, or strolling along the 
 Broad Street. They are resolute looking fellows, 
 but they cruise not against their fellow men, like 
 the old jarls or sea kings, but simply against the 
 unresisting fish. 
 
 In the morning I walked out to Quantoness, to 
 examine there the Pictish house, or " Pick 
 Hoose," as an old shepherd termed it. Its remains 
 are situate in the midst of a " sheepie cruive," or 
 walled inclosure, constructed for the purpose of 
 collecting the flocks, that wander on the adjoining 
 moors. Scarce a vestige of this curious antiquity 
 remains, except the conical mound of earth, and 
 a small portion of the round uncemented wall, 
 smothered in rubbish and nettles. The apart- 
 ments in it were entirely subterraneous, and there- 
 fore could have been but indifferently adapted to 
 purposes of defence ; the deep ciypt or well, 
 being dangerous to cattle, has long been filled up. 
 It seems to have been, therefore, a mere dwelling 
 for a Scandinavian family, the form of the ex-
 
 210 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 terior being not turreted, but domed, and, 1 sup- 
 pose, resembling the snow huts of the Esqui- 
 maux. 
 
 In returning, I had a fine view of Kirkwall, and 
 of the neck of land separating the open from the 
 " Peerie sea." The latter was formerly a fresh 
 water loch, but in an attempt to drain it, the sea 
 rushed in, and has ever since maintained its foot- 
 ing. There are two communications, through 
 which the tide ebbs and flows with great velocity. 
 Bridges cross them. 
 
 August 16th. — I intended to proceed by the mail- 
 gig to Stromness, but it did not set off till the 
 evening. The present guard is not quite so com- 
 plaisant as one of his predecessors a few years 
 back, who, when a gentleman expressed his desire 
 of going with him the next day, inquired, " Pray, 
 Sir, what time would you like the mail to start to- 
 mon-ow?" But, though there is some improve- 
 ment upon such a system as that, there remains 
 much to be done for facilitating the despatch of 
 letters. The mail packet has hitherto crossed the 
 Pentland Firth every other day, weather permit- 
 ting, and has sometimes been detained for ten or 
 twelve days : arrangements are now in progi-ess 
 for establishing a daily passage during the summer
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 211 
 
 mouths. Beyond Pomona, there are no means of 
 getting a letter, except by sending a special mes- 
 senger at your own expense ; and the men of bu- 
 siness, who are stationed at the North Isles duiing 
 the herring season, are obliged to club together, 
 and establish a private mail. The inhabitants are 
 perfectly satisfied with things as they are, expect- 
 ing no letters, wtich may not, without the slightest 
 inconvenience, lie at Kirkwall for a twelvemonth. 
 
 I breakfasted in company with the minister of 
 Westra, who gave me a very kind invitation to his 
 manse, besides much information respecting the 
 religious state of the islands. He described the 
 natives, as being totally free from great crimes, 
 but not always able to resist the temptation to 
 little pilferings. They are wretchedly poor, which 
 makes them sometimes appear greedy for money ; 
 a shilling being a rare sight to an Orcadian pea- 
 sant. Their little rents, in his neighbourhood, are 
 all paid in kind. 
 
 I hired a gig to take me as far as Stennis, where 
 I wished to examine the '"' Standing Stones," and 
 then I intended to walk on to Stromness. The 
 road is, I understand, a perfect railway for smooth- 
 ness, compared with what it was a short time ago: 
 nevertheless, it is in a very wretched state jet, full
 
 212 JOURNAL OP A 
 
 of deep holes, and protruding stones. In many 
 parts, one side is much higher than the other ; for 
 it accommodates itself, with the greatest politeness, 
 to the level of every brae, which it traverses, with 
 an utter disregard of the horizontal. 
 
 It, however, presented me with a scene as ani- 
 mated as any, which I have witnessed in Orkney. 
 This is the first day of the great Kirkwall fair, and 
 all the Orcadian world is hurrying to the capital. 
 About half a mile out of the town, on the summit 
 of a heather}^ hill, numerous tents were erected, 
 which the little boy, who drove the gig, explained 
 to be intended " for them that makes the bargains ; " 
 it is the cattle market. The whole road for miles 
 and miles now teemed with men, women, and 
 children, horses, colts, and cows. The latter were 
 not driven in herds, for they could never have been 
 kept together in this wild open country : but every 
 cow was led by a rope of twisted rushes, fastened 
 round its horns ; its keeper being generally a wo- 
 man. The dress of some of the females was strik- 
 ing; they wore a blue woollen petticoat, over 
 which was thrown a red tartan shawl, and another 
 shawl of flannel, or sometimes a small blanket 
 covered the head, and fell in graceful drapery over 
 the shoulders ; it was not pinned at the chin, but
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 213 
 
 held there with the left hand. Several rode on 
 horseback ; rarely with a side-saddle, and often 
 with no saddle at all. The men's dress was ordi- 
 nary. A fine effect was produced by this gay and 
 lengthened procession, now winding along the 
 shores of the fine bay of Firth, and now slowly 
 toiling amid the desolate hills, and valleys of the 
 interior. 
 
 As I approached Steinhouse, or Stennis, the 
 crowds became less and less ; and, when I stepped 
 fi'om the gig at the branch road, not a human 
 being could I see, except a peasant employed in 
 piling up a peat stack. Leaving my knapsack in 
 his keeping, I walked at once to the temple of the 
 Moon, which lies on a level plain very near the 
 road. 
 
 Of this remarkable object only three stones re- 
 main ; two, seventeen feet high, standing erect ; 
 and a third, which has fallen from its high estate, 
 upwards of eighteen feet long, and more than five 
 feet broad, with a thickness of nearly two feet. 
 On the outside of these, there is a semicircular 
 mound of earth, still clearly defined, with a dia- 
 meter of near one hundred feet, opening to the 
 south. There are several fragments of the other 
 stones, which once completed the semicircle : but
 
 214 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 the horizontal slab, supposed to be the sacrificial 
 stone, on which human victims were offered to 
 Thor and Odin, has entirely vanished. 
 
 Another stone, eight feet high, which stood at 
 a little distance from the temple, has also been re- 
 moved within these few years ; it was called the 
 " Pillar of Odin," and having a perforation in it, 
 antiquarians conjecture that the victim was tied 
 to it, preparatory to the sacrifice. But it was used 
 for a very different purpose, down to a late period 
 in the last century. Contracting parties used to 
 meet at its foot, and with hands united through 
 the pillar, uttered a vow of mutual fidelity, which 
 was termed " the promise of Odin." This simple 
 ceremony was considered equivalent to marriage, 
 and none were ever known to violate its obligation 
 without the joint consent of both parties. In that 
 case they repaired together to the church of Stennis, 
 which was built, after the model of the temple, in 
 semicircular form ; and walking out of it by op- 
 posite doors, were supposed to be thus absolved 
 from their vow, and to be able to set at naught 
 the vengeance of the Pagan divinit}'. 
 
 Many a young Norseman, ere he left his home 
 in the isles, and sailed away for the deep sea fish- 
 ing in those perilous icy climes, has prevailed on
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 215 
 
 the flaxen-haired maiden, whom he loved, to re- 
 pair with him to that mystic temple ; and there, 
 while the moon flung down her silver light upon 
 her own grey time-stained columns, with hands 
 locked fast through the charmed pillar, and with 
 hearts locked faster still, the young pair would 
 pour out their vows of enduring affection, and in- 
 voke the stem wanior god, as a witness to the 
 troth which they plighted. 
 
 Passing, near the bridge of Broigar, a single 
 stone, sixteen feet high, five feet broad, and more 
 than a foot in thickness, and jaroceeding along the 
 rising tongue of land which intersects Loch 
 Stennis, we come to the Temple of the Sun. It 
 appears, that previous to the introduction of the 
 religion of Odin, who, as the victorious leader of 
 the Gothic tribes, was elevated from a hero to a 
 god, the worship of the heavenly bodies was cul- 
 tivated in these districts. The temples, which 
 I am now describing, were constructed while the 
 earlier religion prevailed ; and their forms, re- 
 spectively circular and semicircular, are admirably 
 symbolical of the great luminaries to which they 
 were dedicated. But, when the ancient creed was 
 superseded, these vast hofs, or roofless tem.ples, did 
 not perish with them. The barbarous Scandina-
 
 216 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 vians entertained more respect for the mighty 
 works of their forefathers than did the Scotch 
 Reformers, and rightly judged that the old tem- 
 ples would do extremely well for the new religion. 
 Tlierefore they destroyed them not, but merely re- 
 dedicated them to the new divinities, Odin, Thor, 
 and the other heroes, whose exploits on earth ob- 
 tained for them the honours of a seat in heaven. 
 
 The Temple of the Sun has its columns con- 
 siderably smaller than those of the Moon ; yet 
 from the vastness of its plan, and its better pre- 
 servation, it is infinitely more striking. The up- 
 right stones were once probably about thirty-five in 
 number, but only fourteen of them preserve their 
 original position and altitude of from ten to four- 
 teen feet. There are several more, however, about 
 a yard high, which apparently have been broken 
 ofT, while others of them lie prostrate on the 
 groimd. The diameter of the circle, which they 
 form, is more than three hundred and thirty feet. 
 They are surrounded, at the distance of about 
 fifteen or twenty feet, by a broad deep trench, the 
 soil from which seems to have been thrown upon 
 the interior circle, as that space is higher than the 
 external ground. The trench is about thirty feet 
 wide, and its present depth is not more than five
 
 -- 1
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 217 
 
 or six feet. No entrance can be distinctly recog- 
 nized ; but there is something hke the appearance 
 of one both at the east and west points. In the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the temple are several 
 tumuli, or mounds of earth, probably burial places 
 of some great sea kings. 
 
 As T approached these monuments of the olden 
 time, my impatience became so great, that I could 
 not help running towards them ; nor did I stop, 
 till anived at the very centre of the circle, I could 
 take a panoramic view of the whole scene. Here 
 lay the fine expanse of Loch Stennis, and the 
 brown hills of Pomona ; there a narrow strait of 
 the sea, and the vast gloomy forms of the mountains 
 of Hoy. The storm-cloud cast its deepening 
 shadows upon the face of the landscape, and the 
 keen wind sighed mournfully, as it passed through 
 the columns and their crevices. Not a human 
 being was discernible, nor a trace of human ex- 
 istence, save the crumbling stones, whose origin 
 is now lost in the murky distance of antiquity. 
 
 I contrasted, in imagination, their present deso- 
 lation and silence, with the triumphal processions 
 of the w^arriors and heroes, who came hither to 
 celebrate, with their own fierce war-songs, and 
 the shrieks of their human offerings, the victories 
 
 L
 
 218 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 which their god had given them. The conquer- 
 ing, and the conquered, now sleep alike in for- 
 gotten tombs — their fame, and their disgrace, have 
 both vanished away — nay, their very creed itself 
 has become a legendary fable ! — but these gigantic 
 fragments, which they reared with so much re- 
 ligious care, still survive ; and may pass down, 
 even yet, through centuries of time ! 
 
 As I sat upon one of the great sepulchral 
 mounds, looking towards the circle, and indulging 
 in these meditations, suddenly a bright beam of 
 sunshine fell upon the tall stones with their green 
 grey locks of lichen ; and exhibiting them against 
 a back-ground, still shrouded in darkness, im- 
 parted to them a brilliancy almost supernatural. 
 
 It was, as if the god, invoked by the spell of a 
 magician, had come down to visit his long de- 
 serted shrine, and to relume these decaying 
 columns with the glory of his presence. 
 
 Oh ! thou dazzling and magnificent star, the 
 secondary source of our light and life, cherishing 
 with thy kindly beams the creatures of this in- 
 ferior globe, I worship thee not, though standing 
 by this thine altar, whence many a prayer of 
 undoubting faith hath ascended to thy sphere — I 
 worship thee not — for a greater day-star than
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND, 219 
 
 tlioii hath risen from on high, and a brighter 
 light than thine hath been shed abroad upon our 
 land. But through thee, I worship Him who 
 made thee ; and bless Him, not only for thy 
 welcome ray, but for an illumination more pre- 
 cious far, that of His holy gospel of peace. 
 
 Returning to the peasant, with whom I had 
 left my knapsack, he immediately commenced a 
 series of questions, all of which I answered with 
 the greatest patience and veracit}^ Having as- 
 certained that I had no goods to sell, and there- 
 fore was not a common pedlar, and having elicited 
 from me a complete account of who I was, and 
 why I came there, he asked me whether I had 
 been taking a map of the stones ? 
 
 " Queer things, thae ! one of 'em wad be a 
 pratty load for twa men. Nobody kens ought 
 aboot 'em noo ; but I doot they'se be some o' 
 God A'mighty's doin's." 
 
 Without attempting to shake his faith in this 
 solution of the difficulty, I shouldered my knap- 
 sack, and giving him a little whisky for his ser- 
 vices, set out for Stromness. The road ascends in 
 a most useless way, straight up a considerable 
 hill, but it is worth while to pursue it, for the 
 sake of the magnificent views which it commands. 
 
 L 2
 
 220 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Looldng backward, 1 beheld the Standing Stones 
 of Slennis, like a mighty conclave of giants 
 striding along the distant hills. Before me lay the 
 black masses of the romantic Hoy Hills, their 
 sides scored with numberless channels, worn into 
 the red rocks by the toiTents, which descend from 
 their brows. Soon the town of Stromness, on the 
 margin of its bay, appeared below them, forming, 
 I think, as fine a pictm-e as the imagination of a 
 painter can conceive. I would have given much 
 for the power of sketching it, but the cold blasts 
 of the north wind came rushing on, and driving 
 the clouds into heaps, that suddenly became over- 
 charged with rain. 
 
 On entering the town I asked the first person I 
 met, an old woman, which was the way to Mrs. 
 Logan's Inn. 
 
 " It's at soose end o' toon," replied the old dame, 
 in the genuine Orcadian dialect ; " ye needna 
 speer at al, but just gang richt doon to soose end 
 o' toon." 
 
 With such clear indications of the whereabout, 
 I soon established myself, in what has the just 
 credit of being one of the most comfortable inns 
 in the north of Scotland. I arrived about six 
 o'clock, and having breakfasted early, imagine
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 221 
 
 how I relished the tea-dinner that was prepared 
 for me immediately. Wlnle I was discussing its 
 various items, to my extreme astonishment, a 
 piano-forte in the next room, separated from mine 
 only by boards, was touched with a practised 
 hand. I had expected, in these remote and 
 storm-beat isles, to meet with nothing but rude 
 scenes, and ruder men : but here was the luxury 
 of music provided for my entertainment, as if by 
 the wand of a fairy. And oh ! in a cold and 
 dreary clime like this, to listen to the self-same 
 notes, that have soothed us by our own fireside — 
 to that " dear familiar strain," for which 
 
 " Untir'd we ask, and ask again. 
 Ever in its melodious store 
 Finding a spell unheard before ;" 
 
 it makes the heart leap with its own yearning 
 emotions, sweeps away the dissevering obstacles 
 of distance and of time, and re])laces us once 
 more, with stronger and more glowing affections, 
 amidst the loving, and the loved, of our homes. 
 
