THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GUIDE TO THK HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS INCLUDING ORKNEY AND ZETLAND DESCRIPTIVE OF THEIR SCENERY, STATISTICS, ANTIQUITIES, AND NATURAL HISTORY. CONTAINING ALSO DIRECTIONS FOB VISITING THE LOWLANDS OF SCOTLAND WITH DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES, MAPS, VIEWS, TABLES OF DISTANCES, NOTICES OF INNS, &c. BY GEORGE ANDERSON AND PETER ANDERSON OF INVERNESS. THIRD EDITION CAREFULLY RF.VISED, ENLARGED, ANH REMODELLED. EDINBURGH. ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, NOKTH KKIDGK BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO THE QUKEN. SDINBURGH : PRINTED BY ROBERT CLARK. PEEFACE. THE Authors having been induced to remodel this Guide, by commencing the Routes between Inverness and the South, not at Inverness as a central point, as in previous editions, but at the opposite extremities, so as better to serve the pur- pose of the stranger visiting the Highlands, necessarily had to rewrite these portions ; and they, with some confidence, anticipate that these alterations produce a very material im- provement in all respects. They have again visited several parts of the country, and made personal acquaintance with some other districts which they had not had previous oppor- tunity of inspecting for themselves thus giving freshness and novelty to the narrative. They have also subjected the whole work to so thorough a revision, and have introduced so much new matter into their pages, that they are encouraged to hope that it will now be found not only a very complete Guide Book to the Highlands and Islands, even in their most remote and sequestered byeways, but also a readable, as well as com- prehensive compilation, for the closet or the fireside. To 865838 accommodate the Volume to the wants of Tourists throughout the whole of Scotland, a condensed Sketch of the Lowlands has been added, by which the Authors have endeavoured to direct the Traveller's notice to the points of most interest, as well as to promote his acquaintance with the subjects it passes in rapid survey before him. It is with much gratification the Authors acknowledge the prompt attention they have received from the numerous parties they have applied to for details of information, for this as of former Editions. They have felt called upon already to express their special sense of obligation to the Reverend Charles Clous- ton of Stromness, in Orkney, for his description of the Orkney Islands to the late Mr. George Sutherland Taylor of Dornoch and to Mr. Robert Sutherland Taylor, sheriff-substitute of the eastern division of Ross-shire, by whom the nucleus of the Branch Routes to the North and West of Sutherlandshire was furnished ; and to the Reverend Dr. M'Intosh Mackay of Dunoon, who has kindly supplied the greater part of the de- scription of Islay. But they cannot with propriety continue to avail themselves of the labours of these gentlemen without renewed acknowledgment. Through the kindness of Mr. Tho- mas Fraser, sheriff-substitute of Skye, several gaps in the delineation of the scenery of that island will now be found to be filled up ; and the Authors are indebted to Mr. George May, resident engineer of the Caledonian Canal, for the amended lucid history and account of that national undertaking the most full and complete yet presented to the public. The de- tails of the Roman Camps at Ardoch, and other particulars regarding Strathearn, were communicated by a gentleman con- versant with the antiquities of the neighbourhood Mr. Thomas Soutar, writer, Crieff. Though the plan of the first Edition led to greater use being made, than in subsequent Editions, of the benefits of the scientific aid, which the kindness of Drs. Hibbert, Sir W. J. Hooker, Sir Roderick Impey Murcheson, and the Reverend George Gordon of Birnie, put at their command, the Authors would again tender their grateful acknowledgments to these gentlemen. This Edition is enriched with a valuable synopsis of the Geology of Morayshire by Alexander Robertson, Esq., of Elgin. In conclusion, the Authors would repeat their request, that any inaccuracies or defects may be pointed out to them, in order to future correction. INVERNESS, 6th August 1850. CONTENTS. SECTION I. PAGE GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND 1 SECTION II. APPROACHES TO AND TRAVELLING IN THE HIGHLANDS, HIGH- LAND ROADS, COACHES, INNS, STEAM NAVIGATION, &c 42 SECTION III. ROUTE FIRST. FROM GLASGOW TO OBAN, FORT- WILLIAM, AND INVERNESS 63 By the Crinan Canal to Oban 66 To Oban by Loch Lomond 80 To Fort- William by Loch Lomond 97 To Oban by Inverary 103 To Inverar}' by Loch Lomond 103 To Inverary by the Gairloch, Loch Goil, and Loch Eck... 106 Inverary to Oban 109 Oban to Inverness 110 Branch A. Stirling, by Lochearn-head, to Tyndrum, and, by Cal- lander, to Loch Catrine, Lochs Lomond, Chon, Ard, and Monteith .. 156 VI11 CONTENTS. PAGE Branch B. From Fort- William to Arisaig and Moidart 175 C. Loch Arkaig 180 D. Loch Laggan Road and Parallel Roads of Glen Roy 182 E. From Invergany to Loch Hournhead and Cluany 189 F. From Invermoriston to Kyle Rhea and Kyle Akin 192 SECTION IV. TOWN OF INVERNESS 202 SECTION V. ROUTE SECOND. PERTH TO INVERNESS, ACROSS THE GRAM- PIANS, BY THE HIGHLAND ROAD, THROUGH ATHOLE, BADE- NOCH, STRATHSPEY, AND STRATHDEARN 221 Branch A. From Crieff and Greenloaning Station, by Lochearn-head, Killin, and Kenmore, to Tummel Bridge and Blair, and by Aberfeldy to Dunkeld ; and by Curriemuck- lach and Aberfeldy to Dalnacardoch 248 To Amulree and Aberfeldy 256 To Lochearn-head, &c 257 B. From Blair- Athole to Grantown, in Strathspey, by Glen Tilt and the Castletown of Braemar 275 C. Routes across the Grampians to Braemar and Athole, with Loch-an-Eilan, Cairngorm, &c. 284 D. Strathspey and Lochindorbh 293 E. Strathdearn and the River Findhorn 301 F. Strathnairn and Stratherrick 314 Ballichernoch Road 316 SECTION VI. ROUTE THIRD. ABERDEEN TO INVERNESS BY SEA, AND THROUGH THE COUNTIES OF ABERDEEN, BANFF, ELGIN, AND NAIRS 318 Route through Buchan to Peterhead and Banff 325 Mid Road, from Aberdeen to Banff, by Old Meldrum and Turriff 333 The Upper, or Great North Road, by Huntly to Inverness 336 CONTENTS. IX PAGE Branch A. Inverness to the field of the battle of Culloden, to Clava, Castles Dalcross, Kilravock, and Cawdor, to Fort- George, and to the Findliorn 363 Battle of Cullodeh, or Drummossie Moor 365 Ancient Stone Monuments at Clava 369 Dalcross or Dacus Castle 371 Kilravock Castle 372 Cawdor (anciently Calder) Castle 373 SECTION VII. ROUTE FOURTH. INVERNESS TO TAIN, GOLSPIE, WICK, THURSO, AND JOHN-O'-GROAT'S 380 Branch A. Beauly to Strathglass, Glen Strathfarar, Glen Cannich, Glen Affiick, and thence to Kintail 424 Passes from Strathglass to the "West Coast 433 Glen Strathfarar, branching off from Strathglass at Stray 434 Glencannich 436 The Chisholm's Pass and Strath Affrick 437 B. (THE BLACK ISLE). Inverness, by Kessock Ferry, to Ding- wall, Redcastle, Avoch, Fortrose, and Cromarty 440 C. Dingwall to the Western Coast of Ross-shire 454 1st Branch Road, Strathgarve to Ullapool 467 2d. Branch Road from Auchnasheen to Lochs Maree, Torridon, and Gairloch 473 3d. Branch Road from Jeantown to Shieldaig and Applecross , 479 D. Bonar Bridge to Tongue, Duirness, and Cape Wrath 482 E. From Bonar Bridge to Loch Inver of Assynt, and from Assynt to Duirness 508 From Assynt to Duirness 522 F. Tongue to Thurso 533 Note to Route Fourth. (1.) Dunrohin Castle 536 (2.) Herring, Cod, and Ling Fisheries 541 (3.) Strathpeffer 544 (4.) Meikle Ferry and Dornoch ; Errata and Addenda 545 (5.) Steam Communication to the West of Ross and Sutherlandshire 545. X CONTENTS. SECTION VIII. THE WESTERN ISLES AND CANTYRE. PAGE A. Isle of Arran and Ailsa Craig 546 Ailsa 554 B. Knapdale and Cantyre. From Fort- William to Campbelltown and the Mull of Cantyre, by land, along the coast 554 (1.) Fort-William to Oban 555 (2.) Do. to Lochgilphead 555 (3.) Knapdale 555 (4.) Cantyre. 1. West Side 555 Do. 2. East Side 556 C. Islands of Islay and Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay 570 Islay 572 Jura 586 Colonsay and Oronsay 587 D. Mull, lona, and Staffa 589 lona '. 592 Staffa 603 Sound of Mull 607 E. Skye and Rasay. Division I. Skye From Armadale, Kyle Rhea, and Kyle Akin, to Dunvegan and Duntulm 615 II. Skye Cave of Strathaird, Coruishk, Glen Sligachan 636 III. Broadford to Brochel Castle, in Rasay 647 F. The Outer Hebrides, or the Long Island 650 G. St. Kilda .. ..665 SECTION IX. THE ORKNEY AND ZETLAND ISLANDS. Part 1st. The Orkney Islands 670 Itinerary 692 Natural History 717 Part 2d. The Zetland Islands 720 Natural History 749 Note to Sections VI. and VIII. and Errata, and Addenda as to the Lews, &c 751 CONTENTS. XI APPENDIX. DIRECTIONS FOR VISITING THE LOWLANDS. PAGE I. THE TWEED, THE BORDER COUNTRY, AND CLYDESDALE 755 Edinburgh to the Tweed 756 Kelso to Jedburgh and Hawick 759 Hawick to Melrose and Selkirk 761 Ettrick Forest 762 Moffat 762 Moffat to Selkirk, by the Yarrow 763 Selkirk to Peebles and Lanark 765 Lanark 766 Lanark to Hamilton 767 Hamilton to Glasgow 768 II. EDINBURGH TO GLASGOW AND AYR AND THE LAND OF BURNS, THE COASTS OF GALLOWAY AND DUMFRIES 768 Edinburgh to Glasgow 768 Glasgow to Ayr 770 The Galloway Coast 773 Dumfries 773 III. MAIN RAILWAY LINES THROUGH SCOTLAND 775 1. Berwick to Edinburgh 775 2. Caledonian Railway 777 3. The Edinburgh and Northern Railway to Dundee and Perth 777 4. The Scottish Central Railway, Greenhill Junction, to Perth, Castle Campbell, and the Scenery of the Devon 778 5. The Dundee and Perth, Dundee and Arbroath, Scottish Midland Junction, and Arbroath and Forfar Railway 781 6. The Aberdeen Railway 782 Note to Section II. Erratum as to Roads on the West Coast of Ross and Sutherland shires 783 TABLE OF DISTANCES 785 INDEX ... 795 GUIDE TO THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OE SCOTLAND, SECTION I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND. . reng an sruon o e ans, . er oca eaons, . Causes of Change and Career of Improvements in the Highlands, 6. Dwellings, 7 auses o nge an arer mprovemens n e gans, . wengs, . Commercial Resources, Harbours, and Piers, 8. HigMand Societies of London and Scotland, Sh British Fishe esources, arours, an ers, . gan ocees o onon heep and Wool, 9 Black Cattle, Horses, 10. Wood, 11. Kelp, 12. ries, 13. Herring and Salmon Fisheries, 14. White Fish, 15. ses, . errng an amon sees, . e s, . Game, 16. Sources of Livelihood; Dress; Language, 17- Ecclesiastical History . ; ; , - asa sory Highlands, 18. Parliamentary or Government Churches, 19. Episcopacy land since the Revolution, 20. Present Ecclesiastical Statistics of the Gaelic Episcopal Society ; Gaelic Scriptures, 26. Present State of Education and Religious Instruction, 27. Gaelic Literature, 28. Highland Music, 29. General Chartr f he iland Pulain . , . Character of the Highland Population, 30 1. IT will save much repetition in the body of this work, if we begin it with a few general remarks on the external appearance, history, and statistics of the Highlands, with some brief notices of the present condition of the inhabitants and their resources, and such a sketch of the natural history of the country as is necessary for the use of the Tourist, and which may assist the recollection of the man of science. The Highlands of Scotland, then, strictly speaking, consist only of the mountainous parts to the north of the Firths of Clyde and Tay, and the River Forth. 2 GENERAL FEATURES SECT. I. Their boundary stretches in a line from S.W. to N.E., a few- miles north of the cities of Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, and Dun- dee, and excludes the greater parts of the sea coasts of Nairn, Elgin, and Banff shires, and the counties on the eastern coast south of the Moray Firth all of which were peopled at an early period by Saxon, Danish, or Flemish colonies ; and hence were separated from the Highlands which peculiarly composed the territories of the ancient Gaelic or Celtic tribes. As, however, the whole of Scotland north of the line just mentioned is com- monly regarded as belonging to the Highlands, including the Hebrides, the Orkney and Shetland Isles, many districts of which, both in form and population, are decidedly lowland, we shall undertake to guide the tourist through all the northern counties and islands, with the exception of the eastern coast south of Aberdeen ; and many places also beyond the Highland boundary, will be at least partially described. This great tract of country, as its name denotes, is of a mountainous character. The mountains vary greatly in eleva- tion as well as form : their greatest height being about 4400 feet, while they often exhibit groups and clusters of nearly uni- form magnitude, sometimes about 1000, sometimes 2000, and occasionally 3000 feet and upwards above the sea. In general, the principal chains of mountains extend across the country in a direction from S.W. to N. E., and the larger valleys which intervene between them have a parallel direction ; while the intersecting openings, or lateral valleys, observe no such regu- larity. The eastern side of the north of Scotland for the most part presents a continuous unbroken line of coast, while the western is indented by numberless narrow arms of the sea. This latter coast, also, is flanked by clusters of large islands, of varied aspect, with smaller ones interspersed among them, forming an almost unbroken breastwork between the ocean and the mainland ; while the eastern shore, on the other hand, is en- tirely defenceless, and exposed to the entire force of the German Ocean. The mountains of the west coast generally possess a more verdant and less of a heathery aspect than those in the in- terior and the opposite shore Their acclivities are also more abrupt, and their forms more picturesque. A further strongly distinctive character between the east and west coasts, is, that the mountainous ranges in general subside much more towards the former. The inclination of the surface of the country on SECT. I. OF THE HIGHLANDS. 3 this side being thus more lengthened, its rivers have a more prolonged course, and are consequently of greater body as the Tay, Dee, Spey, Findhorn, Beauly, Carron, and Oikel, with which there are hardly any streams that can compare on the western side of the island ; and several of their estuaries also assume the characters of extensive firths, while on the west they do not attain such dimensions as, in any case north of the Clyde, to be so designed. Patches of arable ground are cultivated in the less elevated portion of the uplands, fertility and cultivation increasing with the descent of the valleys ; and, on the sea- coasts, rich and luxuriant crops are seen gladdening the face of nature. Except on the eastern shore, however, there is, on the whole, no great extent of cultivated land. Here the level and sloping tracts are most extensive : to this side the towns are chiefly confined, and consequently greater wealth exists to stamp its impress on the scenery, and the exports of grain and other produce from Caithness and the east coast of Ross and Inverness- shire are considerable. Native woods, chiefly of pine and birch, clothe the declivities in many parts of the Highlands, over- hanging generally the banks of lakes and streams ; and the planting of hardwood and larch has of late greatly extended the woodland. The west coast rarely presents any breadth of wood, though it is occasionally adorned with trees ; but on both sides, and in all parts of the country, the remains of very large trees of oak and fir are found under gravel banks and in peat mosses. A surface so diversified necessarily exhibits, within very circumscribed limits, varieties of scenery of the most opposite descriptions ; enabling the admirer of nature to pass abruptly from dwelling on the loveliness of an extensive marine or champaign landscape into the deep solitude of an ancient for- est, or the dark craggy fastnesses of an alpine ravine ; or from lingering amid the quiet grassy meadows of a pastoral strath or valley, watered by its softly flowing stream, to the open heathy mountain-side, whence "alps o'er alps arise," whose summits are often shrouded with mists and almost perennial snows, and their overhanging precipices furrowed by deep tor- rents and foaming cataracts. Lakes and long arms of the sea, either fringed with woods or surrounded with rocky, barren, and mossy shores, now studded with islands, and anon extending their silvery arms into distant receding mountains, are met in GENERAL FEATURES. SECT. I. every district ; while the extreme steepness, ruggedness, and sterility of many of the mountain chains, impart to them as im- posing and magnificent characters as are to be seen in the much higher and more inaccesible elevations of Switzerland. No wonder, then, that this " land of mountain and of flood " should have given birth to the song of the bard, and afforded material for the theme of the sage in all ages ; that its inhabitants should be tinctured with deep romantic feelings, at once tender, melancholy, and wild ; and that the recollection of their own picturesque native dwellings should haunt them to their latest hours, wherever they go. Neither, amid such profusion and di- versity of all that is beautiful and sublime in nature, can the unqualified admiration of strangers, from every part of Eu- rope, of the scenery of the Highlands, fail of being easily ac- counted for ; nor can any hesitate in recommending them to visit the more remote or unknown solitudes.* * The following sketch, in this foot-note, of the Geology of the Highlands, may not be unacceptable to some of our readers : The great central mass of the Highlands consists of rough old primitire or crystalline rocks those of Argyleshire, in the extreme south-west, being chiefly mica and argillaceous schists, succeeded, on the north, towards Glencoe and Ben- Nevis, by huge mountains of the most ancient porphyritic or eruptive rocks. The Lennox, Perth, and Inverness shires, consist, for the most part, of gneiss rooks, through which granite, in mountain masses and veins, has protruded in almost every direction the great central ridge of the Grampians being principally composed of that rock ; which thence descends, in wide moorish plateaus, through the heights of Banff and Aberdeen shires, and projects itself into the German Ocean in the shape of long headlands and ranges of mural precipices. Ross and Sutherland shires also abound most in gneiss ; but some of their most rugged and picturesque portions such as those about Loch Duich, Loch Maree, and Gairloch consist of mica slate, a rock which presents a more serrated and deeply-cleft surface than perhaps any other in Scotland. It is yet questionable whether these rocks are not older than the similar Silurian deposits of Wales, the Isle of Man, and the north of England. All these great central masses of what are called primitive rocks, were encased in an enormous frame-work of the Devonian old red sandstone, and its associated conglomer- ate ; which may be traced almost uninterruptedly along the whole southern flank of the Grampians, and thence northwards, with very few breaks, into the basin of the Moray Firth. With the exception of a small number of protruding ridges and summits of granitic rocks, the whole shores of this firth are composed of this old red sandstone ; which, no doubt, at one time, extended its layers across from side to side ; and above and upon wliich, from the few traces of them still remaining, deposits of lias and oolitic shales, grits, and limestones, appear to have rested. Perhaps these were also surmounted by members of the chalk formation rolled masses of which have been discovered in Banff and Aberdeen sliires ; while in one or two places, as at Elgin, singular local deposits of the era of the green sand occur, with their peculiar and characteristic fossils. The amenity of the climate, and fertility of the soil, round all the shores of the Moray Firth, are owing, in no small degree, to their being formed of members of the old red sandstone series ; which, in Caithness, extend themselves out in enormous flat or undulating plains of bituminous and calcareous shales and freestones ; bestowing on that country, except along the sea-cliffs, a dead and unin- teresting outline. Almost all the bays and headlands along the north coast, from the Peiitland Firth westwards, are skirted or tipped with the remains of the same great old sandstone frame ; which, as we round Cape Wrath, soon meets us again in enormous sheets and masses, composing the greater portion of the coast as far SECT. I. LANDED PROPERTY AND POPULATION. O 2. In speaking of Highland hill property, as to extent, (ex- cluding the lower and more fertile portions,) miles may, with- out any great exaggeration, be substituted for acres, to indicate a possession of a value corresponding with a Lowland estate. In the assessment of real property in 1815, the annual ascer- tained value of all the Highland counties, including Orkney and Zetland, with the exception of Perth, Stirling, and Dum- barton shires, was ,647,441 ; while the real property of Fife and Dumfries shires, as assessed at the same time, was ,701,391. But the population of the Highland counties is double that south as Applecross, and rising, in the interior of Sutherland, into huge detached peaks and pinnacles, apparently of red horizontal masonry. The sandstones on this side of the island are distinguished by their superior hardness and crystalline texture; and have hy some, especially in the neighbourhood of gneiss and mica slate, been described as a sort of primitive sandstone. The Hebrides are naturally divided into two groups : the outer, which consists almost exclusively of gneiss rocks ; and the tinier, comprehending Mull, Staffa, Eig, Rum, and Skye, which, with their dependent islets, consist of a basis for the most part of secondary sandstones and limestone, out of which have arisen, from the internal fiery nucleus of the earth, enormous overlying, and, in some cases, overflow- ing masses and mountains of trap rocks, chiefly greenstone, syenite, basalt, hyper- stene, and an endless variety of pitchstone, claystone, and felspar porphyries, with their associated crystals and simple minerals. The precise localities of the most interesting of all these deposits will be mentioned in pur subsequent chapters. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland exhibit in every direction the most une- quivocal traces of all the recent changes which have affected this portion of the globe. The principal valleys and mountains appear to have received their present forms before the British isles uprose from the deep ; and everywhere the enormous quanti- ties of rolled stones or boulders, and of sand and gratel, not only betoken the immense abrading forces to which the rocks were exposed, but those rounded frag- ments, by their deposition in regular banks and terraces, also indicate the successive heights at which the ocean, or some other great mass of water, stood at long and different periods. Every valley and hill side exhibit such appearances ; and a series of corresponding terraces may be seen extending to at least IbOO feet above the pre- sent sea level. The most marked and general sea margin, however, is one which encircles the island with an almost continuous ring, at an elevation of from 90 to 120 feet. This great terraced bank is beautifully displayed on the sea-coast in almost every part of the Highlands, and in the cliffs above it, as at the Sutors of Crpmarty and elsewhere, lines of caverns may be seen marking other elevations at which the sea had previously stood. The distinction observable in the Isle of Man and so fully described by the Rev. J. G. Gumming in his interesting account of that island- between the boulder clay and the drift gravel of these later deposits, may also be traced throughout the Highlands of Scotland, and especially around Inverness, the former being the undermost, but rising up from beneath the gravel banks to a higher elevation, and often to the very tops of the hills. This boulder clay is the cause of the superior fertility of some of our higher ridges, and in it are entombed by far the largest of our erratic blocks. All the phenomena of scratching, grooving, and polish- ing, so characteristic of what is called the Glacial theory of the denudation and transport of rocks, are likewise abundantly exemplified throughout the country. And lastly, the remains of the Irish Elk, and of enormous trunks of Oak and Pine (with which no living examples in this country can compare), imbedded in our peat mosses and quagmires, both on the mainland and adjoining islands, betoken the extent and universal diffusion of the ancient Caledonian forests, while the great size of those remains excites a doubt whether a considerable change of climate has not taken place since the era in which they existed. References will be given in the body of this book to particular localities where all the phenomena alluded to may be distinctly seen. 6 EARLY HISTORY SECT. 1. of the latter. The county of Perth was estimated at within ^100,000 of all the rest of the Highlands.* 3. The great mass of the population of the Highlands is unquestionably of Celtic origin ; those Celts being (according to Mr. Skene, the latest essayist on this obscure point) identical with the Picts, and the descendants of the ancient Caledonians of Roman authors. With the Pictish inhabitants were after- wards incorporated the Scots, of the same Celtic stock, who, from the north of Ireland, colonised the south-west of Scotland, during the period between the third and the sixth centuries. The Scots did not acquire a firm footing till the Romans had aban- doned Britain. They contended for the mastery with the Picts for about 400 years, both nations merging into one in the ninth century. The northern Picts, however, kept themselves greatly separate, and owned only a nominal submission to the Scottish line of kings ; and, retaining their ancient territories and language, they were the real ancestors of the modern Gael or Highlanders. The upper classes, however, were to some ex- tent of Scandinavian, more immediately of Norman origin, and, on the west coast, of Danish or Norwegian lineage. In the reign of Malcolm III., or Ceanmore, partly in consequence of his marriage with Margaret, sister of Atheling the Saxon, Nor- man barons banished from his court began to effect settlements in the Highlands. The Saxons are thought to have confined themselves to the Lowlands. On the appearance of these strangers and their followers, feudal policy came to be gradu- ally blended with the old patriarchal or Celtic system, which differed materially from feudalism. Society assumed the as- * The assessed values of the different Highland counties, and their population, in 1831 and 1841, are as follow . Real Value In 1842 for Population. Population. Property Tax. 183L 18*1. Argyle ...... \ 3fi2 27 , R 9 101,425 97,140 Bute ...... j -62,273 8 u 151 15 695 Caithness ..... 66,572 3 10 34,529 36,197 Inverness ..... 182,064 7 2 94,797 97,615 Orkney and Zetland . 42,767 6 7 >.^'J see you, Donald." " Surely you don't doubt me ? " " No ; but your tongue runs so fast that this story will spread like wild- fire, and by to-morrow morning will be in the mouth of every old woman in the parish." The clansman vowed secrecy ; but Cluny, knowing his lack of discretion, and averse to adopt the bloody alternative which self preservation suggested, lost no time in changing his abode. His fears were well grounded ; for next day his pursuers duly visited his empty lair. 6. The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy. These remarkable formations have been long known to the public ; but the question regarding their origin has given rise to a great deal of very violent and ridiculous discussion on the part of those who, zealous for the greatness and antiquity of their Celtic ancestors, have maintained them to be the works of the old Fingalians ; while from writers of a different class they ROUTE I. D. PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY. 187 have received much patient examination, and have elicited several important physical observations, and no small degree of ingenious argument. The theory which one class of observers would have us to believe, is, that the roads or terraces in ques- tion were formed by human labour for the purposes of hunting ; and, on the supposition that the country was anciently covered with forests, that they might have served as avenues for the rapid passages of the huntsmen, and the entrapping or exposure, and more easy slaughter of the deer. The roads or lines of Glen Roy are composed of sand and gravel : they occupy corresponding elevations on the opposite sides of the glen, and are perfectly horizontal. They are three in number, one above the other, on each side, or, we should more properly say, all round the glen. The average breadth of the terraces or lines is sixty feet. Their course is occasionally interrupted by protruding rocks, or deep chasms ; and, in the centre of the valley, there are one or two detached rocks jutting up like islands, which have rings, or platforms, round them of a similar character, and at the same height as the lowest lateral terrace. The surface is inclined, so that standing on any of them, and looking along, the horizontal continuity is less observable than when the eye is cast around the glen, and sur- veys the whole series at once, when the mathematical regularity of the lines distinctly marked on the hill face, as a friend aptly remarked, like the lines of text and half text on a writing school copy-book, and generally distinguishable by a more decided green, or a verdant tint contrasting with purple heath or grey rock, is certainly very striking. As the enduring memorials of a mighty agency, when the waters covered the face of the earth, they are impressive in their peculiar and seldom paralleled tes- timony to the changes on our terrestrial sphere. Glen Roy is not the only valley in this neighbourhood in which these singu- lar appearances are to be found. The same or similar lines are more or less perfectly continued over the adjoining valleys of Glen Turit, Glen Gloy, Glen Fintack, and Glen Spean, but not approaching in effect to those of Glen Roy ; and, on a more exten- sive survey, traces of a similar description have been found in the neighbourhood of Loch Laggan, and in the open country towards Fort-William. Further observations have likewise fully established that the interesting phenomena of parallel lines, and alluvial banks, corresponding in height, though 188 PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY. SECT. III. widely separated from each other, are not confined to this corner of the kingdom ; but that similar appearances exist in other parts of the Highlands, and in the south of Scotland and England : while in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and America, they occur on such a scale as makes their origin quite intelli- gible. The whole subject has of late been investigated with extraordinary pains and nicety of observation by Mr. Robert Chambers of Edinburgh. Previously scientific enquirers had confined their speculations on the mode of operation of the acknowledged agent, water, to the theory of a lake, the barrier of which, whether of rock, gravel, or ice, had given way at suc- cessive elevations. It remained for Mr. Chambers, from a com- prehensive survey of similar indications throughout the king- dom, to adduce the consistent rationale of a general marine submergence and subsequent elevation, which may now be received as the correct exposition of these and other similar terraces. Mr. Chambers and D. Milne, Esq., were the first to observe that the terraces often pass from one valley to another, along the ridge or water-shed, at the top which separates them, and that they are prolonged far off into other glens, there never having been in fact any inclosing barriers. The following is a note of the measurements made by Dr. Macculloch of the relative elevations of the lines of Glen Roy: Feet. Height of the highest line above Loch Spey 63 Do. above the sea at Spey Mouth 1266 Do. above Keppoch 927 Do. above the highest point eastward of Loch Laggan 432 Do. above Loch Lochy 1182 Do. above Loch Oich 1172 Do. above Loch Ness 1212 Do. above Mouth of Ness 1266 Do. above the sea at Corpach 1262 The lower line is above the bottom of the valley at the top 11 The lower line is above Keppoch 633 The second line is above the lower line 212 The third above the second 82 The most favourable point of view is that first attained approaching from the bridge of Roy, being about four miles distant from the inn. A straight section of the glen, about six miles in extent, is then under the eye. The road is tolerable, so that the tourist may gratify his curiosity at little incon- venience ; and as the scene is a fine pastoral valley, the Hank- ROUTE I. E. THE RIVER GARRY AND LOCH GARRY. 189 ing hill sides lofty, steep, and continuous, his expectations will not be disappointed. 7. Should the pedestrian bend his steps through the glen, he will find a snug farm house Glen Roy about ten miles from the Bridge of Roy. From this point a walk of about half-a- dozen miles conducts along the rocky course of a rapidly shel- ving stream, exhibiting a succession of cascades, to Loch Spey the parent source of the river Spey a bleak moss-girt sheet of water, imbedded in the central recesses of remote mountain chains, by shepherds and sportsmen only trod. He will get into the Corryarick road near the lodge of the Glensheira shootings, celebrated for their abundant stock of grouse two or three miles north from Garvamore, and about eight or nine miles from the Bridge of Laggan public-house. 8. Or if his object be to regain the Great Glen, a pretty stiff hill walk of about six miles from the farm-house of Glen Roy, by a beautifully verdant hollow called Glen Turrit, and across the intervening hills, will bring him to Laggan, at the east end of Loch Lochy. ROUTE FIRST. BRANCH E. FROM INVERGARRY TO LOCH HOFRNHEAD AND CLUANY. The River Garry and Loch Garry, 1. Loch Quoich. 2. Loch Hourn and Pass to Shielhouse, 3. The Rhaebuie Road ; Gleu Luina, 4. Miles. Invergarry to Tomandoun ......................... .. 12 12 Loch Hournhead ....................................... 20 32 Tomandoun to Cluany ................................. IOJ 1. THE road through Glengarry connects the Great Glen with the head of Loch Hourn, and leaves the former at the comfort- able inn of Invergarry. The river Garry is a rapid and troubled stream, which discharges itself into Loch Oich, from Loch Garry (about three miles distant), and which winds through a magni- ficent amphitheatre of hills clad with birch and scattered firs. 190 LOCH QDOICH LOCH HOURN. SECT. III. Loch Garry, though comparatively but little known, is among the finest of our mountain lakes ; in length about seven miles : its banks, consisting of a series of low swelling eminences, are clad with birch trees, of late years sorely diminished of their fair proportions ; but which still, though much thinned, extend from the water's edge to the bases, and spread up the ravines and corries of the high receding mountains which form the glen. On advancing beyond a bend, in which the loch terminates at the eastern extremity, the whole extent of its waters and wooded banks comes suddenly into view. They occupy the near por- tion of a long vista, which is lost in a noble range of lofty but distant mountains, stretching across from Loch Quoich along the head of Glen Luine to Glen Moriston. 2. The first public-house on this road, called Tomandoun, now a tolerable small inn, is twelve miles from Invergarry. Loch Quoich, which occupies a considerable portion of the re- maining distance to Loch Hournhead, is likewise a fine sheet of water, but with little wood. It is now embellished at the west end by the mansion of Mr. Edward Ellice, M.P., who has im- proved his Highland property with judgment and taste. The road continues to ascend till within three miles of Loch Hourn, where, after passing through a barrier of rugged rocks, con- fusedly heaped together, it suddenly descends from its eleva- tion, and rapidly attains the sea level. The whole distance from Invergarry is strikingly devoid of human habitations. At the end of Loch Hourn a single farm-house appears ; and on the further side of a small burn is the public-house, or inn, close by the loch side. 3. Loch Hourn is a narrow arm of the sea, extending inland about twenty-five miles, through a series of high, rough, and steep hills, and towards its head it becomes almost completely land-locked. It is an excellent herring-fishing station, the fish being generally very plentiful and of superior quality. A road has been opened along a small part of the coast of Knoidart, on the south side of the strait ; but the remainder is barely passable on horseback, the rugged track crossing very consider- able elevations, while there is no access, save for pedestrians, to Glen Shiel and the extensive district of Glenelg. The route to the former lies across Corryvarligan, a pass about 2000 feet high, from the top of which the bird's eye view of Glen Shiel and Glen Oundlan, lying parallel to the lower portion of the former, ROUTE I. E. GLEN LUINE. 191 is very remarkable, and exceedingly picturesque. The glens diverge nearly at right angles from one another ; both are straight, narrow, and precipitous ; their sides bald and rocky, or scantily covered with heath, and the summits sharp and serrated. We have been led to particularize this sequestered scene, because it occurs on a route we would recommend to tourists, viz., to ascend Glen Garry to Loch Hournhead, and thence strike across, as above pointed out, by the pass of Corry- varligan, to the inn of Shielhouse, at the head of Loch Duich ; and from thence to proceed back to the Great Glen by Glen Shiel and Glen Moriston. In proceeding to Shielhouse, we direct our course along Glen Oundlan, the whole distance from Loch Hournhead requiring about five hours' smart walking. 