 Aug. ]7th. — The brief summer of these islands 
 I fear has passed away. Last night it blew 
 almost a gale, and this morning the nor- wester 
 still continues. A schooner has just sailed into 
 the harbour without her foretopmast, which was
 
 222 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 carried away in a squall. There is a Russian 
 stranded on the opposite side of the harbour. 
 She came up the roads in a most bungling manner, 
 running aground three times. But it seems she 
 met with a hurricane soon after she left the Baltic, 
 and was struck by a sea mid-ships, with such 
 violence that her seams opened, and she has now 
 five feet water in her hold. There are many other 
 large vessels at anchor, and boats innumerable ; 
 and, considering the size of Stromuess, there are 
 very few places, which are so full of nautical life 
 and bustle. 
 
 Mrs. Logan is agent to the Whaling Company, 
 and supplies their ships with Orkney men, who 
 are much valued as able and daring seamen. She 
 says that this little town is sometimes the scene 
 of great distress, when any whaler, containing 
 men connected with it, is missing, or knowa to 
 have met with disaster. The preceding year they 
 had a dreadful trial ; but all the ships came home 
 at last, except one, and that one had not an 
 Orkney sailor aboard. She frequently spoke of 
 " the Straits," by which are always meant, in 
 these islands, Davis's straits. 
 
 I asked her, to whom I was indebted for the 
 music of yesterday evening. She said, to her
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 223 
 
 daughter, who, as well as one of her sons, had 
 just returned from Edinburgh, where they had 
 been staying some time, for the purpose of edu- 
 cation. If I were fond of music, she hoped I 
 would join them in the evening. I was surprised 
 to find the landlady of an Orcadian inn possessed 
 of agreeable manners and a good address : she is 
 far above her station, but the fact is she lias good 
 abilities and good temper, two qualifications which 
 1 prefer infinitely to mere rank or wealth. To use 
 the words, by which she was described to me, 
 " She's as clever a woman as any in Scotland." 
 
 1 accepted her invitation with readiness, and 
 when the evening came I found some of the in- 
 habitants of Stromness assembled to meet me, as 
 well as the young ladies, who displayed so much 
 musical proficiency. I liked them all very much, 
 for every body seemed to consider it a duty to 
 be as kind as possible to a stranger. I had no 
 introduction whatever to any of these good peo- 
 ple, and long before they knew my name they 
 shewed me every attention. After tea, Scotch 
 reels and cotillons were danced to my infi- 
 nite amusement. I never before saw them ge- 
 nuinely perfoiTued : famous exercise are they cer- 
 tainly for an arctic climate — rare dances for those
 
 224 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 who would be meny with their souls and bodies 
 too. 
 
 Aug. 18th. — Breakfasted with Mr. , the 
 
 principal surgeon of the town, from whom I re- 
 ceived yesterday a cordial invitation to his house. 
 He shewed me some fine specimens of fossil fish, 
 found in the clay slate rocks by the sea-shore ; he 
 is making a collection of them for his brother-in- 
 law, Professor . I was also gratified with 
 
 the sight of a skin of the great northern diver, a 
 magnificent sea bird, found only in these parts. 
 It is said to dive faster than a six-oared boat can 
 row after it. The plumage of this specimen is 
 that which the bird assumes at pairing time, and 
 is much more varied and splendid than its winter 
 covering. 
 
 Eagles are often seen soaring above Stromness. 
 Their nests are on the cliffs of Hoy. Young 
 Tammie Logan has a beautiful golden eagle, 
 which came from that place, and for which, when 
 scarce feathered, he gave half-a-guinea. The great 
 fishing eagle, as he is here called, may sometimes 
 be seen to stoop for his prey in the waters, and 
 carry it off in his talons. If he attacks too large 
 a fish, he is pulled under water so far as to have 
 his wings wetted, in which case he is perfectly
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 225 
 
 powerless, and would certainly be drowned, if not 
 taken prisoner by some boat. As he seeks his 
 food principally in the ocean, he is not considered 
 very mischievous, and is therefore seldom molested. 
 He sometimes, however, commits depredations on 
 land, and has been known to carry off an infant. 
 The exit of a pig in the talons of an eagle is said to 
 be irresistibly comic, in spite of the sufferings of the 
 poor animal. Little l>iggy has no ambition to take 
 a bird's-eye view of the globe he grubs up; and 
 when such extraordinary^ liberties are taken with 
 his cuticle and ribs, he cannot help feeling exces- 
 sively hurt. He remonstrates vehemently : he 
 squeaks, he squalls, and with such desperate and 
 unremitting vociferation that the monarch of the 
 air becomes disconcerted in his turn and Wiukl 
 fain get rid of so noisy a companion, if he could 
 but extricate himself upon the wing. 
 
 Stromness is greatly superior to Kirkwall in 
 the romance of its situation, but just as much be- 
 hind it in its buildings. If I thought the Broad 
 Street narrow, what shall I say to the main street 
 of Stromness ? I really believe, that in some places 
 you may touch thf> opposite sides of it at once 
 with your arms extended. Every now and then 
 
 L 3
 
 226 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 there is an attempt at pavement on one side, 
 but here we may truly say, 
 
 " th' attempt, and not the deed 
 
 Confounds. "- 
 
 For it is impossible to walk steadily on its narrow 
 ledge, spacious enough only for the little brats, 
 who prefer puddling in the highway. The houses 
 are most irregular and very crowded ; many are 
 built below high-water mark, and some actually 
 descend for their foundation beneath the lowest 
 level of the sea. Those curious roofs, made with 
 turfs and ropes, are very frequent, and, indeed, 
 there are here samples of every genus and species 
 of uncomfortable dwelling to be met with in Ork- 
 ney. The twistings of the main street (as awk- 
 ward as any which the most deliberate inven- 
 tion could have planned) are often caused by a 
 little inclosure before the houses, a sort of yard, 
 about twenty feet square, called " a park." 
 Nearly every third door has a sign over it. I 
 never in any town saw such numbers of public- 
 houses: there are thirty-nine licensed, besides 
 several drinking shops. 
 
 The language of the lower orders in Stromness 
 contains more Scotch words than that of the other
 
 EAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 227 
 
 Orcadians ; but there is one characteristic pre- 
 vailing throughout, viz. the narrow sound of our 
 broad a; for instance, they pronounce the word 
 " all" nearly as if it were written " al" * They in- 
 troduce gutturals and rattle the r like Highlanders. 
 Scarce a vestige of the old Norse tongue remains 
 among them : there is one spot, however, which 
 retains its ancient title, signifying a landing place: 
 it is writen " Helzae Hole," pronounced by 
 wicked boys " Helly Hole," and by the good 
 minister " Holy Hole." 
 
 The poor people are very well off, being always 
 able to get enough fish in summer to salt for the 
 winter. They sometimes supply themselves with 
 vegetables by encroaching on the common; they 
 surround the little spot, which they mean to culti- 
 vate, with a low fence of stones, and it is then 
 called a " plantie cruive :" if no notice is taken, 
 they soon enlarge it a little, and so by degrees, 
 make it sufficient for the supply of their wants. 
 The strong men go away for half the year to the 
 deep sea fishing, and, returning with their pay, 
 enjoy the remaining months with their family and 
 friends. 
 
 * I afterwards found that this custom prevailed universally 
 anions' the lower orders in the north of Scot'and.
 
 228 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Aug. 19th. — The nor- wester rages still, and 
 the heavy showers which it brings up, render it 
 impossible for me to visit Hoy with any comfort 
 or success. But I must not repine at being laid 
 up in such comfortable quarters. There are at 
 least a dozen ships in the harbour wind-bound, like 
 myself They dare not stir from their anchorage 
 till the breeze moderates. The Russian has got 
 afloat again, and is now discharging her cargo of 
 timber, in order to go into dock, 
 
 John Gow, the original of Sir Walter Scott's 
 Pirate, is still remembered in Stromness. His 
 father's garden may be seen to this day across the 
 harbour; it is a solitary inclosure, close to the 
 beach, suiTounded by stone walls. The little 
 creek beside it, too, in which his boat used to 
 land, remains, of course, without any alteration. 
 The premises are so situated that, in order to visit 
 the town from them, one must needs cross the 
 harbour ; no wonder, then, that young Gow soon 
 acquired a seaman's skill, and a love for the sea- 
 man's life. I cannot imagine any place more cal- 
 culated to foster such sentiments than this : for it 
 is a constant resort of ships, that put in to avoid 
 the fury of the northern seas; and the flags of 
 many nations may often be seen streaming over it
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. '229 
 
 at once. On every side he would meet with dar- 
 ing mariners ; and his own countrymen, especially, 
 were always celebrated for their adventurous deeds 
 on the ocean. Bred up in a school like this, at a 
 time when the laws were but feebly enforced in 
 these distant provinces, we feel no surprise that, 
 when once involved in illegal pursuits, he should 
 become a formidable and desperate leader. 
 
 The house in which his earlier and less guilty 
 days were passed, stood close by the garden, and 
 was pulled down only a few years ago, but it had 
 long ceased to be inhabited, and had acquired an 
 evil name from the supposition, that the ghost of 
 the gibbeted pirate had come back to haunt the 
 scenes of his innocent childhood, and to atone 
 there for the crimes of his maturer age. Boatmen, 
 who passed the spot by night, frequently heard 
 dismal clankings, especially in stormy weather; 
 and some had actually seen the unquiet spirit in 
 its death-chains, arrayed as on the day when that 
 romantic and most unhappy maiden claimed back 
 from his corpse the troth, which she had plighted 
 to him when living. 
 
 Her real family name was Gordon, but as to her 
 Christian one, I could only learn that one of the 
 sisters was called Sibella, a name of common oc-
 
 230 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 cunence in Orlaiey. Mrs. Logan has a couple of 
 old domestics, properly known by the sounding 
 appellations of Isabella and Sibella, familiarly 
 contracted to Ibbie and Sibbie. 
 
 Aug. 20th. I was meditating at breakfast 
 this morning on the practicability of my retreat 
 from Orkney, when the servant told me, that a 
 number of whales had come into the roads, and 
 might be seen from the quay distinctly. I sallied 
 out directly to look at these unexpected visitors, 
 who have been driven in by the gales; and 1 
 could easily discern their huge dark bodies, heav- 
 ing above the surface of the deep, and dashing 
 the spray around them. 
 
 All Stromness w^as in motion, and boat after 
 boat, with its eager crew, might be seen pushing 
 off the shore, each armed with fish speai's and 
 knives, and crowding all sail to get up to the 
 scene of action. Some of them, in the excite- 
 ment of the chase, carried a dangerous weight of 
 canvass ; for the weather is still extremely rough 
 and squally. Mrs. Logan procured a boat to 
 land me on the holm, which lies on the other side 
 of the harbour, and was much nearer to the 
 whales. 
 
 Here under the rocks, sheltered from the keen
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 231 
 
 wind and heavy showers, I had a tolerable view 
 of the sport. Boat after boat still hurried round 
 the point of the holm, and joined its forces to the 
 formidable aiTay, which was already pursuing the 
 herd. Three tall ships, at anchor in the roads, 
 also sent out their crews, for the chance of a prize. 
 The fish were about a hundred in number, and 
 were considered to fonn a very large herd. The 
 individuals are seldom of great size, averaging 
 from eighteen to twenty-two feet in length, some- 
 times, however, running beyond thirty feet. 
 
 It was curious to watch the manoeuvres of the 
 boats, now crowding to one point, and now spread- 
 ing out into a prolonged line. The object is to 
 drive the animals ashore, where they become an 
 easy prey to their pursuers. A boat wliich suc- 
 ceeds in killing one of them, ties it to the stern to 
 secure it. The breeze was fresh, and the tide 
 flowing ; both which circumstances are greatly in 
 favour of the whales' escape : for if they get 
 stranded for a moment, a high sea, or at all events, 
 the rising tide, will probably float them off, before 
 they can be captured. The whole herd was 
 driven at one time, into a small bay ; but here, 
 with united forces, they made a grand sortie, and 
 pumping up torrents of water with their blowers,
 
 232 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 and lashing the surface with their tails, they 
 rushed out into the open roads. 
 
 The hunters rarely strike them till they are 
 ashore ; for when wounded they become totally 
 unmanageable, and cannot be driven towards land. 
 
 But in the present instance, spears would have 
 been used, if the increasing wind could have been 
 foreseen. It soon blew so hard and rained so fast, 
 that the boats retired, one after another, from the 
 pursuit, and not a single fish was taken. If the 
 breeze drops, it is probable that many of them 
 will get stranded on the neighbouring coasts, for 
 they are now so land-locked that they have little 
 chance of making their way into deep water. 
 
 After the sport was over, I walked with the 
 young Logans to examine the cliff scenery of the 
 western coast. 
 
 From the little village of Outertown, which we 
 ])assed by, there is seen in the precipices of Hoy 
 a gigantic profile of Sir Walter Scott ; and soon 
 afterwards the summit of the insulated rock, called 
 " the Old Man of Hoy," becomes visible. 
 
 But the most interesting point of our ramble 
 was the spot where, two years ago, the Star of 
 Dundee, was wrecked. To see it we had to de- 
 scend to the edge of the cliff, from which we com-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 233 
 
 manded a most magnificent view of the great 
 Atlantic, now strongly agitated by these long con- 
 tinued storms. But the seas, though majestic, 
 were not so high as I expected to find them, a 
 sign probably that calm weather was near. The 
 wreck took place in a slight recess of the cliffs, at 
 the extremity of which is a cave ; and a more 
 tremendous shore to drive on, can hardly be 
 imagined ; for the dark solid rocks arise perpen- 
 dicularly, and even overhang the assailing waves 
 beneath them. Only 500 or 600 yards south, 
 where there is a shingly beach, there would have 
 been a chance of saving the crew ; but, as the 
 veteran pilot observed, who told me the story, 
 " its just ordination." 
 
 The schooner came driving on at the mercy of 
 the billows and the blast, and though numbers of 
 ]3eople with ropes were on the cliff, ready to do 
 all in their power, there was no human help that 
 could avail. What an awful moment must that 
 have been for the despahing crew, when the ship 
 was about to be driven against the dreadful rocks ! 
 She struck — and when the next wave coiled back 
 from the cliffs, no ship was there ! She was crashed 
 into countless fragments, many of which were
 
 234 ♦JOURNAL OF A 
 
 washed up into the cave at the extremity of the 
 recess. 
 
 Among the mass thus drifted was a human 
 being, who had the singularly good fortune, not 
 only to escape into the cavern, when all who 
 were in the same plight with him had perished, 
 but to escape with meat, drink, and clothing, 
 amply sufficient to sustain life, till he could make 
 his way to the top of the cliff. He found drifted 
 with him, red herrings to eat, an oil-can for catch- 
 ing drops of fresh water from the roof of the cave 
 to drink, and two pillows on which to sleep. 
 