4. The importance of the road from Invergarry to Loch Hourn is enhanced by the Rhaebuie road from Tomandoun in Glen Garry to Cluany in Glen Moriston, connecting the two glens, and affording a more ready access for the large droves of cattle from Skye and the west coast of the country on their way to the southern markets, to the Loch Laggan road, and thence to Dalwhinnie. But this road possesses few attractions ; for tediousness, it may fairly compete with any of equal length in the Highlands ; it is ten miles and a half long ; and cross- ing from Tomandoun into Glen Luine, (lying nearly parallel with Glens Moriston and Garry, and falling into the former at Doe Bridge,) it makes a tiresome ascent along the northern side of that valley. But the traveller's labour is almost repaid by the magnificence of the upper and precipitous part of Mam Cluany, passing at the base of which the Rhaebuie joins the Glen Moriston road a little to the east of the inn of Cluany. Glen Luine is a sequestered pastoral valley, watered by a sluggish and tortuous stream, which occasionally spreads out its waters into a small marshy loch. Glen Garry was purchased, on the sale of the Glengarry estates, by Lord Ward, and Glen Quoich by Edward Ellice junior, Esq., M.P., the chief only retaining the property of Knoidart. 192 GLEN MORISTON. SECT. III. ROUTE FIRST. BRANCH F. FROM INVEBMORISTOy TO KYLE RHEA AND KYLE AKI.X. Glen Moriston, 1. Loch Cluany; Cluany Inn; Glen Shiel, 2. Battle of Glen Shiel, S. Subterranean Structure'; Glen Shiel, 4. Loch Dnich; Shielhouse to Kyle Akin. 5. Village of Dornie ; Ellandonan Castle, 6. Lochalsh, 7. Falls of Glo- mak, 8. To Loch Affrick and Strathglass, foot-note. Glenelg, 9. Dunus or Burghs in Glenelg, 10. Mi: t Invermoriston to Torgoil 8J Cluany 16 Shielh'ouse 114 KyleRhea ll| 7{ Shielhouse 36J Dornie 10 Kyle Akin 10 5CJ THE road from Invermoriston to Shielhouse, which forms the great line of communication between the north-western and the eastern coasts of Inverness-shire, is 36^ miles in length : at Shielhouse it separates into two branches, leading respectively to Kyle Akin and Kyle Rhea, the two ferries communicating with the island of Skye. 1. The lower portion of Glen Moriston is exceedingly beau- tiful. On every side the eye ranges over an uninterrupted forest, mantling alike the bottom of the valley and the expanded mountain sides ; the smiling livery of the birch frequently diversified and contrasted with the dark and sombre hues of aged and majestic pines. There are but two or three habita- tions to break upon the woodland solitude, thus pleasingly con- trasting with Glen Urquhart. Invermoriston House, (J. M. Grant,) a rather old mansion, near Loch Ness side, is hemmed in by an amphitheatre of hills, the terminal ones crowned by precipitous frontlets of rock. Behind it there is a comfortable small inn. Between them the river forms a waterfall, worthy of a visit. The course of the lower section of the river Moris- ton is frequently impetuous and headlong; at times dashing with violence from side to side of the deep, narrow, and rocky channel, which in the course of ages it has worn for itself ; at ROUTE I. F. GLEN MOEISTON LOCH CLUANT. 193 others escaping, tormented and foaming, from such confined passage, it encloses in its arms some wooded islet or isolated rock, where the aged pine holds undisputed sway, and, luxuri- ating in its undisturbed freedom, shoots its weather-beaten stem into a thousand fantastic shapes ; or it ripples quietly alongst low birchen-clad banks ; and thus many of the reaches of river scenery, amidst close embowering, but far extending trees, are of surpassing beauty. At Torgoil, where there is a respectable public-house, the road crosses the river Moriston by a handsome granite bridge. Between the fifth and sixth mile above Torgoil Bridge, and about two miles from the end of Loch Cluany, we recross the river at Doe Bridge, where we meet with uncommonly fine spe- cimens of the fir and aspen. In the recesses of Corriegoe, the high group of hills to the north, intermediate between this glen and Strathglass, is the cave where Prince Charles was secreted for several weeks by its bandit occupants, proof against the tempting reward offered for his head : and three miles above Torgoil, close by the road-side, is the spot where Mackenzie, with considerable anxiety, even in the agonies of death, for his unfortunate master, diverted for a while pursuit from the royal fugitive, by feigning to be the Prince. 2. Loch Cluany presents no interesting features. The mountain, on the south side, rises rather abruptly from the water, and a few trees are scattered along its face : occasional mossy promontories, projecting into the loch, complete the char- acter of this sheet of water. Cluany, distant about twenty-five miles from Invermoriston, is as good a house as could be ex- pected, where the chief customers are drovers : to them travel- lers are in a great measure indebted for the goodness of the stabling on these roads, although, in some places, by way of making the most of a thing, the stable is not divided into stalls, drovers' ponies being accommodating animals, who, like their masters, can sleep three in a bed. From the east end of Loch Cluany to about four miles beyond the inn, the glen is pretty level, and barren without grandeur : here it becomes extremely narrow ; and, passing a low, rocky barrier, we suddenly find the waters and the road descending into Glen Shiel, through a nar- row pass, between mountain walls of rock. The traveller will be struck by the rugged and conical character of the mountains l'.)4 GLEN SHIEL SUBTERRANEAN CAVERN. SECT. III. in this quarter, and his attention will be particularly attracted by two singularly sharp-peaked hills, at that part of the de- scent where the glen bends towards Loch Duich. The upper portions of Glen Moriston and Glen Shiel are destitute of trees and houses of any kind : the lower part of the Water of Shiel is skirted with alders, and a few smoky dingy hovels. 3. Glen Shiel was the scene of a skirmish in 1719, which put a speedy termination to an insurrection then attempted in favour of the exiled Stuarts. It was very trifling, and got up by the Marquis of Tullibardine and the Earls of Seaforth and Marischal, in consequence of an invasion of England projected by the court of Spain, with the view of restoring the Stuart family, and resolved on by the advice of Cardinal Alberoni. At Cadiz, an armament was prepared, consisting of a number of transports, on board of which 6000 troops and 12,000 stand of arms were embarked, and provided with a convoy of ten ships of the line and several frigates, the command of which force was entrusted to the Duke of Ormond. The above-men- tioned nobleman having landed in the Western Islands of Scot- land, with several gentlemen who had been attainted in 1716, and 300 Spaniards, endeavoured to excite the Clans to arms, but with little effect. They were encountered in Glen Shiel by General Wightman, commander of the forces in the north, who had hastened from Inverness, on the first news of the rising, with his troops, which had then been recently reinforced by a body of 2000 Dutch soldiers. The insurgent Highlanders, after a short resistance, fled to the hills ; the Spaniards were made prisoners ; and the Spanish squadron having been driven back by a storm, the whole plan was completely frustrated. A small cascade will be observed on the left hand, in descending the glen, which indicates the scene of the skirmish ; and a patch of nettles is pointed out by the country people as the spot where, according to their accounts, a colonel in the Dutch service fell. 4. About a mile and a half from the inn of Shielhouse, there is a remarkable subterranean cavern close by the road-side. In entering it is necessary to crawl on all-fours, but it quickly rises to the height of eight feet, and becomes broad enough to admit of the advance of two people abreast. The bottom is paved, and the sides lined with large flag-stones, and it is also roofed with long slabs resting upon strong cross stone rafters. This structure somewhat resembles what are called, in the ROUTE I. F. LOCH DUTCH. 195 Orkneys, subterranean Picts' Houses, and may perhaps have been connected with some ancient Dune or burgh. The inn of Shielhouse does not realize the expectations formed from its exterior, the accommodation being inconveniently confined. From the head of Loch Duich, where the inn is situated, the appearance of Glen Shiel is strange indeed. The mountains rise almost perpendicularly, but with a steep unvarying concave acclivity, like the side of a tent, and terminating in detached pinnacles. The opposing ranges rise so near each other, that but a very narrow verdant stripe of meadow grass separates their respective bases. This rich connecting band forms a strong contrast with the bright purple of the hills, the prevail- ing colour as high as the hardy heath can vegetate, which, gradually thinning, gives place to grey, rocky, and barren sum- mits. The best point of view will be found on the east side of the glen, on the face of the hill, immediately above the bridge which the Kyle Akin road crosses. 5. Loch Duich is a beautiful arm of the sea, of great depth, running up along the west side of Kintail. Its banks on the east side are formed by mountains rising from the water, fre- quently in rocky and often precipitous acclivities, but more gently sloping, and full of gentle undulations on the other, singularly smooth, and carpeted with a soft velvet-like emerald verdure, variegated with trees below, and rocks above. From the summits of Scuir Ouran and Scuir-na-Carnich, the two very high hills of the range extending from Kintail along the north side of Glen Shiel, conspicuous from Shielhouse, on a clear day, the Trafalgar monument at Forres may be distinguished. Of the two roads leading to Skye, that by Kyle Rhea is about five miles the shorter, to the point of junction near Broadford ; but the Kyle Akin road is much more agreeable, being more level, and the scenery more interesting ; it has the disadvantage, however, of crossing an additional ferry. The Kyle Akin road, on leaving Shielhouse, makes a con- siderable circuit round an inlet of Loch Duich ; and, crossing the water of Crowe, at the mouth of Glen Liechk, shortly after- wards passes the church and manse of Kintail. The length of the road from Shielhouse to Kyle Akin is about twenty miles, and it is divided into two nearly equal portions, by the ferry of Dornie. Leaving the manse, the road leads above the house of Inverinat, beautifully embosomed in ascending ash woods and 196 ELLANDONAN CASTLE. SECT. III. arable fields ; and, owing to the precipitous nature of the ground, it continues to ascend pretty high, along the face of the hill ; but the views it commands are very fine, especially when, as we approach Dornie, the hills of Skye come in sight. The ravines and crevices of the rocks are partially filled with ash and other trees, and on the slopes are numerous drystone huts, mean enough, no doubt, but their accompanying patches of cultivated ground are welcome and agreeable to the eye. 6. Dornie is a small fishing village of about two score of houses and huts, built where a smaller loch (Long) branches off from Loch Duich, and on the south side of the connecting strait. Close by the village are the ruins of Ellandonan Castle, the ancient seat of the Mackenzies of Seaforth. They stand on a rocky islet, and are surrounded by the sea at flood-tide ; the castle consisted of a massive square keep about 60 feet high, only one side of which remains entire. On two sides of this keep are the ruins of other buildings, the landward part of the islet forming a small natural glacis, in which rises up a spring of fresh water, surrounded by strong walls, which, extending to the castle, afforded the inmates safe access, at all times, to the well. The best view of Loch Duich with Ellandonan and Dornie is obtained from the north side of the ferry the village and ruin forming the fore, and the precipitous clustered peaks of Glen Shiel the back ground. There are none but small public-houses in Dornie. Ellandonan Castle was built on the site of an old vitrified fort by Alexander II. of Scotland, as an "overhand" against the Danes and Norwegians. After the battle of the Largs, Alexander III. appointed Coline Fitzgerald, an Irish gentleman who fought under his banners at that engagement, to be con- stable of the castle. Coline married the only daughter of Kenneth Matheson, former constable, after whom his son was named Kenneth, and his descendants were called Mackennich, anfflice Mackenzie. Such, at least, is the tradition among the clan. 7. From Dornie the road runs along a stripe of meadow land bordering the shore of Lochalsb, and a range of verdant hills. About one and a half mile onwards, at the Kirkton of Lochalsh (formed by the church, school-house, a farm-house, and some huts), the road to Strome Ferry on Loch Carron ascends to the right. At the bend of the coast, between Kyle ROUTE I. F. LOCHALSH. 197 Rhea and Kyle Akin, rounding a series of high precipitous cliffs faced with clambering ash, a fine semicircular bay opens to view, in the centre of which, close by the water's edge, stands the house of Balmacara (Lillingstone), a bow-windowed struc- ture, with long irregular wings. Behind it rises a spacious elevated recess, laid out in well-cultivated fields, chequered with hardwood, and girt with beautiful, high, broadly conical, and slightly spiral hills of smooth verdant surface. Here there is a post-office and small inn. Towards the top of the ascent, a road branches off on the right, over sandstone ridges rather pleasingly wooded and cultivated, to the fishing village of Plockton, about five miles from Balmacara : a collection of about a hundred stone-walled, and heather-thatched, and a few slated houses, with government manse and church, and free church, at the head of a deeply indented little bay at the opening of Loch Carron, and opposite Kishorn. 8. The vicinity of Shielhouse is distinguished by the high- est waterfall in the Highlands that of Glomak, about eight miles distant from Shielhouse, on a stream which descends from the head of Strath Affrick to the Elchaig, running into Loch Long. It can be approached on Highland ponies, and has been so frequently by ladies, but walking is preferable, and it may be easily reached in three and a-half hours. The path leads from the Bridge of Linassie which crosses the Water of Crowe at the head of Little Loch Duich, as the deep bay on the east side of the head of the loch on which stands the church and manse of Kintail is called, and proceeds on the north side of the water, beyond two other glens which open on the right, and straight onwards alongst, and finally above the water-course along the face of a steep but beautifully green ravine, seamed with rivulets ; proceeding throughout in almost a straight line from Linassie to a narrow pass at the head of the ravine, about four miles from that place. From the top of the pass continu- ing the same line of direction, nearly north-east across an ele- vated moorland, and to the south of a little eminence, the traveller will find himself above the water just at the top of the fall. The Water of Glomak issues from a series of three small lochs imbedded amidst a grand group of abrupt serrated mountains, Ben Attow at the head, presenting a magnificent sheeted precipice, almost vertical, and seemingly not less than a couple of thousand feet in height. The hollow in which they 198 WATER OF GLOMAK. SECT. III. lie communicates with, and lies at right angles with Strath Affrick, which stretches easterly to Strathglass ; a noble open- ing through the loftiest mountain ranges in the country, and which, in its lower portion, embraces the pine-girt waters of Lochs Affrick and Benneveian. The mountains which form its northern boundary, terminate in Scuir-na-Caeran, a vast moun- tain with several compressed summits, and marked by a preci- pitous-sided corry at the top. At some miles distance to the north, the Elchaig conducts its waters to Loch Long, through a deeply troughed valley, lined on the north by high and very steep hills passing above into a great rocky expanse, and nearly parallel with Strath Affrick. Between the lower hills skirting the Elchaig, and Scuir-na-Caeran, extends an ascending and elevated moorland plain, which the Glomak passes over, till it encounters the granite barrier of Glen Elchaig, through which it accomplishes its descent by a tremendous ravine, into which it plunges at once in the great waterfall of Glomak. Approaching from Shielhouse, a steep descent from the height above, of per- haps 400 feet, ushers us on the margin of the water, and on the moorland above the fall. The water slants a little along the rock from which it first starts, and then falls almost perpendi- cularly at one corner of the face of a square abyss flanked by black, smooth mural rocks richly tinted with bright verdure. About midway it lights on a ledge, and is parted, by a projec- tion of rock, into two.* The depth of the whole has been plumbed and found to be of the great extent of 350 feet. The ravine below is truly stupendous, and it cannot be under 700 or 800 feet deep. At the bottom, for perhaps a couple of hun- dred feet, walled with rock ; the acclivities above very abrupt, all but vertical, and of a fine ferny green, but, like the moun- tain wastes around, entirely destitute of trees. The rapidly in- clined lines of the inflections of the ravine interlace each other, quite concealing the water, but leading the eye down almost to the channel of Elchaig about two miles off, the lofty, precipi- tous, and rocky further sides of which bound the view. Foot- marks, admitting a cautious descent, will be found conducting from the head of the fall to the green summit of a small pro- jecting rock on the west side, marked by a dwarf birch and rowan tree about opposite the middle of the fall, but so near, that the bottom can be seen only from the brink. From this * The rock over which the water plunges is a dyke of granite or porphyry. ROUTE I. F. FALL OF GLOMAK. 199 point the water is seen to fall as from the lip of the rock, the rapid at the top, comprising about 50 perpendicular feet of the whole height, being concealed from view. The sky line of rock is seen from the grassy point as farther back than the rocky eminences on either hand, which may be about 200 yards apart, and the mountains beyond are not at all visible. The apparent height looks just about double that of Foyers ; but estimating the length of the descent to the green point, the larger ascertained dimensions are obviously correct. The body of water is considerably less than that of Foyers, and thus, unless in speat, the volume of water is disproportioned to the great scale of the precipitous rocks. The descent to the point is not unattended with a sense of danger, but ladies make it out. Objects so fraught with dizzying suggestions congregated so alarmingly close to the spectator, stun and overpower, and con- spire to give a greater impression of insecurity than need be. To approach the fall from the Elchaig is no easy matter, and requires to wade at times in the channel of the stream.* * A few directions mav here be acceptable, in case of the pedestrian wishing to continue his route to Loch. Affrick and Strathglass. The way fies by the sources of the Glomak, which stream, after traversing a tract of broken spongy moss, he fords about 200 yards below the lowest little loch already alluded to, and follows a faint and rough tract on the face of the opposite hill. At" the head of the uppermost loch, which is about a mile long, and called the Loch of the Bealach, the water shears to the east through a wide strath whicli opens on rounding the hill. A pass will be ob- served on the hills which flank the glen he is about leaving on the opposite side : this leads by Glen Liechk on the farther side of the hills into Kintail, and is in the line which a road, if ever formed, as once intended, between Strathglass and Kintail, will follow. In the bend of the mountains a solitary shieling will be observed for tending yeld cattle and a flock of goats for a few months of the year, certainly as far re- moved from haunts of men as could well be. Hence the path, which is much inter- rupted, keeps down the centre of the fine wide and straight strath. About half-way to Loch Affrick place is given to a spacious, smooth moorland, by the opening up on the south of two wide glens leading through the massive mountains to Cluauy in Glen Moriston, and by Glen Liechk into Kintail. Here will be found a solitary shep- herd's bothie, Aultbae, where a refreshing bowl of milk will prove acceptable. The ground liitherto traversed since leaving the Glomak Water, is called Greenivie. Its ample sides descend in beautifully curved sweeps. At Aultbae, which is about midway, and perhaps six miles from Loch Affrick, Strath Affrick, a continuation of and in the same line with Greenivie, properly commences ; and it does so in a splendid level mea- dow, fully two miles in length, from which in part the mountains spring at once with- out broken ground. Nearing the lake, broken skirting eminences nearly fill up the bottom. The outlines of the mountains are elongated and smooth, and their surface affords the finest pasture for sheep. At Coulivie or Annamulloch, two shepherd's houses, on opposite sides of the river, not far from where it joins the lake, and quite at the base of the high impending mountains, the traveller will be faiu, after a ten or twelve hours' walk from Shielhouse, to take up his quarters for the night, an intru- sion with which the inmates lay their account. In either, he will find a very snugly- boxed and floored apartment, ntted up for the occasional accommodation of sports"- men, good English blankets, and substantial accessories for the inner man, simple but good of their kind. The distance hence to Struv, in Strathglass, which is twenty miles from Inverness, is about twenty-six miles. There is a boat on each of the lochs, perhaps not at hand, but which may be ensured by timeous intimation over night. 200 GLENELG DUNES OR BURGHS. SECT. III. 9. We now return to Shielhouse, to describe the road thence to Kyle Rhea. On leaving the inn, it almost imme- diately begins the very laborious ascent of Mam Ratachan ; in climbing and descending which nearly two-thirds of the whole way (eleven miles and a half) are employed. Having sur- mounted it, we find ourselves descending into Glenelg, a valley quite destitute of trees, except towards the sea ; but in their stead its sides, even to the summit of the hills, are covered with rich green pasture ; and the sudden view of the glen and of the sea, and the hills of Skye beyond, is impressively superb. In the glen are a colony of huts and a farm-house, and at the opening of it, the manse, and ruins of Bernera Barracks, one of the military stations "established in the Highlands by the Hano- verian Government, after the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, with the Kirkton of Glenelg. Bernera Barracks consisted of two parallel houses, capable of accommodating about two companies of soldiers. They are rather more than a mile distant from the ferry. Kirkton of Glenelg is a respectable village, picturesquely situated on a small bay, and contains a principal street of slated houses, and is embellished with trees and planting. The dis- trict of Glenelg consists of two glens Glen More, just described, and Glen Beg. The whole, with the estate of Glen Shiel, be- longs to James Evan Baillie, Esq., proprietor of other large estates in Inverness-shire. 10. In Glen Beg of Glenelg are two ancient Burghs or Dunes, as these interesting circular buildings are generally called, distant about seven miles from Bernera. They measure, one about thirty (apparently six or eight feet less than the ori- ginal height) and the other twenty-five feet high, and thirty- three and thirty feet inside, and fifty-seven and fifty-four feet outside diameter. The walls are double, and ten feet thick, curved on the outer side and bulging out at the top, and they contain tiers of galleries two-and-a-half feet wide and six feet high in one of the dunes four in succession, in the other only two, the higher galleries contracting almost to a single wall. Communication between the galleries is by openings three feet wide and five high. The flooring of the galleries is of large Otherwise the wayfarer must plod his way along the rough track on the north side ; hut we can promise him that he will find much to beguile the time, in the grandeur and severe beauty of these lakes, and of the very imposing mountain masses in whose bosom they repose. Their features will be found fully detailed in our article on Strathglass (Route iv. Branch A). From the south side of Loch Affrick, a track slants across the hill to Geusachan, at the head of Strathglass, about eight miles off. ROUTE I. F. DUNES OR BURGHS. 201 flags stretching across both walls, and thus strengthening the building. The entrance is by a low doorway, which could be blocked up by a stone dropped from overhead, so as to be per- fectly secured from attack ; and to one of them there was a subterraneous passage which has been recently filled up. Though no cement is used, the building is so closely joined that it could not be scaled ; and thus these structures formed places of very safe temporary retreat, in case of hostile inva- sion. Unfortunately these interesting edifices have been much dilapidated for the sake of the stones, and scarcely half is standing of the most entire. The foundations of a third re- main, and there are traces of two more in the larger valley. Glen Beg, in which these structures are situated, is a very beau- tiful strath, confined at the entrance by abrupt and rocky hills, and afterwards widening out, having a fine stream rolling through it, and pleasingly diversified with wood. The dunes now referred to are unquestionably the most entire in the south- ern parts of the Highlands. We particularly recommend tour- ists not to omit the opportunity of seeing these singular build- ings when in their neighbourhood, for they are abundantly de- serving of inspection. An eminent Danish antiquary, who lately visited them, informs us, that he considers them as very ancient Celtic structures, and not the work of Scandinavians, 202 TOWN OF INVERNESS INNS, ETC. SECT. IV. SECTION IV. TOWN OF INVERNESS. Tims, Steamers, &c. ; Objects worthy of Observation ; Beauty of the Scenery, 1. Character of the Surrounding Country, 2. Origin of the Name ; Situation; Islands in the Ness, 3. Stone Bridge, 4. Streets, 5.-Jail, 6. Town-house, 7. Popula- tion ; Manufactures ; Trade, 8 Churches, 9. Academy ; Schools ; Infirmary, 10. Improvements; Public Charities ; Walks; Country Seats, 11. Antiquity of Inver- ness, 12. Castles of Inverness; Murder of King Duncan, 13. History of the Castle; Duke of Gordon, Heritable Keeper; Old Fort-George, 14. The Burgh Charters, 15. Early disturbed State; Ancient Commerce, 16. B/)yal Visits; Queen Mary's Visits, 17. Cromwell's Fort, 18. Form of Architecture, 19. Ancient Politics and Manners, 20. Magistracy, 21. Spirit of Improvement, 22. Principal Hotels. Caledonian (Mr. Spinks), No. 17, Church Street ; Union, 18 High Street. Both these are most commodious establishments, where every comfort and luxury can be had. Private Royal (Miss M'Donald), 81-2 Church Street ; Vine (Thomas Mackenzie), 7 Church Street ; Commercial (Mrs. Napier), Castle Wj'iul. On the west side of the river Ness, there are the Glenalbyn (Harcomb), Huntly Street; Star, Grant Street (Merkinch); Caledonian Inn, Canal Bridge (Muirtown). The principal Lodging-houses are Mr. Tail's, 19 Church Street ; Mrs. Hardie's, 18 Douglas Row ; Mrs. M'Donald's, 14 Douglas Row ; Mrs. Robert Eraser's, 46 Church Street ; Miss M'Rae, 70 Church Street ; Mrs. More's, Castle Wynd ; Miss Kennedy, 9 Bank Street; Mrs. M'Kenzie's, Academy Street ; Mr. Maclean's, Bridge Street ; Mr. John Clark's, Mar- garet Street; Mrs. Cameron, 27 Rose Street; Mr. Adam M'Donald, confectioner, (Peacock) No. 32, High Street ; &c. : and, during the shoot- ing season, the Caledonian and Union and Royal Hotels retain a number of rooms in the houses of private families, in which visitors may be accommodated with beds, and with or without board as they incline. Newspapers. Inverness Courier office. No. 12, Bank Lane. ., Advertiser office, 18, Inglis Street. Banks. Caledonian and Savings, High Street; British Linen Company, High Street ; Bank of Scotland, Bank Street ; National, Church Street ; Com- mercial Bank of Scotland, Church Street ; North of Scotland, Academv Street. Post Office, 27 High Street. Police Office, 36 Bridge Street Booksellers. James Smith, 49 High Street; Kenneth Douglas, 2 High Street; D. Morrison, 1 Church Street; C. Keith, 21 Church Street; D. Frascr, Castle Street. SECT. IV. TOWN OF INVERNESS COACHES, ETC. 2f the field. (See Sir Walter Scott's " Fair Maid of Perth.") Cromwell built a strong citadel on the South Inch, demolish- ing a number of houses for its erection. The tourist should ascend Moncrieff Hill, at least as far as the railway tunnel, where he will enjoy one of the richest and most beautiful views in Scotland, and contemplating which, he will be able to appreciate the force of that burst of admira- tion with which the ancient Romans, on their passage over the same ground, hailed the plain and scenery beneath them " Ecce Tiber ! Ecce Campus Martius ! " The opposite height of Kinnoul Hill commands an equally fine and rather more extensive view, especially towards the interior of the country, backed by a long line of the Grampian Mountains. Beneath its bold acclivities is Kinfauns Castle and beautifully wooded slopes falling gradually into the Carse of Gowrie, through which the railway trains may now be seen dashing to and from Dundee. Visits to Scone Palace, to Dupplin Castle, the resi- dence of the Earl pf Kinnoul, five miles west of Perth, and to Lynedoch Castle, will afford delightful excursions to the tourist ere he quits this neighbourhood. The old village of Abernethy, near the northern extremity of Glenfarg, once the capital of the Scoto Picts, and the site of an extensive Culdee establishment, and characterized by a remarkable round tower similar to that of Brechin, and the work certainly of a very remote antiquity, claims the notice of the antiquary. And the village of Bridge of Earn, with Pitkeathly Mineral Wells adjoining, also lie in the vicinity. In an opposite direction the celebrated Carse of Gowrie invites, by its great expanse of perhaps the most fertile land in Scot- land, embellished too with numerous country seats. And the tourist will be well repaid by a transit by rail as far as " Bonnie Dundee." 2. Proceeding now towards the Highlands on the Dunkeld road, the tourist passes several large printfields ; and at the ROUTE II. SCONE GLENALHOND. 225 distance of two and a half miles he descries, on the farther side of the Tay, the sombre walls of Scone, a large structure forming a hollow oblong square, formerly a palace of the kings of Scot- land (now the seat of the Earl of Mansfield, representative of the Stormont family), whence Edward I. removed the celebrated inauguration stone, previously taken from Berigonium, or Dun- staffnage, and now in Westminster Abbey, where it still forms part of the coronation chair of the British Monarchs. Part of the walls of the old palace form the sides of the gallery, an apartment 1 50 feet in length. The house is chiefly remarkable otherwise for the large assortment of cabinets and some fine specimens of Beavois tapestry, several good paintings, and a bed of flowered crimson velvet, wrought by Queen Mary in Loch- leven Castle. The river Almond here crosses the road, which immediately thereafter passes under the Scottish Midland Railway ; leaving Glenalmond on the left, where are the graves of " Bessy Bell and Mary Gray," and the modern Castle of Lynedoch, and Trinity College, opened within the last few years for the educa- tion of the clergy and youth of the Scottish Episcopal com- munion. As yet only two sides of the large quadrangle (190 feet square) have been built, comprehending the wardens and professors' houses, and accommodation for about 130 boys, in- cluding rooms for thirteen divinity students. Funds are still wanting for the erection of the hall, large school-room, cloisters, and completion of the chapel, notwithstanding the munificent donations of the Reverend Charles Wordsworth, the warden, which alone amounts to ,10,000 ! About two miles in advance, a road leads from the left to Redgorton and Monedie, and another upon the right conducts to Luncarty, now the site of a fine bleachfield close to the Tay, and which was the scene of a desperate and decisive battle between the Scots and the Danes in the reign of Kenneth III. The Scots, when nearly overcome, were rallied by a peasant of the name of Hay, who, with his two sons, were ploughing hard by, and whose only weapons, it is said, were plough yokes. Hence the Hays' crest for many centuries has been a peasant carrying a yoke over his shoulder ; and local tradition adds, that the Scottish king having promised the peasant, Hay, as his reward, all the land his falcon would fly over before alighting, won thereby the whole country to the rocks of Kinnoul Hill, where it had been nestled. 226 AUCHTERGAVEN DCNKELD. SECT. V. Passing now the fine trouting streams of Ordie and Shochie, and the beautiful terrace banks overhanging the Tay, the road, nine miles from Perth, enters the straggling village of Auchter- gaven, and then ascending a long moorish ridge, regains the val- ley of the Tay from amidst the copse woods and policies of Murthly Castle (Sir William Drummond Stewart), a splendid but un- finished edifice, in the Elizabethan style, with an old castle near it. The grand entrance to the Highlands by the skirts of Birnam Hill (1580 feet above the sea) ; and the rough eminences (all composed of roofing slate), which form the outer flanks of the Grampians, and gorgeously tangled over with the golden blossomed furze, at the same moment burst into view. Bir- nam Wood, so fatal to Macbeth, has been long despoiled of its ancient forests, but young plantations of larch clambering up its slopes will soon conceal them, and the slate quarries that now scar them to a great depth. The hills on the north bank of the Tay also exhibit deep cuts in the clay or roofing slate of which they are composed, and which both to the south and north trends off in a thin band or zone seldom exceeding a mile in breadth. 3. Nestled among overhanging rocks and woods, and built on one of the numerous terraced flats which skirt both sides of the noble Tay, Dunkeld, the true entrance to the Highland scenery, has long been regarded as one of our most elegant and picturesque towns, and is a resort of many strangers, on account of the purity and softness of the air, and the great variety and beauty of the walks and drives around it. Before crossing the spacious five-arched bridge which leads to it, a road will be seen inclining to the left, which, after passing the village of Inver, (where Neil Gow, the famous performer of Scotch reels, was born,) proceeds along the west bank of the Tay to Ken- more, and the western districts of Perthshire.* The guardian mountain screens of the town are very conspicuous as it is entered * A coach usually goes, in summer, from Dunkeld, by Kentnore and Killin, to Loch Lomond and one is talked of, to branch off to Callander. It leaves Dunkeld at 7 o'clock A.M., and returns at 8 P.M. ; fares, 30s. and 1. This is a route every way worthy of, and suitable for, a public conveyance, and we trust will lieri-utVr never want one. A mail gig, carrying three passengers, also runs daily (except on Tuesdays) from Dunkeld, as far as Kenmore, leavin;.' Dunkrld about noon, (fare, 6s.) There is also a gig on Mondays, "Wednesdays, and Fridays, from Pitlochrie, at the foot of Killiecrankie Pass, to Rannoch. We may also add, that a daily coach leaves Dunkeld every morning at 7, for Cupar-Angus," by Blairgowrie, in connexion, with the railway to Dundee, and to await the Dundee steamers the distance to Dundee being thirty miles and returns in the evening. ROUTE II. DTJNKELD. 227 from the Perth side, the most northerly being Cragiebarns, and farther to the west Cragievenean, the bold and lofty sides of both which, covered with dense pine wood, form a protecting background, and hide from the view the upper valley of the Tay. Dunkeld consists of two streets, one leading from the bridge, and the other at right angles to it, with back lanes proceeding from both. At the west end of the latter street, running pa- rallel with the river, and above the bridge, stands the ancient and venerable cathedral of the diocese of Dunkeld. This building measures about eighty paces in length : the nave is now roofless, but the choir was rebuilt by the late Duke of Athole on the original model, at an expense of .5000, and is used as a place of worship. At the west end rises a buttressed tower, ninety feet in height, and twenty-four feet square, and adjoining it a small octagonal watch-tower. Buttresses project between the windows, surmounted above the church by traceried spiracles. The great aisle measures one hundred and twenty by sixty feet : the walls are forty feet high, and the side aisles twelve feet wide. On each side are seven spacious Gothic arches, with fluted soffits, resting on six plain Norman-like pillars, having shafts ten feet high, and four and a-half in dia- meter, and two half-columns. Over the arches there are two tiers of windows, the lower semicircular, the higher acute. The windows of the side-aisles are all of different designs, and chiefly of the decorated or middle-pointed Gothic ; and it is interesting, and historically curious to mark, as observed by Mr. Billings, (Bar. and Eccl. Antiq. Scot.,) " even in this dis- tant mountainous see, traces of the Flamboyant character of the French-Gothic artists." He considers it probable that there was no part of the building erected before 1230. There is the tomb and statue of a bishop in his robes, under a crock- eted canopy, believed to be those of Bishop Robert Cardeny, who founded the nave, where he lies, in 1406. The new church is handsomely fitted up. In the spacious vestry, at the east end, is the gigantic stone effigy, arrayed in panoply of mail, which formerly, in the old church of this place, surmounted the grave of the notorious Earl of Buchan, " Wolf of Badenoch," the natural son of Robert II., who burnt the Cathedral of Elgin. The Bishoprick of Dunkeld was established by David I., A.D. 1127, on the foundation of an older Culdee monastery. 228 BISHOPRIC K OF DUNKELD. SECT. V. Gregory was the name of its first bishop. Robert Creighton, the last and thirty-ninth bishop, died in 1550. Bishop Sinclair built the choir in 1330. The great aisle was completed, in 1450, by Bishop Lauder, who also added the chapter-house in 1469 ; and the tower was finished in 1501. Immediately behind the cathedral stands the ancient palace of the Dukes of Athole. It is an old-fashioned square building ; but a magnificent new mansion was commenced by a late Duke, the progress of which has, however, been suspended since his death. It stands behind an eminence bordering the river, which it was intended should have been removed. A considerable portion of the walls has been erected in the Gothic style, with a variety in the fashion of the windows, and the whole will form, if ever completed, an uncommonly large and splendid edifice ; while the town, cathe- dral, and palace, will constitute, with the fine bridge, a re- markable assemblage of architectural objects lining the stream, and embosomed in luxuriant foliage. 4. At the end of the cathedral, the stranger is shown the first two larches introduced into this country : they were ori- ginally treated as green-house plants, but are now ninety feet high, and one of them measures fifteen feet in circumference two feet above the ground. Hence the visitor is conducted along the east bank of the Tay, by a terraced walk overshadowed by enormous larches, beech, ash, oak, horse-chesnut, spruce, pine, and birch trees. Noble oaks line the opposite side of the river. The woods rise high on the right, larch and pine pre- dominating. A great portion of the pine and spruce tribe are from 100 to 150 years old, and the oaks are of great growth. The Tay itself is peculiarly beautiful in its long unruffled ex- panse, and its gentle flow and clear waters. This river is the largest in Scotland, and its tributaries are supplied from a space of 2750 square miles The population of Dunkeld is about 1500 ; the two principal hotels (and they are both ex- cellent) are the Duke's Arms and Royal. From the base of Craigievenean a long oak-clad eminence projects, across which the guide leads the way to a hermitage on the wooded banks of the small river Braan. A fine view of Strath-Tay is presented on the way to the hermitage, and an- other favourable point of view is from the hill-face on the east of the town. Visitors seldom prolong an examination of the pleasure- ROUTE II. PLEASURE-GROUNDS STRATH-TAY. 229 grounds beyond a few miles ; but the walks through the policies of Dunkeld are upwards of fifty, independent of a carriage-drive of thirty miles. The larch woods cover an extent of 1 1 ,000 square acres ; the number of trees planted by his Grace John, late Duke of Athole, being about twenty-seven millions, besides several millions of other sorts of trees. From the hermitage the traveller ought to extend his ramble, up Strath-Braan to the Rumbling Bridge (distant about two miles and a-half from the town) which is thrown across a narrow chasm eighty feet above the water-way. Immediately beyond the bridge, the Braan pours from a height into this gulf with great violence, a tortuous cataract producing a decided tremor in the bridge. At the bottom huge masses of rock have fallen across the stream, which, escaping beneath them, issues below through a fissure not above a yard wide at the bottom, whence it flows into a fearfully still and dark pool. 5. A cleft or gorge through Craigiebarns, called the King^s Pass, from its being a favourite spot where William the Lion is said to have often rendezvoused for the chase, now enables the public road, by a short cut, to attain the higher valley of Strath-Tay without following the windings of the river. It presents most magnificent views on either hand ; and the tra- veller cannot fail to be struck with the first burst of the strath above, as it comes into view, reposing in all the beauty of a broad plain of arable and meadow-land, intersected by a large, deep, and winding river, which is skirted by numerous parallel terraces, rising one above the other, and by circular detached mounds the islets in a former great inland lake. Above this lovely champagne landscape, the hill-sides present either craggy fronts, or long smooth slopes bedecked with houses and cot- tages, and dense woods of pine, larch, and birch trees ; while the more distant ranges of the Grampian mountains, and of the West Highlands, present themselves in grim frowning majesty, and in chains and clusters of every imaginable form. 6. After refreshing himself with a glass of Athole Brose (a celebrated local compound of whisky and honey) at Mou- lineam, shortly above the junction of the Tay and Tummel, the tourist, if he stops not for a day's angling, will pass on along the birchen bowers of Tulliemet and Dowally, to the neat and cleanly village of Pitlochrie, where he will find a most excellent inn ; and leaving the mansion-house of Faskally (the 230 HLAIR-ATHOLE PASS OF KILLIECRANKIE. SECT. V. beautiful residence of Archibald Butters, Esq.) on the left, and the bridge over the Garry whence the districts of Rannoch and Tummel can be reached he soon enters the romantic and classic Pass of Killiecrankie. The Blair, or plain of Athole, on which we next enter, is watered by the river Garry. This stream, between four and five miles below Athole House, is joined, from the westward, by the river Tummel. The valley, through which their con- joined waters roll is connected with the Blair of Athole by the pass of Killiecrankie, which stretches, for the space of a mile or more, along the termination of the river Garry, forming an obtuse or nearly right angle with either valley. Here the hills rise from the bed of the river with a very steep ascent, lining it on the western side with a perpendicular wall of rock. Both banks are enveloped, to the height of several hundred feet, with waving birches ; the western slope being surmounted with a line of bare precipices, while the opposite barrier, formed by the lofty Ben Vracky, continues ascending above its wooded portion into abrupt and unadorned nakedness. The terraced sides of the valley, as we emerge from the pass, are adorned by several beautiful villas, as Urrard House, Killie- crankie, and Strathgarry cottages. Killiecrankie is well known as the scene of the last exploit of Dundee, or, as he was called, " the bloody Clavers," in July 1689. General Mackay, the covenanters' leader, anxious to preoccupy the district of Athole, which was well affected to- wards King James, and by his presence to overawe the inhabi- tants, who were likely to declare for that party and reinforce Dundee with 1000 or 1500 men, pressed forward with his army from the south towards Athole House ; while his opponent advanced to the same point in an opposite direction. Dundee deemed it inexpedient to dispute Mackay's progress through the pass, choosing rather a pitched encounter, in order to give full scope to the furious onset of his Highland followers, which he felt confident would accomplish the overthrow of the opposing force, and whose destruction would then be insured by the intricacies of the defile through which their retreat must lie. Mackay's army of 4500 men accordingly were suffered to debouch unmolested upon the haugh, or open ground, which immediately succeeds to the pass ; while Dundee with his band, consisting of 2000 Highlanders and 500 Irish, ROUTE II. BATTLE OF K.ILLIECRANKIE. 231 instead of advancing directly down the valley of Athole, ascended the Water of Tilt, and, fetching a compass round the hill of Lude, made his appearance on the hill-side, about the position of the House of Urrard. The main body of Mackay's forces were hastily moved forward to a terrace midway between their opponents and the bottom of the glen, where the baggage was left. The regulars were chiefly raw levies, brimful of exaggerated notions of the ferocity and warlike character of their Highland foes. The Highlanders, on the other hand, were possessed with a sovereign contempt for the red-coats, and entertained the most sanguine confidence of victory. The assault commenced towards the close of evening. From their vantage ground, Dundee's rugged followers, bending the body low, and covering themselves with their targets, rushed down with resistless impetuosity. The opposition offered was heartless or unavailing. With the exception of a part of the right wing, Mackay's army was completely swept away. In riding towards a party of his men, to bring them to the attack of this body, Dundee received his death-wound. His rival, meanwhile, having manfully stood his ground, and stemmed the hostile tide, had found himself alone as it rushed passed him, and observing the remnant of his right wing standing firm, he put himself at their head, and counselling his men to be cool, and keep together, he led them down the hill and crossed the river. Avoiding the pass, this small division ascended the strath for six or seven miles, and by a rugged mountain tract, reached Menzies Castle, a few miles to the east of Taymouth, whence they pursued their way to Drummond Castle and Stirling. An upright stone will be observed in a field shortly after emerging from the pass, which is said to mark the spot where Dundee fell in the hour of victory. 7. To the westward of Blair, the vale of Athole is wide, flat, and open, and the hills are low, and seldom precipitous. Where the valley bends from an easterly to a southerly direction, in a sloping lawn surrounded by broad belts of trees, stands Athole House, the ancient residence of the dukes of that name. The house is a long, narrow building, of three storeys, with a lower row of apartments at one end. It was formerly much higher, and a place of considerable strength ; and frequently a scene of hostility during the troublesome periods of the last and preced- ing centuries. The Athole estates are celebrated for the fine 232 DLAIR ATHOLE. SECT. V. quality of the timber with which they abound. The greater part was planted by the late Duke John ; and the trees, parti- cularly the larches, are remarkable for their great size and straightness of stem. 8. Blair is noted for the number and variety of interesting waterfalls in its immediate neighbourhood. Three miles to the westward are those of the Bruar, the approach to which is now enclosed within a wall, and the entrance guarded by an old woman, who, however, will civilly show all the falls for a small consideration. The streamlet winds through a confined, perpen- dicular channel of rock, above which the sloping banks are covered with a fir plantation for which they are indebted to Bums' well-known " Petition." Commencing the ascent of the stream, we find it pouring down in a series of low, con- tracted falls, from one dark basin or linn to another. A more considerable cascade succeeds them : it is about twelve feet high, the water issuing from below through a natural arch of rock. Above this fall a bridge has been thrown across the chasm ; two other falls are seen above the bridge, the remotest being about twelve feet, the nearest above thirty feet high. Beyond these the depth of the dell increases. Heather, in rich wreaths, hangs from the cliffs and jutting corners of the rocks ; tall, graceful larches shoot up their straight stems, and the rowan and aspen add variety to the foliage. Above, we reach a second group of five falls, the lowermost about thirty- five feet high ; the others, taken together, about forty feet. Here there is a second bridge ; and still farther up a third series of falls exist, to all of which a good pathway on each side of the dell conducts, with a carriage-road, leading as far as the second set of falls. The beauties of Lude, of Glen Tilt, and the Falls of Fender, rival those of Bruar, and are well worthy of being explored ; and indeed few neighbourhoods can more reward the tourist for a few days' stay than this, the more especially, as at the mouth of the Tilt he can be luxuriantly accommodated at either of the spacious inns the Athole Arms, or the Bridge of Tilt Inn ; and we trust that the impolitic attempt lately made by the advisers of his Grace, the Duke, to exclude the public from the policies and ancient district road through Glen Tilt, will be abandoned, as quite beneath the dignity and the hospitable courtesies of an ancient Highland family. Glen Tilt has been ROUTE II. GLEN TILT WATER FALLS. 233 long cleared of its population, but the inhabitants of the ad- joining districts have too long used the road through it to be now prevented for the sake of a few deer. And, besides, the locality is too classic, in a scientific point of view, through the writings of Playfair, Hutton, and Macculloch, to be so shut up. To see all the falls which occur on a burn, a tributary of the Tilt, it should be ascended for three miles at least. The Water of Tilt, which passes close by Athole House, runs for about two miles above the old bridge of Tilt, between high banks rising from the water's edge. In general the sides are very steep, but covered with birch and ash, and a perfect jungle of hazel. The rising sides of the glen, immediately over the edge of the banks, are clothed with fir and larch, to which corn-fields suc- ceed. A burn falling into the water of Tilt, where this latter stream flows between two perpendicular walls of limestone, gives rise to the Falls of Fender. Birch, ash, and other trees crown the tops of the ridge, and springing from the stages of the rocks with a profusion of hazel, Guelder rose, and other shrubs, completely overshadow the water as it falls into the Tilt. The Fender is seen through a narrow recess, making a leap of about thirty feet ; it then trickles in parted streamlets over four successive ledges of rock, projecting from the side of the bank of the Tilt. A detached portion of the burn escapes into the latter a few hundred yards below these falls, and con- stitutes what is called the York cascade. About a mile up the Fender is a third beautiful fall, well worthy of being seen. Our space prevents us from quoting the well-known descrip- tions of the Royal hunting feats which of yore were held in Athole, and which, on a small scale, have been repeated even in modern times. Suffice it to say, that the forests here abound in all kinds of game common to this country, and that the Red Deer are greatly increasing, and may be seen marshalled in herds of many hundreds at a time. The deer on the Athole estates are computed to number about 15,000. The repose and utter stillness said to be requisite for these animals are inimi- cal to agriculture, and even to sheep farming, and hence large tracts of the property are kept utterly waste and desolate. Even the botanist is now occasionally prevented from wander- ing so freely as he used to do over Ben-y-gloe, and the other high mountains of the district ! 9. The road northward quits the vale of Athole, at a bend L2 234 DRUMOUCHTER DALNACARDOCH. SECT. V. about three miles past Blair, opposite the mansion-house and hamlet of Strowan, the ancient holding of the chief of the Clan Robertson a name next to that of Stewart in this quarter, and an offshoot from which family migrated several hundred years ago to Inverness, and after rising to opulence as traffickers there, became the proprietors of the fine estate of Inshes near that town. Our way now keeps along the east bank of the river Garry, and gradually ascending, soon leaves the region of trees and cultivation behind, and enters upon the bleak and moorish wilds of Drurnouchter, where nought but stunted grass and heather, dark swamp, impetuous torrents, grey rock, and frowning heights and precipices are to be seen. The moun- tains also are heavy, and seem broken into great detached mounds, rather than united in picturesque chains. Even the comforts of the " Hospitium" of Dalnacardoch, as the inn has written over its door, can scarcely enliven the scene, and the traveller will always, as of yore, hasten on to get over this pass through the grampians the Druini-albin or great back bone of Scotland thankful if he be not stopped by a snow storm, of which the high posts painted black at top, and ranged at inter- vals along the road side, are rather too significant memorials. Half way between Dalnacardoch and the next inn, Dal- whinnie (thirteen miles), the mountain streams part at the Badenoch Boar and the Athole Sow, as the two opposite moun- tains are named, some running eastward to join the Truim and the Spey, while others, by a longer circuit, fall into the Tay. This spot is the proper boundary between the counties of In- verness and Perth, and of the great districts of Athole and Badenoch, and the traveller will hereabouts see extensive sec- tions of the gneiss rock, traversed by veins of large white- grained granite, of which the country for very many miles around is composed. 10. On the bleak surface of the moors there arc numerous pillars and cairns, memorials of those who have perished in the snow, or fallen fighting for their homes and kindred. The marks of an encampment of a party of Cromwell's troops still exist at Dalnaspidal, a short way within the Perthshire bound- ary, where they received a check from the Athole men and some of the Camerons of Lochiel. Here, too, General Cope drew up his army, in expectation of being attacked by the Highlanders, in 1745, whilst they awaited him on the northern KODTE II. MILITARY OPERATIONS. 235 side of Corryarrick ; and by his ill-advised manoeuvre in quit- ting his post, and marching onwards, left the road open to the insurgents. And here, early in the year 1746, Lord George Murray planned and executed a series of attacks on various posts held by the royalists. A battalion of the Athole brigade, and a body of Macphersons commanded by their chief, Cluny, that is to say common peasants, and a few country gentle- men without military experience, under Lord George's direc- tions, successfully surprised and carried twenty detached strong and defensible posts, all within two hours of the night ; and the different parties punctually met at the appointed place of rendezvous, though their operations lay in a rugged, moun- tainous country. Of this exploit, General Stewart of Garth, in his " Sketches," says, " I know not if the whole of the Pen- insular campaigns exhibited a more perfect execution of a com- plicated piece of military service." Lord George had him- self marched to the Bridge of Bruar, with twenty-five men and a few elderly gentlemen, when he was informed that Sir Andrew Agnew, who held the castle of Blair, was advancing with a strong force to reconnoitre. In the words of Home, " It was daylight ; but the sun was not up. Lord George, looking earnestly about him, observed a fold-dike (that is, a wall of turf) which had been begun as a fence for cattle, but left un- finished. He ordered his men to follow him, and draw up be- hind the dike, at such a distance one from another that they might make a great show, having the colours of both regiments flying in the front. He then gave orders to the pipers (for he had with him the pipers both of the Athole men and the Mac- phersons) to keep their eyes fixed on the road from Blair ; and the moment they saw the soldiers appear, to strike up with all their bagpipes at once. It happened that the regiments came in sight just as the sun rose, and that instant the pipers began to play one of the most noisy pibrochs. Lord George and his Highlanders, both officers and men, drawing their swords, bran- dished them about their heads. Sir Andrew, after gazing awhile at this spectacle, ordered his men to the right-about, and marched them back to the Castle of Blair. Lord George kept his post till several of his parties came in ; and as soon as he had collected 300 or 400 men, secure of victory, and certain that his numbers would very soon be greater, he marched to Blair, and invested the castle." 236 DALWHINNIE LOCH ERROCHT. SECT. V. 11. Two or three miles below the shooting lodge of Dal- uaspidal, at the east end of Loch Garry, and the opening along which affords an interesting view of Schihallion and the moun- tains towards Loch Rannoch and Loch Tay, a large stone stands on the right-hand side of the road, with the year 1729 carved upon it. It was here that the troops, who formed the lines of road from the opposite points of Inverness and Dun- keld, met one another ; and thus marked the spot and date when and where they finished their labours. The new road formed by the Parliamentary Commissioners for Highland roads and bridges, follows nearly the same line as the old military one observed ; and, from its position, and the undulating nature of the ground, it is occasionally liable to be blocked up in winter with snow. No greater quantities accumulate, however, than are frequently encountered on the coast roads ; and it is unquestionable that, if the pass of Drum- ouchter were a little better inhabited than it is at present, there would be no difficulty in keeping open the passage at all times of the year ; and, even at present, this route is not nearly so often obstructed by snow as the coast road from Aberdeen to Inverness. (See section 1, page 50, as to the railway projected to pass in this direction.) 12. A few miles more, and we descry the Inn of Dalwhinnie, partly surrounded, like the wells of the desert, with the verdure of a larch plantation, the only green and pleasing sight on which the eye can rest for many miles around. " But who shall praise Dalwhinnie ? " as Dr. Macculloch says : " no one but the commissioners who built it, and who desire you to be thankful that you have a place to put your head in." If the rain or snow do not urge the traveller to get forward on his journey, the coldness of the climate, and the appearance of the red grouse and of the alpine plants here growing close by the roadside, should do so. From the inn, however, which is comfortably kept by Mr. Grant, who has also a due supply of post-horses, chaises, gigs, and dog-carts, a glimpse should be taken of the mountain Benalder, situated on the north side of Loch Errocht, a small part of which is here visible. An extraordinary cave, or cage, as it is called by Home, exists in this mountain, in which Prince Charles Stuart found refuge for a short time, during his wanderings.* * The tourist, if he has time, will be gratified by an excursion to Loch Errocht, ROUTE II. GLEN TRUIM. 237 13. Taking leave of Dalwhinnie, whence the traveller, if bound for the west coast, assumes the road which branches off on the left, about half a mile on, for Catlodge (eight miles), and then proceeds by Loch Laggan, glad that he has got over a little more than half distance from Perth to Inverness, soon enters Glen Truim a rough inclined plain, which descends rapidly towards Strathspey. At Ettridge Bridge (five miles from the last stage), the old military way left Glen Truim and proceeded in a direct line eastwards through Glenfernisdale to the barracks of Ruthven opposite Kingussie keeping all the way along a fine gravel terrace, and considerably shorter than the present line of road, which makes a detour to secure a foundation of rock for a bridge across the Spey. The old road (which every pedestrian at least should follow) is overhung with beautiful birch woods ; and indications of the country's having been at one time thickly peopled are everywhere visible in the numerous sites of cottages, the ploughed ridges, and the vast quantities of stones piled up (now grass-covered mounds), which were gathered off the fields ! Hundreds of families have thus made way for the sheep of a few large tenants ; and if the inquisitive stranger should enquire who those tenants are here and elsewhere in Badenoch, he will find that chiefly they are majors and captains, who, at the instigation of the late celebrated Jane, Duchess of Gordon, served in the Penin- which is twenty miles long by about one mile broad. It is the highest of the great chain of Perthshire lakes, the combined waters of which supply the Tay ; but being very little depressed below Dalwhinnie Inn, it could almost be drained into the Truim, and would thence flow into the Spey. Thus it occupies the summit level of the country (about 1500 feet above the sea), and the numerous parallel terraces and gravel banks seen here in all directions, shew that even the highest of the Grampian ridges and valleys were once submerged beneath the ocean. The north side of the lake, for about six miles down, is flanked by a high grassy hill sloping gently down to the water's edge, after which succeed the nnigh precipices of Ben Alder. On the south side there is a greater intermixture of rock and wood, and the lower end of the lake conducts to the desolate and dreary swamps of the Moor of Kannoch. The Mar- quis of Abercorn rents all the northern hills from Cluny Macpherson as a deer forest, and at the base of Ben Alder his Lordship has a shooting lodge, communicating by a country road with his residence at Ardverackie, on Loch Laggan, where her Majesty and Prince Albert passed the autumn of 1848. Formerly, before the dismemberment of the Duke of Gordon's Highland estates, the southern side of Loch Errocht was used by his Grace's tenants of Dalwhinnie and Breachachy as the summer shealing of their cattle ; and the north side by Cluny 's tenants for the same purpose. At that time, about seventy years ago, from 10 to 15 of rent were paid yearly for what now yields at least ten times as much. The sites of the herds' huts or bothies are still visible, and the piles of stones heaped near them, are the im- perishable memorials of their presence, and of the attempts which they made to improve the pastures. Black cattle and horses were then the sole stocks of these Highland tenants. Sheep were few, and kept only in small flocks near the houses, for their wool and mutton for domestic use ; and in summer the ewes were milked daily, a practice which prompted some of our most beautiful and tender pastoral songs. 238 BATTLE OF INVERXAHAVON. SECT. V. sular war, or received honourable scars at Waterloo, and who, on the return of peace, took, at high rents, extensive tracts of their native soil, where, in general, they have not made rich by farming. 14. Descending now rapidly by the post road along the birch-clad banks of the Truim, Glen Truim House (Macpher- son) is seen on a high ridge on the left, and immediately to the east of it rises the lofty serrated mountain of Craigdhu (the Black Rock), the ancient natural beacon of the district, over- looking the countries of Laggan, Badenoch, and Strathspey, with an enormous circuit of the Grampian and Monaliagh mountains, and which is the rendezvous or gathering hill of the clan Macpherson. At the farther extremity of this hill the rivers Truim and Spey unite, the public road crossing a little way below their junction by an old military bridge of three arches, and then dividing into two, the main branch continues northwards past the poor hamlet or village of Newtonmore, and the other fork turns westward on its course by Cluny and Loch Laggan for Fort- William and the west coast. (See Route i. D.) 15. At Invernahavon, near the junction of the rivers just named, a celebrated clan battle was fought, in the reign of James I., between the Mackintoshes and Camerons. The lands of Mackintosh, in Lochaber, were possessed by a set of Camerons, who always refused to pay their rents, which were accordingly levied by force, and consisted principally of cattle. Acknow- ledging no right but that of occupancy, and provoked by the seizure of their herds, the Camerons at length resolved on mak- ing reprisals ; and they, therefore, poured down upon Badenoch above 400 strong, headed by a Charles Macgilony. The Laird of Mackintosh, thus obliged to call out his followers, soon appeared with a force sufficient for the emergency. The David- sons of Invernahavon and the Macphersons of Cluny con- tended for the right hand in the line of battle ; and Mackintosh, as umpire, having decided in favour of the former, the whole clan Macpherson withdrew from the field in discontent. From the equality of numbers thus created, the conflict was sharp and bloody ; many of the Mackintoshes, and almost all the Davidsons, were killed. The Macphersons, provoked at seeing their brave kinsmen nearly overpowered, rushed in, and totally defeated the Camerons, whose leader they pursued to Glen ROUTE II. KINGUSSIE. 239 Benchar, and overtook and slew him on a hill still called by his name, Corharlich, or Charles' hill. 16. Three miles on we reach the good inn and village of Kingussie, the latter having no trade or manufactures, and yet possessing a large pauperized population, chiefly thrown in upon it by the successive clearings of the adjoining districts. It was commenced, on the precincts of an ancient monastery, about the end of the last century, by the Duke of Gordon, with the view of introducing the spinning of wool and the manufac- ture of woollen cloths, which have not succeeded, and the inhabitants are now entirely dependent for employment on the neighbouring corn and sheep farmers. The Court House, Churches, Bank (a branch of the British Linen Company), and many of the private dwellings, as well as the Inn, are, however, substantially built of the beautiful grey and white granite, in which the district abounds. Among the privations of the poor people the scarcity of fuel is often severely felt in winter, as some of the most accessible peat mosses are nearly exhausted, and the cost of carting coals so far inland is beyond their means ; yet, we regret to say, that the consumpt of whisky here, and in all the Highland villages, is most inordinate and disgraceful.. James Evan Baillie, Esq., of Culduthel and Glenelg, formerly of Bristol, is also the proprietor of the Kin- gussie estate, which he bought on the demise of the late Duke of Gordon. His possessions extend now over a principal part of the great lordship of Badenoch. More anciently this was also the land of the Cumings, a family which ruled here with a rod of iron during the reigns of the early Scottish sovereigns, especially the Alexanders. Their fortresses, as at Lochan Eilan and Lochindhorb, were numerous, extensive, and strong ; and the style of building employed in them can even yet be distinguished from that of the common baronial peels of the country. The part which this family took in the wars between Bruce and Baliol, and the extent to which they even attempted to push their own pretensions to the crown, are well known. Their subsequent misfortunes paved the way for the friends of Robert I., who were installed into their possessions by this prince and his immediate successors. Extensive tracts of coun- try were conferred on Randolph, Earl of Moray, and the Lord Seneschal, brother of the king, and on the famous Wolf of 240 LORDSHIP OF BADENOCH. SECT. V. Badenoch, natural son of Robert II., on whom also were be- stowed those most extraordinary powers of barony and regality by which the influence of the crown in the Highlands was al- most annihilated. But various donations were also granted to certain individuals known as " kindly tenants " of the king, who held them during his pleasure, and likewise to churchmen, through whose subinfeudations several independent though in- ferior families became established in the country. A constant struggle was hence maintained between these and their power- ful neighbours, as was strongly illustrated in the history of the clan Gregor. The Shaws of Rothiemurchus were also particu- larly conspicuous in this respect. They were independent of all the great lords ; and held their duchus, or estate, of the bishops of Moray, for the supply only of a certain quantity of tapers, and of wood for the occasional repair of Elgin cathe- dral. In later times, the Dukes of Gordon ruled over Badenoch. The Mackintoshes and Grants have also territories in this dis- trict ; and to the westward the parish of Laggan belongs prin- cipally to that important division of the clan Chattan, the Macphersons, of whom Macpherson of Cluny is the chief. 17. Extensive and costly embankments along the Spey com- mence near Kingussie, and extend down several miles till the river loses itself in Loch Insh, on its way to which it winds through a succession of most beautiful meadow haughs, where the natural grass is carefully cut and preserved as hay, and along which there are numerous pools, abounding in water-fowl, and covered over by tall reeds and water lilies. A wooden bridge has recently been erected south of the west end of the vil- lage, communicating with the south bank of the Spey, and with an excellent district road to Rothiemurchus, which the tourist will find to abound in magnificent views ; and if the approaches to this bridge could be well protected from the over-flowings of the river, the public road should cross here by a stone bridge and proceed southwards by the direct line through Glenfernis- dale, already alluded to. Before the erection of this bridge, the right bank of the Spey could only be reached by a ferry below the village, whence a broad piece of marshy meadow had to be passed ere the solid ground adjoining the Mount of Ruthven was attained. 18. This mount has the ruins of an old barrack on it, which RODTE II. RUTHVEN BARRACK AND CASTLE. 241 have an imposing appearance, but which were much inferior in strength and size to the more ancient castle which they dis- placed, and which belonged to the wild Cumings, Earls of Bade- noch. Queen Mary frequently visited this castle, that she might enjoy the pleasures of the chase in the adjoining forests. The barrack, built of its stones in 1718, was defended against a whole Highland host, by twelve men, under the command of a Serjeant Mulloy, in February 1746, when the rebels set it on fire ; and it was at this place that the chiefs reassembled their forces, to the number of 8000, two days subsequent to the battle of Culloden, in the hopes of Prince Charles again taking the field. Ruthven was also celebrated of old for a good inn and an excellent school ; and the tourist who has time should by no means pass it without a visit, as the mount commands a most magnificent view, especially of the course of the Spey, and of the many curious gravel terrace banks which line it on both sides, and which are here elevated about 1000 feet above the sea. 19. Continuing now along the left bank of the river, the road passes in front of the mansion-house and lawn of Belle- ville (Miss Macpherson), where, on a little knoll by the way- side, may be seen a small obelisk, erected in memory of the former proprietor, Macpherson, the first translator of Ossian's Poems, and whose fame as an original poet, or as a mere com- piler, has been the subject of much discussion. His residence occupies the site of the ancient Castle of Raits, another, and the principal stronghold of the great family of the Cumings. An incident which occurred at this castle is worth recounting. Cuming, one of the old proprietors, jealous of a neighbouring chieftain (the Laird of Mackintosh), invited him and his kin- dred to a great banquet, disguising, under the mask of hospi- tality, the atrocious purpose of slaughtering his guests una- wares. The company were to be so arranged at table as that the Mackintoshes should be separated from one another, and the appearance of a boar's head was to be the signal for each Cuming to stab the stranger who sat beside him. Mackintosh discovered the plot ; nevertheless, he accepted the invitation, having previously informed his clansmen of the signal, and bade them anticipate their treacherous entertainers. Accord- ingly, when the feast waxed high, the boar's head was intro- duced. The Mackintoshes seized the moment ; and with the 242 TOB ALVIE LOCH ALVIE. SECT. V. barbarity and decision common in those dark and bloody days, inflicted the most ample and speedy revenge on their foes. 20. Our route now continues through birch-clad knolls and small farms, formerly the abodes of a numerous and warlike peasantry, followers of the Gordon, " The Cock of the North," with a few gentlemen's residences (as Kincraig and Invereshie), scattered at wide intervals. Cairngorm, Ben Macdhui, and the central group of the Grampians, lift their huge sides and summits on the right, and we see long stretches of the vast solitudes which surround them, terminating in the deer corries and precipices which lie concealed in the deep shadows of the mountains. To the stranger will be pointed out the high passes of Gaick and Minikaig, which abound in red deer and game of all kinds, and where many a life has been lost in the snow, on their journeys, of smugglers, drovers, and of the peasantry, by these short cuts to the Lowlands. (See Branch c. to this Route.) In front the high rocky crag which rises before us is Tor Alvie ; and the woods and fields which sweep round it are parts of the pleasure-grounds of Kinrara, the favourite seat of the late Duchess, and of her son George, the last of the Dukes of Gor- don. On the eastern brow of the Tor is a rustic hermitage, commanding a most extensive view of the valley of the Spey ; and at the other extremity of the ridge, an enormous cairn of stones records the fame of the heroes of Waterloo ; and above has been superadded a monument to the Duke of Gordon's memory. 21. Loch Alvie next presents itself on the left of the land- scape, with its neat manse and church standing on a peninsula near the west end. Clumps of trees and corn-fields grace its margin ; and on quitting them, the house and grounds of Rothie- murchus come into view on the opposite side of the Spey. It has been remarked, that Loch Alvie is one of the thousand lakes one meets with in the Highlands, with no very conspicuous features, yet possessing beauties such as language can rarely describe. " It is the pellucid water murmuring on the pebbly shore, the dark rock reflected on the grassy surface, or dancing on the undulating wave, the wild water-plants, the broken bank, the bending ash, the fern, the bright flowers, and all the poetry of the margent green, which give to these scenes a feel- ing that even painting cannot reach ; a beauty that belongs to nature alone, because it is the beauty of life ; a beauty that ROUTE II. KINRARA AVIEMORE INN. 243 flies with the vital principle that was its soul and its all." The scenery hereabouts has been described by none more beautifully or correctly than by the author from whom we have just quoted (Dr. Macculloch.) " A succession of continuous birch forest, covering Kinrara's rocky hill and its lower grounds, intermixed with open glades, irregular clumps, and scattered trees, pro- duces a scene at once alpine and dressed ; combining the dis- cordant characters of wild mountain landscape and of ornamental park scenery, while the variety is at the same time such as is only found in the most extended domains." In an old burying- ground at a short distance from the house of Kinrara, which is dedicated to Saint Eda, stands a handsome granite monument, erected to the memory of Jane, late Duchess of Gordon, who herself chose this picturesque spot as her last resting-place. 