 " He was na' cold," observed the old pilot, as 
 he finished the tale, " for the sea blocked tlie cave's 
 mouth, and the foul air kept him in confusion : 
 'twas a wonder he was na suffocate. It's no every 
 man, that has Johnson's luck,but it's the doin's of 
 the Almighty." 
 
 For three days the poor fellow was kept 
 prisoner in this dreary abode, at the end of which 
 time the tide receded so far, that he was enabled 
 to emerge from his living tomb, and scale the ad- 
 joining cliff. The place has ever since been 
 known by the name of Johnson's cave. It is 
 easy of access from below in neap tides, but to-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 235 
 
 day the waves were wasliiug its entrance with 
 their spray. 
 
 We pursued our ramble till we came to the 
 beautiful insulated pillar, resembling the Clett, at 
 the distance of five or six miles from Stromness. 
 It is a very remarkable object, being of enormous 
 height, and though as broad as the Clett in one 
 direction, is so exceedingly narrow in the other, 
 that when properly viewed, it appears to remain 
 balanced only by a miracle. This effect, too, is 
 increased by the apparently loose stratification of 
 its component rocks, and by the heavy sea, that is 
 perpetually storming its base. Every wave, that 
 comes rolling on from the great western r ceau, 
 seems about to lay its proud summit level with 
 the deep. Look at that tremendous sea ! It nears 
 — it rushes — it strikes with all the mighty mo- 
 mentum of its waters ! The tall pillar quails not 
 at the blow, but beats back the foiled billow, in 
 cataracts of spray and tempests of foam. Yes ! 
 tempests of foam ; the expression is accurate, and 
 not poetical ; for the froth is tossed up into the 
 air by the troubled waters in great flakes, and 
 borne in showers by the breeze over the highest 
 cliffs. In many places it adheres to the black
 
 236 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 rocks so thickly, that they appear precisely as if 
 powdered by a violent snow-stonn. 
 
 The cliff scenery from this point, so gigantic in 
 altitude, so extensive in range ; now lighted by the 
 sunshine, and now darkened in stomi ; rent asun- 
 der into clefts, or hollowed into caves, by the ever 
 booming sea — exhibited with its accompaniments 
 a picture most truly impressive and sublime. 
 
 On Sunday I remained quiet in Stromness, but 
 on the following day, 
 
 August 22d, I resolved to cross over to Thurso, 
 if I could get a sailor to take me. The weather 
 appeared more settled, and the wind had fallen 
 to a gentle breeze, when after taking leave of 
 Mrs. Logan and her family, I left the quay of 
 the good inn, the Ship, for the bay of Long 
 Hope, at the south-east comer of Hoy. The 
 bark, that conveyed me, was one of the smallest 
 fair-weather pilot-boats ; it was manned by four 
 able seamen acquainted with all the rocks, shoals, 
 and currents of the Orkney seas. 
 
 In coasting along the eastern side of Hoy, we 
 were surrounded by thick showers in all directions, 
 dense clouds hanging upon the summit of the 
 Ward Hill, and upon the heights of Pomona. 
 The wind blew from the land, and we were con-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 237 
 
 sequently in smooth water, but we met with many 
 sudden squalls; which would have made the voyage 
 appear very perilous, if I had not been perfectly 
 convinced of the skill of the crew. One of them 
 said, he had never reefed so often in any voyage 
 of the same length. With all their dexterity, 
 however, the sea came rushing over the gunwale 
 more than once ; whereupon the helmsman, who 
 also held the sheet of the mainsail, and was 
 therefore responsible for these accidents, would 
 remark with a look of vexation, as he lufied up, 
 " It's very uncertain weather any hoo." 
 But a set of men, whose daily occupation leads 
 them out into seas like these, during the roughest 
 weather, are not to be capsized by a puff of 
 wind, however sudden ; I thei'efore enjoyed my 
 little voyage extremely ; and to any one who de- 
 lights in much of the appearance of danger, with 
 very little of the reality, I strongly recommend a 
 coasting voyage with Orkney pilots in a squally 
 day. 
 
 1 wished them to go on with me at once to Thur- 
 so : but this they refused to do. Thev said thev 
 would take me to the Head of Long Hope Bay, 
 and by walking across the isthmus I should get 
 a proper boat for the puipose. Old Brock, who
 
 238 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 kept the fevry, knew the Firth better than they 
 did, and he would land me at Thurso if any man 
 could ; but they thought it was impossible. There 
 would be no difficulty in getting across to Brough, 
 which was a shorter distance, and lay to the east- 
 ward. 
 
 We landed at the extremity of Long Hope Bay, 
 which is separated from the Firth only by a small 
 belt of sand a few yards in bi-eadth. The sea 
 when running high, often beats over, thus con- 
 verting the southern boundary of the bay from a 
 peninsula into an island. The Ferry-house, 
 close by, is on a hill westward, and is called 
 Brimm's Walls. It professes to be an inn, and 
 accordingly the pilots accompanied me thither, to 
 get a little whisk^'. 
 
 We summoned Old Brock, who immediately 
 declared it impossible to reach Thurso, because 
 the wind still kept up so briskly between the 
 west and north ; but if it fell towards evening, he 
 would try ; any how, he would put me across to 
 Brough, ten miles east of Thurso : we must, how- 
 ever, wait for the flood tide, which would be about 
 seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 It was now only mid-day, and when I looked 
 around at the apartment in which we were as-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 239 
 
 sembled, its reeliing peat-fire, its broken windows, 
 its little bed in a box, and its lumbering sea- 
 chests, and reflected, that it must serve me for 
 parlour, bed-chamber, and all, — I concluded it 
 would be advisable to cross, even at seven in the 
 evening, rather than pass the whole day and night 
 in so very humble a dwelling. Besides, though 
 I should be late at sea, yet the wind generally 
 moderated towards night-fall ; and if I stayed till 
 the morning I might not be able to stir at all. I 
 wanted, too, to write to my mother; who, I knew, 
 would be anxious to hear that I had returned to 
 terra jirma ; and so putting all these circum- 
 stances together, and joining to them the assur- 
 ance of the pilots, that Brock was as good a 
 sailor as any in those islands, and knew the 
 Firth better than any man, I resolved in fine to 
 go to sea. 
 
 I wished very much to start earlier, but Brock 
 said it would only keep us back ; for if we did 
 not " cheat the tide" we should be driven far from 
 our course. The current ran here at the rate of 
 9j knots an hour, and there was not a ship in the 
 navy that could stem it, if the wind were to tear 
 the masts out of her. This was a species of rea- 
 soning that was not to be gainsaid ; it was re-
 
 240 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 solved, therefore, that we should VA'ait till seven 
 o'clock. 
 
 The Stromness pilots were much pleased with 
 my offer to pay for all their whisky, and only ac- 
 cepted it after many remonstrances: 
 
 " Just a dram," they said, " was very richt, 
 but they couldna think o' troubling a gentleman 
 for more." 
 
 So on departing to rcimbark for their home, 
 they all wished me a good voyage over the Firth, 
 and each insisted upon shaking me by the hand. 
 The first nearly wrung it off, when I luckily be- 
 thought me that, to relieve myself from such 
 pressure, the only way would be to give the other 
 three as good as they brought ; and therefore I 
 gripped their paws with all my might, by which 
 fortunate expedient I gi'atified them and saved 
 myself. 
 
 When they were gone, 1 strolled along the 
 cliffs, that overhang the Firth, and casting many 
 inquisitive glances over its troubled waters, I 
 could not help wishing, that I was safely har- 
 boured on the other side. The sky cleared con- 
 siderably, and beneath its curling clouds, and 
 stretching far away into the Western main, I saw 
 the blue seriied forms of the great Highland
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 241 
 
 mountains, among whose glens 1 soon hoped to 
 ramble. 
 
 Dame Brock grilled a couple of chickens for 
 my dinner, every morsel of which I devoured, 
 except one or two of the hardest and most refrac- 
 tory bones ; and two more chickens in embryo 
 did I destroy in the shape of eggs for my tea at six 
 o'clock. I could get neither bread nor potatoes. 
 
 When I had finished the last meal, the old 
 woman went down to the shore for her husband, 
 who had been watching the tide ; and bringing 
 him ben, i. e. into the best of the two rooms which 
 constitute an Orkney cottage, she helped him 
 with the greatest assiduity and affection to the 
 remains of my tea, and some oat-cake. It was a 
 fine picture to see that old weather-beaten man, 
 with his silver hairs and honest countenance, 
 making his little fi:ugal meal under the care of 
 his aged partner, whose every action and look 
 seemed to address him in the language of that ex- 
 quisite ballad : 
 
 John Anderson, my jo, John, 
 
 When we were first acquent, 
 Your locks were like the raven, 
 
 Your bonnie brow was brent ; 
 But now your brow is bald, John, 
 
 Your locks are like the snow ; 
 
 M
 
 242 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 But blessings on your frosty pow, 
 John Anderson, my jo ! 
 
 When he had finished, he went down to the 
 shore again, and soon returned, saying, he thought 
 it would do now. I followed him to the little 
 boat, which was riding in a secure nook, and 
 standing near it, were the three men, who, with 
 the veteran Brock, formed an able and gallant 
 crew. 1 did not much like the size of the boat, 
 which was not a bit larger than that of the 
 pilot's ; indeed, it was but 14^ feet long, though 
 it earned two masts. They said it was not the 
 proper boat, but the other was away, I suppose 
 at the herring fishery. To mend the matter, too, 
 we soon found, that she leaked extremely, from 
 having lain ashore for the last fortnight, during 
 which time no one had crossed the Firth from the 
 Feny. However, the wind had abated, and the 
 evening seemed fine; so we proceeded without 
 any anticipation of difficulty or danger. Indeed 
 Brock thought, we might even get to Thurso. 
 
 The men used their oars at first in order to pull 
 along shore to windward, before they attempted 
 to cross with their sails ; but every now and then 
 they were obliged to lay them aside, for the pur- 
 pose of baling. An attempt was made to stop
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 243 
 
 the leak with some tow and a knife, but it was 
 unavailing. 
 
 At first we were in smooth water ; we then 
 turned a point of land, and were all at once 
 rocking in a short jabbling sea. Here we passed 
 a small boat at anchor for fishing, which formed 
 a curious spectacle, as it heaved up and down on 
 the waves; sometimes it seemed soaring to the 
 clouds, with half its keel out of water ; and some- 
 times it was totally concealed from our view, 
 though close to us. 
 
 On a huge stone almost detached from the low 
 cliflF sat an angler, whose occupation, and position 
 athwart the sky, over the rolling waters, reminded 
 me of the giant, who 
 
 " Sat on a rock and bobb'd for whales." 
 
 We Still kept with our oars close in to shore, 
 steering due west against the wind; and were 
 now carried by the tide over long swelling seas, 
 that came rolling their huge dark masses past us, 
 and dashing in magnificent breakers against the 
 cliffs on our right. The day was fast closing, and 
 the failing shadowy twilight threw an air of in- 
 expressible solemnity and grandeur over the scene. 
 To float for a moment upon the ridge of one of 
 
 M 2
 
 244 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 these enoiinous billows, and look forth to the vast 
 expanse of ocean, with the gloomy clouds gather- 
 ing fast over it in the far and dim horizon — then 
 to sink slowly and smoothly down to the lowest 
 hollow, and view nothing before us but one long 
 scarce-ruffled plain of murky water, separated 
 from the yet-illumined western sky by a line most 
 clear and sharp — such were the alternations of 
 scenery presented by the Pentland Firth. 
 
 Having made a long reach to westward, we at 
 last tucked in our oars, hoisted both sails, and 
 away we steered directly across the perilous 
 channel. Our little boat danced along merrily 
 under her canvass, and I really began to think we 
 should weather Dunnet Head, and get to Thurso 
 well. 
 
 But old Brock shook his head thoughtfully. 
 Heavy showers had been lingering on the Hoy 
 Hills, and they now came driving over us with 
 their rain and hail, in strong gusts, which made 
 our little bark reel again under her canvass. Brock, 
 from his post at the helm, ordered a reef in the 
 main-sail, and soon another in the fore-sail, when, 
 as he said, the boat went much prettier. 
 
 After a prolonged and searching examination of 
 the weather-sky, " We canna get to Thurso, the
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 245 
 
 nicht," said the fine old mariner ; " for you see," 
 he added, still fixing his keen eye in the west, 
 " you see. Sir — Keep the halyards clear ! — you see, 
 these shoors grieves the wind, and — Keep the hal- 
 yards clear, Sandie ! — we canna be sure — Down 
 with the main-sail ! " shouted the old man in a 
 voice of thunder. 
 " Foresail too !" 
 
 In a moment every inch of canvass was at the 
 bottom of the boat, and we were riding under 
 bare poles. But scarcely had that moment elapsed, 
 when on rushed the mad blast with appalling 
 fury, sweeping off the crests of the waves, and 
 hurling them with its own storm-drops in one 
 sheet of foam along the surface of the deep. Well 
 was it for us, that old Brock's experienced eye 
 had anticipated the coming foe, for had that 
 squall overtaken us with a single sail up, we must 
 have been capsized. And well was it for us, that 
 the hiuricane lasted but for a few minutes, for had 
 it continued to blow hard, we should have been 
 driven out into the ocean, or have been wrecked 
 on the cliffs of Duncansbay Head. 
 
 Great God of heaven, we are in thy hands ! 
 Thy providence is over us, even on this dreadful 
 deep ! But my mother ! — my poor mother ! oh !
 
 246 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 comfort her, for I am her only son, and she a 
 widow !" 
 
 The storm soon ceased, and left us once more 
 with a fresh but steady breeze ; it was not, how- 
 ever, till many minutes had elapsed, and not 
 without a long searching look into the west, that 
 old Brock gave the word for hoisting the fore- 
 sail. 
 
 " We'll try her with that first," said he, " and 
 see how the wind behaves. It's no a nicht for a 
 boat like this !" 
 
 In a short time he ventured the mainsail too, 
 and we met with no more squalls. 
 
 We were still only in the middle of the firth, 
 but were cheered with the view of the lighthouse 
 on Dunnet Head, whose friendly lamp, gleaming 
 over the waste of waters, assured us that we had 
 not been driven far from our course. I have often 
 dwelt with pleasure on a description of some 
 distant beacon, cheering with its guiding ray the 
 path of the tempest-driven mariner, and have felt 
 all the poetry of the picture : but I never felt its 
 truth till now. 
 
 " Och ! but it's a lichtsome thing on a dark 
 nicht like this," said one of our crew, " an' we'd 
 hae thought the way sax times as long wilhoot it."
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 247 
 
 As we neaxed the laud, the wind dropped en- 
 tirely, and we pulled in with our oars ; still, how- 
 ever, we were compelled to bale every now and 
 then. It was veiy amusing to watch the phos- 
 phoric animalculse spangling the bottom of the 
 boat, and streaming down its sides with the spilt 
 water. In our wake, also, innumerable fairy stars 
 glistened among the dark waves, rivalling those 
 loftier lights, which now sparkled here and there 
 in the opening firmament above us. 
 