22. The beautiful and bold projecting frontlet of Craig- elachie now comes prominently into view on the left. It separates Badenoch from Strathspey ; was the hill of rendez- vous for the people of the latter, and the boundary and ancient ward-hill of the district. " Stand fast, Craigelachie ! " is the war or gathering cry of the clan Grant, the occupants of this great strath. From its swelling base and rifted preci- pices, the birch trees wave in graceful clusters ; their bright and lively green forming a strong contrast in the foreground to the sombre melancholy hue of the pine forests, which in the distance, on the south, stretch up the sides of Glenmore and the Cairngorms.* In the eastern front of the hill stands the high old steep-roofed, but comfortable Inn of Aviemore, where the tourist should stop, if he means to explore the district or to visit Cairngorm and the other scenes described in Branches c. and D. of this Route. In clear calm weather the majesty of our Highland scenery is nowhere felt more impressively. The Grampians are here magnificent in their bulk, and elegant as well as varied in their outlines, while in the elevated summit of Ben Macdhui, they rival Ben Nevis itself. Strathspey's proud river also, the broad rolling waters of which every way befit the majestic scenery through which they flow, occupies the middle of the spacious valley before us. Now, it slowly moves through dark and deep linns ; now, rush- * In the small lake behind the Inn of Aviemore, at the base of Craigelachie, the botanist will find quantities of Nuphar minima, the smallest and rarest of British water lilies. On the neighbouring hill he will likewise discover several alpine plants, as Alchemilla alpina, Rumex dyginus, Saxifraga aizoides and S. hypnoides, &c. 244 NATIVE PINES CARR BRIDGE. SECT. V. ing over a wide gravelly bed, it shows, by the rents in the soil, and the sudden bends in its course, the strength and fury of its wintry floods. Its banks are occasionally fringed with rows of birch and alder; but anon, the silvery line of its waters will be seen shooting into some thick and dark grove of pine trees, again to emerge far away by the side of cultivated fields and humble hamlets. The appearance, in short, of the strath, which is now visible for twelve miles of its course, transports the imagination to the days of Roman warfare, or to the woody solitudes of America. Till within a few years, Strathspey might have been described as a plain covered with pristine forests, laid open occasionally by the sweeps of a large river, and by the deep indentations of its alpine tributaries ; for its surface has been but recently touched by the hand of man. 23. Between Aviemore and the next stage, Carr Bridge (eight miles), the road cuts across a portion of Morayshire, and again re-enters Inverness-shire. In this space it passes along a series of undulating knolls, containing between them many small lakes or tarns, abounding in water fowl, and on one of which are the ruins of an old castle. The road after- wards goes through a small portion of the ancient pine forest of Dulnan, where the size and fantastic forms of the native tree may still be seen in perfection, and where occasionally the traveller may suddenly come upon numerous black cock and the small fairy red squirrel. Half way he passes on the right a district road striking off to Grantown and the lower portions of Strathspey, and on crossing the rapid river Ihilnan to the comfortable little Inn of Carr Bridge, he meets another branch of the same road coming northward from Strathspey. (See Branch D. Route n.) 24. Turning now to the left, the road passes over the re- mains of part of the ancient Caledonian forest, which was burnt down by general Wade to insure an easy access to Inverness ; and which, if again enclosed by the proprietor, the Earl of Seafield, would soon send up a plentiful stock of fir trees to cover the nakedness of these most dreary wastes ; and so we hasten on towards Strathdearn, or the country watered by the river Findhorn. But the deep and anciently dangerous pass of Slochmuichk (the wild boar's den or hollow) is on before us (about three miles), now to be dreaded only as the last spot where snow is likely to be encountered to any great depth on ROUTE II. MACKINTOSH OF BORLUM. 245 one's journey northwards during winter. It was at one time a favourite haunt of banditti, some of whom, even for years after the suppression of the rebellion of 1745, continued to infest the passage by the Grampians to the low country. This pass was also particularly noted as having been the occasional resort (about the middle of last century) of Mackin- tosh of Borlum, a property near Inverness, who was a man of education and respectable family, of insinuating manners, but of a character not unlike that of his contemporary, Simon, Lord Lovat. He had a good deal of the old mercenary soldier about him, with an air of French politeness which was common to the Highland gentlemen of the period ; and though secretly leagued with a gang of desperadoes, he continued for a long time to de- ceive the public, and lull the suspicions of his friends. His history is well known, and is depicted in Sir Thomas Dick Lau- der's interesting novel of Lochandhu. His last exploit, which compelled him to flee from the country, was an attempt to rob Sir Hector Monro of Novar, on his journey northwards, after his return from India, in the year 1770. Three of his accom- plices, one of them his own natural brother, were seized and hanged at Inverness. Mackintosh is said to have gone to America, and served under General Washington ; and a report prevails that he revisited his native country some years ago. Another celebrated freebooter was John Gunn ; a personage in whom were combined the rude manners of the bandit, with the more generous sentiments of chivalry. His ordinary abode was among the wild recesses of Strathspey, in the neighbourhood of Cairngorm and Aviemore. At the same period, the vicinity of Shian, of Invergarry, and the confines of Lochaber, were tenanted by a savage tribe of Kennedys, who levied tribute over an ex- tended range of country. David Scrymgeour of Birkhill, and Alexander Campbell of Delnies, successively sheriffs-depute of Inverness-shire, after the suppression of the insurrection in 1746, failed, though repeated were their endeavours, to extir- pate these mauraders ; and when Simon Fraser, Esq. of Farra- line, was appointed successor to Mr. Campbell, in May 1781, he found the state of police totally inefficient, and property incapable of protection on any other ground than by the volun- tary payment to the heads of the robber troops of either money or cattle ; black mail, as in the remotest ages, being, in fact, thus demanded and agreed to. Mr. Fraser, who had quitted a 246 BANDITTI STKATHDEARN. SECT. V. military life to embrace that of the gown, at the desire of his chief, General Fraser of Lovat, with whom he had served in the American war, set himself earnestly to work to effect the total suppression of such an alarming evil. With the assistance of a stout and courageous Highlander, Mr. John Mackay, sheriff- officer at Fort-Augustus, as his aide-de-camp, and by unre- mitted perseverance, he finally effected his purpose ; traversing with his faithful adherent the most inaccessible districts, re- peatedly incurring personal danger in many shapes, and having been more than once fired upon in his hazardous journeys. So imminent was the risk he ran, that he rarely moved from home without a brace of pistols on his person. Acting on the old adage, " Set a thief to catch a thief," he nominated Donald Mhor Oig Cameron, in Blairroy of Lochaber, himself a noto- rious cateran, as one of the constables of the county, and en- gaged his good offices on the side of order. By his aid, the whole tribe of the Kennedys was hunted down and dispersed, one being hanged at Inverness, and others being banished be- yond seas. Two were secured near Callander by a masterly manoeuvre of Mr. Mackay, who had tracked them thus far. They were drinking in a change-house, when he suddenly entered and called on them to submit, as escape was impos- sible. They credited his tale, and quietly allowed themselves to be handcuffed, when he led them off prisoners : but no words can paint their rage and mortification, on finding they had fallen victims to stratagem, and that their captor was unattended. Another important ally to Mr. Fraser, in discovering the haunts of the Kennedys, was Donald Dhu Piddick (as his sobriquet went), in the Braes of Lochaber, a man somewhat above the vulgar, and intimately acquainted with the habits of the people. 25. Emerging from Slochmuichk, we now enter the district of Strathdearn, and after crossing the river Findhorn two miles on, we reach the inn of Freeburn, where we again come in sight of the Findhorn, sweeping with rapid pace through a series of alluvial banks and terraces, which occupy the whole of the plain between the observer and the base of the opposite moun- tains. To the east the river is lost sight of, as it plunges into a dark ravine called the Streens, from the sides of which rise precipitous mountains of granite. (See Branch E. Route n.) About a mile south of Freeburn, a country road branches off to ROUTE II. LOCH MOY MOT HALL STRATHNAIRN. 247 the interior of Strathdearn, and the upper reaches of the Find- horn, which all belong to gentlemen of the clan Mackintosh. (See Route n. Branches E. and F.) 26. The road now descends rapidly towards Inverness, and three miles on, after passing a hard gravelly ridge, covered with a dense fir wood, we come suddenly on Loch Moy, about 450 feet above the sea, with Moy Hall, the residence of Mac- kintosh of Mackintosh, chief of the clan, fronting us at the far- ther extremity. This lake, with its trees and island, are, as has been observed by Dr. Macculloch, " as a gleam of sunshine in a cloudy day; yet one that renders the adjoining waste darker and more dreary." Of its island, and its castle, the seat of the chief of the ancient and powerful clan Chattan, there is no lack of legendary story; and in recounting the old clan fights, as detailed by Sir Robert Gordon " the Curse of Moy," as preserved in song and the heroism of its lady and its black- smith, who saved Prince Charles in 1746 the stranger will have enough to muse on as he hastens by its low and woody shores. Besides the main island, fortress, and parterre, " where many a garden flower still grows wild," there is a small islet of loose stones (said to be artificial) near the southern end of the lake, which formed the chieftain's prison-house. A handsome granite obelisk, seventy feet high, on a base of about twenty feet square, has been erected on the largest island, to the memory of the late Sir JSneas Mackintosh, Bart., chief of the clan. On the west side of Loch Moy are the church and manse of the parish ; and at the north end, Moy Hall, the principal residence of the chief of Mackintosh, who has erected, hard by, a small but convenient inn for the use of the public. 27. Hence we descend rapidly from Strathdearn to Strath- nairn, the valley watered by the river Nairn, and passing the inn of Craggy (six miles from Inverness), and the road which leads westwards to the district of Stratherrick (see Route u. Branch F.), we cross the river at a sharp angle, and then breast the hill of Daviot, crowned at top by the site of an old ward or beacon fort, and having below the ungainly church and manse of the parish. A little eastwards is the house of Daviot (^Eneas Mackintosh, Esq.) on the site of a very ancient castle of that name, past which a distant view is obtained of the lower parts of Strathnairn, of the policies of Kilravock and of the Thane (now 248 MORAY FIRTH INVERNESS. SECT. V. Earl) of Cawdor, and of the plains of Nairn and Moray. Im- mediately thereafter the waters of the " bright, bright sea " of the German ocean are descried with delight, and upon the verge of the horizon the Ord of Caithness and the dim outlines of the finely peaked chain of mountains which separate that county from Sutherlandshire. To the right hand, on the same level with the spectator, and at a distance of about a couple of miles, lies the moor of Culloden, famous in story. Directly below, the Moray and Beauly Firths display their winding shores, and the fertile tracts of corn and woodland skirting them, over which the Ross-shire, the Strathconan and Strathglass mountains, with the huge Ben Wyvis in the centre, and beautifully peaked sum- mits to the west and south-west of it, are spread out in glorious majesty. The Great Glen of Scotland also opens up on the left hand, terminated in the west, so far as the eye can penetrate " into the bowels of the land," by the beautiful dome-shaped mountain of Mealfourvounie ; and in front, just beneath the rough and wooded escarpments of the vitrified fortress of Craig Phadrick, we descry the smoke of Inverness the low-lying Highland capital, with its castle, spires, and shipping. This is altogether a magnificent scene. (For a full description of Inverness see Section iv.) ROUTE SECOND.-BRANCH A. FROM CEIEFP AND GREENLOANINO STATION, BY LOCHEARNHEAD, KILLIN, AND KENMORE, TO TUMMEL-BRIDGE AND BLAIR, AND BY ABERFELDY TO DPNRELD; AND BY CURRIEMUCKLACH AND ABERFELDY TO DALNACARDOCH. Strathearn; Crieff, 1. Drummond Castle, 2. Ferntower; Monument to Sir David Baird, 8. Roman Camps at Ardoch, 4. Ardoch to Crieff; Mnthil. 5. Monz.ie; Seats on direct Perth Road, 6. Glen Almond ; Pass to the Highlands by Amulree, 7 Crieff to Comrie ; Ochtertyre ; Glen Turret, 8 Comrie ; Devil's Caldron, 9 Comrie to Loch Earn ; Aberuchill Castle ; Dalchonzie ; Dunira, 10. St. Milan's ; Sept M'Neish, 11. Loch Earn; Falls of Edinamnle, 12. Loch Tav; Killin, 13. Finlarig; Falls of the Lochy, 14. Drummonu Hill; Falls of Acharn, 15. Kenmore ; Taymouth Castle ; Pleasure-grounds, 16. Fortineal -, Remarkable Yew Tree; Comrie Castle, 17. Glen Lyon, 18. Cushitille to Kinlock Bannock ; Ttrmmel Bridge ; Dalnacardock, and Falls of Tvmmel, 19. Castle Menzies, 20. Falls of Aberfeldy, 21. Aberfeldy to Dunkeld; Grandtullv Castle, 22. ROUTE II. A. STRATHEARN CRIEFF. 249 Comrie 6| St. Fillan's 5| Lochearnhead 8 Killin 7 Kenmore 16 Aberfeldy 6 Grandtully Arms 7 Dunkeld 10 66 Aberfeldy by Lochearnhead 49 Cushivilfe 6 Kinloch Rannoch 13 Tummel Bridge 7 Do. direct from Cushiville 10 Dalnacardoch 10 Falls of Tummel 10 85 Crieffto Curriemucklach 11 Amulree 1 Aberfeldy 11 23 1. THE district of Strathearn, which intersects the southern portion of Perthshire, in a winding line nearly due east and west, joining Strath Tay at Perth, is one of the most fertile and highly embellished tracts our country has to boast of. Crieff has always been regarded as the capital of this beautiful valley. It stands on the brow of a terrace forming the haunch of an emi- nence of some pretensions, and overlooks a reach of Strathearn, here of great width, presenting a very extensive level expanse of country in a high state of cultivation. Sheltered from the easterly winds by a wooded hill, it has long been noted for the salubrity of its climate, and it is supplied with water of pecu- liar purity. It enjoys a remarkable freedom from deadly epi- demics, and the banks of the Earn are among the favoured loca- lities which have been spared the scourge of the cholera. To the westward the country south of the Earn gradually rises in wooded slopes towards the massive larch and pine-covered hill of Turleum, on the south side of a succeeding and narrower reach of the strath. The town consists of three main streets, concentrating in a neat square, adorned by a well surrounded by lime trees. On the north side is the principal hotel (the 250 CRIEFF. SECT. V. Drummond Arms Robertson).* An ancient stone cross in the street leading eastward well merits the antiquary's attention, though its history is unknown. In the same direction is an institution, for the education chiefly of young ladies connected with the Episcopal church, called St. Margaret's College, of which the bishop of the diocese is visitor. It forms a pleasing feature in the entrance from Perth. The accommodation and arrangements are, we believe, such as ensure a due amount of solid instruction, and of polished accomplishments, combined with domestic privacy and comfort. At the opposite end of the town a handsome massive lodge attracts the eye, with a neat Episcopal church close by. Crieff is rich in historical associations, and is a place of very respectable antiquity ; the earliest notice, however, occurring in a charter dated in 1218. From a very early period it was the accustomed court place of the Seneschals of Strathearn, whose very ancient earldom was our only County Palatine. The Perth family became heritable stewards of Strathearn in 1488. They were noted for their stern or sanguinary judicial adminis- tration. The huge iron stocks in which many a cateran did penance for his larcenies are still preserved, as also the far-famed " kind gallows of Crieff," referred to in Waverley, on passing which the Highlanders used to touch their bonnets, with the ejaculation, " God bless her nain sell, and the Teil tamn you." The neighbourhood of Crieff presents within a narrow com- pass, as has been said with truth, quite a galaxy of aristocratic mansion houses. Is it owing to a consequent impress of exclusive- ness on the otherwise courteous proprietors, that one is struck by the equally marked absence of the villas of the middle classes, the usual concomitants of a respectable town ? A stingy denial of feuing sites is one of the most ungracious and unworthy acts possible on the part of landed proprietors ; and the good folks of Crieff have well grounded cause of complaint of the priva- tions, in the midst of " enough and to spare," to which they are subjected in this respect, and which cannot but operate as a hin- drance to the improvement and increase of the place. 2. Of the country seats the most distinguished is Drum- * Among the stage coaches from and to Crieff in all directions. Mr. Robertson of the Drummond Anus lias started a daily mail coach to Lpchearnhead and Killin, and we believe to Callander, which is a valuable contribution to the public, accommo- dation. A roach, in connexion, runs between Killin and I/och Lomond. Also one from Crieff by Amulrcc to Dunkeld. The distance from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Fort- William or Oban, rin Crirff, can be accomplished in one day. ROUTE II. A. DRUMMOXD CASTLE. 251 mond Castle (Lord and Lady Willoughby de Eresby) four miles distant. The castle surmounts a rocky eminence, in the midst of a park of the most spacious dimensions, " a waste of lawn and pasture " skirting the ample sloping base of Turleum with its mantle of larch. Gentle hill, shelving dale, and undulating slopes diversify the policies, which extend two miles either way, Drurumond Castle. dotted with clumps and noble avenues of aged timber. The pastures are alive with hundreds of red and fallow deer, which gaze upon the stranger or bound away from his advancing steps ; while on the north an extensive artificial sheet of water, en- circled by fine oaks, with foliage depending to the water's 252 DRUMMOND CASTLE FERNTOWER. SECT. V. edge, presents its troops of stately and graceful swans and other waterfowl. Matchless flower gardens, well known by repute to every florist, lie on the south side of the castle rock. Figures intricately mingled, but " not without a plan," and mathema- tically cut in sward of velvet smoothness, interspersed with groups of statuary, form an extensive level parterre, which is connected by a shelving bank of shrubbery to a terrace and an esplanade, which leads by an archway into the castle court. The inhabited portion, an irregular range of building, rises ab- ruptly from the edge of the rock. To the quadrangular space in front, the main access is across a half-moon court at the fur- ther end, formed by the ruins of an old square keep and its ac- cessories, to an arched outer entrance under which, the approach has been cut through rock. Towering as it thus does above a demesne of such exquisite character, itself the centre of an ex- panse of rich and profusely wooded country, with the Gram- pians in sight on the north, Drummond Castle may well be pronounced, in the words of Macculloch, " absolutely unrivalled in the low country, and only exceeded in the Highlands by Dun- keld and Blair." James the Fourth, the merry and chivalrous monarch, fre- quently visited Drummond Castle, and the tragic story of the fair but ill-fated Margaret Drummond is a well-known incident in early Scottish gossip. Her present Majesty and Prince Al- bert also honoured it with their presence in September 1842. 3. Strangers may be gratified at Ferntower House, within a mile of the town, with a sight of Tippoo Saib's sword, presented to Sir David Baird at Seringapatam, and of a great painting by Wilkie of the "Finding of the Body of Tippoo" after the storming of that important fortress, in which Sir David Baird bore a conspicuous part. Among other of the delightful walks and excursions which the neighbourhood presents, " Lady Mary's Green Walk," along the banks of the Earn, conducts to Tomnachastle a fine wooded eminence, three miles from Crieff, on which an obelisk of Aber- deen granite, 84 feet high, has been erected to Sir David's me- mory. The view from the Knock of Crieff is also worthy of attention, and, if time permit, that from the top of Turleum will be found still more commanding and interesting. 4. Before quitting this locality we are tempted to wander a few miles further south, and make room for a somewhat de- ROUTE II. A. ROMAN CAMPS AT ARDOCH. 253 tailed description of the celebrated Roman Camps at Ardoch, in Strathallan, a district shelving down to Dunblane and the Bridge of Allan, which, immediately connected as they were with the gallant and patriotic struggles of our brave Highland ancestors, and unquestionably the most entire specimen of Roman castramentation in Scotland, and we believe in Britain, can hardly be deemed out of place. They are said to have been the Castra Stativa of Agricola, when on this side of Bodotria, skirmishing with the hardy sons of Caledonia, under the leader- ship of Galgacus. Since the opening of the line of the Scottish Central Rail- way, the Greenloaning Station has been regarded as one of the principal starting points to the Western Highlands of Perth- shire. To meet the convenience of travellers, stage-coaches ply thrice a day to Muthil and Crieff, and private conveyances are also in attendance on the trains. And the line of road leading between Greenloaning and Crieff (11 miles), runs through a tract of country of great natural beauty rich with historical associations. Shortly after passing the village of Braco (1 mile), and ascending the rising ground beyond the bridge which crosses the Knaick, the road leads right through the Camps. The extensive space occupied by the camps consists of four departments. The position was happily selected for defence ; on the west the Camp was safely protected by the abrupt steep rising from the river Knaick, and having two fossae between it and the banks ; on the south by a deep morass, which extended a considerable way eastward, with its two fossae also ; and on the east and north by deep intrenchments of five ditches and six ramparts parallel to the station ; all of which were doubt- less amply sufficient to guard those within, and to ward off the assaults of a besieging army. The area of the station within the intrenchments may still be seen, and is of an oblong form, 420 feet by 375, with its four sides nearly facing the cardinal points of the compass. The place of the Practorium or general's quarter is a regular square of sixty feet in the side, in the rear or part furthest distant from the enemy ; but it is marked off rather irregularly, for on inspection it is not found to be exactly in the middle between the gates, nor parallel with those of the station. It is however elevated above the general level of the ground, and appears to have been enclosed by a stone wall. Within this, also, there are the foundations of a building 30 254 ROMAN CAMPS AT ARDOCH. SECT. V. feet by 27, which gives some probability to the conjecture that there was a place of worship once here, which is still called the Chapel Hill.* Of the four gates which belonged to the Roman Station, three only are now to be distinguished, the fourth being scarcely traceable. Fronting the Praetorium is the Praetorian Gate, crossing the north lines in an oblique direction. Opposite to that gate, and behind the Praetorium where the Decuman Gate should be, is a road leading out of the Camp, which may have been the Decuman ; and onwards to the right and left of the Prsetorium are to be seen the two, which were called principal gates, as being at the ends of the principal street which crossed the camp in front of the Praetorium. Upon the Poly- bean system of castramentation, this fort would accommodate 1200 men. Immediately adjacent to the north side of the station, is the Procestrium or Pro-castrum (for a camp), or an addition to the other, as probably used by Agricola, for containing his baggage, when he thought of dividing his army into three parts, in order to watch the movements of Galgacus, and fight him from the neighbouring hills. This Procestrium seems to have been strongly fortified, and a subsequent work to the other, for part of the area of the Great Camp was included in it ; but its in- trenchments are levelled by the plough, while the corner of the former is yet visible. Its south gate is also to be seen, as con- necting it with the station, and this again with the fragments of another gate on the north side. It was of an oblong shape, consisting of 1060 feet by 900, and capable of accommodating 4000 men. North west of the Procestrium is the Great Camp, so styled from its size. Its mean length is 2800 feet, and its mean breadth 1950 ; it would, therefore, according to the Polybean system, hold about 26,000 men ; and this was what induced General * There is a deeply imbedded subterranean apartment which had probably been a water-tank, somewhere below the Prsetorinm, out of which at one penod a number of Roman helmets, spears, and other memorials were recovered. But the search was interrupted by the foulness of the air. The opening of the aperture having been afterwards shut up, all subsequent attempts to find it Rave proved unavailing. Many stone coffins have oeen found at different times in digging about the camps, or near them, and some of the skeletons contained in them are said to have been of an un- common size. Among others in a stone coffin found about a mile west from the camps, a skeleton, seven feet long ; and a mile and a half distant, in the Muir of Or- chil, another of the same length, in Cairn Woehil. These have generally been in cairns or heaps of stones. ROUTE II. A. ROMAN CAMPS AT ARDOCH. 255 Roy to believe that it was in this camp that Agricola held his great army previous to his dividing it into three bodies, in or- der to meet and conquer the Caledonians. The form of this camp is oblong, but not so regular as that of a parallelogram a fact which seems to prove that the Romans did not adhere to mathematical nicety, where the na- ture of the ground did not well permit. The public road to the north, known of old as the military road, enters by its south gate, and so has cut down one-half of the epaulment which covered it ; but the other half still remains rather en- tire. The north gate is a little east of the road, covered by a straight traverse, and another gate on the west is in the same way protected. On the east side, towards the north, there is a gate that has been defended, not only by a square redoubt, within the lines, but also by a clavicle from which circumstance it may be supposed that a weak legion was there quartered. On the west side of this Great Camp is a smaller one of an oblong shape. Its size is 1910 by 1340 feet, and it would afford accommodation for 12,000 men. To the antiquary this one is very interesting, especially in tracing the itinera of Agricola. It is evidently higher in position than the other camps ; one-half of it lies within the other camp, which is ad- jacent to it ; and the fact of its being left so very entire, would perhaps point to it as the abode of the third part of the Roman army that remained with their leader, whilst the others were encamped at Strageath, and Dealgin Ross, on the plains of Comrie ; for the entireness of the camp serves to prove that it was the last occupied, and that Agricola left it in great haste with his third division, to aid the ninth legion, who were then almost subdued, in the Camp of Dealgin Ross. The camps are now enclosed within the grounds of Ardoch House, and carefully protected from further dilapidation. 5. Leaving the camp, and having gained the height to the north, the line of the military road formed by General Wade presents itself, and runs in a direct line over the Muir of Curry- over. Shortly afterwards the turnpike diverges to the right, and on the summit of the Muir we reach the policies of Orchil House (Gillespie Graham). After an easy descent the road at Bishop Bridge crosses the river Machany a fine clearly-running stream, and noted in the district for its excellent trout-fishing. Surmounting another height, we find ourselves at the poli- 256 MDTHIL MCNZIE. SECT. V. cies of Culdees Castle (Speir). Here the extensive plain, richly wooded, and studded with noblemen's and gentlemen's seats to the left the grounds of Drummond Castle, backed by Turleum, and the lofty Ben Voirlich in the foreground the village of Muthil, imbedded in wood, with Crieff beyond, and the heights in front of which it stands, overtopped by the Gram- pian range, present a landscape of extreme beauty, variety, and grandeur. A mile further to the northward stands the thriv- ing village of Muthil, with its population of 1300 souls. The Old (formerly Collegiate) Church is now roofless, but it still raises its time-worn tower high over the venerable yews which encircle its choir. This pile, according to Spottiswood, was built four centuries ago by Bishop Ochiltree. The tower is one of those usually ascribed to the artists of the ninth century.* The parish church, standing on a commanding site, is a fine specimen of the Gothic style. It was finished in 1828, at a cost of 6900, and is conveniently seated for 1600 persons. Passing through Muthil the wayfarer enters the magnificent avenue composed of stately beeches, chesnut, and lime-trees which embower the road to Crieff (three miles) ; and here and there the eye is attracted by a turret or a jutty of Drummond Castle half hid by the venerable elms, "Whose boughs are mossed with age, And high tops bald with dry antiquity," which contest for a standing place in the clefts. TO AMULREE AND ABEKFELDY. 6. Before entering on the route to Lochearnhead, we may shortly notice the access to the Highlands by Amulree. On the way Monzie (Campbell) is passed, in which the paintings and armoury are worthy of observation, while the grounds are highly picturesque. They contain a few of the first larches brought to this country by the Duke of Athole, and, like those at Dunkeld, of great size from eighteen to twenty feet in girth. After passing Gilmerton, the road ascends a steep acclivity, near the top of which a magnificent view westward, towards Comrie, is displayed. We may observe, that along the direct Perth road are a succession of fine seats and other objects of note as Abercairney, (Major Moray Stirling) ; the ruins of It is square, and about 70 feet high, like that at Dunning, near Forteviot, the Scoto-Pictish capital. The Brechin and Abernethy towers are narrow and round. ROUTE II. A. TOMB OF OSSIAN. 257 Inchaffray Abbey ; Gorthy, (Mercer) ; Tippermalloch, (Smy the) ; Methven Castle, (Smythe), near which Bruce was defeated, June 19, 1306, by Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke ; and Ruthven Castle now called Huntingtower the scene of the Raid of Ruthven. 7. Proceeding onwards from Monzie, the road passes for three miles along a bare moor, till the picturesque grounds of Logie Almond (Paton) present their artificial outlines, in the middle of wild mountain scenery. The road to Amulree strikes to the left up the small glen. Another branch leads down Glen Almond, passing Logie Almond, Gorthie, (Mercer,) and soon reaches the inn of Cairnies, where good accommodation may be had, and whence the imposing buildings of Trinity College may be conveniently visited. The pass into the Highlands possesses several rather re- markably bold and rugged features, and is worthy of a passing visit. It is flanked on one side by hollow acclivities, passing into huge impending rocks, and on the other by lofty cliffs quite perpendicular is about two miles in length, and in some places so narrow, as barely to afford room for the bed of the river. In the bottom of the pass, towards its upper end, is a large, nearly cubical, stone, which tradition says formerly covered the tomb of Ossian, and which was displaced in 1 746, during the formation of the road, when a small chamber was found below it, containing bones. " Ossian, last of all his race, Lies buried in this lonely place." The highly-elevated summit of the opening communicating between Straths Earn and Tay (where the inn of Curriemuck- lach and the public-houses, with the church and manse of Amulree situated on the Braan, which descends to Dunkeld are found) is a dreary waste, encompassed with low heathy hills. The distance to Dunkeld is ten ; to Tay-Bridge, at Aberfeldy. twelve miles. TO LOCHEARNHEAD. 8. Between Crieff and Comrie Strathearn gradually nar- rows, and on the way we meet many country-seats. The lower part of the valley is rich in corn-fields, which are lined off and 2 258 COMRIE. SECT. V. intersected by fine old trees, and flanked by hanging woods, while the northern boundary partakes much of a mountainous character. Ochtertyre, (Sir W. Keith Murray,) about two miles from Crieff, and Lawers House, (Mrs. Williamson,) further on, are surrounded by noble woods. Between them, Strowan (Graham Stirling) and Clathie (Colquhoun). Ochtertyre has acquired a deserved celebrity for the romantic beauty of its situation. It occupies an elevated terrace on the slope of a long wooded hill, skirted at the base by a sheet of water of considerable extent, variegated with wood-clad islets. The course of the neighbouring stream the Turret exhibits a variety of much-admired scenery, rendered classical by the pen of Burns, who also, while at Ochtertyre, wrote the blythesome song of " Blythe blythe and merry was she," on the " Flower of Strathmore," Miss Euphemia Murray of Lintrose. Loch Turret a fine loch about seven miles distant from Crieff, over- hung by a bold crag, and embellished by a castellated lodge lies embosomed among the hills forming the frontier range of the Grampians. On the way, the tourist should visit the Falls of the Borvick, and those of the Turret in returning. The parks of Lawers boast, perhaps, the largest pine trees to be seen in any part of Scotland. 9. Comrie is a populous village, situated on the north bank of the Earn. It possesses a neat church and spire. Cotton - weaving for the Glasgow manufacturers is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. Half a mile south of the village, on the level plain of Dealginross, are the remains of another Roman camp, calculated to have been of a size sufficient to accommo- date 8000 foot and 3000 horse. It is by commentators supposed to have been that of Agricola's 19th legion, who were surprised and defeated by the Caledonians, under Galgacus, at the foot of the Grampians ; though the tide of victory was turned by the attack on the Caledonians in the rear, by the forces from the camp at Ardoch, already described. About a mile and a half be- hind the village, a well-proportioned monument, about seventy- two feet in height, has been erected to the memory of the late Lord Melville, overhanging a turbulent little stream called the " Humble Bumble." Near the monument is the " Devil's Caldron," where the rivulet, at the further extremity of a long, deep, and narrow chasm, is precipitated in a fall of some height. As it escapes from its confinement, it tumbles over a second ROUTE ii. A. ST. FILLAN'S. 259 lower perpendicular descent, and then, rushing down in a slanting curve, it leaps headlong into a wide deep pool, half over-arched hy two moss-covered rocks, which, falling from above, have suddenly stopped, perching themselves on the very verge of the gulf, and overhanging, on opposite sides, the darkened water. From the monument the view is extensive, varied, and interesting. The neighbourhood of Comrie is remarkable for the frequent occurrence of smart shocks of earthquakes, by which solid bodies have been made to vibrate, and lighter ones overturned. The most severe shock which has occurred in the memory of the oldest inhabitants, was that which occurred on 23d October 1839. They generally happen in the wane of the moon, and are immediately preceded by a great stillness of the atmosphere.* 10. Between the village of Comrie and Loch Earn (five miles and a half distant), we pass Aberuchil Castle, Dalchonzie, and the mansion of Dunira (Sir David Dundas, Bart.), with its picturesque grounds and many pleasure walks. A little way east of St. Fillan's, the strath becomes for a short space very narrow, and the mountains seem to close in upon the traveller. The pedestrian or horseman ought to cross to the south bank of the river at the Bridge of Ross, for a couple of miles. He will thus pass close to Aberuchil Castle (Col. Drummond), a high square structure, built in 1602, with a more mo- dern addition. It has witnessed many sanguinary scenes between the Campbells and MacGregors. Avenues of lime, horse-chesnut, and other trees of great growth, adorn the grounds. Dalchonzie is a name given to a sporting retreat, consisting of a row of neat white-washed houses on the south bank of the river. Dunira is the country residence to which the celebrated Lord Melville retired from public life. It is a large square building, standing on a spacious level lawn (north side), encompassed by lofty and wooded mountains. In the house is to be seen a curious and costly jewel casket of Hyder Ali. 11. The village of St. Fillan's, at the east end of Loch Earn, is one of the neatest in the Highlands. It consists of about fifty houses, of one story each, but almost all of which are slated, and extending from the inn at the end of the lake, partly along the river and partly along the lake side. Most of the houses * Those who may lie desirous of making themselves acquainted with these pheno- mena are referred to the Edinburgh PhilosophicalJournal, 1841-42. 260 LOCH EARN. SECT. V. used to be ornamented in front with ivy, honeysuckle, and other creepers, and each house has a narrow stripe of ground enclosed, on either side of the door, decorated with laurel and flowering shrubs. But we regret to find that the inhabitants are not careful to retain their reputation for the tidiness and taste which used to distinguish their dwellings. At the west end there are some very neat houses, with gardens in front. St. Fillan, who had been prior of Pittenweem, was Robert Bruce's favourite saint. One of his arms was borne in a shrine by the Abbot of Inchaffray, at the battle of Bannockburn. This arm is now in North America, in the possession of a man named Dewar. His well here, as well as in Strath Fillan, was, in the memory of the present generation, deemed efficacious for the cure of many disorders. An islet, at the foot of Loch Earn, was at one time the re- treat of a bandit family or sept of the name of Neish. On one occasion they ventured to plunder some of the clan Mac Nab, who lived at the west end of Loch Tay, while on their way from a foray in the low country. The chieftain despatched across the hill a party carrying a boat with them, and commanded by his son, a doughty personage, known by the appellative of smooth John Mac Nab, who surprised the marauders by night, put them all to the sword, and exterminated almost the whole sept of the Neishes, and carried away in triumph the head of the old father of the caterans. Hence the Mac Nab's motto, " Dread nought," with their crest, a man's head, are said to have been assumed in commemoration of this event. 12. Loch Earn is only between six and seven miles in length. The hills on the north are pretty lofty, but without marked inclinations. M'Culloch, who is a great authority, gives Loch Earn unqualified praise. He regards its style as that of a lake of much larger dimensions and yet complete in itself, and not to be regarded as a reduced copy. It has not impressed us so forcibly, yet there is considerable truth in his eulogium. Good views are obtained from the extremities. As on Loch Tay, the northern hills are of more decided character than the opposing ones. Should the traveller incline to shape his route eastward by Loch Earn side, the southern road is to be preferred, as it affords a fine view of the scenery stretching to the north. From within a mile and a half of Lochearnhead, it will be found ROUTE II. A. FAIXS OF EDINAMPI.E. 261 to pass through continuous woods of oak, larch, ash, and birch, with oak copse, and brushwood beneath. The finest landscapes occur about midway, a little to the east of the house of Ard- vorlich ( Stewart), where trees of various sizes overhang the water, and short wood-fringed promontories projecting into the lake, with gracefully sweeping arms of little semicircular bays, bordered with trees, afford a pleasing foreground and a sufficiency of ornament, while of the water and opposite hills only limited sections are necessarily embraced by the eye. Ben Voirlich rears its lofcy head behind Ardvorlich ; and the still celebrated Deer Forest of Glenartney spreads around its eastern base.* Rather more than a mile and a half from the inn of Lochearnhead, we come to the Castle and Falls of Edinample. The former, near the loch and burn side, is a high square building, with a round tower bulging out from each of two opposite corners. It belongs to the Earl of Breadalbane, and is kept in a habitable state of repair, and is now the residence of Campbell, Esq. The falls are immediately below the road, and are approached on the east side of the rivulet. Pouring over a broad rugged rock, in two perpendicular streams, on each side of a narrow inter- posing fragment, the waters unite about midway, and, slanting forward, complete the descent by a second vertical leap ; the whole height apparently being about sixty feet. On the oppo- site side of the pool, below the fall, the bank rises in abrupt rocks, surmounted by a wooded slope, from the edge of which slen- der ash trees project. The other bank ascends in a receding tree- clad acclivity. Airy birches crown the high broad cliffs above the fall, and behind them are seen the sombre walls of an old burial vault. Opposite Ardvorlich, on the north side, is a valu- able lime quarry, which has tended greatly to the agricultural improvement of the district. 13. The Loch Tay road branches off from the main one, between Stirling and Fort- William, at a point about six miles distant from Lochearnhead, and rather more than two from the village of Killin, at the west end of Loch Tay. This lake is fifteen miles in length by one of general breadth. On the north side it is encompassed by a chain of bulky mountains, rising towards the west and centre, into bare and lofty, but gracefully outlined heads, of which Ben Lawers, the most elevated of the * For an account of the well-known incident founded on in the Legend of Mon- trose, and the subject of Clan Alpin's vow a spirited piece of poetry bv Alexander Boswell, see p. 87. 262 KILLIN FINLARIG CASTLE. SECT. V. Perthshire hills, towers pre-eminent.* The opposite heights differ in outline, being of a soft and regular form ; and on both sides the mountain ranges are well clothed with heath and pasture, but little broken with naked rock. At the head of Loch Tay, two glens, Dochart and Lochy, separated by a broad range of hills, unite. From the termination of the inter- vening barrier, a cultivated plain, about a mile square, extends to the extremity of the lake. The line of hill ground, inter- mediate between the two valleys, descends in a long waving ridge, whose sides are clothed more than half-way down with a dense larch wood. Between the hills which border on Loch Tay to the south, and the western portion of the lake, a lower tier ascends in successive eminences, profusely chequered with oak, birch, pine, larch, and beech. Upon the north the plain is immediately succeeded by broken ground, wooded as the opposite hills. The river Lochy, from this side, sweeps across the level at the foot of the mid range, and proceeds to join the Dochart, in a still, all but motionless stream. Killin, the burying place of Fingal, is much admired for its numerous landscapes. The village, a long line of stone and lime huts, thatched with heath, extends in opposite directions on both banks of the Dochart, before it is joined by the Lochy. The river at Killin rushes over a widened and shelving channel, and encircles two islands immediately above one another. From the upper end of the lower, three small bridges cross the stream. This island is some two hundred yards long, and is surrounded by a grove of tall magnificent pines, from six to eight feet thick ; the upper islet is also crowned with similar pines. These objects, with the houses and mills of the village, afford a multi- plicity of foregrounds to the noble views of the huge sides and lofty twin summits of Ben Lawers and the contiguous mountains, and, looking to the westward, of Ben More's sharper peaks. 14. On the north side of the plain above alluded to, rather more than a mile and a half from the village, stand the ruins of Finlarig Castle, (an ancient seat of the Breadalbane family,) in an undulating park, surrounded by gigantic sycamore and other trees of remarkable growth. The castle, a narrow, three- storeyed building, with a square tower at one corner, is entirely overgrown or faced with ivy ; and though the walls have * This mountain is well known as an excellent botanical habitat. Its height is 4015 feet. ROUTE II. A. FALLS OF THE LOCHT. 263 mainly fallen, and the building be small, it forms a picturesque ruin. Immediately adjoining is the family vault. On the occasion of a marriage festival at Finlarig, in years gone by, when occupied by the heir-apparent, intelligence was given to the company, which comprised the principal youth of the clan, that a party of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, who had just passed with a drove of lifted cattle, had refused to pay the accustomed road collop. Flushed with revelry, the guests indignantly sallied out and attacked the Macdonalds on the adjoining hill of Stronoclachan ; but, from their irregular impetuosity, they were repulsed with loss. Tidings of the affray were conveyed to Taymouth ; and, a reinforcement arriv- ing, the victors were overtaken in Glenorchy, and routed, and their leader slain. Three miles from the inn, on the Lochy, are a series of waterfalls, well worthy of a visit. Glen Lochy throughout the space below them is a wide open valley, divided into large cultivated fields ; fine woods of oak, birch, larch, and beech extend above, and some large plane and ash trees overhang the road. The falls are six in number, arranged into two groups, separated by a deep clear pool, and they are flanked by oak- surmounted rocks. They vary from four to sixteen feet in height ; and, as the whole are seen at once, form a very pleas- ing series of cascades. 15. A road branches off on either side of Loch Tay. The southern keeps high on the face of the hills, touching the edge of the water but twice, till within a mile and a half of Ken- more : this is the preferable route, on account of the superior characters of the opposite mountain range, and the occurrence near Kenmore of the falls of Acharn. A good deal of cultiva- tion is seen on either side, and a considerable number of hamlets, particularly on the north. The wood is chiefly confined to the extremities of the lake but its obtuse promontories are lined with drooping ash trees. In the rich foliage on the south, adjoining Killin, stands embosomed a residence in which the Marquis of Breadalbane resided when Lord Glenorchy. The eastern section of Loch Tay is bounded on the north by Drum- mond Hill (distinct and separated from the chain of Ben Lawers, by which the rest of that side is bordered), which reaches for three miles along the loch, and to a like extent down the river Tay ; its steep southern acclivity clothed through- 264 FALLS OF ACHARN KENMORE. SECT. V. out with a dense magnificent forest of pine, larch, and hard wood. Two miles from Kenmore, on the south side of Loch Tay, are the Falls of Acharn, half a mile off the road. The path which leads to them strikes off on the west side of a small bridge, where there is a mill and some slated houses, and ascends right up the hill face. A gate on the bordering dyke leads to the edge of a high rock ; and an artificial dark passage conducts into a neat hermitage, commanding an excellent view of the fall. The burn, precipitating its waters over the side of a deep and wooded dell, first performs a perpendicular descent of fully fifty feet, separating towards the bottom into two vertical streams, which are caught by a small basin ; whence the water escapes by successive inclined leaps, the whole form- ing a cascade apparently about eighty or ninety feet high. 16. At the east end of Loch Tay the traveller reaches the village of Kenmore, and the much-admired environs of Tay- mouth Castle. The valley is here of moderate breadth. As already noticed, the eastern portion of Loch Tay, and the river issuing from it for the first few miles of its course, are bounded on the north side by a long wooded eminence called Drummond Hill. The corresponding hills on the south side, for the first two miles, rise in a moderate acclivity, richly wooded with oak. birch, and larch. Above this broad belt of wood, a gentle arable slope supervenes, rounding off at top in a prolonged, nearly level, summit, partly covered with larch trees. Further east, the continuation of this the southern range inclines from the wooded bank of the river, in a lengthened slope, laid out into extensive parks, divided by straight rows and belts of wood, and the surface of the ground above is chequered over with small formal clumps of larch. The river issuing from the north end of the lake keeps the same side of the valley for about two miles ; when it makes a sudden sweep to the base of the opposite hills. The space thus enclosed for two miles on the south side of the river is, for a third of its length, that next the lake, broken into gentle undulations ; and the remaining portion presents a triple series of level terraces, gradually lower- ing from the west. On the most easterly terrace stands Tay- mouth Castle, the seat of Lord Breadalbane. The village of Kenmore, at the end of Loch Tay, consists of an inn, and about a score of small houses (a few of them bedecked in front with ROUTE II. A. TAYMOUTU CASTLE. 265 ivy, honeysuckle, virgin's bower, and sweet-briar), occupying in a wide double row the slope of a small peninsula, formed between the river and a creek, or prolongation of the lake, and surmounted by a church, with a neat, square, white-washed spire. At a distance of three miles from the lake, the Tay is joined by the river Lyon, which has its source in the district of Fort- ingal, to the north of Drummond Hill. Its mouth forms the limit of the pleasure-grounds of Taymouth, which encompass a circuit of thirteen miles. Along the north bank of the Tay there extends a continuous row of stately beech trees, two miles in length, over-shadowing a terraced walk of shaven turf, sixteen yards wide, extending between it and the river. For a mile from Kenmore, on the opposite side, a corresponding row of more aged beech, screen with their umbrageous foliage a similar promenade. Many fine sycamores occur at intervals by the edge of the water, and behind the castle the winding stream is skirted by an avenue of very old lime trees ; and the extremities are connected by a con- tinuation of the same in a straight line, the whole forming a continued Gothic arch for the space of a mile. These magnifi- cent trees, the growth of centuries, are of unusual height ; and their lower branches, spreading far out, form sort of side-aisles to the fine central arched way. The rest of the lower surface of the valley is sprinkled with aged beech trees, one of which is twenty-two feet in circumference. Taymouth Castle looks to the south ; and at the base of the wooded hills in front are some gigantic and picturesque horse-chesnut and ash trees, as well as several uncommonly straight and beautiful larches, four- teen feet in girth, and a hundred and thirty feet high. A great proportion of the very varied trees have attained large dimen- sions. We may further particularize an ash behind the inn at Kenmore a beech at the saw-mill and a lime tree nearly in front of the castle. This castle is a very large ashen- coloured quadrangular pile of four storeys, with round corner-towers, wings two storeys high at opposite corners, and one of them a rather incongruous remnant of the old castle, and terminating in an airy central pavilion, 150 feet in height. A light stone balcony encircles the lower storey, which is crenulated, as is also the roof. Some ancient armour from the time of Henry II. to Cromwell's, may be 266 LANDSCAPES FROM THE GROUNDS. SECT. V. seen in the entrance-hall, and the coup deceit of the pavilioned staircase is striking. Some of the rooms, as the baron's hall, dining, drawing, and Chinese rooms, are worthy of notice, and possess several valuable specimens by the old masters ; and on the occasion of her Majesty's visit, a large outlay was made in the way of permanent decoration, and many costly articles were added to the furnishings. The disposal of the pleasure-grounds about Taymouth Castle has been censured as much too formal and constrained ; and there is some room for the remark : but they possess great beauty, and, it must be allowed, no small degree of grandeur, especially as conjoined with the bold and commanding features of the adjoining alpine scenery. The view from the vista-fort, in the face of the hill, directly fronting the castle, is reckoned one of the finest in Scotland. In the centre of the landscape a portion of the lake widens towards the spectator. On the left, two long hill slopes, partly wooded, rise from the water, one above another; to the right, Drurnmond Hill sends down its wooded sides, and behind it rises the gigantic bulk of Ben Lawers, stretching away, in a prolonged oblique direction, to the remote distance, Ben More also shooting up from the extre- mity of the range his conical summit. At the near end of the lake rise the houses and church of Kenmore, embosomed in trees ; and to the north of them a handsome bridge of seven arches is seen spanning the Tay, " revolving sweet in infant pride," and beyond it, a little wooded island, in which Sybilla, queen of Alexander I. is interred. The immediate foreground is filled up by the termination of the tree-studded park. But a view, perhaps better adapted for the pencil, is that obtained from Lady's Mount, the first rise in the ground near Kenmore, where, with the same background, the near objects are more distinct, and the picture less complicated and extensive. The scenery is distinguished by the very long and remarkably gentle slopes around the extremity of the lake the rounded shoulders and elongated outlines of the hills and the encircling zone of cultivated ground, variegated with trees. A fanciful dairy, on a wooded eminence above the river, mid- way between the castle and the village, is not unworthy of a, visit, partly on account of the commanding view it affords of the park and lake the latter presented through a vista of foli- age ; and perhaps preferable to either of those already indi- ROUTE II. A. FORTINGAL YEW TREE. 267 cated. The dairy is a square or cross-shaped structure of two storeys, of protruding white quartz stones, with projecting roofs of slated and rustic work, and encircled by rustic pillars, and a verandah covered with flowering creepers, and a parterre of flowers the porticoed entrance-floors paved with marble, and the milk rooms and lobby flagged with a fine freestone inlaid with black marble. The walls of this ornamental little dairy are faced with polished yellow Dutch tiles, and the milk dishes are of brown china. The grounds of Taymouth are remarkable for the number of zoological curiosities congregated within their ample bounds several varieties of sheep, all our native deer, and specimens of the emu, bison, buffalo, the white Caledonian cattle, and the once indigenous splendid capercailzie. The brilliant effect may readily be conceived of the illumi- nation, when her Majesty was feted here in a style of splendour which could hardly have been surpassed ; the whole woodland one blaze of variegated light the wire fence of the deer park festooned into a girdle of fire the vista-fort illuminated by 40,000 lamps the mountain tops kindled up into so many lus- trous beacons, and a magnificent display of fireworks adding gorgeous coruscations to the fairy scene, amidst which a vast assemblage wandered about, deeply impressed and strangely ex- cited by the unwonted presence of royalty, and the rare demon- strations of costly hospitality on the part of the noble host. Lord Breadalbane's estates are very numerously peopled by small tenants, who hold their possessions at will, without leases. 17. On the north side of Drummond Hill lies an open and partially-wooded valley, called Fortingal, extending for about seven miles from Loch Tay side to Strath Tay, through which the river Lyon pursues its course to the Tay. This river flows into Fortingal from Glen Lyon, on the north side of Ben Lawers, and the connected hills which border on Loch Tay. About three miles from the lake, and six from Kenmore, and on the north side of the river, is the Kirkton of Fortingal a few slated houses and thatched huts around the church. The churchyard is remarkable for the remains of an enormous yew-tree, which furnished many a goodly bow when that weapon formed a part of a Scotsman's armoury. This is a very singular tree : it has been calculated by eminent physiologists to be 2500 years old. About a century ago, the trunk was single, and measured fifty- 2G8 LEN LYON. SECT. V. six feet : now it presents the appearance of two stems, about twelve feet high ; of these the largest, which is quite hollow, is twenty feet in girth. Though so much decayed in the core, it is completely sprouted over with young branches. To the west of the Kirkton the Lyon is crossed by a bridge ; at Com- rie, three miles in the opposite direction, a boat supplies the place of another, now in ruins. It may be almost needless to observe, that the pedestrian can reach Fortingal by crossing Drummond Hill immediately above Kemnore. In the space between Kirkton and the boat of Comrie, the Lyon presents some fine studies of river scenery. A mile below the Kirkton stands the house of Garth, surrounded by fine avenues of trees ; and about the same distance onwards the road crosses the Kelt- nie burn, a little beyond which is the inn of Cushiville. The river is throughout lined with spreading oaks. Comrie's old castle, consisting of the shell of a small oblong building, of three storeys, with a square addition projecting at right angles at one end, next appears, surrounded by fine sycamores. The Lyon forms a junction with the Tay, about three quarters of a mile below its walls. 18. Glen Lyon is connected with Fortingal about a mile above the Kirkton, by the pass of Chesthill, which is well worthy of being explored. This section, which is much inflected, is bor- dered on the south by hills rising in green steep acclivities, with rocky spaces interspersed. The opposing mountains are bold, lofty, and lumpish, and swell into massive rocky and heathy summits. At the commencement of the pass, their bases bulge out, forming to the shelving river a steep bank covered with fine beeches. Towards the further end they send down, across the glen, to the river and deep indented hollow of the opposite range, a series of broad rocky hills These are covered to the water's edge with very large beech, elm, oak, ash, spruce, birch, and sycamore trees. Beyond this rich space Glen Lyon stretches away for a distance of nearly thirty-five miles towards Tyndrum. It is a remarkably fine pastoral val- ley very narrow, seldom above a furlong in width, and at times barely admitting the passage of the river ; and it is hemmed in by hills of considerable height, much furrowed with water-courses, forming, in rainy weather, so many continuous cataracts, several hundred feet in height. Meggerney Castle was built in L>70, and is approached through an avenue of a ROUTE II. A. CLACH CHONABHACHAN 269 mile long, between rows of magnificent beeches and limes, winding along the banks of the river Lyon, and screening the castle till it bursts upon the sight at the extreme end of a fine lawn. " Opposite the castle is an island, which, when seen from the east, has the appearance of a heart, lines of tall beeches fringing it on either side, and dipping their branches into the silent stream below. Beyond is a picturesque wood of weeping birch, beech, elm, and lime trees, and the landscape formed by the mellow and varied tints of their foliages sur- passes the most finished mosaic, just as much as nature usually transcends art." There are several remains of circular forts of Fingalian masonry without cement, some of them of 60 feet in- side diameter, and the walls generally eight feet thick, though it is conjectured that they had not probably exceeded twelve feet in height ; but they seem to have had several compart- ments, extending into the inner area. A little below one of these is Clach Chonabhachan, in the braes of Glen Lyon, a per- pendicular slab four feet high, with a rectangular slab project- ing from within twelve inches of its apex. " The virtue which this stone possessed was peculiar. Married ladies in an ' in- teresting situation' were carried to it by their husbands. If their fair proportions were embraced by the slab, they were as- sured of a favourable confinement ; if otherwise, they must pre- pare for a fatal one. An unfortunate female subjected to the test proved a world too wide for the shrunk aperture, and her gudeman, in digging away the earth to widen the trench, de- stroyed the virtue, and killed his wife." At the west end of Fortingal, and to the north of the river, there was a Roman camp, of which the Praetorium is still entire. Hard by is a large tumulus, which possibly could a tale unfold. 19. Near the inn of Cushiville a road ascends along the banks of the Keltnie Burn, crossing the hills intermediate between Straths Tay and Tummel. At Tummel Bridge, nine miles from Cushiville, the road is continued onwards to Dalnacar- doch (ten miles distant), where it joins that from Perth to In- verness. In journeying northward from Cushiville the road ascends along the edge of a deep and wooded dell, bordered by sloping cultivated ground, for about two miles, and crosses the hill to Tummel Bridge, through a wide elevated pass between heathy hills. About a mile and a half from the low fields, the ruins of a high square keep called Garth Castle, on the banks 270 GARTH CASTLE. SECT. V. of the Keltnie, serve as a good foreground to a variety of in- teresting landscapes. It stands on a narrow, rocky promon- tory, between two rivulets, which, approaching in deep per- pendicular channels, at nearly right angles to one another, have almost met at the narrowed neck of this promontory ; but the upper one, deflecting a little aside, leaves an almost inac- cessible projection for the site of the stronghold. It forms a prominent object in the views which are obtained, either look- ing up the confined channel of the burn, or from the rising ground above, whence we look down upon a long shelving val- ley, ascending in easy irregular slopes from the deep imbedded burn, which is over-canopied by slanting trees. At the top of the ascent, about half-way from Cushiville to Tummel-Bridge, a good country-road on the left hand conducts to Kinloch Rannoch, thirteen miles distant from Cushiville. Leading along the hill-face, to the base of the upper acclivity of Schehallion, it descends into Strath Tummel, about three miles to the east of Kinloch Rannoch. Loch Rannoch (eleven or twelve miles long, and better than a mile of average breadth) is a straight sheet of water, bordered on the north by long low eminences of gentle slope, and regular unbroken outline. The hills on the south are higher and steeper: they stand apart from one another, and in the centre are removed from the water's edge ; and the breadth between the summits on the opposite sides of the loch is not short of twenty miles. One continued forest of natural birch and fir, called " the Black Wood of Rannoch," mantles the south side, from the margin of the water half-way up the mountains, and a tolerably good road encircles the lake. The waters of Loch Rannoch abound in trout of a very unusual size, being sometimes caught of thirty pounds weight. From the head of Loch Rannoch Loch Erochd stretches for sixteen miles towards Dalwhinnie a dreary sheet of water, about a mile of general width. The vil- lage of Kinloch Rannoch, at the east end of the loch, consists of half a-dozen huts, and an inn on the south side ; and about a score more huts and another inn, a church and a manse, on the opposite side of the river Tummel, over which a bridge has been thrown. For three miles below Kinloch Rannoch, the surface of the valley is quite flat, and upwards of a mile wide, consisting of a mixture of meadow and cultivated land. The advancing side- ROUTE II. A. STRATH -TUMMEL FALLS OF TUMMEL. 271 ridges of Schehallion, and a broad terrace or eminence on the north, then fill up the valley, leaving, for about two miles, room only for the passage of the river, the banks of which are wooded with birch, larch, and fir. Mount House (Robertson of Struan, chief of the Clan Donachie) occupies the upper end of this ob- structing terrace ; and above it, on the sides of the strath, are the houses of Milltown, (M'Donell) ; Crossmount, (Stuart) ; Dalchosnie, (Macdonald) ; and Inverchallan, (Stuart). After- wards, the glen again becomes level, and continues widening till we reach Loch Tummel, ten miles distant from Loch Ran- noch. Tummel Bridge Inn, a comfortable house, where the road from Crieff to Dalnacardoch crosses, is seven miles from the latter lake. Loch Tummel is three miles long, and at the west end about two-thirds of a mile in width, contracting to- wards the opposite extremity. Several obtuse little promon- tories, sweetly fringed with ash, project into the water. The hills along the upper portion of the strath are of gentle inclin- ation and moderate height ; those on the north preserve nearly an unbroken level outline. The southerly ones exhibit low de- tached summits, but rising from a common continuous chain. In the slight depressions of the hill-face, a good deal of land has been brought into cultivation, and the greater part of the north side of Loch Tummel is arable. Birch is scattered here and there, but heath and grey stones occupy by far the largest portion of the ground. As it approaches Loch Tummel, the tortuous river is skirted with ash trees. Near its mouth the house of Fosse (Stuart) stands on the south side of the valley. The space of four miles from Loch Tummel to the Garry is a very deep, confined pass, while the north side ascends very steeply from the water, and to an imposing height, swelling out above into a continued succession of rounded cliffs, with inter- mediate receding acclivities, the whole clothed with birch, but mingled with some fir and larch trees. The opposite side is of much the same, though less-strongly marked characters. On the face of the north side stands the house of Bonskeid, (Stuart). A few hundred yards from where it joins the Garry, the river Tummel forms a small water-fall deserving of a passing visit. It is divided into two streams by a small rock, on each side of which it pours for a few feet perpendicularly. Rushing furi- ously forward, they reunite, and, in contracted volume, dash obliquely over the remaining descent, the whole height not 272 CASTLE MENZIES FALLS OF MONESS. SECT. V. exceeding twenty feet. At the east end of Loch Tummel, the pedestrian should cross to the south side of the pass, by which means the scenery will be viewed to rather more advantage than from the other side, and he can afterwards be ferried over to the Dunkeld and Blair road at Portnacraig, opposite Pitlochry, three miles below the fall, or two miles farther down the river, at Moulinearn. The North Road crosses the Garry, at the bridge of Garry, near the lower end of the Pass of Killiecrankie. 20. Returning now to the Tay. Below the junction of the Tay and Lyon the valley of Tay becomes of considerable width, being at Aberfeldy (six miles from Kenmore, and eight from Kirkton of Fortingal) about a mile and a half broad. It winds in long gentle sweeps, and is for several miles quite flat and cultivated. Between five and six miles from Kenmore, on the north side, stands Castle Menzies, the seat of Sir Robert Menzies, at the foot of a lofty range of rocky hills, rising in successive tiers of perpendicular precipices, having noble oak and beech trees rooted in their ledges, and the less abrupt acclivities covered over with hard wood. The castle was erected in the sixteenth century. Like many buildings of that age, it pre- sents a high roof, small windows and turrets, and consists of an oblong building, to the two opposite corners of which is added a tall square wing, at right angles, one advancing in front, the other retiring backwards. It is surrounded by a park, filled with aged trees, rivalling in dimensions those of Taymouth. At the end of the park is the respectable inn of Weem. Opposite Aberfeldy the river is crossed by one of General Wade's bridges. A tapering obelisk over each corner of the central arch, about twelve feet above the high solid parapet, produces a singular but picturesque effect. 21. Aberfeldy is a village of considerable size, chiefly of one long street, with another leading off about the centre, and a small square at their junction ; the houses of one and two storeys, and slated, but cold and comfortless looking, from the small and unlintelled windows ; but the stream which passes through it exhibits the most beautiful series of waterfalls, perhaps, in Scotland. The lowest of the falls of Moness is a mile from the village ; the upper for there are three half a mile beyond it. The dell in which these falls occur is ap- parently from 200 to 300 feet deep, and exceedingly confined, so much so that the trees, with which it is filled, in some places ROUTE II. A. FALLS OF MONESS. 273 almost meet from the opposite sides. The wood forms a perfect thicket, and the walk is completely shaded from the sun. The lowest falls consist chiefly of a series of cascades, formed by a small tributary rivulet pouring down the east side of the dell, and seemingly altogether about eighty feet of perpendicular height. These join the main burn at the base of a little fall, which forms a conspicuous object in the sweet view obtained from the channel of the stream. From the end of a clear pool, where the motion of the water is indicated only by the bells of foam gliding slowly down, the spectator sees, at the further extremity of a low narrow chasm of black moistened rock, the small waterfall, at such a distance that its noise reaches the ear in a soft lulling murmur. On either hand rise high sloping banks, adorned with trees. A sweep of one side of the dell terminates the opening with a steep face of wood. From the edge of the fall shoots up a long slender spruce, succeeded by straight elms, and leafy beech trees. Young drooping ash trees, from the opposite bank, dip their tapering branches in the pool ; each little protruding rock is covered with moss, and curtained with pendent ferns. Through the trees the other streamlet is beheld descending in sidelong haste. Let the visitor, however, hasten on to the next series, for they demand particular examination. They consist of a suc- cession of falls, comprising a perpendicular height of not less than a hundred feet, and occupying in length a space of con- siderably more than the like number of yards. A prolonged sheet of descending water, alternately perpendicular and slant- ing, is before us. From the edge of this lengthened cataract rise abrupt rocky acclivities, covered with moss and ferns, whence shoot up tall slender ash and elms. These partially veil two lichen-clad mural cliffs, converging towards the upper- most of these falls, above which they rear two high vertical lines ; on the top of these cliffs nod serried groves of pine and larch, while a row of airy birches wave on the slanting summit of the bank which closes in the rocky gap. The last and highest cascade is a perpendicular fall of about fifty feet, but possessing no peculiar interest. Here a rustic bridge conducts across the dell, and affords the traveller the opportunity of varying his route back to the inn. 22. From Aberfeldy the Tay maintains an easterly course for nine or ten miles, till it is joined at Logierait by the river Tummel. The hills bordering this portion of Strath Tay 274 GRANDTULLT CASTLE. SECT. V. diminish to a comparatively low size. Irregular terraces occupy the bottom of the central portion of this section of the valley, which above and below this space is level and open. The hill sides rise in undulating slopes, all more or less culti- vated, and frequently wooded to the top, especially on the north side, on which also a succession of substantial-looking resi- dences present themselves, as Blackhill, Daltulich, Cloichfollich, Pittencree, and Bolechine, the seats of families chiefly of the name of Stewart. Three miles below Aberfeldy, Grandtully Castle (Sir William D. Stewart of Murthly), stands by the road- side surrounded by rows of stately elms. It is an old structure, but kept in a habitable condition. From each of two conti- guous sides of a large oblong building a tall square narrow addition projects at right angles. An extinguisher turret sur- mounts the two free corners of the main building, and a sort of round tower or section of one, containing the staircase, bulges out behind, and projecting. high above the castle, ter- minates in a pointed roof. One of the square wings is com- pletely encompassed with ivy, and the whole of almost uniform outline. The great novelist states, that this building bears a close resemblance to the house of Tully Veolan, the picturesque abode of the old Baron of Bradwardine. Four miles from Grandtully is the inn of Skitewn, or Grandtully Arms ; and half a mile on, the small inn of Balnaguard. About eight miles above Dunkeld, at Logierait, the Tay is joined by and bends to the southerly course of the Garry and Tummel, and the conjoined stream may be crossed by a good chain-boat. A wide cultivated flat occupies, to within three miles of Dunkeld, the bottom of the valley, through which flow the combined waters of the Tay and Tummel. It is skirted by a terrace, on which various hard wood trees and oak coppices abound ; while continuous and very extensive masses of larch stretch along the summits of the hills above, and below them cultivated fields slope gently down. Six and a half miles from Dunkeld we pass Kinnaird House (Duke of Athole's), and a mile and a half beyond Dalguise ( Stewart). Above Dunkeld, Craigiebarns, a massive rocky mountain advancing from the hills on the eastern side of the valley, almost blocks it up. This, with the opposite hill, Craigie- venean, are clothed with a dense pine forest, through which occasional glimpses exhibit large masses of abrupt rock. Be- tween them lie the rich woods which form the pride of Dunkeld. ROUTE II. B. GLEN TILT. ROUTE SECOND. BRANCH B. FROM BLAIR ATHOLE TO GRANTOWN IN STRATHSPEY, BT GLEN TILT AND THE CASTLETOWN OF BRAEMAR. Glen Tilt ; Deer Forest, 1. Pass between the Tilt and the Dee, 2. Strath Dee ; Linn of Dee ; Mar Lodge ; Falls of Corrienuilzie and Quoich ; Loch Avan and Sources of the Dee, footnote, 3. Castletown of Braemar, 4. The Earls of Mar ; Farquhar- sons ; The Children of the Trough, 5. Braemar Castle ; View from Invercauld Bridge, 6. Forest Scenery ; the Garrawault, 7. Balmoral; Abergeldie; Ballater; Strath Dee to Aberdeen, footnote, 8. Glencairn; Strath Don; Corgarff Castle, 9. Tomantoul ; Glen Avon, 10. Miles. Blair Athole to Braemar ....................................... 26 Rienloan ............................................................ 13 Corgarff ............................................................ 8 Tomantoul ......................................................... 9 Grantown .................. , .................................... 14 Braemar to Ballater .............................. 14 Kincardine O'Neil ................................ 16 Banchory Ternan ................................. 8 Drum Inn .......................................... 8 Aberdeen ............................................. 10 56 THE route here to be described, though anciently a common one between the opposite districts of Athole, Dee, and Bade- noch, is now almost inaccessible, at least for the first day's journey, save to the pedestrian. 