 At length we heard the roar of the breakers, 
 and old Brock soon distinguished, by marks of 
 his own, the point where we had to land. It was 
 past eleven o'clock when I stepped out of the 
 boat, and Brock immediately led the way up a 
 precarious foot-path, cut in the face of the cliff, 
 to some little huts at the summit. They were all 
 in darkness ; and it was some time before any one 
 would answer to our knocking. At last Brock's 
 niece recognized his voice, and immediately rose 
 to let us in. Fortunately the peat fire was still 
 glowing ; so after giving me a chair beside it, the 
 old man went back to help his comrades in se- 
 curing the boat. 
 
 Meanwhile, I cast my eyes around the little
 
 248 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 hut, which now afforded me its lowly, but wel- 
 come shelter. The room was very low, though 
 open to the roof. A cat was frisking about the 
 cross beams with great vivacity ; while the little 
 dog, who had been disturbed at our entrance, 
 curled himself comfortably up again on the hearth- 
 stone. Immediately opposite the fire-place was a 
 large wooden den, something like a cobbler's stall, 
 containing a bed, on which two little children 
 were sweetly sleeping. Many articles of linen, 
 lately washed, were hanging before the fire to 
 dry. A dim flickering light was supplied by a 
 dried rush, steeped in a small vessel containing 
 oil. Old Brock, who seemed to repay my par- 
 tiality for him by a similar one for me, had given 
 his niece the strictest injunctions to make me as 
 comfortable as she could; and accordingly she 
 busied herself, in an-anging for my accommodation 
 the little inner apartment, reserved for great occa- 
 sions like this. While she was thus employed, 
 the drenched seamen came up from the beach, and 
 seated themselves round the blazing peat. 
 
 Greatly did they regret the absence of whisky 
 just now, as they said, " when it wad be worth 
 three times its weicht in gold." I had given them
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 all which my flask contained while they were at 
 sea, and none could be procured in this little 
 hamlet. 
 
 Leaving them to their own confabulations, 
 which I heard in low muttered tones long after 
 I was in bed, I accepted my hostess's invitation 
 to " gae ben." My knapsack had unfortunately 
 been soaked through and through with sea-water ; 
 but with the aid of a capital peat fire, which had 
 been lighted for me, I contrived very well. I was 
 glad enough to find myself once more upon the 
 firm land in any quarters, and ere I laid my head 
 upon the coarse pillow, 1 did not forget to return 
 hearty thanks to God for his deliverance of me 
 from a watery grave. 
 
 Aug. 23rd. — Next morning I did not rise till 
 seven, when I found, that the mariners were gone. 
 I went out directly, and saw the little boat with 
 its sail like a white speck upon the dark blue sea. 
 The morning was fine, though cold, and the wind 
 steady, so I have no doubt they had a prosperous 
 voyage. 
 
 When I returned to the hut, I found the two 
 children, whom 1 had seen sleeping the night 
 before, seated upon a couple of peat-logs before 
 the fire, and apparently enjoying the dense smoke, 
 
 M 3
 
 250 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 which filled the whole apartment. I procured a 
 cup of tea as speedily as possible, accompanied 
 by a couple of eggs, and a biscuit as hard as a 
 brickbat. To break off a little fragment required 
 the nicest adjustment of the grinding apparatus ; 
 and I could not help thinking, that to a by- 
 stander I must have appeared like a dog gnawing 
 a bone too big for him. 
 
 But I consoled myself with the reflection, that 
 I should get a good breakfast at Thurso, and 
 having rewarded this poor woman for her kind- 
 ness, I set out to walk the eleven miles. My 
 knapsack was made very heavy fi-om its still being 
 wet with sea-water. The way lies over Dunnet 
 sands, whence I had a magnificent ocean view, 
 bounded by Dunnet Head, and the cliffs of Hoy, 
 on the east ; and the low promontory of Murcle 
 on the west. In the north, or front, the horizon 
 of the dark sea was finely projected against the 
 sunny sky ; while near at hand the tall breakers 
 thundered along one after another, on the scarcely 
 sloping beach, presenting alternate belts of the 
 deepest blue and the purest white. Nearer still 
 was a wide fringe of dripping sand, reflecting every 
 object seen over it in soft shadows, and especially 
 a woman with naked feet, long blue cloak and
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 251 
 
 hood, and basket ; and afterwards two carts, with 
 men beside them. Last of all came the dry finn 
 golden sand, on which I walked, strewn here 
 and there with broken shells; now smooth as 
 polished glass, now rippled into mimic waves by 
 the play of the laughing waters. 
 
 I reached Thurso in less than three hours, and 
 indemnified myself for all former iudiiferent meals 
 by a hearty breakfast. The rest of the day I 
 spent in WTiting an account of my safe arrival on 
 the main land to my mother; making a few brief 
 notes from Anderson's Guide, to save me the 
 trouble of canying it on my shoulders; and bring- 
 ing up the arrears of my journal. 
 
 Aug. 24th. — My portmanteau went south to 
 Inverness this morning, while I commenced my 
 land expedition westward, by taking a seat in the 
 mail gig, as it is called, to Tongue. It is in 
 reality a double-bodied phaeton, carrying five 
 persons, a capital thing from which to see the 
 country, well horsed, but most tedious in stop- 
 pages. We were upwards of ten hours in going 
 forty-four miles. It is true the road is hilly, but 
 with a carriage so low we were able to rattle 
 down hill with perfect safety, and the time was 
 all lost in changing horses ; an operation that
 
 252 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 seldom took us less than half an hour. Shameful 
 mismanagement, certainly, if dispatch be of any 
 importance to the good people of Tongue and 
 Thurso ; but such loiteiing suited my purpose 
 very well, as I wanted to see every thing. 
 
 The road, however, does not contain much that 
 is striking, excepting one sublime burst of moun- 
 tain scenery from the summit of a hill, the cha- 
 racter of which is that of absolute sterility and soli- 
 tude. Among the masses that compose the back 
 ground, Ben Hope and Ben Laoghal are very con- 
 spicuous ; especially the latter, upon whose ridge 
 there is a most remarkable peak, resembling the 
 horn of a rhinoceros. There was a fine echo in 
 this neighbourhood, which returned the notes of 
 a bugle in prolonged and thrilling harmony. 
 
 At Strathnaver, also, there is a beautiful scene, 
 where the little stream is seen winding along the 
 bottom of the glen, and a screen of dark blue 
 mountains rises in the distance. Here we saw 
 many clear and distressing marks of that depopu- 
 lating process, which was carried on in this coun- 
 try, for the purpose of throwing all the lands into 
 great sheep farms. Many a level spot of ground, 
 amid the general waste, shewed by its regular 
 form, and bright green herbage, that it had once
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 been cultivated ; and near each of these, lay a 
 heap of grey stones, sole remnants of the little 
 cottages, whose tenants lived upon the produce. 
 The unfortunate inhabitants were driven out of 
 these, their mountain homes, which were then im- 
 mediately pulled down to the ground, or destroyed 
 by fire. It was even said, that one old woman, 
 who refused to retreat, was severely burnt. 
 
 In former times the notion prevailed, that our 
 peasants were the riches of the land ; but now, as 
 one of my fellow travellers observed, " The no- 
 bility, and the merchants, and the great agricul- 
 turists, wad like to manage a' by machineiy an' 
 hae naething to do wi' puir folk, but just to sell 
 'em their produce." 
 
 I knew nothing of the circumstances which 
 might palliate this wholesale extermination. 
 That such must exist, I had not the slightest 
 doubt ; still, when I looked up this beautiful 
 strath, and reflected, that the glad voices of chil- 
 dren, which once echoed along the glen, were now 
 replaced only by the bleating of sheep, or the 
 croak of the raven, I could not help recurring to 
 the picture which Tacitus makes the British 
 leader draw of Roman ambition " ubi solitudinem 
 faciunt, pacem appellant."
 
 254 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 A little before the close of our journey, we 
 came in sight of a mansion, once the baronial 
 residence of Lord Reay, now the Duchess of 
 Sutherland's. It is pleasantly situated on the 
 banks of the Kyle of Tongue, and there are some 
 thriving plantations about it, which, to one w-ho 
 has not seen a green leaf for weeks, are a refresh- 
 ing sight. At length our cold ride against the 
 west wind came to a conclusion, and we arrived 
 at the half dozen houses which constitute the 
 village of Tongue. 
 
 Aug. 25th. — The inn at this place is excellent : 
 to prove the assertion, I need only say that they 
 gave me a haunch of vension and a sweet omelet 
 for dinner, and that the bedroom furniture is as 
 complete, as any to be found in an Edinburgh 
 hotel. 
 
 The greatest attraction of Tongue is its ro- 
 mantic little kirk, embosomed in tall trees, which 
 give to this little spot the appearance of an oasis 
 in a desert. It is true, that one or two, tow'ards 
 the North, indicate by their disproportioned 
 trunks, antlered branches, and scanty leaves, that 
 they feel all the unkindness of the wintry blast ; 
 but there are others, better protected, that would 
 not disgrace an Enghsh park.
 
 RAJMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 255 
 
 The kirk itself is very small, and extremely 
 plain ; but it produced a thrilling effect, when 
 seen with its battlemented gables and tiny win- 
 dows, through the half obscuring foliage, now 
 hushed in unbroken and solemn repose. It was, 
 as though some guardian spirit had planted and 
 nourished these goodly trees among the sterile 
 mountains, in order to screen the little temple and 
 its lowly tombs from the rage of arctic storms. 
 The gravestones are different from any I have 
 ever seen, being split from the schistose rock of 
 the neighbourhood. Three upright slabs are 
 placed at the head, foot, and middle of the grave ; 
 they are about eighteen inches high, and support 
 another long horizontal slab, upon which there is 
 generally no inscription whatever. 
 
 There was one, however, on which the me- 
 morial was begun ; it was the tomb of an infant, 
 for there were only two supporting stones, and 
 the flat one was very small. On the left corner, 
 at the top of the level slab, the letters " here 1 " 
 were rudely carved ; the unfinished attempt, per- 
 haps, of the childless father to record the loss of 
 his first-born. 
 
 Aug. 26th. — Both yesterday and to-day drench- 
 ing showers have prevailed, and the wind has
 
 256 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 been dangerously violent. Many vessels have 
 stood into Loch Erribol to avoid its fury, and no 
 less than eleven herring-boats have been dashed 
 to pieces upon the rocks between this and Thurso 
 — fortunately no lives have been lost. The wea- 
 ther is now a subject of most serious alarm, not 
 only to seamen, but to agriculturists also. It is 
 feared, that the crops will hardly ripen, even if 
 good weather should commence at once ; if it 
 delay another week, or fortnight, the thing is out 
 of the question. And to this circumstance it 
 being added, that the hemng fishing has been, on 
 these coasts, almost a total failure this year, the 
 prospects of the poor are gloomy indeed. 
 
 I met at the inn a gentleman, who, with the 
 greatest kindness lent me a map of the county of 
 Sutherland, to be returned to him from the last 
 town I should visit. It is upon a much larger 
 scale, and is much more accurate, than Arrow- 
 smith's Map, and will be of the greatest service 
 to me in walking through the terra incognita of 
 the western coast. The same gentleman also 
 supplied me with a great deal of information as 
 to the inns, and possible modes of travelling. It 
 was he, who furnished Anderson with his descrip- 
 tion of this county.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 257 
 
 Aug. 27th. — In the first calm morning we have 
 had for weeks I set out in the mail gig to Alt- 
 naharra. The road ascends a shoulder of Ben 
 Laoghal, and then coasts along the loch of that 
 name, a noble sheet of water. The scenery is 
 such as cannot fail to make a deep impression on 
 the mind of a Southron ; but the great mountains 
 are too distant to allow it the character of gran- 
 deur ; large lochs, and long swelling moors, lying 
 at the foot of Ben Laoghal, with the great groups 
 of Ben Hope, Ben Hee, and Ben Klibreck, in the 
 distance, suiTounding them ; all solemn, vast, and 
 lonely. 
 
 Altnaharra is a solitary inn with a few culti- 
 vated patches round it, which, though really con- 
 siderable in extent, yet seen amid the far-spread- 
 ing wastes, appear like so many little green specks. 
 There is not another house for miles. I knew 
 that two gentlemen had made the inn their head- 
 quarters for deer-shooting ; but, notwithstanding 
 this, I determined to take my chance of procuring 
 accommodation. There was no great difficulty in 
 getting a bed ; but there was great difficulty in 
 getting into it: for the room was barely six feet 
 square, and in height, about six feet at one end, 
 and three feet at the other. The only light in it
 
 258 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 was a single small pane of glass, fixed in the 
 sloping roof; but there was also a kind of trap-door, 
 with no fastening, for the purpose of ventilation. 
 It did very well. I believe the other rooms, 
 which were pre-occupied are very good. 
 
 I arrived about 10 o'clock, and after breakfast- 
 ing, walked about seven miles along the beach of 
 Loch Naver. There is a good road, generally, 
 perfectly open, but occasionally skirted by low 
 birch and nut-trees, the spontaneous produce of 
 the soil. Across the loch, the mighty form of 
 Ben Klibreck is reared, dark and lofty, and solid ; 
 while farther on, the beautiful wood of Achool 
 clothes a craggy mountain, and descends with 
 its branches to kiss the surface of the lake. Not 
 a sound was heard, save that of the puny billow, 
 called into momentary life by the passing zephyr; 
 unless, perhaps, the finely-poised airy leaf of the 
 birch added its murmurings to those of the 
 water. 
 
 After encountering so many stormy gales, it 
 was soothing to wander amid scenes so lovely, 
 and so peaceful ; to wander alone without fear of 
 intrusion, and yield up the soul to meditation and 
 prayer. I knelt down on the moss-gi'own rock, 
 and blessed God that he had endowed me with so
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 259 
 
 lively a sense of the beauty and magnificence of 
 his vast creation, 
 
 Aug. 28th. Before I came down stairs, Cap- 
 tain , who was the tenant of the best apart- 
 ment, sent in his compliments, and requested me 
 to breakfast and dine with him to-day. I will- 
 ingly accepted the first half of the invitation, 
 intending, as there was no kirk within reach, to 
 
 walk leisurely to Hailaim ; but Captain 
 
 gave me so frank an invitation to go out with him 
 deer-stalking, that I determined at once to remain 
 at Altnaharra, and give up some less interesting 
 part of my travelling scheme. I learned also that 
 a preaching was to be held at Mudale, about three 
 miles off, and accordingly walked to the low dark 
 bam, in which I found all the neighbourhood 
 assembled. 
 
 The place was so dark that at first I could dis- 
 tinguish nothing. But as my eye became accus- 
 tomed to the glimmer, I could scan the whole 
 scene with precision. The seats were formed of 
 coarse planks, on supporting blocks. Those who 
 occupied them were chiefly shepherds, each 
 wrapped up in his grey plaid, with a collie at his 
 feet. Their dress and countenance reminded me 
 of the stern covenanters, who, in spite of the bit-
 
 260 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 terest persecution, assembled in their glens, to 
 listen to the preaching of the early Scottish Re- 
 formers. 
 
 The clogs proved to be rather unmanageable, 
 and sometimes even barked at those, who were 
 entering. Some hens, also, on the rafters made a 
 most audacious cackling. But the climax oc- 
 cun-ed when the minister, lifting up his eyes in 
 the midst of one of his most cogent arguments, 
 beheld a young red deer close by the bible, staring 
 him in the face. It was a truly Highland picture. 
 Far less would have overturned the gravity of an 
 English audience ; but the Scotch are a serious 
 people, and great decorum was preserAcd in spite 
 of the intenuptions. Indeed to hear the Gospel 
 of the Redeemer preached in one of the wildest 
 straths in all the Highlands, however homely the 
 language, and however lowly the fane, might well 
 dispose the audience to sobriety of thought, and 
 fix the attention of the most frivolous. 
 
 When the English sermon was ended, the mi- 
 nister commenced another in Gaelic, previous to 
 
 which, I and Captain retired from the 
 
 barn ; and being invited by the farmer, to whom 
 it belonged, we stayed to dine with him. The 
 minister, who came in after the service was over.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 261 
 
 was also of the party, a kind hearted, zealous man, 
 possessed of much shrewdness and information. 
 The head of the table was taken by the young 
 farmer's mother, a find old lady, with a most in- 
 telligent sparkling countenance. I found she was 
 the owner of the tame red deer, which had walked 
 into the barn to crack an argument with the 
 minister. She told us of another animal of the 
 same kind, which had a mischievous trick of going 
 out to the hills, collecting all the cattle, and 
 driving them with its horns into the very midst of 
 the corn. Sometimes these tame deer join a wild 
 herd for a time, but always return to their human 
 companions. 
 
 The fare was plain and substantial ; no bread 
 nor biscuit, and only whisky to drink. The 
 farmer was greatly astonished at our sobriety, and 
 as we each put more and more water to our 
 whisky, to which, on comparing notes afterwards, 
 we found we had the same dislike, he laughed 
 outright, saying, we should " surely drown the 
 
 miller." Captain gave me a seat in his 
 
 gig, and after a " bit crack thegither " over our 
 peat-fire, we retired to be ready for the morning's 
 sport. 
 
 Aug. 29th. — ^We set out a little before eight
 
 262 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 o'clock. The party consisted of Captaiu 
 
 and liis Highland deer-stalker; a lad carrying 
 provisions, and leading two stag-hounds ; and 
 lastly myself, in a grey plaid coat and blue bonnet, 
 furnished by the Captain. My own black shooting 
 coat and hat were condemned, as being too con- 
 spicuous on the moors. 
 
 The morning had been very rough ; and the 
 mists still hung upon Ben Klibreck, and the 
 neighbouring mountains ; instead, therefore, of 
 striking off to the west, and exploring the recesses 
 of Ben Hee, as was at first proposed, it was re- 
 solved to try the moors and braes on the north of 
 Loch Naver. We walked towards the eastern ex- 
 tremity of the Loch about six miles, in order to 
 come on the deer against the wind. Here we 
 called at the house of a shepherd, an Englishman, 
 Nicholson " to name ;" and took him with us, to 
 point out the haunts of the game. 
 
 Before he joined us, we had seen from the shore 
 of Loch Naver a stag, and several hinds on the 
 heights above us. They were in their favourite 
 position near the summit of a steep brae, where 
 before them they could detect with their eyes the 
 approach of a foe, and behind them the wind would 
 carry as ready an alarm to their acute sense of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 263 
 
 smelling. Being far above us, they stood watch- 
 ing us very attentively ; and we returned the com- 
 pliment by viewing them through our telescopes. 
 It was a beautiful sight to watch such fine crea- 
 tures on the edge of the descent, athwart the blue 
 sky, with heads erect and graceful form, full of 
 elastic life, and ready for the bound on the slight- 
 est indication of hostilities. 
 
 We now struck into the moors, Charles, the 
 deer-stalker, keeping first, in order that his prac- 
 tised eye might take the lead in looking for the 
 deer. It was not long before he discovered a large 
 herd at a great distance. It is wonderful, how keen- 
 sighted this fine old man has become in his call- 
 ing. I used to consider myself very far-sighted, 
 but I had much difiSculty in detecting these ani- 
 mals, even when he pointed them out. Captain 
 
 is nearly as keen as his deer-stalker. The 
 
 animals were on very open ground, so that it was 
 excessively difficult to get at them without being 
 observed : the shepherd and I, therefore, remained 
 behind, while the two sportsmen went on against 
 the wind, taking advantage of every rising knoll, 
 and at last crawling along the sodden peat-moss 
 upon hands and knees, to come within rifle shot. 
 Meanwhile Nicholson told me, that the greatest
 
 264 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 difficulty he found in his lone situation, was to 
 get his family educated. 
 
 " Most of the shepherds," said he, " hire a 
 boy for the purpose ; but that doesna do well ; 
 for the random lads and lasses willna mind a 
 teacher as young, or may be, younger than them- 
 selves : so I agreed wi' a young man, a vera clever 
 fellow, who has made my children all vera good 
 scholards ; but I'm obliged to gie him three 
 pounds ten shillings the quarter, and that comes 
 vera sore upon me. And then there is no 
 kirk within twenty mile, which is another thing 
 against me." 
 
 Our conversation was inteiTupted by the crack 
 of the captain's rifle. We heard two shots, both 
 of which had been successful : he carries two 
 rifles, a double and a single baiTel. Two stags 
 were struck. The one was immediately pulled 
 down by Oscar, the white hound; of which feat we 
 saw nothing. But the other stag, less fatally 
 wounded, came scampering within a few yards of 
 us, pursued by the old giey dog. The course was 
 long, but at last the hound, though rapidly gaining 
 groimd, all at once gave up the chase. It appeared 
 afterwards, that he had cut one of his hind legs. 
 The stag suddenly vanished from our sight, and
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 we therefore walked on to the point, where we had 
 caught the last glimpse of him. He suddenly 
 sprang up close to us, and bounded again along 
 the brae; we watched him pursue his still rapid 
 course up the long slope, till near the top of it he 
 stopped, and lay down, exhausted by his efforts. 
 In a few minutes, however, he rose again and can- 
 tered over the summit out of sight. 
 
 We waited for Captain to come up with 
 
 us, and after taking some bread and cheese, and a 
 draught of porter, (delicious fare on the mountains,) 
 we went after the wounded stag. He was soon 
 
 discovered, and Captain beckoned to me to 
 
 advance, and look at him. He was within fifty 
 yards, lying down amid the green and graceful 
 fern, but with his majestic head and neck high 
 raised above it. He looked stedfastly towards us, 
 seeming perfectly aware of our intrusion, but did 
 not stir. 
 
 Captain very generously wished me to 
 
 take his rifle, and put an end to the poor animal ; 
 though I am no shot, I think I could hardly have 
 missed so near and broad a mark, CvSpecially as a 
 stone formed a good rest for the rifle. But I 
 would not accept the offer, in spite of the Captain's 
 characteristic remark, that I should " never have 
 
 N
 
 26G JOURNAL OF A 
 
 such another chance in all ray life." Seeing me 
 firm, he took deliberate aim at the head, though 
 in general he shoots at the heart; his object, in 
 the present instance, being that he might not spoil 
 the venison. He fired ; and, for a wonder, missed 
 the mark. The bullet went just over the head, 
 and buried itself in the bank. The fact was, that he 
 forgot for the moment, that at so short a distance 
 the ball would rise, the sight of the rifle being 
 calculated for one hundred yards. 
 
 Up rose the startled stag, and after a moment's 
 bewildered gaze, he cantered faintly over the 
 brae. The hounds were now uncoupled, and 
 .soon gaining a view of the quarry, pursued with 
 fatal speed down the steep. Splashing over the 
 pools and dikes in the peat-moss, on sped the 
 pui'suers, and the pursued, towards a loch in the 
 hollow down below ; and though the poor thing 
 had bled profusely in his last lair, a more gallant 
 
 course Capt. said he had never witnessed. 
 
 At last, the white hound came up, and ere the 
 stag could turn to bay, pinned him by the 
 haunch. This is a sad trick, for which the dog 
 ought to be killed, for he completely spoils the 
 venison. In other respects he is a fine hound, and 
 very fleet. The grey dog soon came up, and, de-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 267 
 
 spising the formidable honi, attacked the throat 
 of the stag most gallantly. The fatal struggle 
 continued some time ; but in the end, the prize 
 lay motionless on the blood-stained heather. 
 
 Thus fell two red deer out of a single hei'd, and 
 
 both of them fine stags, for Capt. disdains 
 
 to shoot a hind till next month. The boy was 
 dispatched to call off the dogs. Unfortunately 
 the shepherd had no horse to cany the game 
 home, so he was requested to take out the en- 
 trails, as he returned, and cover the carcasses 
 with heather, to screen them fi-om the ravens. A 
 horse and cart were to be sent the next day from 
 Altnahan-a ; when the horse could carry the stags 
 separately to the road, which was not far off, 
 and then both of them together, in the cart, to 
 the inn. Horses are at first so terrified at the 
 carcase, that it is always necessary to hoodwink 
 them, till they become accustomed to receive such 
 a burden. 
 
 Both the stags had the velvet upon the horn, 
 though it is usual to cast it about the first of Au- 
 gust. The cold weather probably continues this 
 smooth covering. Out of all the stags, we saw 
 to-day, only one had clean horns. 
 
 The shepherd now took the party to some black 
 
 n2
 
 268 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 rocks, where he had often seen a herd ; and mean- 
 while 1 stayed vipon the brae, by which they were 
 to return. My position commanded one of the 
 wildest panoramas the mind can conceive. I was 
 at nearly equal distances from the several great 
 groups of Ben Laoghal, Ben Hope, Ben Hee, and 
 Ben Klibreck ; while eastward, and more remote, 
 rose the sharp cone of Morven. Loch Laoghal, 
 with its blue and unruffled surface, lay sleeping 
 beneath me ; and many other minor lochs diver- 
 sified the moors around. 
 
 After an unsuccessful search, the shepherd re- 
 turned, and before he went home, directed me 
 how to join the deer-stalkers. We now bent our 
 steps westward, and walked for some time over 
 swamps and morasses, \Aithout seeing a single 
 horn. At last Charles, who was a long way in 
 advance, detected a large herd, grazing to wind- 
 ward, at the bottom of a very steep brae, upon 
 whose flat summit we were walking. I was thus 
 
 enabled to keep nearly close to Captain , 
 
 without a chance of frightening the deer. Before 
 he fired, he made a signal to me to come to the 
 very edge, that I might see them pasturing. The 
 sombre twihght was beginning to cast its shadows 
 over the moors, and a solemn stillness reigned all
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 269 
 
 around. How beautiful in such a scene, and such 
 an hour, to behold the wild deer of the mountain, 
 now plucking the dewy grass, now walking with 
 majestic step, and antlered head, among the 
 drooping fern ! 
 
 The herd was considerable, consisting of up- 
 wards of seventy head, and among them were 
 several stags, one very large, which Charles called 
 " a bonnie beast." There was a difficulty in 
 getting a shot at him, because he was just below 
 us, and before a gun could bear on him, some 
 hinds, who were feeding at a wider distance, 
 would probably be alarmed, and all would imme- 
 diately take to flight. It required, therefore, a 
 bold advance, and a rapid aim. 
 
 The Captain's figure, as he stood debating witli 
 his deer-stalker on the best mode of attack, was 
 very striking. I saw him leaning on his rifle, 
 with his manly figure directly against the western 
 sky. His grey Highland bonnet was not yet laid 
 aside, but his plaid trousers were tucked up to 
 the knees, to avoid all rustling, and displayed 
 a pair of well fonned calves, sturdy in proportion 
 to the muscular frame above them. Having 
 settled his plan, he put off his bonnet, and de- 
 scending rapidly a short distance down the brae
 
 270 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 on his feet and left hand, with the rifle in his 
 right, he at length took aim, and fired in an in- 
 stant. 
 
 Again he missed ! and for the very same reason 
 as before. In firing down hill, of course the ball 
 is not much affected by gravitation, and scarcely 
 sinks perceptibly in one hundred yards ; the con- 
 sequence is, that, if the rifle be directed to an 
 object so situated, the ball will necessarily pass 
 over it. All this good theory, which the Captain 
 afterwards explained to me very mathematically, 
 he forgot in his huiTy ; and thus missed the finest 
 stag, he had seen the whole season. 
 
 The herd all lifted up their heads in an instant, 
 and soon discovering the enemy, bounded away 
 up the glen as hard as they could scamper. What 
 a splashing did they make in the morass ! They 
 divided into two herds, both of which stopped at 
 about the same distance from us, and reconnoitred 
 again for a long time. In the end they disap- 
 peared, one after the other, over the brae. 
 
 The Captain was so mortified at losing such a 
 noble stag, that, though the deer-stalker declared 
 it would be perfectly useless in the closing twi- 
 light, he determined to follow the herd for the 
 chance of another shot. I therefore left him, by
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 271 
 
 his own advice, and took my way alone over the 
 moors towards AUnaharra, from which we were 
 distant about five miles — a mere step, as the Cap- 
 tain said. No one could have lost his way, for 
 Ben Klibreck serves as a never-failing landmark 
 on this side of the country. 
 
 In an hour after me, the Captain also returned, 
 without success ; and though he had killed two 
 stags in the course of the day, a number which 
 many would be proud to reckon at the end of the 
 season, he was a little vexed at having made no 
 less than two ineffectual shots. 
 
 We had been out for eleven or twelve hours, 
 and therefore now enjoyed a good dinner, and 
 one temperate glass of negus. This temperance 
 
 is,, in fact, the secret of Captain 's skill as 
 
 a marksman; for his hand, to use his own ex- 
 pression, is " as steady as if it were cut out of 
 marble." Three newspapers of the latest date, 
 which arrived by to-day's post for Captain 
 's absent friend, fui'nished us with amuse- 
 ment for the evening. 
 
 Aug. 30th. — I was not at all ^vorsted this morn- 
 ing, but did not think it prudent to go deer- 
 stalking again to-day. Captain keeps up 
 
 the sport the whole six days, and is rarely out for
 
 272 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 a shorter time than twelve hours at a stretch. 
 He wished me very much to accompany him to 
 the back of Ben Klibreck, where the scenery, he 
 said, was very grand : but I was afraid of being 
 an incumbrance, and as it turned out, my fears 
 would infidlibly have been realized. He therefore 
 bade me good bye, saying that if chance brought 
 us together again, he should be happy to renew 
 the acquaintance ; and then off he strode with 
 his dogs and rifles, to rouse the echoes of Ben 
 Klibreck. 
 