1. His course to the Dee and the Braes of Mar lies through Glen Tilt, as to which see page 233. The water of Tilt joins the Garry from the eastward, and issues from a deep confined glen which cuts through the mountains, where, at Athole House, they bend to the south and west. For a couple of miles above Athole House, and the inns of Blair and Bridge of Tilt, high and steep banks rise from the water's edge ; and their sides and tops are covered with wood. Above this, a narrow stripe of flat ground occupies the bottom of the glen for seven or eight miles : the wood soon disappears, and the hills rise in steep acclivities, covered only with herbage and heath. They are unbroken, save where an occasional ravine 27G DEER FOREST. SECT. V. sends down a tributary streamlet, and of almost uniform height, from 500 to 600 feet, except where Ben-y-Gloe on the south raises his more aspiring form. The glen is nearly strait, and the inclination remarkably gentle. Two small hunting lodges of the Duke of Athole are passed, the one four, the other seven, miles from Blair ; there is a good road as far as the second lodge ; beyond it, a mere footpath conducts along the north side of the water. As already observed, the right of way to Braemar is the subject of a depending process before the Supreme Court, the Duke of Athole obstructing the passage hitherto enjoyed by the public. Glen Tilt, as these lodges indicate, is a great sporting rendezvous, and for the stalking of red deer, of which his Grace of Athole boasts, perhaps, the most extensive and best-stocked forest in the country. No less than a hundred thousand acres of the surrounding ground are appropriated for the use of these animals ; and it is seldom the wayfarer wends his way through this sequestered valley without discerning several of them ; and they are most frequently to be seen leisurely and majestically pacing along the edge of the impending cliffs. In following the sport, parties are stationed at different parts of the glen, who command excellent opportunities of try- ing their skill in the use of the rifle, as the deer, driven by dogs, sweep rapidly past ; the narrowness and steepness of the glen generally ensuring their being within range. Four miles above the second lodge, the rivulet of Loghaine enters Glen Tilt from a glen on the right. 2. Keeping onwards along the north side of the main stream of the Tilt, a mile beyond its junction by the Loghaine, the traveller comes to the Tarff Water, which issuing from a con- fined defile on the left, is precipitated over two falls, the lowest about ten, the upper about twenty-five feet in height. Cross- ing the Tarff, the path continues along the now much dimin- ished stream, for the former supplies the main body of the Tilt Water, and the glen is soon found to split into two narrow ascending gullies. A track will be seen ascending the southerly one. This leads to Faillaird, another hunting lodge of the Duke of Athole's. The pathway to the Castletown of Braemar continues along the north side of the other, leading along the face of a steep acclivity. Less than two additional miles brings ROUTE II. B. STRATHDEE LOCH AVON. 277 us to the top of the pass, where we find an open hollow in the hills, with a flat mossy bottom, whence another burn descends towards the Dee in a direction directly contrary to that of the Tilt. After a run of two or three miles, it falls into the Dee at the bend of the river, nine miles above the Castletown. A foot- path will be found on the south side of the hollow and burn, and of the Dee, to the Linn of Dee, six miles above the Castle- town, whence a good road leads along the south side of the river. If mounted, the traveller should keep the opposite side of the burn ; he will thus fall in with a cart road, and, fording the Dee, will have the benefit of a good road for three miles before coming to the Linn, where he will recross by a bridge. It may be mentioned, that, after leaving the Duke's lodge, a sheiling or shepherd's hut, will be met in Glen Tilt, at the mouth of the Loghaine ; another, upon the south side of the burn, falling into the Dee, rather more than a mile from that river, and a farm-house on the north side, farther down the burn.* 3. Strathdee, when first met with, has a pretty wide cen- tral space. Below the Linn of Dee it increases to rather more than half a mile in breadth. This is meadow-land, with a few arable patches ; and in the portion between the linn and the Castletown large quantities of birch are spread over this cen- tral flat. The hills are of moderate height, and of rounded or flattened outline. The great pine forest of the Dee has been cleared off above * To the north, between Strath Dee and Strath Spey, are closely grouped several of the loftiest mountains in Britain : Ben Mac Dhui, Braeriach, Cairntoul, Cairngorm, Ben-na-main, Ben A'an, and others ranging from 4000 to 4390 feet ; and thus, in one instance, overtopping Ben Nevis' proud summit. In their recesses, the perfec- tion of secluded alpine scenery is, as we have said, to he met with ; but the wayfarer must needs proceed to the Castletown, to refresh Ids weary limbs, ere presuming to explore these remote solitudes ; for they afford work enough for an entire day's toil- some walking. The hollows between the mountain masses are flanked by stupendous precipices, down which sheeted cataracts find their headlong way ; but the opening glens possess much of sweet pastoral verdant beauty, chequered with the hoar fea- tures of aged and weather-beaten pines. Loch A'an "or Avon, and the sources of the Dee, each may form a day's excursion. The best approach to the former, is along the course of Water of Lui, which joins the Dee a little below the Linn of Dee. When the water, at about four miles from the Linn, forks into two, the right branch through Glen Dearg is followed, and the corry at its extremity which forms the water shear, must be surmounted when the precipitous channel of the Alt-dhu-lochan, and a de- viation to the left, conduct, at a distance of about twenty miles from Castletown, to the waters of the lake, which is about two miles in length, encircled by the topmost precipices of Ben Mac Dhui, Cairngorm, and Ben-na-main. The Dee lias its rise on the west side of Ben Mac Dhui, between it and Braeriach. But we reserve our de- scription of the upper portion of the strath, and its very peculiar scenery, to the next branch of this route, in which the passes through the Grampians are treated of. 278 LINN OF DEE MAR LODGE. SECT. V. the linn. It thence, though only an imperfect semblance of its former self, clothes the sides of the northern hills for five miles down the river, and stretching up Glen Lui, and Glen Quoich ; and is succeeded by the forest of Balloch Bowie. The trees are still generally large and stately, but the greater part of them are considered young and dwarfish in comparison with some of the veteran stems in the forest, which frequently measure thir- teen and fourteen feet in girth six feet from the ground, and about sixty feet in height. The axe has long been busily at work ; but we trust a respectable remnant will yet be preserved of this fine forest. There are still many magnificent specimens extant in Strathdee and the small adjoining glens. The wood on the hills on the south side of the valley, in this section, is nearly all birch. The Linn of Dee is a spot about six miles above the Castle- town, where the river has cut a long narrow passage, between thirty and forty feet deep, through opposing rocks, and forms four small falls, the central ones about ten and twelve feet, the others not above half that height. Below the falls, the water has scooped out a series of basins, where it sleeps, deep, dark, and, to appearance, motionless. When the water is low, some of the connecting channels are not above a yard wide ; but it is subject to floods, which sometimes fill the chasm to the brim, and then the fury of the pent up torrent is tremendous, and at all times the painfully labouring progress of the river, which is here of considerable volume, is a remarkable spectacle. The dan- gerous and foolhardy feat of leaping across the linn has been frequently performed, and even from one of the banks, which is lower than the opposite. The chance of any living thing emerging, save in death, from the grim viewless chambers, where the dark waters are being impeded and churned, is obviously small indeed. Lord Byron, when a boy, made a narrow escape of being subjected to this ordeal, having tripped in the heather above, and been rescued only when all but over the ledge. There is a road on both sides, that on the north generally preferred. Two miles below the linn, on the north side of the river, and in the bottom of the valley, is seen Mar Lodge, a commodious hunting-seat of the Earl of Fife's, the long low wings of which give it a length of front which makes it a very conspicuous ob- ject. It is rented, with the adjoining deer forests, by the Duke of Leeds. The strath is here straight for several miles, and pre- ROUTE II. B. CASTLETOWN OF BRAEMAR. 279 sents a peculiar appearance in its hanging pine forest on one side, and birch woods on the other, and in the wide level space between. Two fine waterfalls occur on the hills bounding the strath, Corriemulzie on the south, and the Linn of Quoich on the north. The former is seen as a long white and steep line on the face of the hill, about four miles from the Castletown, bordered by an emerald herbage, and half-hid by the foliage of the birch. Corriemulzie Cottage is a pretty sporting villa, oc- cupied during the season by General Duff and his family. The Quoich, two miles below Mar Lodge, is a more turbulent stream, tumbling d*own a succession of rocky ledges, and exhibiting in its course various circular perforations which it has achieved in its schistose bed. The distance from Blair Athole to Castletown of Braemar may be reckoned twenty-six miles, requiring (from the nature of the ground) eleven hours' moderate walking. 4. Castletown of Braemar consists of a group of neat cot- tages and slated houses, on the east side of the Cluny, a moun- tain stream, which is here crossed by the military road about half a mile from the junction of the streamlet with the Dee, and a collection of scattered huts upon the opposite or west side, which was at one time a great gathering-place for deer hunts. On either side there is a good inn. There are no less than three places of worship here, and the houses of the village are neat and respectable ; and of the cottages generally on Deeside, it may be remarked, that they are distinguished by their snugness, and the tidy little plots of garden ground, and frequent garni- ture of roses, honeysuckle, and other ornamental creepers. On the east bank of the Cluny, the site is shewn of a castle which Malcolm Ceanmore is said to have had here, and Braemar was a favourite resort of many subsequent monarchs. 5. This great but secluded district was for centuries under the sway of the powerful Erskines, Earls of Mar, who forfeited their lands by the prominent part which John, the thirty-ninth Earl, took in the rebellion of 1715. It was an Earl of Mar who headed the forces who, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, successfully encountered Donald of the Isles in the very bloody battle of Harlaw, on Don side. Another old name in Strath- dee is that of Farquharson, still a numerous clan there. One of the most revolting incidents in clan history is con- nected with the Farquharsons, and so late as the reign of James 280 BRAEMAR CASTLE. SECT. V. VI. Farquharson of Inverey having slain a Gordon Baron of Brackley the Marquis of Huntly and the Laird of Grant, a kinsman also of the deceased, concocted a joint invasion of the country of the Farquharsons, the forces of the one advancing up, while those of the other descended Strathdee. A terrible massacre of the Farquharsons ensued. About a couple of hun- dred of orphaned children were carried off by Huntly. Some time thereafter the Laird of Grant, being dining with the Mar- quis, was brought by him to a balcony which overlooked the kitchen court. The offals of the servants' dinner were thrown into a large trough, and on a signal, a hatch, as of a"kennel, was raised, and a troop of half famished little ones, with yells and screams, rushed forward, and ravenously devoured the accus- tomed meal, snarlingly contesting the morsels like so many hun- gry curs. The Laird of Grant was excessively shocked by the spectacle, but prudently suppressing his feelings, he, on learning that these were the unfortunates whom his own sword had aided to reduce to such degradation, contrived, on the ground that he ought to bear a share of the expense of their maintenance, to have them removed to Strathspey, where he had them distri- buted among his clan, and brought up in a creditable manner. Their descendants were, however, long distinguished as " the children of the trough." 6. The Castle of Braemar stands at the point of the eastern side of the glen through which the Cluny flows, on a slight ele- vation in the plain. It is a tall structure of four storeys and attics, and of the shape of two buildings united at right angles, with a turnpike staircase in the interior angle. It is surround- ed, at a distance of fifteen feet, by a wall, forming a square, with an angle protruding from the centre of each side. A party of military are stationed here to aid in the suppression of smuggling. In a field below the castle the Earl of Mar raised the standard for James VIII. in 1715. The road, passing under the over-hanging cliffs of Craig Clunie, crosses the Dee three miles below the Castletown, and the north road leaves Strathdee six miles farther down. The view from the bridge of Invercauld, both up and down the river, is peculiarly im- posing. Forests of fir clothe both sides and the circling ter- minal boundaries of this section of the valley, and with the fir, birch is mingled in large quantities, both in distinct masses and more intimate union. This latter tree also again disposes itself ROUTE II. B. THE GARRAWAULT BALMORAL. 281 amidst the corn fields and pasture in the centre of the valley. Above the woods which occupy the gentle slopes of the spacious hollows at either extremity, and the heathy acclivities which succeed them, rise, in frowning majesty, amphitheatres of bare and lofty alps, among which, to the east, are the cold blue tops of Lochnagar. A mile below the castle, on the opposite side of the river, is the house of Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld. 7. The great pine forest stretches for several miles down the river from the bridge, but more especially on the south side, and the Dee retains its supremacy over the Don, at least in the articles of " fish and tree." On the north there is a consider- able population, and a stripe of arable land, which occasionally rises well up the hill face. The strath now presents a series of open basins of varying dimensions, at times of considerable expanse, and connected by narrow gorges. The northern is the principal road, but the forest road, on the south side, is the more interesting as far as Ballater. The continuous pine woods are somewhat monotonous, but there is an impressive solemnity about them, and it is relieved by the intermixture of birch about the river's course. About a couple of miles below the bridge on the south side, the Garrawault exhibits another of those impetuous streams, broken into frequent falls and catar- acts, which are so characteristic of the district. A rustic bridge and hermitage, to which there is access by a steep road, have been constructed at the principal fall a long shelving de- scent of foaming water. Altogether the burn course has a pe- culiar wild beauty, and a charm of its own, in the middle of the sequestered forest. The forest on the south side is first broken by the cultivated ground about the Gelder water. Nearly opposite is the small village of Monaltrie, not far from which, between the road and the river, is the " Cairn-a-quheen," the gathering place of the Farquharsons. 8. Before quitting Strathdee we must glance at her Majesty's Highland residence, and its vicinity. Balmoral, a name now familiar to the whole world, stands on the haugh ground on the south bank of the Dee, in a bend of the river, about a mile and a half from the point where the north road leaves the Strath for Strathdon. The castle, which faces the south, is an irregular pile, constructed at different periods. It is overlooked at present by the road, but young trees and shrubberies are springing up, and the gardens and pleasure-grounds around it 282 BIRKS OF ABERGELDY. SECT. V. are laid out with considerable taste. Cairn Gowan, a wooded hill, rises immediately in front. A remarkably striking moun- tain panorama is commanded from the grounds, comprising several of the loftiest mountain summits. About a mile below the castle there is a slight chain bridge, which conducts to the parish church of Crathie, where the Royal Family join the rustic audience in worship without the slightest ostentation, and without constraint on the part of their fellow-worshippers. The birchen birks of Abergeldy succeed down the river, and a beautiful walk, and a favourite one of her Majesty's, leads through them on the south side to Abergeldy, where there is an extensive reach of level ground laid out in fine farms, and ornamented by the policies and magnificent birch woods of Abergeldy Castle an imposing building, also on the south bank of the river. Considerable tracts of arable land stretch up along the course of the Geldy another stream which helps to drain Lochnagar. From Abergeldy the road on the south crosses Craignaban, the pine woods continuing densely to clothe the hill sides. Another wide stretch of valley succeeds. Craig Youzie, an extensive fir-clad elevation, is crossed by the road, and the Dee at its base receives the waters of the Gairn from the north, and then plunges through a magnificent pass between Craig Youzie and the steep acclivities of Craigendar- roch, covered over with birch and pine. We now reach Glen- muick, which brings down another considerable tributary ; and crossing the Dee by a wooden bridge, we arrive at the consi- derable village of Ballater, fourteen miles from Castletown a sweet spot, ensconced at the base of the high rocky frontlet of Craigendarro^h. It is surrounded by numerous cheerful cot- tages, and is a favourite place of resort for the Aberdonians, for the benefits, in addition to the attractions of the scenery, of the celebrated Pananich Wells, two miles to the eastward. A coach runs between Ballater and Aberdeen.* * The remainder of the course of tie Dee to Aberdeen (42 miles) presents much pleasing scenery, and many objects of interest, which, however, we can barely enume- rate, viz. Within a forenoon's excursion of Ballater, Lochnagar, 3800 feet above the sea, known wherever the muse of Byron has cast its spell ; the farm house of Balla- trich, where he some time lived ; the burn of the \ at ; ruins of Dee Castle, and Charleston of Abovne, with its suspension bridge ; Aboyne Castle, an irregular struc- ture, the seat of the Marquis of Huntly ; the village of Kincardine O'NeS, noted for its Mod inn ; in its vicinity, to the north, Lumphanan, the place of Macbeth's deatli ; the brig of Potareh, where the channel of the Dee is much contracted, and where an old road crosses leading to Caini-o-mount and Brechin ; Inchmarlo House (Davidson) ; the castellated mansion of Blackball (Campbell) ; some miles to the north the battle- ROUTE H. B. RIENLOAN CORGARFF CASTLE. 283 9. Ascending the side of Strath Dee, the north road crosses a broad bleak hill, and descends into Glengairn, which is a nar- row stripe of arable and meadow ground, bordered by chains of heathy hills. At the bottom of the glen, we reach the first stage, Rienloan, thirteen miles from Castletown. Hence the road reascends, and six miles and a-half more, over barren hills, brings the traveller to the Don, along which we ascend for two miles to Corgarff. From about half-way between this latter place and Rienloan, the Grantown or north road becomes, for a space of eighteen or twenty miles, almost impassable for car- riages. The river Don, where crossed by this line of road, is a small burn bordered by a narrow stripe of meadow and arable ground, and winding among sloping heath-clad hills. On the face of the south side of the strath stands Corgarff Castle, a small oblong building of four storeys, with a wing at each end, and encircled by a wall similar to that round Braemar Castle. A small party of military is also stationed here. A more bleak and dreary place of banishment, we believe, is hardly to be met with in the Highlands. Opposite the castle, and beside a neat shooting-box, there is a tolerable thatched public-house. 10. Leaving Corgarff, the road for the first five miles ascends one heathy ravine, and then descends another, lined with snow- posts, when it reaches a small burn called the Conglass, upon the banks of which mines of manganese and iron are workpA Following the course of the burn for four miles, we reach Tom- antoul, a small village, built on a spot of tabular ground over- looking the Avon. It consists of about 100 houses of, with three or four exceptions, one storey, partly slated, partly thatched with heather. They are arranged in a straight street, with a square in the centre, the common arrangement of villages in the surrounding districts. A government church and neat humble manse, with a handsome Roman Catholic chapel, and field of Corrichie, fought under the eye of Queen Mary; the pleasing village of B s in the winds, the gigantic bones of the forest still erect, the speaking records of foimer life, and of strength still unsubdued, vigorous even in death, which renders Glen- more one enormous charnel-house." The wood in this valley was sold to the York Buildings Company for 10,000 ; and it is said their profits exceeded 70,000. 4. Passing the region of the forests, the stranger finds him- self about a third of the way up the Grampian slopes, which are thence only sparingly covered with heather, and whortle, and cranberries ; and as he approaches the summit, even these disappear, and the naked undecomposed granite presents itself, the crevices of which are but occasionally tinged with the varied colours of small alpine lichens and mosses, more prevalent than which, however, the botanist will descry the little phacnogamous beauties of Statice Armeria and Silene acaulis. The ascent from the west end of Glenmore to the top of Cairngorm is easy, with little variety from protruding rocks, or ROUTE II. C. CAIRNGORM. 287 watercourses. " One smooth and undulating surface of granite mountain, without the variety of bold precipice or deep ravine, follows another, so far and so wide, that, when other objects appear, they are beyond the reach and powers of the eye, and produce no effect." To the botanist this mountain is almost a blank, as regards phaenogamous plants ; and, indeed, the productions on it and the neighbouring chain of mountains present a greater resem- blance to the Flora of the Lapland Alps, than those of any other elevations in Britain. Lichen nivalis is, doubtless, the most striking plant on Cairngorm, but it has not been met with in fructification ; while some other species of the same genus (Ce- traria), found nowhere else in fruit, often present themselves here in that state. Lycopodium annotinum and Azalea pro- cumJ>ens are exceedingly abundant, and Luzula armata, asso- ciated with L. spicata, are almost the only phgenogamous plants to be met with on the bare summit.* 5. The central nucleus of these mountains, as is well known, is composed of granite, intermixed with and resting on which are a series of slaty and stratified rocks (abounding with beds of primitive limestone), the junctions and relations of which, however, are not so well known or so extensively displayed in the sections on the north side of the Grampians as in the oppo- site quarter of the country. From the top or shoulder of Cairngorm the descent is easy to Loch Avon, or A'an, a scene almost unrivalled even in Switzerland, yet one which nature seems nearly to have buried beyond human resort ; as, though accessible also from Braemar, the distance from any habitation is on that side likewise so great, that it is only possible to visit it and return within the compass of a long summer day, and at the expense of a good deal of fatigue. In Braemar a mountain exists which is called the Eastern or Lesser Cairngorm ; and the tourist will have to take care that he be not conducted to it, instead of to the true and higher mountain, which is situated in Inverness-shire. Having conducted the traveller as far as Loch Avon, we refer him to a brief description of the route between it and Braemar in the preceding branch, merely noticing that it lies * Aralns petrtea is also met with on tliis mountain, and at its base is exceedingly luxuriant, having, no doubt, been transported thither by the agency of water. The very rare plant, Polytrichum Septentrionale, is likewise found here. 288 LOCH-AN-EILAN. SECT. V. up Glen-dhu-lochan, on the east side of Ben-na-main, and across into Glen Dearg, and the continuation of it, Glen Lui, to the Linn of Dee. 6. Proceeding now from the ferry at Rothiemurchus, through the Rothiemurchus woods in a south-easterly direction, we ascend towards Ben Mac Dhui and the Dee ; but on the way, or rather on some different day, for time is precious en route for Braemar, we must not omit to visit Loch-an-Eilan. Loch-an-Eilan is only about two miles distant from the Spey ; and the road to it winds round the beautiful birch-clad hill, the Ord Bain, which rises from its western shore ; but the lake, its castle, and its woods, recal to the imagination rather the things we read of in the novels of the Otranto school than a scene of real life. " In some parts of it, the rocky precipices rise immediately from the deep water, crowned with the dark woods that fling a profound shadow over it ; in others, the solid masses of the trees advance to its edge ; while elsewhere open green shores, or low rocky points, or gravelly beaches, are seen : the scattered groups or single trees, which, springing from some bank, wash their roots in the waves that curl against them, adding to the general variety of this wild and singular scene. " This lake is much embellished by an ancient castle stand- ing on an island within it, and even yet entire, though roofless. As a Highland castle, it is of considerable dimensions ; and, the island being scarcely larger than its foundations, it appears, in some places, to rise immediately out of the water. Its ancient celebrity is considerable, since it was one of the strongholds of the Cumings, the particular individual whose name is attached to it being the ferocious personage known by the name of the Wolf of Badenoch. It has passed now to a tenant not more ferocious, who is a fit emblem and representative of the red- handed Highland chief: the eagle has built his eyrie on the walls." (Dr. Macculloch.) 7. After traversing for about ten miles along the course of the Alt Dhui, the shelving slopes on the north and west of Cairngorm, of the vast base on which rest the ample superin- cumbent masses of Cairngorm, Ben Mac Dhui, and Braeriach ; and the adjoining Grampian mountains, the summit is attained of a highly elevated pass, where the water shears in the oppo- site direction from that up which we have been toiling. Here ROUTE II. C. SOURCES OF THE DEE. 289 we may define the relative position of the more distinctive mountain masses. We are now at the north-west of Ben Mac Dhui, to the north-east of which lies Cairngorm, and south from it Ben-na-Main and the lesser Cairngorm these towering Alps encircling the secluded waters of Loch Aven. A great defile runs along the western side of Ben Mac Dhui, through which the infant waters of the Dee make their way. On the west side stretches Braeriach, Cairntoul, and Ben-na-Vrochan. All these mountains range about 4000, several to nearly 4300 feet, while Ben Mac Dhui is computed to rise as high as 4390 feet above the level of the sea ; and, if so, of the precision of which measurement, the only, if any room for doubt, may rest in its inland position exceeding by 20 feet the height of Ben Nevis. All the eastern and north-eastern faces of these, as of most of our mountains, are precipitous, while the western sides present accessible slopes. The wall, as it is called, of the Braeriach, flanking the summit level of Glendee, is a stupendous lengthened range of precipice, computed to be about 2000 feet of perpendicular height. This gigantic cliff forms a very arresting feature of the scenery. Cairntoul projects its huge bare mass in front of the ridge of the Braeriach, intercepting the sunbeams from the wild ravine or corry which descends from this vast barrier. The granite mountains around are re- markable for the teeming springs of water which gush up near the very summits of the mountains. These discharge number- less torrents down the mountain sides, and line the upper reaches of Glendee with a series of cataracts, nowhere in this country matched in number and altitude. And the impending crags and expanded acclivities which stretch around, surpass in extent and continuity most other scenes of the kind. 8. It is matter of dispute whether one of the streams pouring down the flank of Ben Mac Dhui, or another called the Garachary, which comes foaming down the corry between the Braeriach and Cairntoul, is to be regarded as the true parent Dee. The first buries itself, in its descent, amid granitic masses which strew the hill side to reappear in a series of reservoirs of the most remarkable character, called the " Springs or Wells of the Dee," embedded in structures of nature's work- manship exhibiting a strange degree of regularity. Near the top of the pass, the bottom of the ravine is occupied by a suc- cession of terraces of broken fragments of stone, presenting, in 290 WELLS OP THE DEE CATARACTS. SECT. V. their downward fronts, so many ledges of masonry one above the other. On each terrace five in number there is a deep well of the most limpid water, of varying capacity ; the lowest of very considerable dimensions. At the bottom of all, issues a stream of no mean volume, even thus early. The vegetation around is stunted and scanty, and the rock-work of the wells is almost destitute of soil. For about twelve miles from this point, to near about where it deflects to the east, the Dee hurries its waters over a broken rocky bed, in rapids and cascades, and quieter intervals, and formidable-looking linns receiving constant accessories from the adjoining hills. The first main tributary is the Garachary, which joins it from the west, about three miles below the springs. It issues from a well near the topmost summit of Braeriach, and has some length of course at this high elevation before it precipitates itself down along the edge of the stupendous wall its progress marked by a permanent seam of snow-white purity. It joins the Dee at the foot of Cairntoul. Expanded, upreared screens of naked rock of the most imposing altitude are drawn around. And this scene of desolation is made doubly impressive by the reflection how utterly secluded it is there being no dwelling of any kind, however mean, for many miles in all directions. Next to the Garachary, the Dee is enlarged in volume by the Geusachan, which, on the further side of Cairntoul, descends from Ben-na-Vrochan and an adjoining mountain, accomplishing near its origin one sheer slide of 1000 feet. 9. Ben Mac Dhui is easy of ascent from the upper part of Glen Dee, and the scene from the summit probably surpasses that from any other of our celebrated mountains. The sea can l>e descried on three sides. To the south and west the expanse of mountain heaps is prodigious its great extent indicated by such remote points as Ben Lawers, Ben Lomond, Ben Cruachan, and Ben Nevis. Looking north, the Moray, Nairn, and Banff- shire hills, with those of the contiguous section of Inverness- shire, subside into very moderate proportions, while interme- diate lies the smiling valley of the Spey ; and beyond, the blue waters of the Moray Firth, girdled by the distant hills of Ross and Sutherlandshires. While on the east, prone at our feet, lie the headlong and stupendous precipices which encompass Loch Aven. ROUTE II. C. CHEST OP THE DEE. 291 The direct descent to Loch Aven from Ben Mac Dhui is al- most impracticable, and besides the loss of time and over-exer- tion would render it impossible to reach any better resting- place than the shelter-stone, a large fragment of rock on its banks, under which a night bivouac has occasionally been made. Should the tourist incline, however, to vary his route, he may descend into Glen-Lui-beg and Glen Lui, and reach Strath Dee, below the Linn of Dee, instead of regaining Glen Dee, and following the course of the river. 10. As the Dee descends, the mountains diminish, and the glen widens out. Near the bend of the river the Geldie joins it also from the west, about nine miles from Castletown of Brae- mar. Some distance above the junction, the waters of the Dee encounter a large rock, in which they have excavated two chambers the lower considerably the largest, and the water- way in both at a considerable depth. Into the first, the access is by a very confined passage, and from either chamber the contents, contracting overflow from the lowest in a fall of some height. These excavations are called " The Chest of the Dee." The " Linn of Dee," where its waters are pent up in an ex- tremely narrow duct of some length, occurs half a dozen miles above the Castletown, and will, with this section of Strathdee, be found described in the preceding branch. 11. Of the other two sequestered routes above mentioned, the first commences from the Ferry of Insh (five miles west from Aviemore), and proceeds through Glen Feshie and Mini- kaig, and through Glen Tilt to Athole. It is shorter than the public road by at least twenty miles, and its elevation is not so great as might be expected. On the third route the traveller should start from Kingussie early in the morning. Its course lies through the Forest of Gaick, and by the Water of Bruar, and it ascends to a greater elevation, and is more dangerous, than the one just alluded to. To the pedestrian it does not shorten the road from Aviemore to Perth or Dunkeld so considerably as Minikaig ; and it is ex- ceedingly unsafe in stormy weather, from the drifting of the snow, which not only obscures the path, but fills up the passes and openings through which he has to proceed. Some years ago, a party of soldiers were nearly lost on this route ; and some of them are said never to have recovered the cold and fatigue they endured. The hardy inhabitants of the country 292 GEOLOGY AND BOTANY SECT. V. often attempt to cross the mountains in this direction, and not unfrequently perish on the way. The most awful occurrence, however, known to have taken place in the Forest of Gaick happened on New Year's Day 1799. A party of huntsmen, headed by a gentleman of the name of Macpherson, proceeded the previous night to a hut or bothie in the hill, that they might be out early in the morning in quest of the deer. A tremendous thunder-storm, accompanied with wind and snow, came on, and by the morning the hut was destroyed, the stones scattered about, and every inmate of it perished ; not one hav- ing survived to explain the catastrophe. Some have imagined that the accident was occasioned by an avalanche of snow from the adjoining height ; others, that electricity was the cause ; and, of course, the country people have their tales and surmises of a blacker and more fearful character. The guns of the party were found twisted, most probably from the effects of light- ning ; but the men themselves seem to have been suffocated in bed, for only one of the bodies was found a little way beyond the spot on which the hut stood. 12. Before closing this notice of the Grampian mountains, it seems proper that we describe a little more particularly their structure. They are in general remarkable for their extreme sterility and the desolate aspect which they present. The sum- mits are rounded, sometimes nearly flat, to a great extent, and entirely covered by disintegrating blocks of stone, together with grit and sand, except in a few places, where the granite rocks present the singular appearance of large tabular protrud- ing pinnacles, having their blocks seemingly arranged in regular strata. Most of the mountains exhibit perpendicular precipices near the summit, which generally assume a semicircular form, constituting the hollows called carries, and having a lake at their base. In decomposing, the granite assumes either a red or whitish colour, from the character of its constituent felspar ; while on the large scale it splits into masses of a tabular form, the concentric or globular arrangement being rare. Except near the base of the precipices, it is difficult to determine whe- ther the blocks and stones which cover these mountains are par- tially disintegrated and decomposed fragments of the constituent masses, or of diluvial or other origin. On the summits there are extensive tracts of grit and sand, among which fragments occur but sparingly. In other places the fragments are inter- ROUTE n. c. OF THE GRAMPIANS. 293 mixed with grit and sand ; and in others huge piles of broken tabular masses appear, with very little grit or sand in their in- tervals. In the open glens there are immense deposits of dilu- vium or alluvium ; hillocks of from ten to sixty or eighty feet occur abundantly, which are generally of an oblong form, but rarely present any appearance from which the direction of the currents that had formed them can be decidedly inferred, though there can be no doubt that their constituent particles were de- rived from the adjoining mountains, 13. We subjoin, in the note below, the names of some of the rarer and more characteristic plants of this mountain district ; * and we have only to add, that it has also long been distinguished for its beautiful rock crystals (of a dark and of a light brown or yellow colour), called Cairngorm stones, which are now more carefully sought for in the debris than formerly, and which of late have been discovered in fine six-sided prisms, terminated by six-sided pyramids, extending from one inch to six or eight inches in length, and of which specimens have lately been found weighing ten pounds of solid crystal. Topaz, beryl, amethyst, and garnet, also occur in these mountains. * Aira alpina. Aira vivipara. Alopecurus alpinus. Apargia Taraxaci. Arabis hispida. Arabis petwea. Azalea procumbens. ISetula nana. Cetraria islandica. Cetraria nivalis. Hieracium alpinuni Halleri. Goodyera repcns. Juncus castaneus. Linnaea borealis. Luzula arcuata. Luzula spicata et trifida. Lycopodium annoti- uuiu. Polytrichum hercynicum. Polytrichum septentrionale. Sahx herbacea. Saxi- iraga csespitosa. Saxifraga oppositifolia. Sibbaldia procumbens. Silene acaiilis fior. alb. Thalictrum alpinum. Yacciniuni uliginosum. Veronica alpina. Veronica saxatilis. ROUTE SECOND. BRANCH D. STRATHSPEY AXD LOCHINDORBU. Church of Duthill ; Tower of Muckeraeh, 1. Castle of Lochindorbh, 2. Its Siege, 3. Grantown ; Orphan Asylum, 4. Castle Grant ; View from the Tower, 5. Battle of the Haughs of Cromdale, 6. Castle Boy ; Tullochgorum ; The Grampians ; Glenmore Forest, 7. Strathspey below Grantown ; Ballindalloch House, 8. Aber- lour ; Craigelachie Bridge, 9. Miles. Bridge of Carr to Grantown 10 Inveravon 13 Aberlour 7J Rothes 4 Fochabers 10 294 TOWER OF MUCKERACH. SECT. V. HAVING already described one side, at least, of that portion of Strathspey, through which the road from Inverness to Perth passes, the present branch will refer chiefly to the district be- low the Bridge of Carr. 1. The banks of the Dulnain improve in appearance after passing Carr Bridge ; and he who would form his notions of Strathspey from the character of the country he has passed over in approaching it from the north, will find himself agree- ably mistaken. The first glimpse of the manse of Duthill, from the bank of Dalrachney, close by the inn, opens at the same time to our view a broad valley, beautifully varied with culti- vated fields and smooth meadows, and bordered with gently sloping hills, which conduct the eye far into the bosom of Strath- spey. The church of Duthill is rather an interesting building, as it is one of the few old Popish chapels which survived the Reformation. The tomb of the family of Grant of Grant re- poses against its northern wall. One part of the enclosure is reserved for the chief and his offspring, while the outer part belongs to collateral branches, as the families of Kinchurdy, Tullochgriban, and Balladirin. Three miles to the east of Duthil Manse, the road passes close to the old tower of Mucke- rach, the high walls of which are visible at a great distance. It stands on the brink of a little dell, on the brow of a hill, which commands an outlook to the west as far as Craigelachie and Aviemore, and eastward a great way over the valley of the Spey. It was the primeval seat of the family of Rothiemur- chus, and was erected in 1598 by Patrick, second son of John, laird of Grant, and Margaret Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Athole, who was his first spouse. The founder's father was called John Baold,.Ae Simple, and was the son of Shemis-nan- Creach, the Ravager, who died in 1550. The lintel stone over the doorway has been carried off, but still exists in one of the farm-houses at Rothiemurchus. It contains the year 1598, in which the castle was finished, with the owner's arms (three an- tique crowns and three wolves' heads), and on the scroll, " In God is al my Trest." The building forms a most picturesque ruin, and is beautifully situated ; but it is a mere shell, its roof and all the interior partitions having fallen away. It was only a castellated mansion, and hence had not the solidity or thick- ness of wall sufficient to keep it as entire as many structures more ancient than itself. ROUTE II. D. SIEGE OF LOCHINDORBH 295 2. Far different in structure and in story from the tower now described, is the Castle of Lochindorbh, situated in an island in the lake of that name, at the base of the knock of Brae-Moray, about eight miles over the hills to the northward. This was the greatest stronghold of the Cumings, and rivalled in extent, and the number of its defences, the fortresses of royalty Loch- indorbh lies at no great distance from the old military road which crosses the country between Strathspey and Fort-George, by Dulsie Bridge and Cawdor, and it can be approached also by a new road from Grantown, by Farness to Cawdor, Nairn, and Forres. Nothing can be conceived more bleak and desolate than the moorish country in which the lake lies, nor more uninter- esting and dull than this sheet of water. The lichen-clad walls of the castle, and the flocks of sea-fowl skimming about it, and which nestle within its deserted chambers, add an indescribable character of loneliness to the otherwise gloomy features of the scene. Every part of the island (which is about an acre in ex- tent) is occupied by the high castellated wall, so that no land- ing could be effected on it save at the appointed haven. The building is quadrangular, with round towers at the corners, and on the side nearest the land the high connecting screens are double. From " Douglas's Peerage," and the public printed records, we learn that the Black John Cumyn of Badenoch died about the year 1300, at his castle of Lochindorbh ; and that, as his grandson (of the same name) died soon after, without issue, the direct male line of the family became extinct. 3. David II. bestowed on his constable of Edinburgh Castle, Symon Reed, the forest of Lochindorbh, the acknowledgment of service to be three arrows deliverable at Inverness ; and Robert II., in the first year of his reign, gave to his son, Alex- ander Seneschal, and the heirs of his body, whom failing, to David, Earl of Strathearn, and to the heirs of his body, certain parts of Badenoch, with the castle, forest, and lands of Lochin- dorbh, in the same manner as the deceased John Cumyn and his predecessors held the same. In the year 1335, when the Earl of March defeated and killed David de Strathbogie, Earl of Athole, at Kilblain, and raised the siege of Kildrummy Castle, the Earl of Athole's lady fled to Lochindorbh. Sir Alexander Gordon laid siege to it ; but next year, King Edward of Eng- land obliged him to retire ; and traditions still exist, though 296 GRANTOVVN ORPHAN ASTLUM. SECT. V. not very correct, regarding the blockade it had previously with- stood. The spot where the besieging army lay is on the south- ern shore of the loch, and can still be distinguished by the smoothness of its surface, and the double ditches which sur- round it. The catapultae, and other warlike engines used for throwing large stones, seem to have had considerable effect from this position, as the shattered state of the corner wall of the castle immediately opposite still testifies. In the year 1606, James, Earl of Moray, disponed a consi- derable part of his lands near Inverness, together with this lake, the buildings within the same, and the adjoining shielings, to Sir John Campbell of Calder ; and that family seem to have contributed considerably to the demolition of the castle ; for, among other things, the great iron gate at the door of entrance was carried away, and may now be seen in the peel of Cawdor. By an excambion, or exchange of land, it has, with all the ad- joining grounds, fallen into the possessions of the family of Grant of Grant. 4. To return now to the road to Grantown. At the Bridge of Curr, below Muckerach, the road from Aviemore through the centre of Strathspey, unites with that which we are now follow- ing. Thence to Grantown (six miles and a half) we enjoy a most extensive view of the broad and rich valley of the Spey, which is varied with cultivated fields, large pastures, and occa- sional rocky and wooded knolls, and backed in the distance by the Grampians. The chain of these mountains here visible, stretching from the Cairngorms in the west to Bel-rinnis in Banffshire on the east, is grand and interesting. In the centre of it, the mountains of Abernethy, over which rises Boinag, the highest in the whole range, form a most imposing group : the softer mountains of Cromdale are not so picturesque ; but Bel- rinnis, beyond them, closes in the view, with a sharp spiry peak of the most delicate tone of blue. No village in the north of Scotland can compare with Gran- town in neatness and regularity, and in beauty of situation. The houses are of a small size, just suited to the condition of the inhabitants : they are about 150 in number, of pretty uni- form dimensions, and are all built of fine-grained whitish gra- nite. Grantown possesses a branch bank and good inn, and a neat orphan asylum. The village was founded, about eighty years ago, by the late Sir James Grant of Grant, a great bene- ROUTE II. D. CASTLE GEANT. 297 factor of his clan and country ; and it now contains about 700 inhabitants, who are chiefly artisans and shopkeepers. 5. CastleJarant lies about a mile and a half to the east of Grantown, in the front of a high terraced bank, and is so con- cealed ainid deep forests of pine, larch, oak, elm, and chesnut, that the visitor is almost at the gate before he is aware of being in its vicinity. The ancient residence of the chief of the clan Grant is, in fact, buried amid trees of noble growth, the smaller groups of which would, on other estates, be deemed woods of respectable extent. The walks and glades are numerous and intricate, but no one can form an idea of the extent of ground occupied by the trees, unless he examine it from the top of the battlements. The view from thence is magnificent, ranging over extensive forests of pine, variegated with corn land, inter- sected by the Spey, and bounded by lofty mountain chains. Part of Castle Grant is said to have existed during the times of the Cumings, but successive additions have formed it now into a high quadrangular pile of many storeys, projecting backwards at each end, and pierced with windows of all shapes and sizes, the more modern portions not being the most elegant. The south side is in the proper style of the chateaus of Charles I. and II. 's time, with a large base court, along which are ar- ranged two formal rows of servants' apartments in continuation of the projections of the main building, and from which a flight of steps conducts to the lawn, and on the north-east side some additions have recently been made. The ancient hall makes a handsome, though rather gloomy, dining-room. All the apart- ments and lobbies are hung round with valuable paintings, among which is an interesting series of old Highland portraits. The Death of Patroclus, by Hamilton, is considered the best in the collection, though there are many others highly prized. The armoury, and the collection of old writs and charters, in this mansion, are also good. 6. Though the neighbourhood of Castle Grant was the scene of many sanguinary feudal conflicts, the engagement which took place on " the Haughs of Cromdale," on the 1st of May 1690, was the most important in the annals of the parish. The cause of James II. having become desperate by the death of Viscount Dundee, at Killiecrankie, in July 1689, all his adherents were scattered or capitulated, except a few men headed by Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, who trusted to the 298 BATTLE OF CROMDALE. SECT. V. approach of winter, and the inaccessible nature of the mountains on the west coast, to which they retired. When the spring of 1690 began to open up, they sent round their emissaries for recruits ; and until the seed-time should be over, before which no body of Highlanders could be induced to leave their homes, Colonel Buchan was dispatched with a band of the Macleans, Macdonalds, Macphersons, Camerons, and Grants of Glen Moriston, to lay waste the low country, and harass and divert King William's troops. On their march they plundered the inhabitants of Strathspey, and in Strathbogie they burnt the house of Edinglassie. Sir Thomas Livingston, who had been stationed at Inverness with a considerable force of cavalry and infantry, resolved to intercept them before they regained the interior of the country ; and the Highlanders, hearing of his approach, at once betook themselves to the hills. They encamped one evening, however, on the south side of the low valley of the Spey, near the old kirk of Cromdale, about three miles to the east of the position where Grantown now stands. By the dawn of day, the enemy's dragoons, led by a part of the clan Grant, descried them from the top of the hill above the castle, and, afraid of being seen as the light increased, they plunged into the woods and came down the valley of Achin- arrow ; whence Sir Thomas Livingston proceeded direct to the river Spey, and forded it below Dellachaple. The outposts of the rebels now gave the alarm, but the dragoons were on them before those in the camp were able to form into order, or even dress themselves. They hastened in the utmost confusion to the hill of Cromdale, pursued by the " red coats :" many of them were totally naked, and were easily cut down. At the base of the hill they made a momentary stand, but their ranks were broken through ; and nothing but the steepness and ruggedness of the ground above, and their customary swiftness of foot, saved those who fled from the sabre. A small party who kept together crossed the river next day, but were followed and were cut down almost to a man on the moor of Grenish, near Aviemore ; while some, headed by Macdonald of Keppoch. who attempted to entrench themselves in the Castle of Loch-an- Eilan, in Rothiemurchus, were beaten off by the laird and his tenants. Thus perished for a season the hopes of the adherents of the house of Stuart. ROUTE II. D. CASTLE ROY THE GRAMPIANS. 299 7. We have now passed through parts of the parishes of Duthil, Inverallon, and Cromdale. To the eastward of Gran- town we enter on the shire of Moray ; but before resuming the description of the strath downwards to the sea, we add a few observations on the south bank of the Spey up to Rothiemurchus. At the bridge above Grantown three roads diverge : one pro- ceeding eastward to the town of Keith, which is about thirty- six, and to Fochabers about thirty-two miles distant ; a second running straight up into the mountains in a direction nearly south, and which is the old military road by Tomintoul and Braemar to the low country ; the third is the Parliamentary Commissioners' road, which runs along the bank of the Spey to the ferry-house of Inverdruie, near Rothiemurchus (about eighteen miles distant), where it crosses the river and joins the main road to Perth. This is the route we are now to follow. Passing several farm-houses, about four miles beyond Gran- town, we come to the ruins of Castle Roy, another quadrangular fortress of the Cumings, provided with two square projecting towers, with a noble and high Norman arched gateway. The ruin stands on a little knoll, which commands a most extensive view a requisite of every residence in the days of yore ; but in itself it is a mere shell, and the only interesting relic within its high screens is a curious vault or crypt near the western corner. The history of this castle is entirely lost. One other mile leads the traveller to the Bridge of Nethy, where there is a small public-house ; and passing which we cross the river that gives name to the parish, and along which we behold the relics of a great pine forest stretching away to the base of the Grampians. Thence to the confines of Glenmore, and the borders of Kincardine, we pass over a sandy plain, interspersed with deep peat mosses, which exhibit the fallen stems and roots of large oaks and pine trees. On the opposite side of the Spey are the parks and farm-house of Tullochgorum, the native seat of the clan Phatrick, and at the mention of which every Highland heart will beat which is attached to the poetry and ancient music of Strathspey. We now approach near the Grampians, and each step as we advance, unfolds more distinctly to our view the details of their wild rocks, huge pre- cipices, tremendous chasms glistening with the light of their hardened beds of snow, or streaked with alpine torrents ; and their tortuous valleys, which deceive the eye and puzzle the 300 GLENMOUE BALLINDALLOCH. SECT. V. imagination to trace out their windings. Passing the kirk of Kincardine, the road to Glenmore displays itself, stealing and twisting along a mountain precipice ; and then traversing some beautiful plains of natural meadow grass, we enter for a short way the outskirts of the birch woods the lower fringes of the forest and, emerging thence, Craigelachie, the Ord Bain of Rothiemurchus, and each flinty dome and forehead of the Cairngorms, suddenly burst on our view. For a few hundred yards the road glides along the margin of the Loch of Pitoulish, a beautiful foreground to the alpine landscape ; and then, pro- ceeding through the larch plantations of Rothiemurchus, cross- ing several impetuous streams, on which are saw-mills and log- houses, presenting pictures on a small scale of the great forest scenes of America, it leads us to the ferry-house of Inverdruie, where we cross the Spey and repose ourselves at the inn of Aviemore ; but Loch-an-Eilan and its castle ought to be pre- viously visited (see p. 288) ; or if we wish we can proceed along the south bank of the Spey by a new district road to Ruthven and Kingussie, distant about twelve miles. 8. Returning now to Grantown, and pursuing the course of the Spey eastward, beyond the long section of the valley in which the village, and Castle Grant are situated, we find lumpish hills which bound the strath for about fourteen miles below, keeping far asunder from each other ; but a great allu- vial deposit on the south side of the valley, of varying surface and inclination, fills up the greater part of it, and confines the flat ground which skirts the river to very narrow bounds. The Spey takes occasionally a few bold and sudden sweeps, but in general it bends gradually from side to side. The wide alluvial deposit just alluded to is covered with heathy pasture, a little chequered with cultivated ground. The stripe of land along the river is cultivated ; but, as the road is for the most part at some distance from the water, the ride as far as Aberlour is by no means interesting. At Inveravon, between the steep banks and in the narrow space by the side of the river Avon, we pass Ballindalloch, the massive-looking mansion of Sir John Mac- pherson Grant, Bart. Like many of the residences of our High- land gentry, it comprises, amid commodious modern buildings, an imposing old square tower, giving a bluff smack of the olden time to the edifice. Fine old avenues conduct through the park towards the junction of the Avon with the Spey. ROUTE II. E. ABERLOUR CRAIGELACHIE BRIDGE. 301 9. Close by Ballindalloch is the little inn of Dalnashaugh, thirteen miles from Grantown. At Aberlour, (seven miles and a half farther on,) a village, consisting of a street and small square of substantially built low houses, we regain the bank of the river, which the road crosses about a mile below at Craig- elachie Bridge. It consists of a very handsome iron arch, with a round embattled tower at each corner ; and the reach for four miles below is eminently beautiful. Three miles below the bridge we pass the village of Rothes, which is composed of from 200 to 300 small straw-thatched cottages, arranged in four streets, diverging at unequal angles from a common centre. On the opposite bank of the river the house of Arndilly lies em- bosomed amid fine woods. After taking one or two bold sweeps or curves below Rothes, the strath is prolonged, in a continued straight line, to its termination at Speymouth, fourteen miles from Rothes, four miles beyond Fochabers, where the hills and terraces, to which they give place, gradually subside into a smooth plain bordering on the sea. (For a description of Elgin and Fochabers, see Route in.) ROUTE SECOND. BRANCH E. STRATHDEARN AND THE RIVER FINDHORN. Monaliagh Mountains ; Sources of the Findhorn ; Clach Sgoilte, 1. Tipper Part of Strathdearn, 2. Interesting Walking Excursion, 3. Dell of Dalmigavie ; Rapi- dity of the Findhorn; Cullachy, 4. The Streens, 5. A Cattle-lifting Incident, 6. Dulsie; Dunearn, 7. Farness; The Divie, 8. Dunphail, 9. Relugas, 10. Brig of Rannoch, 11. The Esses, 12. Heronry, 13. The Mead of St. John; Altyre ; Family Records, 14. Findhorn Floods ; The Great Flood of 1829 ; its height, 15. Miles. Fall of Foyers to WMtebridge (see Route i.) 4 Killin, South End 8 Coignafearn 14 Freeburn 10 Dulsie Bridge 16 Forres 18 Findhom 5 75 1. THE central districts of the southern division of Inverness- shire are distinguished by a group of lofty and rugged moun- tains, known under the general name of the Monaliagh Moun- 302 MONALIAGH MOUNTAINS. SECT. V. tains (the grey, misty mountains), which are composed chiefly of granite and quartz rock, and contain ^within their arms the sources of the rivers Spey, Dulnain, Findhorn, and Nairn, and of various streams which discharge their waters on the south side of Loch Ness. These mountains rise in long ridges from an elevated base of dark heathy moor, and they possess but little of the abrupt serrated aspect of the west-coast hills ; their outlines being less decided, and their acclivities less broken. Extensive straths, or pastoral valleys, abounding in streams and herbage, lie em- bosomed among them, and support great herds of black cattle, for which the district has long been famed ; while the adjoin- ing solitudes, which are wide, and rarely visited by the foot of man, continue still to be the retreats of great numbers of roe and red deer, and of grouse and ptarmigan. A scattered, but hardy, and very ancient Celtic race people the straths of this district, whose almost exclusive occupation is that of shepherds or drovers. The valleys of Killin (described in Route i. page 153) and of Strathdearn, are among the most interesting of these straths ; and, as the tourist can very pleasantly spend a few days in exploring them, we shall in this place give an account of the latter, and conduct him along the whole of the river Findhorn, which, for variety and beauty of scenery, is unequalled in Scotland. It will be seen from the map that its course, on the whole, is remarkably straight, bearing nearly from S. W. to N. E., and parallel, to a considerable extent, with the strath and river Nairn. Its sources lie many miles to the westward of Freeburn (on the great Highland road), in the neighbourhood of which stage the road crosses its stream ; but, like mightier rivers, its true source is a subject of dispute : some maintaining that the parent rill comes from the mountains of Laggan, and not far from the head of the Spey ; while others regard the mossy springs that gush from a mountain nearer Stratherrick, or even the drops that ooze from a particular cloven rock, hence called " Clach Sgoilte," in the elevated opening, to be immedi- ately alluded to, as the true sources of the Findhorn. 2. The tourist may enter Strathdearn, as the upper part of the valley is called, (the ancient name of the river being the " Earn,") from the western district of Stratherrick. Starting from the small inn at Whitebridge, on the Foyers river, and four miles above the falls, by a hill-path which leads along the ROUTE II. E. INTERESTING WALKING EXCURSION. 303 Loch of Killin, and from the south end of the vale of that name, up a strait shelving strath running eastward, about twelve miles from Whitebridge, he reaches the summit of an elevated opening in the hills. Soon after, he approaches the isolated Clach Sgoilte, whence the infant streamlet of the Findhorn flows slowly for about a mile, and then descends for two miles and a half with considerable rapidity, when it is joined by the other more southerly branch of the river. The course of these united streams lies, for seven miles, to the shooting lodge of Coignafearn (belonging to Mackintosh of Mackintosh), through a strath appearing generally about 200 yards wide ; the bottom, at times, level and smooth, at others more or less broken, co- vered with grass and heath, and a considerable quantity of juniper bushes. The hills rise in steep acclivities, and increase in height in the progress eastwards, being destitute of trees, with the exception of a few scattered birches, and they are rather of a verdant than heathy character. The valley winds a little so as to present itself in successive sections With the exception of two or three bothies, occupied by shepherds during the summer, and a more substantial cottage about a mile below the junction of the river (an accessory to the shooting-lodge of Coignafearn), no habitation is to be seen between Lord Lovat's shooting-lodge, at the end of Loch Killin, and that of Coigna- fearn, a distance of seventeen miles. 3. We have been thus particular as to this little frequented route, as, from the descriptions of the remainder of the course of the Findhorn, and those of the Vale of Killin, pedestrians may be induced to explore the scenery of both, after that of the Falls of Foyers and Loch Ness, and to undertake an excur- sion of three or four days betwixt Inverness and Forres, by the valley of the Findhorn. A road has been formed, from the Highland road, as far as Coignafearn, which is ten or eleven miles west from Freeburn. From Coignafearn, to the north end of Killin, a distance of perhaps twenty miles, the foot track is rough, and not such as to be readily followed by a stranger, which, of course, is immaterial, except as it impedes his pro- gress ; on which account, as well as to avoid all risk from mist, it may be prudent for him to take a guide across the pass. The distance from Whitebridge to Freeburn will require fully twelve hours' walking. From the General's Hut, at Foyers, where the accommodation is better, the distance is five miles more. 304 DELL OF DALMIGAVIE. SECT. V. 4. At Coignafearn, the strath twists so that the succeeding compartment is screened from observation till entered upon. It continues, for about three miles a third of a mile in width, and seems as if blocked up at the lower end by an eminence clothed with a fir plantation : steep and lofty hills rise on all hands, so that this scene possesses a character of most perfect se- clusion. It is called the Dell of Dalmigavie. The mountains are grand and imposing, from their massive bulk ; yet sweet and pleasing, from their simple configuration, regular surface, and smiling livery of purple and green. On the north side, the acclivities assume the most brilliant emerald tint. The Findhorn, in this and the upper part of its course, runs over a stony channel, only a few feet depressed beneath the surface of the adjacent ground, which is here quite level, and the stream is uniformly rapid. It is liable to sudden speats or inunda- tions, rising at times so as to present a frightful front, several feet high, to the descending torrent, and sweeping along with such impetuosity as to endanger the lives of any persons who may then happen to be crossing the usual fords. The corn-fields and meadow-grass on the low grounds are also precariously si- tuated ; and the proprietors have been obliged, at considerable expense, to line the sinuosities of the river in many places with bulwarks of stone and turf. Below the central eminence above alluded to, the valley, for nearly two miles, contracts to the width of the sixth of a mile. The upper portions of the hills are here, for the most part, inaccessible ; and they are intersected by deep and steep ravines. On an elevated recess, on the north side, stands the farm-house of Daltomich ; and, further on, Glen Mazeran joins the valley on the same side. Below this, is seen the house of Dalmigavie (Mackintosh), five to six miles from Coignafearn, on an elevated terraced spot on the opposite side, graced with dwarf birch trees. Opposite to Dalmigavie, a road strikes across the hill to Fair in Strathnairn, whence it 1 .-, continued straight across the intermediate range to Inverness. The length of this road is about sixteen miles. Below Dalmi- gavie, the valley of the Findhorn, for six miles, to the Bridge above Corrybrough, (where the Highland road crosses,) is no- wise interesting. The hills slope gently from the stream, and are covered with heather and grass ; but the estate of Cullachy, immediately adjoining that of Dalmigavie to the east, and front- ing it, lays claim to be ranked as classic ground, from having ROUTE II. D. THE STREENS. 305 been the patrimony and early residence of the distinguished statesman and orator, Sir James Mackintosh. It is now under- going great improvement from the small farmers using exten- sively the primitive limestone which abounds in the hills. 5. Below the Bridge of Corrybrough the strath widens to a circumference of six or eight miles, presenting the aspect of having been once the bed of a great lake, which found two out- lets, one by the lower basin of Loch Moy, and thence to the river Nairn, and the other through the mountains to the north- east of Freeburn, by the gorge called the Streens. Indeed, the present channel of the river is only about eighteen feet above the surface of Loch Moy ; and the parallel terrace banks encir- cling the valley on all hands, point out the height at which the waters anciently stood. The distance from Freeburn to Dulsie is about sixteen miles, and is passable only on foot. The scene, however, is worthy of the exertion required to explore it. Continuous chains of hills rise suddenly on either side of a winding stripe of level ground, and at times precipitous rocky mountains of blood-red granite jutting up in lofty cliffs, rise from the water' s-edge, and con- fine, and so completely overshadow the river's course, that some of the hamlets on its banks are said to be scarcely ever visited by the sun's rays. There is not much wood ; but the bottom of the valley is pleasingly chequered with cultivated and mea- dow land, so that the sense of seclusion and repose and the oc- casional stern character of the Streens is relieved by the traces of unpretending industry.* 6. But it is impossible to describe this scene in language more graphic than that used by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lau- der, who may well be accounted the historian of Morayshire, and especially of the Findhorn. " It was about this period, and (though it may surprise many) it was not much more than fifty years ago (prior to 1817), that Mr. R 1, a gentleman of the low country of Moray, was awakened early in a morning by the unpleasant in- telligence of the Highlanders having carried off the whole of his cattle from a distant hill grazing in Brae Moray, a few miles above the junction of the rapid rivers Findhorn and Divie, and * The Streens have recently been made accessible to carriages by a road formed by Lord Cawdor, the proprietor, for the use of his tenants, and which, proceeding from the village of Cawdor, is about nine miles long. o2 306 A CATTLE -LIFTING INCIDENT. SECT. V. between both. He was an active man ; so that, after a few questions put to the breathless messenger, he lost not a moment in summoning and arming several servants : and, instead of tak- ing the way to his farm, he struck at once across the country, in order to get, as speedily as possible, to a point where the rocks and woods, hanging over the deep bed of the Findhorn, first begin to be crowned by steep and lofty mountains, reced- ing in long and misty perspective. This was the grand pass into the boundless wastes frequented by the robbers ; and here Mr. R 1 forded the river to its southern bank, and took his stand with his little party, well aware that, if he could not in- tercept his cattle here, he might abandon all further search after them. " The spot chosen for the ambuscade was a beautiful range of scenery known by the name of the Streens. So deep is the hollow in many places, that some of the little cottages, with which its bottom is here and there sprinkled, have Gaelic ap- pellations, implying that they never see the sun. There were then no houses near them ; but the party lay concealed among some huge fragments of rock, shivered, by the wedging ice of the previous winter, from the summit of a lofty crag, that hung half across the narrow holm where they stood. A little way farther down the river, the passage was contracted to a rude and scrambling footpath, and behind them the glen was equally con- fined. Both extremities of the small amphitheatre were shaded by almost impenetrable thickets of birch, hazel, alder, and holly, whilst a few wild pines found a scanty subsistence for their roots in midway air, on the face of the crags, and were twisted and wreathed, for lack of nourishment, into a thousand fantas- tic and picturesque forms. The serene sun of a beautiful sum- mer's day was declining, and half the narrow haugh was in broad and deep shadow, beautifully contrasted by the brilliant golden light that fell on the wooded bank on the other side of the river. " Such was the scene where Mr. R 1 posted his party ; and they had not waited long, listening in the silence of the evening, when they heard the distant lowing of the cattle, and the wild shouts of the reivers, re-echoed as they approached by the surrounding rocks. The sounds came nearer and nearer, and, at last, the crashing of the boughs announced the appear- ance of the more advanced part of the drove ; and the animals ROUTE II. E. A CATTLE-LIFTING INCIDENT. 307 began to issue slowly from amongst the tangled wood, or to rush violently forth, as the blows or shouts of their drivers were more or less impetuous. As they came out, they collected themselves into a group, and stood bellowing, as if unwilling to proceed farther. In rear of the last of the herd, Mr. R 1 saw burst- ing singly from different parts of the brake, a party of fourteen Highlanders, all in the full costume of the mountains, and armed with dirk, pistols, and claymore ; and two or three of them car- rying antique fowling-pieces. Mr. R 1's party consisted of not more than ten or eleven ; but, telling them to be firm, he drew them forth from their ambuscade, and ranged them on the green turf. With some exclamations of surprise, the robbers, at the shrill whistle of their leader, rushed forwards, and ranged themselves in front of their spoil. Mr. R 1 and his party stood their ground with determination, whilst the robbers ap- peared to hold a council of war. At last their chief, a little athletic man, with long red hair curling over his shoulders, and with a pale and thin but acute visage, advanced a little way before the rest. ' Mr. R 1,' said he, in a loud voice, and speaking good English, though in a Highland accent, ' are you for peace or war ? if for war, look to yourself ; if for peace and treaty, order your men to stand fast, and advance to meet me.' ' I will treat,' replied Mr. R 1 : ' but can I trust to your keeping faith ? ' ' Trust to the honour of a gentleman ! ' re- joined the other, with an imperious air. The respective parties were ordered to stand their ground ; and the two leaders ad- vanced about seventy or eighty paces each towards the middle of the space, with their loaded guns cocked and presented at each other. A certain sum was demanded for the restitution of the cattle ; Mr. R 1 had not so much about him, but of- fered to give what money he had in his pocket, being a few pounds short of what the robber had asked. The bargain was concluded, the money paid, the guns uncocked and shouldered, and the two parties advanced to meet each other in perfect har- mony. ' And now, Mr. R 1,' said the leader of the band, ' you must look at your beasts to see that none of them be awanting.' Mr. R 1 did so. ' They are all here,' said he. ' but one small dun quey.' ' Make yourself easy about her,' replied the leader : ' she shall be in your pasture before daylight to-morrow morning.' The treaty being thus concluded, the robbers proceeded up the glen, and were soon hid beneath its 308 DULSIE. SECT. V. thick foliage ; whilst Mr. R 1's people took charge of the cattle, and began to drive them homeward. The reiver was as good as his word. Next morning the dun quey was seen graz- ing with the herd. Nobody knew how she came there ; but her jaded and draggled appearance bespoke the length and the na- ture of the night journey she had performed." 7. At Dulsie, the old military road proceeding from Fort- George through Strathspey and Braemar crosses the Findhorn by a romantic bridge. The scenery here is of the wildest and most picturesque character, softened, however, by the graceful foliage of birch woods which environ the river's bank. Dulsie Bridge is about two miles distant from the small inn of Farness, at the junction of the parliamentary roads leading from Nairn and Forres to Strathspey. This inn is, by the lat- ter road, sixteen miles distant from Forres. The tourist, how- ever, should deviate from the beaten path, and keep as close as he can to the southern bank of the river, which, though long and winding, is replete with scenes alternating in the abruptest manner with features of terrific grandeur, and softest sylvan beauty. The whole country for several miles eastward is com- posed of a highly crystalline porphyritic granite, displaying, in some instances, faces of a hard columnar rock, which confine the waters of the Findhorn to a deep, narrow, and irregular chan- nel ; and in other places giving rise (from a tendency in their masses to exfoliate and decompose) to open holms and smooth grassy banks. All the varieties of hardwood, characteristic of the course of Scottish rivers, are seen in rich profusion on both sides of the stream ; while the adjoining hills, especially on the north side of the river, also exhibit a few scattered remnants of the ancient pine forests, which formerly covered the country. Towards the east, the eye is attracted by the bright light green masses of the oak and birchen copses of Tarnaway and Relu- gas, which form the outer fringes of the more sombre pine woods. About a mile below Dulsie, a beautiful sequestered holm, adjoining the house and policies of Farness (Dougal), greets the traveller, encircled with terraced banks and birchen bowers ; and in the centre of it rises a small cairn, with an ancient sculp- tured tablet, about eight feet high, and half as broad, standing at one end of it, and having a rude cross, and many Runic knots still discernible on its surface. Tradition calls it the stone of ROUTE II. E. FARNESS. 