 While the landlord was procuring me a saddle 
 for the pony, which I was to ride a few miles, 
 I amused myself with writing some hasty lines to 
 the gallant captain. He had been pleased to 
 admire my sketches, and wanted me to attempt a 
 drawing of his hounds and some deer. He told 
 me that Landseer had presented him with a fine 
 picture, in which were portraits of himself and his 
 favourite deer-stalker. A print of it was published 
 in one of the numbers of the Sporting Magazine. 
 For me to attempt following the steps of the great 
 painter, at however humble a distance, would 
 have been something perfectly ludicrous ; and 
 therefore I was obliged to decline the task, in 
 spite of the anxiety I felt to express my sense of
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 273 
 
 Captain 's kindness. I determined, how- 
 ever, that I would not go away without some 
 acknowledgment of it ; and being totally ignorant 
 of his native Gaelic, 1 selected its nearest neigh- 
 bour, " plain braid Lallans," for the expression of 
 my compliments ; which ran to the following 
 effect : 
 
 Dear Captain, while I'm bidin' still 
 By Naver's loch, an' Klibreck's hill, 
 I scribble wi' your ain guse-quill 
 
 To kindly bless ye ; 
 An' hope ye winna tak it ill 
 
 I thus address ye. 
 
 In manners ye hae sic a grace, 
 There's sic a candour in your face, 
 Nane but the cunnin', an' the base, 
 
 Wad daur to doubt it ; 
 Haud in your tongue — we ken the case 
 
 As weel without it. 
 
 A nameless billie to this roof 
 
 I cam, an' did ye speer for proof .•' 
 
 Na, na ! ye gied an open loof, 
 
 An' bad me ben ; 
 Though whether I'se be king or coof, 
 
 Ye cudna ken. 
 
 N 3
 
 274 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 We clos'd aff-han' the social tie. 
 An' as the tentless hours flew by, 
 Our mirth grew higher an' mair high, 
 
 Our hearts less narrow — 
 A cantie pair were ye an' I 
 
 At Altnah'jrra ! 
 
 I'se no forget how, baith thegither 
 Roaming outowre the moss an' heather, 
 Ye pat the deer in sic a swither, 
 
 An' rarely miss't ance, 
 Whizzin' the het ba' through their leather 
 
 Frae awfu' distance. 
 
 Lang may ye, on the dewy crags, 
 Wi' aim sae true shoot raes an' stags. 
 An' neer a haunch be put to rags 
 
 By Oscar's jaw ; 
 An' may ye no want cannie nags 
 
 To car them a' ! 
 
 Oh ! may your sons in ilk guid art 
 Tak aye their father's manly part ! 
 An' may ye twine lang round your heart 
 
 Your winsome leddie. 
 Like Hielander in stonny airt 
 
 His ain warm pladdie • 
 
 A boy was sent on before me, in order to take
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 275 
 
 back the pony, when I should have advanced 
 eight or ten miles out of the twent}' two between 
 Altnahan-a and Hail aim inn. There was nothing 
 on the road of any striking interest till I reached 
 the solitudes of Strath More, where I dis- 
 mounted. 
 
 This is, indeed, a glorious glen ! The moun- 
 tains rise abruptly from its base, particularly on 
 the eastern side, where Ben Hope, so imposing 
 from his loftiness, exhibits the noblest forms, and 
 the most varied colourings. The crags at the 
 summit of one of his shoulders, though not very 
 lofty, are quite perpendicular, and are channelled 
 by frost and time, into the most exquisite tracery. 
 From their base, the smooth sloping greensward 
 shoots directly down to the level of the glen, at 
 an inclination of 45*^. Through the flat rich plain 
 at the bottom of the strath, the Water of Hope, 
 beautiful in its silvery meanderings, hies joyously 
 on, to yield its pure tribute to the lake. It is fed 
 by many a mountain torrent, which, hurrying 
 down craggy channels in fairy cascades, strews 
 its own banks with verdure, and its path with 
 rocks. 
 
 I soon came to Dun Domadilla, the ruin of 
 one of those Pictish houses which I have already
 
 276 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 mentioned. It stands close to the road, and con- 
 sists of a huge circular tower, the wall of which 
 still rises every where to the height of live or six 
 feet, and in one part to that of at least twenty 
 feet. Under this tall portion there is an entrance 
 at present only about four feet square ; the top of 
 the entrance is formed by a large triangular stone. 
 Chambers in the great wall may still be seen, but 
 the whole is in a most unsatisfactorily ruinous state. 
 
 The inhabitants have a tradition, that these 
 curious towers, of which there are many remains 
 in the counties of Sutherland and Caithness, were 
 erected to afford their forefathers an asylum from 
 the ravages of wolves, formerly very abundant in 
 the vast forests, which covered the face of the 
 country. But antiquarians regard them as for- 
 tresses, into which the people of the strath might 
 retire in case of invasion. The hollow centre 
 contained a well, and would also hold cattle for 
 their food ; while the women and children could 
 be secured in the mural apartments. 
 
 All along this strath, and chiefly in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dun Doniadilla, the ruins of peasants' 
 cottages are scattered in heaps upon the green- 
 sward ; exhibiting a mournful picture, and one, 
 on which 1 do not like to dwell.

 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 277 
 
 I crossed the Water of Hope in a ferry-boat, 
 and then had to ascend a very steep brae which 
 commanded noble views of Strath More, and of 
 the bright blue peaceful waters of Loch Hope. 
 The windings of the river through the strath, and 
 of the steep road, which I was surmounting, 
 formed interesting objects in these magnificent 
 landscapes. 
 
 At length I reached the summit, and suddenly 
 gained another totally different, but still more 
 majestic burst of mountain scenery across Loch 
 En'ibol. Some of these extraordinary mountains 
 are literally black and white, and produce by the 
 contrast of their colours a strange effect. Their 
 forms, too, are no less grotesque than their tints, 
 some of them being pointed into cones, some 
 rounded into turrets, and some exhibiting vast 
 bare sloping fields of stone, destitute of all vege- 
 tation, and glistening in the westering sun. The 
 Highlander calls them, " the bones of the land 
 protruding through its skin." 
 
 The road now descended in deep zigzags to the 
 village of Erribol, which has but little to attract 
 attention, except a kirk remarkable for its diminu- 
 tive size. 1 was pleased with its unassuming
 
 278 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 dimensions, which contrasted so strangely with 
 the great mountain masses soaring around. So 
 small is it, that until the traveller has nearly 
 reached its walls, the whole building is lost as a 
 speck, and confounded in the mighty landscape. 
 And surely, this is not the spot for gorgeous 
 temples, reared by human hands ; since, however 
 richly wrought, or massively piled, they would, 
 amidst the more glorious altars of Nature, dwindle 
 down to insignificant toys. A simple lowly 
 structure, like this, is far better adapted to such 
 majestic scenes ; appearing to bear on its very 
 front the humble confession, that man is little, and 
 God is great. 
 
 From Erribol to Hailaim Inn, the road lies 
 along the edge of the loch under fine marble rocks, 
 and is itself entirely constructed of marble. But 
 in spite of the splendour of its materials, it was a 
 dreary road to me. Though not at all foot-sore 
 at starting, I had not walked three miles, before I 
 made the annoying discovery, that my deer stalk- 
 ing expedition had not only frayed the leather 
 of my shoes, but also that other foot-leather, 
 which more peculiarly and personally belonged to 
 myself. How fortunate, that I resisted Captain
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 279 
 
 -'s invitation to Ben Klibreck ! I should 
 
 have been a sad incumbrance to him, for he was 
 far too kind-hearted, to have left me to shift for 
 myself. I heartily congratulated myself on my 
 prudent forbearance, and at length, after many 
 discouraging windings of the road, hobbled into 
 Hailaim Inn. It is situated upon a singular 
 peninsula, jutting out like an ace of clubs, from 
 the eastern coast of Loch Erribol ; and from its 
 highest point commands a splendid view of the 
 head of the loch, which reminds me, though upon 
 a very gigantic scale, of the head of Derwent 
 Water as seen from Keswick. 
 
 Aug. 31. — Being completely out of walking 
 condition, I am compelled to remain quiet for a 
 day ; but the hardship is not overwhelming, inas- 
 much as the weather has relapsed to its usual 
 state. A series of three fine days appears to 
 involve some physical impossibility, and so this 
 morning the loch is covered with foam. 
 
 There are many vessels riding at anchor in the 
 Erribol roads, which lie a little below Hailaim, 
 and afford the most effectual protection from gales 
 and contrary winds. The security of the station 
 is indeed admirable : Loch Erribol itself is a
 
 280 JOURNAL OP A 
 
 gi'eat arm of the sea, runuing due south ; the pe- 
 ninsula of Hailaim, as I have said, projects from 
 the middle of its eastern shore, and the land of 
 the opposite coast also trends inward ; then the 
 loch, after being thus contracted, again expands 
 into a noble harbour, sheltered on every side by 
 mountain baniers, and supplying excellent an- 
 chorage. The importance of such a retreat to 
 vessels navigating these boisterous seas, may be 
 readily imagined. 
 
 Sept. 1st. — After taking a hasty sketch of the 
 sublime scenery of Loch Erribol, I crossed the 
 ferry with a single sailor. He was obliged, there- 
 fore, to belay the sheet of the foresail ; a circum- 
 stance which, in a little sea like this, surrounded 
 by mountains, is often attended with danger, 
 because of the sudden squalls which rush down 
 the glens. I was far too busy devouring the 
 scenery, to afford him any assistance. 
 
 Landing safely on the western shore, I com- 
 menced the ascent of the long steep brae, that 
 leads to Durness. The changing scenes, from its 
 various heights, display the most astonishing 
 effects of mountain grandeur, and often aiTest the 
 steps of the lonely traveller, to demand a i)rolonged
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 281 
 
 and rapturous gaze. Soaring above the precipices 
 which skirt the shore of the loch, Craiistackie 
 and Ben Spinnue on the right, and the ever- 
 uiajestic form of Ben Hope on the left, fill up the 
 gigantic back-ground. The sky was diversified 
 with bright curling clouds, which sometimes de- 
 ceitfully promise serenity and sunshine ; and 
 once more the welcome breath of the sweet south 
 paSvSed idly by me. It came from my native land ! 
 
 On amving at the summit of the brae, I beheld 
 the far extending, dark blue, northern sea, spread 
 out beneath me, dotted with many a glistening 
 sail, and bounding with its shai-p horizon the 
 little portion, which the eye commands of this 
 terrestrial sphere. 
 
 Rispond consists of a little cluster of houses, 
 lying at a short distance off the main road, just at 
 the entrance of Loch Erribol. It is as strange a 
 place, perhaps, as ever was selected for the 
 foundation of a colony. No words can express 
 the extremity of sterility, which reigns around it. 
 A few patches of the soil have been laboured into 
 something like the semblance of cultivation ; but 
 the great mass of all that is visible, is nothing but 
 rock ! rock ! rock ! The very houses, being con- 
 structed of the prevalent material, have a rocky
 
 282 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 appearance ; and surely the inmates, who contrive 
 to exist in such a spot, must have the constitution 
 of a rock. Their subsistence is procured by 
 fishing, which is, in fact, the main object of the 
 settlement, and one for which its station affords 
 peculiar advantages. 
 
 From Rispond there is a striking view, across 
 the mouth of Loch Eiribol, of Whitenhead Cliff, 
 which stands, abrupt and white, over the dark 
 sea. It is broken up into various isolated pin- 
 nacles by the ceaseless attacks of the troubled 
 waters ; and each of these prominent chalky crags, 
 when lighted by a sunbeam, presents a dazzling 
 appearance. 
 
 Shortly after I had left this little fishing station, 
 a great black cloud came rolling over the tall 
 precipice on my left, and soon obscured the whole 
 sky, emitting a torrent of rain. Provoking ! for 
 Smoo Cave was close at hand, and in such dripping 
 weather it was impossible to go about to the little 
 huts in the neighbourhood, in order to procure 
 the requisite boat, and men to manage it. I de- 
 termined, therefore, to go on to Dmiiess, and 
 return the next moraing to see the cave. 
 
 Accordingly I trudged along, as speedily as 
 my still disabled feet would allow me; and at
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND, 283 
 
 length found out the miserable hovel, which is at 
 present the only apology for an inn at Durness. 
 The landlord was carting peats near at hand, and 
 on my asking, if I could get shelter and accommo- 
 dation, he went round to the back of the hut, 
 and fetched a key, with which he unlocked the 
 front door of his hospitium. I did not think this 
 looked well, but I was absolutely disgusted with 
 the interior ; all filth, and smoke, and darkness. 
 I asked for some oat-cake and whisky; upon 
 which a dirty old woman made her appearance, 
 and from a cupboard at the foot of the vile bed, 
 which filled half the room, she took down a 
 cracked and cobwebbed tea-pot. Out of this 
 very suspicious vessel she poured a dingy yellow 
 liquid, ycleped, in her vocabulary, " whisky," in 
 mine, " bilge-water ". I could touch nothing ; and 
 the man disinterestedly assuring me that I should 
 find good lodgings at the Cape, I resolved, in 
 spite of the weather, and of my failing feet, to 
 walk the twelve miles for the chance of a re- 
 ception at the lighthouse. 
 
 To spare myself as much fatigue as possible, I 
 made a little boy guide me to the ferry, and carry 
 my knapsack the two miles between the inn and 
 Durness Bay. I had not proceeded many minutes.
 
 284 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 when the rain began to increase in violence, and 
 at last streamed down in torrents. Seeing a good 
 house by the path, I asked the lad to whom it 
 belonged, 
 
 " To the minister," was the reply. 
 
 I stopped at once, and resolved to ask for 
 shelter, till the strength of the shower should pass 
 away. The good lady, expecting the arrival of a 
 friend, happened to be at the door ; and so laying 
 my case before her forthwith, I was invited to 
 come in. The minister entered the parlour soon 
 after, and immediately expressed his readiness to 
 offer me any hospitality in his power. 1 had not 
 the remotest idea, at the time, of remaining there, 
 but merely requested temporary shelter. Fortu- 
 nately for me, however, the rain did not cease to 
 fall, nor the wind to howl ; and so at last 1 ac- 
 cepted their kind and reiterated invitation to pass 
 the night there, visit the Cape next day, and 
 return to them for another night. I soon after sat 
 down to a grateful dinner with a large and joyous 
 family party ; and, by some Highland hocus-pocus, 
 found myself at home in a moment. 
 
 Before tea the minister escorted me to his little 
 kirk, situated on the shore of Balnakill Bay, near 
 one of the residences of Lord Reay. In the in-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 285 
 
 terior of the Idik there is an ancient tomb, erected 
 over the remains of one Donald Makmurchoy, 
 who appears to have been in his day a kind of 
 Robin Hood. He was quite as famous as the 
 English forester for his skill in archery, and pos- 
 sessed great influence in the country which was 
 the scene of his exploits. He repented in old 
 age of the wild pranks and misdeeds of his youth, 
 and, to make some atonement for them, he assisted 
 very considerably in the expense of erecting this 
 kirk ; upon condition, however, that his body 
 should be interred within it. The inscription 
 upon the tomb runs thus : 
 
 DONALDMAK.AIVRCHOV 
 HIERLYISLOVASILTOHIS 
 FRIEND 
 VARTO 
 HISFO 
 TRVETOllISMAIS 
 TERINVEIRDANDVO 162/ 
 
 For the benefit of those who have not patience 
 to decypher the rhyme and reason of this ancient 
 writing, I subjoin the following paraphrase : 
 
 Donald Makmurchoy here lies low, 
 Was ill to his friend, worse to his foe, 
 True to his master in weal and woe.
 
 286 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 The kiikyard contains many a simple tomb ; 
 but the most interesting is that of Robert Donn, 
 tbe celebrated Gaelic bard, sometimes called the 
 Bums of the North. It is a plain slab, near the 
 kirk, with this brief memorial engraven on it: 
 
 ROBERT DONN 
 1777- 
 
 In the middle of the kirkvard, a more elaborate 
 monument is erected to the memory of the poet ; 
 on which there are inscriptions, consisting, like 
 the Scottish soup hodge-podge, of a multitude of 
 ingi-edients, in Greek, Latin, Gaelic, and English. 
 The Greek was executed from a copy by the 
 Durness mason, without any superintendence of 
 the learned ; and, considering this circumstance, 
 is surprisingly accurate. It consists of two lines 
 from the CEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles (1. 1476 
 and 1477). With what taste they have been se- 
 lected, I leave others to determine, but cannot 
 help remarking, that the Scottish poets seem to 
 me to be singularly unfortunate, as to the mode 
 in which their tombs have been adorned. 
 
 The minister spoke very highly of Robert 
 Donn's poems, especially of his songs and satires ; 
 he had attempted, he said, a translation of one or
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 287 
 
 two, but found it impossible to convey the spirit 
 of the original, which often depended npon pecu- 
 liarities of the Gaelic idiom, or sound. 
 
 The Highland character is very much altered, 
 since the time of the bard, and it is in vain to 
 expect, among the poor and broken-spirited fisher- 
 men, driven from their inland homes and inde- 
 pendent habits, any successor to his fame. Coun- 
 try revels and social merry-makings, favourite 
 topics with Rob Donn, have long disappeared ; 
 and could the rude, but clever, poet of the pre- 
 ceding century take a peep into his native country, 
 he would not recognize, in the distressed and 
 starving tenantry along its shores, the descendants 
 of those hearty farmers and shepherds, who, with 
 their wives and true-loves, afforded so many sub- 
 jects for his satiric, or amatory muse. 
 
 Sept. 2d.— Robbie Findlater, the minister's 
 second son, accompanied me this day to Cape 
 Wrath. Its distance from the manse is about 
 twelve miles, making our walk, upon the whole, 
 twenty-foiu- miles. I was still very lame ; but I 
 could neither give up this excursion to the north- 
 western point of the island, nor could I think of 
 encroaching any longer than was absolutely ne- 
 cessary, on the hospitality of the manse.
 
 288 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 AVe contrived to reach the lighthouse without 
 much inconvenience from the rain ; though heavy 
 showers, flying in all directions about us, robbed 
 us of the mountain views. We were joined at 
 the ferry by one of the sixteen labourers, who are 
 now at work on the cape road : he had been to 
 Durness for some heavy mattocks, and was now 
 returning with an enonnous burden. Robbie, 
 who knew and shook hands with all his father's 
 flock, however humble their station, earned one 
 of the mattocks for the poor fellow ; and I gave 
 him some whisky from my flask, besides paying 
 his fare over the feiTy. He was very grateful for 
 these little kindnesses, and expressed his sense of 
 them by saying, 
 
 " It is sometimes one's luck to fall in among 
 the gentlefolks !" 
 
 He, and his fifteen comrades, all sleep together 
 in a wretched turf hovel, by the road side ; have 
 nothing to eat and drink, but oatmeal and 
 water, which they boil into pottage. They earn 
 eighteen-pence a-day. 
 
 I w as much gratified by an examination of the 
 lighthouse, which is maintained in admirable 
 order by the present keeper. The lights revolve, 
 and present, alternately, a red colour, and the
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 natural one. The power producing the revolution 
 of the apparatus, is a weight, which requires to 
 be wound up every six hours. There are a num- 
 ber of mechanical contrivances for regulating the 
 motion, carrying off the smoke, and ventilating 
 the apartments, which are worthy of attention. 
 The parabolic reflectors are made of silver, with 
 an exquisite polish. The large windows of the 
 apartment are of plate glass, of great thickness, 
 that they may be enabled to withstand the tre- 
 mendous force of the gales. The red colour of 
 the alternate lights, is produced by a disc of 
 stained glass placed before them. The oil is 
 kept in casks in a deep cellar ; and a store-room 
 contains all requisites for repairing, especially 
 glass cylinders to put over the lights, of which 
 great numbers crack in cooling. 
 
 The view from the exterior gallery may be 
 divided into three distinct pictures ; two terrene, 
 and one aquatic. 
 
 Eastward, lies the north coast of Britain, where 
 cape after cape, and headland after headland, are 
 seen stretching out into the ocean ; the nearer 
 terminating in vast perpendicular precipices ; and 
 the more distant sinking into long, low, indistinct 
 ridges of blue land. Stack-a-Klo, a curious de- 
 
 o
 
 290 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 tached rock, forms a prominent object. In a clear 
 day the Orkney Isles may be seen, but we had 
 not the good fortune to command so extensive a 
 range. 
 
 The other land view lies to the southward, 
 where the western coast of Scotland, inferior to 
 the northern neither in the multitude of its pro- 
 montories, nor in the loftiness of its cliffs, rises in 
 beautiful perspective. 
 
 Lastly, in front, the great Atlantic and northern 
 oceans unite their restless waters. Running by 
 the cape is a fuiious current, which keeps up a 
 continual roaring of tlie mighty waves ; especially 
 against a small sunken rock, which lies a little off 
 shore, and has been the cause of many a fatal 
 \^Teck. Only one vessel has been lost, since the 
 erection of this fiiendly beacon. 
 
 When we had sufficiently gratified our cu- 
 riosity, we were invited to a repast of herrings 
 and potatoes ; and to those, who have walked a 
 dozen miles in the pure and gloriously invigorat- 
 ing atmosphere of the cape, such humble fare, 
 however unpalatable at other times, wiU then be 
 a perfect feast. When we had finished our meal, 
 or, in other words, when neither herring nor po- 
 tatoe survived, we were requested to enter our
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 291 
 
 names in a book which had been opened for the 
 first time, at the commencement of this season. 
 Very few names were inscribed, and I found, that 
 only one Enghshman (a gentleman whom I had 
 met in Orkney) had preceded me. 
 
 After having been detained some time by a 
 heavy shower, we set out on our return, and ac- 
 complished the twelve miles in three hours, not- 
 withstanding the wet and heavy state of the road. 
 We found a more substantial repast awaiting us 
 on our an-ival at the manse, the whole family 
 having kindly postponed their dinner for us, till 
 the late hour of six o'clock. 
 
 Sept. 3. The minister's two sons accompanied 
 me this morning, to explore the caves of Smoo. 
 I know not, whether even Staffa is superior in 
 interest to these remarkable caverns, of which 
 there are three in number, forming a grand suite 
 of chambers. 
 
 The first is open to the daylight, and is the 
 most spacious. Its roof is supported, partly by 
 its own arched form, and partly by one grand 
 natural pillar of rock. In this vaulted ceiling 
 there is a singular opening, called Na-falish, or 
 the Sun, through which a ray of light descends 
 from above, and penetrates to the recesses of the 
 
 o 2
 
 292 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 cave. The exterior rocks are adorned with mosses 
 and lichens, and the ground is strewn with moss- 
 grown stones and graceful fern. The soil, at the 
 innermost and darkest part of the cave, refuses to 
 support vegetable life, and is kept constantly 
 sodden by the drip-water from the roof. From 
 an unseen source on the right issues a limpid 
 stream, which, close to the w'all of the cave, forms 
 a small, deep, dark pool ; and then runs merrily 
 over a shallow pebbled channel to the ocean 
 which is close at hand. Immediately over the 
 pool, and about six feet above it, is an arched 
 opening in the solid rock ; and this is the only 
 entrance to the second cave. 
 
 Over the six feet banier a boat must be dragged 
 in order to explore the remainder of these wondrous 
 retreats ; the two other caves being filled with 
 water. It is necessary, therefore, to cross the 
 small deep pool, which I have described, by 
 means of the boat; and then cling to the rocks, 
 while the men hoist it into the second cave. Re- 
 imbarking, and floating along a short dark passage, 
 we come to a lofty circular hall ; and, in front of 
 us, we behold a magnificent cascade, formed by 
 a stream, which suddenly plunges from the open 
 air into an orifice in the roof of the cave, and
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 293 
 
 falls in a torrent of diamonds. The descending 
 water-drops, viewed from such dark recesses, and 
 brilliantly illumined by the unseen light from 
 above, produce one of the most dazzling and 
 magnificent effects, I ever witnessed. The im- 
 pression, too, is increased by the sound of the 
 water, precipitating itself into the gloomy pool, 
 and plashing against the sides of the rocks, as it 
 hurries on in its mystic career. The spray rises 
 up from the bubbling surface, and, catching the 
 straggling light reflected from the rocks, floats 
 upon the hollow darkness, with a dreamy splen- 
 dour. 
 
 The entrance to the third and last cave is still 
 more extraordinary. It consists of a lofty verti- 
 cal opening, across the lower part of which is 
 thrown a natural bridge of rock, horizontal above, 
 and arched below, just like an artificial bridge. 
 The arch is so low, that to pass under it, we 
 were all obliged to stoop down in the boat. 
 Standing upright again, we explored by the light 
 of the candles, which we had taken care to bring 
 with us, the furthest extremity of this last great 
 chasm. Towards the end of it, we were enabled 
 to leave the boat, and walk along the narrow 
 gallery, which terminates at length abruptly, just
 
 294 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 where a transparent and veiy deep well sinks into 
 the earth. 
 
 Looking back from this point, what a fairy 
 scene presents itself to the delighted eye ! You 
 look through the entrance of the last cave, with 
 its ebon arch, bestriding the turbulent waters. 
 You look athwart the dim rocks and waters of the 
 second cave, and mark the glimmering light dance 
 from point to point, and from line to line, of the 
 dripping rocks and glassy waves. Still further, 
 through the next entrance, you behold the bright 
 beam of day upon the crags and columns, the 
 mosses and fei-ns of the outer cave. Beautiful it 
 is beyond imagining ! 
 
 No wonder that superstition still lingers in a 
 temple so congenial to her taste : and if ever 
 sylph or fairy, those beautiful creations of the 
 timid enthusiast, or the phrenzied poet, found a 
 home amid scenes of sylvan loveliness; surely a 
 spot like this, with its diamond cascade and 
 pellucid fountain, its plashing halls and crystal 
 galleries, must have been a favorite haunt of that 
 elfin crew. 
 
 On our return at twelve o'clock, I found that 
 Mrs. Findlater had prepared an early dinner for 
 me ; because, as she said, I should " very likely
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND, 295 
 
 get nothing I conld eat, the day": and a horse, 
 also, was saddled, to take me a few miles on my 
 way. If I had been her son, she could hardly 
 have shewn me moi'e kindness ; and indeed from 
 each individual member of this agreeable family I 
 received every attention, that could be bestowed 
 upon a stranger. 
 
 With regard to their manners, and mode of life, 
 diiFering as they necessarily must do, in some 
 degree, from our own, I do not feel myself at 
 liberty to enter into any detail. I should be sorry, 
 indeed, to follow the example of a late writer, 
 who, after experiencing similar hospitality and 
 kindness, gave to the world an ill-natured carica- 
 ture of Highland society. Nothing can be more 
 easy, than to hold up to ridicule manners, which 
 depart from our own standard. Nothing, that has 
 so much the semblance of wit, requires so little of 
 the reality. And even supposing there were, in 
 truth, some foundation for sarcastic remark, yet 
 after all, what are good manners ? In what does 
 their essence consist ? Surely in treating all our 
 fellow men with due consideration and kindness. 
 And, if this be an accurate definition, then in 
 spite of any errant philosopher of them all, High- 
 land manners are the manners for me !
 
 296 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Notwithstanding my resolution to keep the 
 secrets of the manse, I cannot dismiss the subject 
 without observing, that within its walls was 
 realized that affecting picture of family worship, 
 which is drawn in " the Cottar's Saturday Night." 
 
 According to Mrs. Findlater's express in- 
 junctions, I rode the pony eight miles, after which 
 I had only six to walk to Rhiconich Inn. It had 
 rained at intervals all the way, and when I dis- 
 mounted, a heavy shower was falling. I took 
 shelter, therefore, for a quarter of an hour in a 
 shej)herd's cottage, where a fire was put ben for 
 me in a moment. With many thanks to the 
 goodwife for its grateful wamith, I recommenced 
 my journey, and was soon again involved in heavy 
 rain. The scenery from this point is certainly 
 superb, Craustackie, and other mountains, forming 
 a majestic group ; but the clouds were so low, 
 that I could see very little. 
 
 Through mire and water I trudged my lonely 
 way over the Gualin Moss, a spot as dreary, 
 perhaps, as any in the whole kingdom. I passed 
 the Gualin House, which is a little building 
 erected to afford shelter to the tempest-driven 
 traveller. There ai-e inscriptions on the gable 
 ends, recording the exertions and liberality of the
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 297 
 
 late Marquess of Stafford, in constructing 130 
 bridges, and upwards of 400 miles of road; espe- 
 cially this road over the hitherto almost " un- 
 passable Gualin Moss." I wish 1 could have 
 copied the words, for they were written with un- 
 affected simplicity ; but the rain prevented me 
 from accomplishing so long a task. 
 
 I have spoken elsewhere, perhaps, somewhat 
 harshly of one act of this noble family; I rejoice, 
 therefore, to be able, with strict justice to assert 
 that, excepting that one act, if it be an exception, 
 they appear to have been uniformly engaged, at 
 an enonuous expense of money and trouble, in 
 promoting the best interests of their tenants, and 
 in improving the aspect and cultivation of the 
 country. 
 
 As I advanced, the scenery became more and 
 more rocky and wild ; and I found Rhiconich 
 Inn in the midst of a wilderness of crags. This 
 little public house, rejoicing in the name of" The 
 Stafford Arms," consists of exactly two rooms. 
 In the one, all the travellers who arrive (it is true 
 they are few, and far between) have to eat, drink, 
 and sleep. In the other, the presiding couple 
 with their host of children, perform the same 
 
 o3
 
 298 JOnRNAL OF A 
 
 operations, with the additional one (upon no 
 very extensive scale, indeed) of cooting the 
 meals. The partition between the rooms is no- 
 thing more than so much cracked and rotten 
 boarding ; so that the smoke of the kitchen, in- 
 stead of decently ascending its own lum, or 
 chimney, takes the liberty of coming ben, and 
 absolutely darkens the room with its dense and 
 pungent vapour. But though there was a plenti- 
 ful provision of smoke, scarce a spark of fire 
 could be coaxed into existence for hours, because 
 the rain had so damped the peats, that they would 
 not bum. Neither bread, nor biscuit, nor pota- 
 toes, nor meat, could be procured. 
 
 Now only imagine a poor wretch, cold and 
 wet, weary and footsore, hungry and thirsty, ar- 
 riving at such quarters as these ! While 1 am 
 drinking some tea, and after many efforts at de* 
 glutition, swallowing a few mouthfuls of oat-cake, 
 the good wife is arranging the linen for my bed. 
 
 " I'll bring a bit of cai-pet," she says, " to put 
 over the floor ; for it was all in holes, and a few 
 days ago I was obliged to have it fresh done with 
 clay and heather, and it is very damp still. — Oh ! 
 and I should tell you, Sir, that we have a great
 
 Ramble in Scotland. 299 
 
 many rats here, and if you are not aware of them, 
 they may frighten you in the night. They'll come 
 into the room and jump all over the furniture, and 
 make a ten-ible noise with their squeaks and gam- 
 bols. I can't keep anything from them. I should 
 not mind their taking the provisions, but they 
 ruin our clothes. Last night they eat up almost 
 half of my husband's best black coat ! " 
 
 Gracious Heavens ! for what hideous and un- 
 repented crimes am I cast into a purgatory like 
 this? To be converted into kipper by the reeking 
 peat-smoke, and then made a meal of by these 
 ravenous vennin ! 
 
 The very excess of my discomfort became a 
 ludicrous thing ; and I was soon reconciled to a 
 lot, which, however hard, I could only amend by 
 patience. The goodwife is a cheery person, 
 speaks excellent English, is very cleanly, and 
 most anxious to make this miserable abode as 
 comfortable as possible. She says, they have been 
 here but a short time ; and only came on condition, 
 that they should be put into the capital new inn, 
 which is now being built at Durness. They will 
 probably enter in May next ; so that future tra- 
 vellers will easily avoid all the perplexities and 
 hardships, to which I have been lately exposed.
 
 300 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 Sept. 4th. — During the night, so violent a storm 
 came on, that I suj^pose the very rats lay quaking 
 in their holes ; for I heard nothing whatever of 
 them. My curtains waved at every gust of wind, 
 and I almost expected, that the frail tenement 
 itself would be swept away in the tempest. 
 
 Towards morning the breeze fell, and after a 
 few hours of sleep, I awoke with a glory of peat- 
 smoke curling about my temples. I arose with 
 all imaginable speed, and rushed out of doors, to 
 enjoy the fresh morning air. But here another 
 enemy assailed me, more intolerable even than 
 the smoke. The midges, little insects allied in 
 character to the mosquito, were swarming, as is 
 their custom here in calm weather; and came 
 down upon me in myriads, the moment I at- 
 tempted to stand still. While I moved on, I 
 found they took very little notice of me; but 
 whenever I paused, they concentrated their forces 
 around me, and a hundred puny lances were 
 piercing my face and wrists in an instant. 
 
 It was the morning of Sunday : but there being 
 no kirk nearer than four miles, and no road to 
 this one, except over peat-mosses, I resolved to 
 walk directly after breakfast to Scourie. The 
 distance is fourteen miles ; rather more, perhaps,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 301 
 
 than a sabbath-day's journey: but the most rigid 
 disciplinarian would hardly have blamed me, for 
 endeavouring to deliver myself from the captivity 
 of Rhiconich. 
 
 It rained, of course ; and the clouds were as 
 condescending as ever, stooping far below the 
 summits of the mountains. At one point, how- 
 ever, there was a momentary clearing, and what a 
 glorious landscape did the rising mist unfold ! 
 One glance at such a scene is worth a whole 
 week of sun-shine! A stupendous amphitheatre 
 of mountains surrounded me, where crag frowned 
 over crag, and rock was piled on rock ; and where 
 the sloping faces of the loftier hills were scored 
 and WTinkled by the channels of ten thousand 
 torrents. More conspicuous than all, the huge 
 geometric cone of the stack arose, the lingering 
 clouds still rolling fantastically about its dim and 
 spiry peak. Below me, in a vast hollow, lay the 
 dark surface of a loch, dotted with numbers of 
 stony isles, whose grey rocks and blossoming 
 heather stood, in beautiful relief, over the smooth 
 murkiness of the water. 
 
 When I reached Scourie, which, though but a 
 poor little village, situate on the bay of that name, 
 boasts of a comfortable inn, I fovmd that my
 
 302 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 shoes had failed so completely, that I had actually 
 been walking for some miles on bare feet. No 
 leather can long withstand the united attacks of 
 water, mud, gravel, and rock. 
 
 Soon after my arrival, two gentlemen drove 
 into the yard in a gig. One of them, as he 
 watched the hostler feeding his pony, began a 
 thoughtless whistle, a mode of men-iment, which, 
 on Sunday, is regarded with grave suspicion by 
 the stricter Presbyterians. The conscious offender 
 seeing the hostler eye him with the reproving 
 austerit}' of an old covenanter, 
 
 " Eh ! Sandie," said he, " is it Sabbath at 
 Scouvie ?" " It doesna look very like it," was the 
 laconic repl}'. 
 
 Sept. 5th. — I remained quiet one day, during 
 which the rain increased in impetuosity, and a 
 Highland cobbler soled my shoes. 
 
 Sept. 6th. — Well shod once more, I set out, in 
 a most lovely day, to walk twenty-one miles to 
 Inchnadamff inn. How welcome this bright and 
 peaceful weather, after such a lengthened series 
 of storms ! The loitering breakers of the bay 
 came rolling on, one after the other, over the 
 yellow sands ; chanting, as they fell, a measured 
 requiem to the departed winds. The black cattle,
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 303 
 
 grazing near the road, merely lifted up their heads 
 at the passing stranger, and then busily resumed 
 their dewy meal : but the wilder sheep bounded 
 off with precipitation to a securer distance. The 
 Royston crows, very abundant here, cawed forth 
 their harsh but lively notes ; which the rocks, re- 
 echoing, cawed back again. The web of the 
 dihgent spider, suspended from crag and heather, 
 or streaming loose and buoyant in the air, glis- 
 tened in the morning sun ; and the many hosts of 
 the midges danced merrily upon his beams. I 
 passed along the shores of several beautiful little 
 freshwater lochs, not broad, but deep ; whose dark 
 and glassy plain was studded, here with the brown 
 elliptic leaf of the pond-weed, there with the 
 green circular disc of the water-lily. Of the latter 
 plant, many a tender bud, modestly arrayed in 
 virgin white and vivid green, rose out of the 
 water ; only waiting for the genial sunshine, to 
 put forth all the glories of its blossoming. The 
 trout rose frequently, tempted by the heedless 
 fly ; its polished scales were glittering for a mo- 
 ment in the midst of its elastic leap ; then circle 
 after circle of puny waves chased one another 
 from the central point. All the mountains and 
 valleys were glad, and every living thing, accord-
 
 304 JOrRNAL OF A 
 
 ing to its appropriate instinct, was hymning its 
 own happiness, and its Maker's praise. 
 
 I never witness a scene Hke this, without won- 
 dering at, and pitying, those gloomy religionists, 
 who imagine they do God service, by rejecting 
 the blessings which he has spread before them. 
 When I perceive all the inferior animals of crea- 
 tion so busy and so gay, I can never believe that 
 man, the lord of all, will be accounted guilty, 
 when joyous, and that he is profitable only when 
 self-tormented ; or that he will advance his in- 
 terests hereafter, in proportion as he steels his 
 heart against the sympathies, which gladden this 
 life, and disregards those prudential cares, which 
 may alleviate, or remove, its ills. Virtue is not 
 only consistent w ith cheerfulness, but rarely ap- 
 proaches perfection without it ; and he best serves 
 his God, who provides, as largely as he can, for 
 his own rational happiness, and that of all his 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 The road, labouring in general over steep braes 
 and rocks, seems delighted to avail itself of the 
 transient level afforded by the strands of these 
 mountain pools. Suddenly it leads to an exqui- 
 site view of the sea, studded with a multitude of 
 rocky isles ; the kirk and manse of Edderachylles
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 305 
 
 forming an interesting foreground. I could not 
 help attempting to sketch this miniature Archi- 
 pelago, though I well knew the persecution that 
 awaited me. I took out the large green veil, 
 which I had prudently brought with me, and 
 covered up my face with more than the care of a 
 delicate-complexioned lady. I also retained my 
 gloves; yet, notwithstanding all these precau- 
 tions, I was bitten and stung to vexation. I per- 
 severed, however, till I had finished the outline 5 
 and then sprung away from the countless swarms 
 of midges, that now literally darkened the air 
 around me. 1 declare that I speak not in hyper- 
 boles, but in sober truth. Indeed the common 
 labourers and peasants of the country cannot 
 withstand the attacks of these tormenting insects, 
 and are obliged to wear veils for protection. 
 
 As I took my last peep at the manse, I was 
 provoked that I had not thought of applying there 
 for shelter ; since it commanded a capital view of 
 the isles, and I have no doubt, that wathin its 
 walls I should have been received as hospitably 
 as at Duniess. But having completed my sketch 
 after a fashion, and being neither wet, nor weary, 
 nor in want of food, I had no plea for intrusion.
 
 306 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 I pursued my way, therefore, rubbing my tor- 
 tured wrists, and soon came in sight of the mas- 
 sive heights of Quenao, wrought into projecting 
 bastions, and flanking luiTets, which have doubt- 
 less often glared in the lightning's flash, and 
 shaken to the thunder's roar. This enonnous 
 mountain immediately overhangs the long naiTow 
 arm of the sea, which the traveller crosses at 
 Kyle-stroom Ferr}'. Other mountains, equally 
 savage and sublime, rise abruptly from the shores 
 of this noble loch, which, from the lonely silence, 
 and hopeless steiility, that reign around it, pro- 
 duces a deep impression on the mind. 
 
 After a refreshment of bai'ley-scones and cheese, 
 procured at the neat little inn on the southern 
 side, I soon accomplished the remainder of my 
 task; coasting, at the latter part of my journey, 
 along the margin of Loch Assynt ; a fresh-water 
 lake, which derives a character of gi-andeur, not 
 only from the height of its bounding mountEuns, 
 but also from its own expanse. Ai'dvreck castle 
 is a romantic ruin, standing all bare and crum- 
 bling on a little eminence close to the water, and 
 exhibiting traces of having been originally de- 
 fended by moats.
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 307 
 
 In the inn at InchnaclamfF I am disappointed ; 
 it is a poor little place, considering that it lies on 
 the mail road. 
 
 Sept. 7th. — I arose early this morning, intend- 
 ing to walk to Loch Inver ; but the weather had 
 relapsed to its usual state, resolved, as it seemed, 
 to prove, that two consecutive fine days cannot 
 exist here at this season. While I was debating 
 on the alternative of abiding in this comfortless 
 spot, or of proceeding through the rain to Loch 
 Inver, the mail-gig from that place arrived on its 
 way to Golspie. It was full, but the passengers 
 agreed to make room for me, and I resolved on 
 the instant to take my leave of Scotland. 
 
 I had fully intended to continue my travels 
 along the western coast, making my way by Ulla- 
 pool to Loch Maree, and thence to Lochearron, 
 Kintail, and Strath Affric. But as there are no 
 roads in these unfrequented, mountainous, and 
 swampy regions ; and as the rains continued to 
 envelope even the liveliest scenes in gloom and 
 discomfort ; I was compelled to give up this part 
 of my scheme. Under the most favourable cir- 
 cumstances, I should have had to struggle with 
 considerable hardships and privations; and, though 
 not easily yielding to ordinary difficulties, I felt
 
 308 JOURNAL OF A 
 
 sure, that the addition of bad weather to so many 
 other sources of annoyance, would have an- 
 nihilated all the pleasure, which I might other- 
 wise have extracted from such an excursion. I 
 mounted the mail-gig, therefore, and bade adieu 
 once more, with regret to Highland mountains, 
 and with alacrity to Highland rains. 
 
 Throughout this whole excursion, I have been 
 singularly unfortunate in weather; owing, partly 
 to the late period of my visit, but principally to 
 the extraordinary nature of the season. Yet, in 
 spite of circumstances so adverse to enjoyment, 
 and of the consequent solitariness of my rambles, 
 I have derived from them no inconsiderable share 
 of pleasure, information, and health. 
 
 In the Highlands, a stormy sky is seldom with- 
 out its peculiar charms : it throws down upon the 
 wild landscape contrasted light and shade ; mag- 
 nifies objects, which are already intrinsically vast; 
 and exhibits the face of nature in alternate ma- 
 jesty and grace. And when, at last, the sun shines 
 out with stedfast splendour, its cheering ray seems 
 to light up the innermost chambers of the heart ; 
 dispelling all fears and anxieties, and fully recon- 
 ciling us once more to oar position on the globe. 
 We then feel mere animal existence to be a bless-
 
 RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 309 
 
 iug ; and in the actual enjoyment of the present 
 hour, cease for a while to hope for the future. 
 
 But whether I met with bright or stormy skies, 
 I never roamed far without encountering scenes of 
 surpassing beauty, or of startling gi-andeur. And 
 sure am I, that whoever w^anders through this 
 romantic land, will find whatever of poetry, or of 
 philosophy, his mind may possess, awakened and 
 stirred within him. My path, too, was always 
 cheered by the reflection, that I was among a race 
 of men, who had forgotten the ferocity, but not 
 the hospitality of their forefathers ; and whose ur- 
 banity to the stranger called forth my warmest 
 sympathies, and raised in my estimation the 
 standard of humanity. No one could have come 
 among them with less claim to kindness, than I 
 had ; and no one, surely, could have met with 
 more. I have not set down the l^alf of it ; and 
 could still recount many an instance of good will, 
 for which I cannot hope to make any return. 
 For in all human probability, I shall never meet 
 those kind-hearted Highlanders again, and never 
 more loiter among their beautiful glens. All that 
 now lies in my power, is to acknowledge my 
 obligations ; especially to one worthy family, from 
 whom I experienced the Arab's hospitality, and
 
 310 A RAMBLE IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 the Samaritan's compassion : and if ever this 
 humble volume should reach a corner of the 
 kingdom so remote as Durness, it is a pleasure to 
 me to reflect, that its minister will find the last 
 sentiment recorded here, is that of gratitude to 
 him and his, for their generous treatment of a 
 weary stranger. 
 
 G, Woodfall, Printer, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London,
 
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