309 memorial of a Celtic princess, who perished in the adjoining river while attempting to ford it on horseback with her lover, a Dane. More likely it was the cross of an early Christian her- mit. 8. Immediately behind this spot, the high promontory of Farness rises nearly 200 feet above the river, the direct course of which it has shifted, and confined to a deep winding chasm of at least three miles' circuit. A pathway cut in the face of the rock conducts the visitor through this extraordinary open- ing, down which the river plunges in almost one continued cataract ; its craggy sides being set off, and divided into many magnificent studies for the pencil, by clumps of native pine and oak trees, which stretch along the summit and crevices of the rocks. On emerging from the chasm at the lower end, we hail with fresh delight the more open reaches of the river, spread out before the eye for several miles, adorned with sunny banks and waving woods, and displaying also an uncommonly beauti- ful succession of alluvial terraces, corresponding with one another on the opposite sides of the river, and which rise suc- cessively above one another, until they seem to meet in the fiat-topped Dunmore of Dulsie. Proceeding downwards, the traveller passes the church and manse of Ardclach ; and below these, the granite bridge of Farness ; and five miles farther down, the bridge of Daltulich, where we again meet another branch of the Nairn road. About a mile below this bridge it is joined, on the south, by its tributary, the Divie, which is the conduit of the Dorback, flowing out of Lochindorbh, and of the numerous streams that fall from Brae Moray and the adjoining heights. 9. The scenery along the Divie, for a stretch of six or seven miles, from the spot where it leaps into its glen, in a wild waterfall, to its junction with the Findhom, is exquisitely beautiful. The estate of Dunphail, belonging to Mr. Gumming Bruce, M.P., stretches nearly to its upper extremity ; and below the junction of the Dorback, on a beautiful terraced holm, sur- rounded by an ampitheatre of wooded banks, intersected by extensive pleasure walks, and graced by fine old trees, the pro- prietor has erected his splendid mansion in the Venetian style. The ruins of the old castle, shooting up from a wood-embowered elevation in the grounds, form a peculiar feature of this charm- ing spot. 310 DUKPHAIL. SECT. T. 10. Below the pleasure-grounds of Dunphail, the glen nar- rows, and the river Divie again, plunging into a wild rocky channel, with a rapid inclination towards the Findhorn, sweeps along the property of Relugas, another holding of an ancient branch of the Cumings, lately purchased by Mr. MacKillican. All that art, guided by good taste, could accomplish in embel- lishing and exposing to view the natural beauties of this estate, has been done for it. The old mansion-house, also, which stands on an eminence, a little way from the Findhorn, has been greatly enlarged, and finished off after the Italian fashion ; and behind it is a steep conical hill, called the Dun of Relugas, on the summit of which are the remains of a vitrified fort, communicating with similar signal-stations on both the adjoin- ing valleys. 11. Returning to the course of the Findhora, we observe, just before its junction with the Divie, that it falls into a nar- row strait among the rocks by a running cataract, over which the Earls of Moray were wont, till recent times, to keep up a rustic wooden bridge for the use of the district. From Ran- dolph, the great head of their house, who himself used to pass here with a large troop of horsemen when on his way to and from his castle of Tarnaway, the spot is still called the " Brig of Rannoch," and is connected with several memorable transac- tions. It was, in particular, above this strait that the desperate skirmish of " The Lost Standard" was fought between Ran- dolph and the Cumings, about the year 1340. 12. The river now plunges into a rocky channel, which is surmounted by brushwood, and fir and birch clad slopes, and skirted by large trunks of old oak and pine trees ; and behind the house of Logie (Gumming), a winding pathway conducts the stranger, beneath which he sees the river toiling among hard rocks of grey gneiss, traversed by many curiously twisted veins of a flesh-coloured granite, till at last (two miles on) he finds himself suddenly emerge from these rough and irregular primi- tive masses, and encompassed with scenery spread out before him in gently undulating ridges, and adorned with thick masses of coppice wood, fir, and birch ; and through which the Find- horn, taking several long and magnificent sweeps, called the Esses, glides on, a broad and stately stream. It is here, then, that we quit the true alpine district, and enter on the soft sand- ROUTE II. E. THE ESSES HERONRY. 311 stone plains of Moray, the forest and castle of Tarnaway, the seat of the Earl of Moray, appearing on the northern bank.* 13. Proceeding downwards along the stream, we soon reach the splendid drives of Altyre (Sir W. Gordon Gumming), which have been formed at great expense, but completely unfold to our view every favourable point commanding the adjoining unrivalled scen- ery. The river, broad and deep, rolls beneath high banks, the soft floetz rocks of which it has cut into shelving cliffs, their summits and edges being crowned with large sized trees. Beyond, the low grounds of Moray, enriched by the copious waters of the Findhorn, extend in long perspective towards the sea, which is in turn bounded by the beautiful outlines of the Sutherland and Caith- ness mountains. On the left a row of very old trees overhang- ing the water, and skirting the edge of a small meadow of a pe- culiarly lonely and sequestered character, have, from time im- memorial, furnished a retreat to a great number of herons, who have literally encased the branches with their enormous nests. These stately birds, which, when absent from their nests, are always either hovering above the river's course, or patiently sitting on its brink watching their fishy prey, add an inde- scribable grace to the scene ; while the wooded cliff's, opposite their resting-trees, afford ample opportunity to the passing traveller of leisurely studying their interesting and amusing habits. 14. A little way below the heronry the cliff scenery ceases ; and a high gravel bank, receding from the river's side towards the east, but again approaching it about half-a-mile off, gives room to a beautiful semicircular space, called the Mead of St. John, from a small religious house which anciently stood on it. Through this fairy green, the Altyre pleasure-walks have been continued ; and they are here further adorned with broad shrub- beries, and shaded by large wide-spreading oaks. Several roads diverge from this neighbourhood, leading through the adjoining woods to the mansion-house of Altyre, which lies about a mile and a-half to the eastward, embosomed amid " tall ancestral trees." The house and offices have all been fitted up in the very picturesque and pleasing style of modern Italian architec- ture ; and the grounds and gardens (which have been laid out with the greatest taste) vie with the richest examples of park * Tarnaway is remarkable for its fine old hall, roofed with black oak, and capable of containing 1000 men under arms. (See Route iii.) 312 SUSPENSION-BRIDGE FINDHORN FLOODS. SECT. V. scenery in this country. Sir William Cumming's domains are still, indeed, in every way befitting the dignity of the ancient Earls of Badenoch, whom he represents, though unaccompanied by the great extent of territory over which they ruled with un- restricted sway. The records of his family have been preserved with much care and regularity ; and some of their charters, and extracts of the Baron Court-books of Altyre, which have been published, contain many interesting and curious traits of ancient manners. Immediately below Cothall, where a high limestone rock closes in the Mead of St. John, the river Findhorn entirely quits its rocky channel, and flows on to the sea, through alluvial banks of gravel, sand, and clay, among which it frequently shifts its course, and injures the adjoining cultivated lands. Within a short distance from Forres, it is crossed on the line of the main post-road betwixt Aberdeen and Inverness by a very handsome and massive suspension-bridge, and two miles beyond it empties itself into a wide embouchure, or bay, from which its waters are again ushered through a narrow passage into the open sea at the port of Findhorn. (See Route in. for a description of Forres and its neighbourhood.) 15. In order to complete the sketch of the Findhorn's course, now presented to our readers, we have only to advert a little more fully to a character of its waters, already hinted at, which is their great liability to sudden and extraordinary floods, called speats. The Findhorn is, perhaps, in this respect, the most dangerous river in Scotland. The frequent falls of its bridges, and the injuries done almost every year to the low grounds near its mouth, sufficiently attest this ; while, in former days, the most distressing accidents were constantly occurring along its fords. Its great length, the mountainous character of the country through which it flows, and the narrowness of its rocky bed, are the causes of this sudden and dangerous rise of its waters. Many disastrous floods are on record ; but several proofs concur in establishing, that the greatest of these, since the country was inhabited, occurred between the 2d and 4th of August, in the year 1829. The previous summer had been a remarkably dry one, espe- cially in Morayshire. An accumulation of vapours appears to have taken place to the north-east of the British Isles, and a storm of wind and rain, commencing at the Orkneys, seems to ROUTE II. E. GREAT FLOOD OF 1829. 313 have been impelled across the Moray Firth, and to have dis- charged itself on the Cairngorm and Monaliagh mountains, the first high ground which it met. On the coast but few indica- tions of the coming deluge were perceived, except vast columns of clouds hurrying to the southward. After these, however, were broken on the mountains, the whole atmosphere became surcharged with moisture, which descended in a small, pene- trating rain, almost as fine as dew, but so continuous, that, at Huntly Lodge, where accurate observations were taken, in the course of twenty-four hours, 3| inches of rain fell ; which, as compared with the average of all the years from 1821 to 1828 inclusive, is equal to one-sixth part of the whole annual allow- ance of rain for these years. The loss of human life on this occasion was, on the whole, very inconsiderable ; but the value and quantity of land de- stroyed, of houses overturned, and of valuable timber torn up by the roots, along the Findhorn and the other rivers affected by the flood, extending over a line of from 500 to 600 miles, exceeded all calculation. Some idea, however, of the awful effects produced by this impetuous torrent of water may be formed from the fact, that in the Findhorn (as related in the very interesting and complete account of the flood published by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder), it rolled along masses of rock of from six to eight tons' weight ; that in the Streens it rose from fifteen to twenty-five feet above its ordinary level ; forty feet at Dulsie Bridge ; and at the more open space where the Far- ness Bridge stands, it overtopped the parapets twenty-seven feet above its usual bed. The height of the parapet of Daltu- lich Bridge, above the common line of the stream, is forty-four feet, of which the flood rose thirty-one feet ; and at the gorge below, on the Relugas property, the water actually ascended over the very tops of the rocks, forty-six feet beyond its usual height, and inundated the level part of Rannoch-haugh, which lies over them, to the depth of four feet, making a total perpen- dicular rise at this point of no less than f fly feet. In the rapids of the Esses, on the Logic property, the flood also stood at this last-mentioned height ; but below the estate of Sluie, the quan- tity of water was more easily ascertained by its destructiveness to the fields, mills, and other buildings along its banks, than by its depth. Of the beautiful bridge of Findhorn, near Forres, consisting of one arch of ninety-five feet, and two others of 314 STRATHNAIRN. SECT. V. seventy-five feet span each, no trace was left but a fragment of the northern land-breast and part of the inclined approach from the south. All the salmon pools in the river were changed or filled up ; and the water was so long impregnated with sand and mud, that the fish did not return for a long time in such num- bers as they were wont to do. But our limits forbid our pursuing this subject any farther. ROUTE SECOND. BRANCH F. STRATHNAIRN AND STRATHERRICK. Farr and Aberarder ; Strathnairn, 1. Stratherrick ; Loch Farraline, 2. Pass of In- verfarikaig; Dundarduil, 3. Ballachernoch Road ; Dunriachy, 4. FROM the Bridge of Craggy, on the Perth road, six miles south of Inverness, a road (nineteen miles in length) has been formed by the Parliamentary Commissioners, proceeding westward through Strathnairn and Stratherrick, and joining the district road at Farraline. From Craggy, another district road, in an opposite direction, is continued down Strathnairn to Cawdor. (See Route in. A.) On the upper line there is one small inn, or dram-house, at Fan-, five miles up the strath ; and another near Gortuleg, ten miles farther on ; between which and the inn at Foyers there is another public house at Inverfarikaig, on Loch Ness side in one direction, and at Whitebridge, where the Foyers is crossed by the Fort-Augustus road, in another direction. 1. Strathnairn is a pastoral valley with a few patches of corn land, and is flanked by barren heathy mountains. Some clumps of alder and birch occasionally adorn the sides of the river, and follow its windings ; but in general, there is rather a want of wood, except on the properties of Farr and Aberarder. A short way above the Craggy bridge an unusually great as- semblage of gravel banks and terraces will be observed ; and in fact, no river course in the Highlands is more distinctly marked with these indications than that of the Nairn, from its mouth upwards. In the more inland reaches of the river the valley widens considerably, and is but slightly inclined ; and while the lower ridges and eminences have been rounded off by the cur- ROUTE II. F. STRATHKRRICK. 315 rents which anciently swept along the surface, the higher rocks and summits are sharp and rugged, shewing that they had stood above the flood or the passing glacier. This district is inha- bited by an ancient race, members of the clan Chattan, the prin- cipal names being Mackintosh, Macbean, Macgillivray, and Macphail, many of whom, in the midst of the general changes of opinion around them, still retain a zealous and simple-minded attachment to the Episcopal Church of their forefathers. The proprietors are Colonel Mackintosh of Farr, Sutherland of Aberarder, C. Mackintosh of Glenmazeran, and Macgillivray of Dunmaglass. 2. A short ascent from the top of Strathnairn leads into Stratherrick, which is a broad upland valley, lying between the hills which skirt the south side of Loch Ness and the Monaliagh mountains, bordering on Badenoch and Strathdearn. It is in general bleak and moorish, being composed, like the moor of Rannoch, of hard undecomposing granite, which shoots up oc- casionally in the form of bare undulating hillocks, giving the country a gray, cold, and dreary aspect. Near the bases of the hills on the southern boundary, are a series of long uninterest- ing tarns, or collections of water, which, with the exception of Loch Farraline, possess neither islands, wooded banks, nor pre- cipitous rocks, to render them attractive ; and which appear the more singular, as, after rising from the level of Loch Ness, one is apt to expect that he had left the region of lakes behind him. The eastern portion of Stratherrick (a contraction for Strath Farikaig) is the finest and best cultivated, but the whole district is now being greatly improved ; and around the small lake of Farraline (sixteen miles from the Perth road) there are several extensive fir and larch plantations on the improved estates of Farraline, Balnain, Errogy, and Gortuleg. This strath is peopled by a numerous race of the clan Fraser, who acquired it in the fourteenth century from the Grants and Bis- sets. The road we are pursuing joins the Inverness and Fort- Augustus road between Whitebridge and the Fall of Foyers, passing Loch Garth and Boleskine church. (As to the beau- tiful scenery of Killin, on the river Foyers, see Route i. page 153.) 3. From Loch Farraline a road deflects towards Loch Ness (two and a half miles distant) through the pass of Inverfari- kaig, than which there is none more picturesquely beautiful 316 BALLACHERNOCH ROAD. SECT. V. and wild in the Highlands. Woods of birch line the bottom and mantle the slopes of the deep ravine, from which a few groups and single trees extend along the face of the precipitous rocks above, waving their graceful twigs like flowery garlands along the mountain's brow. At the entrance of the pass from Loch Ness, the eastern side consists, for a considerable space, of a range of perpendicular and rugged precipices. As Loch Ness comes into view, the high and broad frontlet of the " Black Rock," surmounting an ample birch-clad acclivity, terminates the range of precipices, and on its summit we discern the green- clad walls of the ancient vitrified fortress of Dundarduil. We here join the road from Inverness to Fort- Augustus. BALLACHERNOCH BOAD. 4. Besides the road now pointed out, there is another (fif- teen miles long) from Inverness to Inverfarikaig and Farraline, which passes through a different portion of Stratherrick from that just described. It proceeds by Drummond (one mile west of Inverness), Torbreck, and Essich, over the ridge of Dru- mashie, and attains a great height above Loch Ness. Nearly opposite the end of this lake it passes a series of wild and black- looking lochs lying in the hollows of a moorish table-land ; and beyond these it winds among some of the most barren and rocky hills of Stratherrick. At the west end of Loch Ruthven (one of these lakes, celebrated for its trout, and where the last shot was discharged for Prince Charles on the retreat from Culloden, sometimes called the battle of Drummossie Moor) there is a high detached conglomerate rock, on the summit of which is a stone structure called Dunriachy, " the stronghold of the ocean king," which appears to have been one of a chain of similar structures extending across the island, and which here seems to carry on the communication from the vitrified forts of Nairnshire and Craig Phadrick, to the valley of Urquhart and the shores of Loch Ness. The present fortress, though strongly walled round, is not vitrified. Soon after quitting it, the road branches into two, one part proceeding south through the central districts of Stratherrick, and joining the road already described between Abersky and Farraline ; while the other branch keeps to the right hand and proceeds towards Loch Ness. It passes by Bochrubin and Leadclune, and a small hamlet called Ballacher- ROUTE II. F. BALLACHERNOCH ROAD. 317 noch, where the first and a most magnificent view of Loch Ness, backed by Mealfourvounie and the Glen Moriston hills, bursts on our sight. The road then descends the hill opposite Dun- darduil by means of a series of traverses cut among the rocks, and joins the Fort-Augustus road at Inverfarikaig. This last route is well worthy of the tourist's notice, were it only for the sake of the splendid burst of Loch Ness from the plateau above these traverses. 318 ABERDEEN TO INVERNESS SECT. VI. SECTION VI. KOUTE HI. ABERDEEN TO INVERNESS, BY SEA, AND THROUGH THE COUNTIES OF ABERDEEN, BANFF, ELGIN, AND NAIRN. Approach by sea along the Moray Firth to Inverness and Northern Counties, 1. Itinerary ; Aberdeen ; Bay and New Town, 2. Old Aberdeen ; Bridge of Don ; Cathedral ; King's College, 3. Old Buildings ; History and Trade of Aberdeen, 4. Route through Bnchan to Peterhead and Banff. Abbey of Old Deer, 5. Peter- head ; Bullers of Buchan ; Slain's Castle, 6. Cairnbulg and Inverallochy Castles, 7. Fraserburgh, 8 Kinnaird's Head and Light- House, 9. Trouphead, 10. Banff; Duff House, 11. Portsoy ; Minerals and Fossil Fish of Gamrie, 12. Cullen and Cullen House, 13. Mid-road from Aberdeen to Banff by Old Meldrum. Haddo House; Fyvie Castle; Turrff, 14. Upper road from Aberdeen by Inverury and Huntly to Inverness. The Foudland Hills ; Improvements ; Foot Note. Detour by the Don. Kemnay; Monymusk; Kildrunmiie ; Castle Fraser, 144. Huntly ; Keith ; Strathbogie, 15. Foohabers ; Gordon Castle, 16. Entrance to Morayshire ; the Spey, 17. Elgin ; Esplanade ; Church of St. Giles ; Streets and Public Buildings, 18. Elgin Cathedral ; Diocese of Moray ; Burnings of the Stone, or Carved Pillar, 23. Abbey of Kinloss; Seaport of Findhorn ; Coubin Sandhills, 24. Forres ; Clunie Hills ; Drives along the Findhorn, 25. Tarnaway Castle, 26. Brodie ; Dalvey, 27. Nainishire ; the Hard Moor ; Witches of Mac- beth ; Shakespere's blasted heath, 28. Auldearn, Battle of; Burying Ground; Castle of Inchok, 29. Nairn, 30. Duke of Cumberland's Encampment at Bal- blair; Peat Mosses, 31. Roads; Approach to the Highlands ; Ancient Encamp- ments ; Campbelltown and Fort-George, 32, and Foot Note. Dalcross Castle, 33. Castle Stewart ; Culloden House ; Tumuli ; removal of land-mark, 34. Druidi- cal Circles, Foot Note ; Splendid View and Arrival at Inverness, 35. Lowlands and Highlands ; Ancient Inhabitants, 36. Conveyances. Railway to Aberdeen (inquire for Time Tables at Station House, as the hours are frequently changed). North Star Steamer from London to Inverness, and the Duke of Rich- mond, and Bonnie Dundee, and Isabella Napier, Steamers, from Leith, call off Aberdeen (see page 203). AbSn. atones, ^ ^ Royal Mail Coach 2 1 : Is. Defiance (daily) 6 A.M. 6| P.M. 2 l:ls. Duchess of Gordon between Aberdeen and Huntly every alternate day. Earl of Fife, from Aberdeen, by Huntlj-, 7 A.M., 1 P.M. at Banff. Earl of Fife and other coach leaves Banff at half-past 2 P.M. for Elgin, where it arrives at 7 P.M., and returns the next morning, starting from Elgin at 6 A.M. UODTE III. BY THE MORAY FIRTH. 319 A daily mail runs between Aberdeen and Peterhead; and the Lord Lovat stage coach leaves Peterhead at 7 A.M., and reaches Banff at 12 noon, going back again the same day from Banff at half-past 2 P.M. Distances. Miles. Miles. Aberdeen Mid- Road to r-j flnverury 16 16 j Pitmachie 9 25 ^JHuntly 13 38 S. I Keith 10 48 * I^Fochabers 9 57 Elgin 9 66 Forres 12 78 Nairn 11 89 Inverness 18 107 107 Aberdeen to Old Meldrum 16 16 Turriff 16 32 Banff 11 43 Portsoy 8 51 Cullen 6 57 Fochabers 12 69 Coast Road to Peterhead and Banff Aberdeen to EUon 16 16 Cruden 9 25 Peterhead 9 34 Mintlaw 8 42 Strichen 8 50 Boe 10 60 Banff 10 70 1. Very many of our readers will have reached Inverness, the Highland capital, from the south, either by the Perth and Athole road, or by steam from the south-west through the Cale- donian Canal (as to which see Routes i. and n) ; or, they may arrive by sea from London or Leith, which, in summer especially, and during the busy season of the herring-fishery, when whole fleets of boats bestrew the ocean, is a common and pleasant way of attaining a central point whence to start in perambulat- ing the north Highlands. Reference is previously made (p. 203) to the steam accommodations on the Moray Firth ; and if the tourist should avail himself of these, he can at pleasure land at any of the ports on the south side of the Firth, or come on at once to Inverness, or go ashore at Cromarty or 320 MORAY FIRTH ITINERARY. SECT. VI. Invergordon, if his object be in the first place to explore the northern counties. If the weather be fine, the sail up the Moray Firth is exceedingly interesting and grand, though not so picturesque and varied as the west coast. Some of the headlands on the Aberdeen and Banff shores, after-men- tioned, are quite magnificent ; but after passing them, the Moray coast, though what is called an iron bound one, consists of low rocky ridges, with extensive flat sandy beaches, over which the Highland mountain screens are seen in dim and dis- tant perspective. The Sutherland and Ross shire ranges, as they gradually come into view, present very varied and elegant forms ; the outlines, especially of the chain which stretches in- wards from the Ord of Caithness, and divides that county from Sutherland, being beautifully peaked. When once fairly quit of the rather dangerous headlands of the Aberdeen coast (on which the full fury of the ocean is, with a north-east wind, driven unbroken from the the Pentland Firth), and afloat on the more land-locked waters of the Moray Firth, the promon- tory of Burghhead, and the bluff Sutors of Cromarty, backed by the giant mountain of Ben Wyvis, soon come into view ; while the round dome-shaped summit of Mealfourvounie attracts the eye in the far-off recesses of the Great Glen. The Stotfield, Tarbat Ness, Cromarty, and Fortrose lighthouses, as they come successively before him, impart a feeling of pleasing security to the voyager, and, at the same time, broad belts of cultivated ground and hanging woods appear to greet his approach to the Highland towns and villages, to which we shall afterwards more particularly introduce him. Let us return then to our itinerary. 2. The approach to Scotia's north-east capital by sea is not inviting. A bleak sandy coast, with long reefs and promontories of low rocks, having a few fishing villages scattered along it, and a tame uninteresting back-ground, hurry us on to Aberdeen the city of" Bon Accord," the Oxford of Scotland, the " brave toun of Aberdeen." Immediately after passing the lighthouse on Girdleness we come upon the bar, crossing which, if the winds and waves permit, we enter the bay and find ourselves instantly in- volved among a vast quantity of boats and shipping, steaming our way to the harbours, over which rise the spacious granite built streets and houses of the New Town. They crown the north bank of the Dee ; and after the traveller has refreshed himself at the ROCTE III. NEW ABERDEEN MARISCHAL COLLEGE. 321 " Royal," the " Union," the "Aberdeen," the "Lemon Tree," or " Mollisons," or secured apartments in some of the numerous pri- vate lodging-houses with which the city abounds, we advise him to sally forth and admire the spacious line of Union Street, about a mile in length ; Union Bridge, a single arch of 132 feet span, over the Den Bum, one of the most perfect in the kingdom ; the much admired Cross ; Castle Street, at the east end of Union Street, forming the market-place, and encircled by some of the principal edifices, and ornamented by a granite statue of the last Duke of Gordon ; Broad Street ; King Street ; the East, West, North, and South, and Grayfriar's Churches ; the new Free Churches ; large and elegant Assembly Rooms ; Bridewell ; Grammar School ; the Banks ; Jail ; Court-House ; Town-House ; Episcopal Chapels ; with the Infirmary ; the very commodious and handsome New Markets, among the finest in the kingdom, and other public buildings ; some of the principal works and manufactories ; and especially the steam apparatus of Messrs. M'Donald and Leslie for polishing granite ; with the harbours, the Inch, and the mouth of Dee. The streets and buildings of Aberdeen, being chiefly constructed of granite, have an unusually massive and durable appearance. The opening up of some of the new streets cost about .200,000 ; and the improvement of the harbour, which affords 5000 feet of wharfage, the large sum of 2 70,000. Marischal College, a square pile of buildings, entering from Broad Street, lately splendidly refitted, was founded by the noble family whose name it bears, in 1593, and is attended by nine professors, and about 300 students. It has a fine museum, library, and obser- vatory, and a good collection of paintings, among which are some of the best productions of Jameson the Scottish Vandyke. 3. A walk of about a mile separates this bustling emporium of trade from the more classic retirements of Old Aberdeen. Should the tourist have made a detour along the beach, or entered from the north, he would first pass by the New Bridge of Don, within sight, however, of the old one, called the Brig of Balgownie, a beautiful Gothic arch of fifty-two feet span, and great strength, built by Bishop Cheyne, nephew to Cuming, Earl of Buchan, and competitor of the Bruce, and which is well known through Lord Byron's record of the popular prophetic stanza, of which his lordship and the late Lord Aberdeen both stood in awe. 322 OLD ABERDEEN KING'S COLLEGE. SECT. VI. " Brig o' Balgownie, though wight be your wa', Wi" a. wile's ac son, and a uiure's ae i'oal, down ye shall fit'." The Don is here confined within a narrow rocky bed, and hence the top of the high " Brig," which is itself very narrow, appears to stand at a great altitude above the salmon pool below. Entering the Old Town of Aberdeen,- on the south bank of the Don, we pass first the venerable parish church of Old Machar, which is only the nave of the ancient cathedral, the other por- tions of which yielded to the fury of the mob at the Reformation, and to the more fiery and wicked zeal of Cromwell's soldiers, who, as usual with them, removed the stones to build a garri- son for the future subjection of their then Scottish friends. The structure is still a noble one (more massive, however, than elegant), and is kept in high preservation ; and its large western window of seven high lancet lights, and oak ceiling, painted with armorial bearings, are much admired. The pillars of the transept have their capitals beautifully carved with oak and vine leaves ; the columns and windows being otherwise plain, and in the severe early English style. There are several sculptured tombs and remains of brasses, with many modern additions in debased Gothic, and all in bad taste. Next, we pass on to King's College, the fine tower of which, highly orna- mented and formed into an imperial crown, early attracts attention. It was founded in 1494 by Bishop Elphinstone, and subsequently taken under royal protection. The buildings occupy the sides of a large quadrangle, and, with their chapel, have all been recently renewed, though the new parts harmonize but ill with the old. All the old buildings are of granite, with round-headed or severe sharp early English arches, while the restored parts have polished freestone fronts, with florid per- pendicular windows. Within the chapel and examination hall, the ancient carved benches and oak roofs have been sadly inter- fered with by modernized seats, and pulpits, and stucco ! The walls exhibit a fine collection of portraits of the old Scottish kings and early principals of the college, including one of the founder, Bishop Elphinstone. About 250 students attend, habited in red gowns ; and, besides the assistance of ten able professors, they, and the students of Marischal College in the new town, have access to a splendid library, of an old founda- tion, and which is now furnished with a free copy of every book entered in Stationer's Hall. Many of Scotland's best and ROUTE III. KING'S COLLEGE MAtt's CASTLE. 323 greatest sons were alumni of King's College ; and every High- land heart especially must warm at the sight of those towers under which his poor but ardent and enterprising countrymen have, in thousands, drunk of the fountains of Divine and human knowledge, whereby, in all quarters of the globe, they have risen to respectability, fame, and opulence. Young men, from the most remote parts of the Highlands and Hebrides, still press on, every autumn, for King's College ; and before steamers and coaches were known, they all had to travel on foot, and many of them depended for their subsistence afterwards on obtaining one or other of the numerous Bursaries, or presenta- tions (varying from o to 20 and ,50), which are competed for at the opening of each winter's session. It was an amuse- ment, and a grateful one too, of the late Duke of Gordon, to send out his carriages, when the poor Highland lads were on their way to or from College, to give them a lift for a stage or two ; and the writers of these pages have known young men who wrought in summer as operatives at the Caledonian Canal, who have thus had a ride in the kind and hearty nobleman's carriage, and perhaps an hour's chat with the " brave and manly spirit" which beat in the breast of "the last of the Dukes of Gordon." 4. Mar's Castle, and several old courts, streets, and closes in the "auld town," are worthy of examination ; and the stranger will not fail to remark the quaint antique character of the whole place as contrasted with the business-like magnitude and pretension of the buildings in the New Town. He will also be struck with the number of gardens in and around Aberdeen, and especially with the vast quantities of the new and finest strawberries grown in them. The climate is severe and intensely cold, but in summer the air here is bracing, and the sea-bathing (with the use of hot and cold salt-water baths) remarkably good and convenient. Aberdeen is of a very high antiquity, being known as the abode of a collection of people since the third century, and supposed to be the Devana of the Itinerarium Antonini ; and it was certainly a privileged burgh since the ninth. Its earliest charter extant, however, is one of the twelfth century by William the Lion. " It is the place where commerce first took its rise in Scotland, or rather where commerce may be said to have disembarked from other countries into this. Long before 324 HISTORY OF ABERDEEN. SECT. VI. Edinburgh was anything (as remarked by Mr. Chambers) but the insignificant hamlet attached to a fortress, and while the germ of the mercantile character as yet slept at Glasgow in the matrix of an Episcopal city, Aberdeen was a flourishing port, and the seat of a set of active and prosperous merchants ;" and is still the third principal port of North Britain. The bishop- rick of Aberdeen was founded in 1137 by David I., who trans- ferred the see from Mortlach in BanfFshire, where a religious house had been erected in 1010 by Malcolm II., soon after his great victory over the Danes, and where a bishop had subse- quently resided. Many of the succeeding bishops were distin- guished for their learning, piety, and public spirit ; and the inhabitants of the city, and their magistrates, have at all times been noted for their sufferings in all the civil and religious contentions of the times, from Edward I. down to Montrose, and the "fifteen" and "forty-Jive," and for their readiness to protect their liberties and avenge their quarrels. Sir Robert Davidson, provost of Aberdeen, contributed much, along with the Earl of Mar, to the defeat of Donald of the Isles, at the great battle of Harlaw in 1411; and his monument, surmounted by a statue, is still preserved in the church of St. Nicholas. There were four convents in the city ; but the inhabitants early embraced the revival of primitive truth at the Reformation ; and there have always been two strong and rival parties here the Presbyterian and Episcopalian ; though now, happily, they live on the best terms with one another. Prior to 1745, the principal manufacture of Aberdeen was the knitting of stockings and coarse woollen stuffs : now it is celebrated not only for these, but also for its linen, hemp, cot- ton, paper, leather, and carpet manufactories ; for its porter breweries, distilleries, ironworks, shipbuilding ; and its exports of salmon, farm and dairy produce, and granite blocks, of which about 20,000 tons are sent away annually. The population of both towns approaches 70,000 ; and the shipping exceeds 30,000 tons. Harbour dues are annually paid on about 200,000 tons. There are three local banks all of them highly prosperous. There are also two Aberdeen Fire and Life Insurance Companies. Although the bay of Aberdeen is rough and exposed, and the bar in front of the harbour dangerous so that the citizens have frequently been subjected to witness shipwrecks, without the ]>i'\vtT of affording any relief yet the trade is most extensive. ROUTE III. HISTOKY OF ABERDEEN. 325 and the communication with all parts of the world frequent ; and here our readers from the south will find steamers prepared to start for Inverness, and the ports of the Moray Firth ; in summer, once a-week for Wick, Kirkwall in Orkney, and Ler- wick in Shetland ; while with Leith there is daily intercourse ; and with London at least twice a-week by steam, making the voyage in sixty hours. Altogether, Aberdeen is a very fine and flourishing city, and the "canny Aberdoniaus " at once enter- prising and careful, and thus eminently money-making. Their south railway, just opened, we trust will add to their wealth, and reward the enterprise which originated it. ROUTE THROUGH BUCHAN TO PETERHEAD AND BANFF. 5. The tourist bound for the northern counties, unless he take time to explore the courses of the Dee and Don, will not find much in the undulating and highly cultivated plains of Aberdeenshire, though not without many spots of great beauty, to detain him ; and he will probably cut short his route by pro- ceeding directly by Huntly and Keith to the Spey at Fochabers. But should business call him to the district of Buchan and Peter- head, he will either proceed by sea or keep along the coast road, or take the middle one by Ellon, Mintlaw, and Strichen. The latter in days of yore had the best made road, and it has been rendered classical by the " Tour" of Dr. Johnson. On the first part of it the Doctor remarked, that " I have now travelled two hundred miles in Scotland, and seen only one tree not younger than myself," so that, at Strichen, he rejoiced to meet " some forest trees of full growth ;" but the sage seemed equally sur- prised at the ancient towns of Scotland, " which have generally an appearance unusual to Englishmen the houses, whether small or great, being, for the most part, built of stones /" At Ellon, Pitfour, and Strichen, and along Lord Aberdeen's estates, he would now find whole forests of planted wood ; and, what would have equally delighted the Doctor, numerous Episcopal chapels that at Longside, near Mintlaw, in particular, accom- modating perhaps the largest country congregation in Scot- land, of which nearly 600 are communicants, and which is far- ther celebrated as having been the cure of the Rev. John Skinner, author of the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, of several poems and songs of considerable merit such as " Tullochgorum," and 326 OLD DEER PETERHEAD. SECT. VI. the " Ewie wi' the crooked horn " and who was the father of the late, and grandfather of the present Bishop Skinner both Primates of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. At no great distance from this chapel stood the once renowned Abbey of Old Deer, built in the beginning of the thirteenth century by one of the Cumings, Earls of Buchan, for monks of the Cistertian order. It has been razed almost to its foundations, and the grounds have been enclosed within an extensive orchard, by the proprietor, Mr. Ferguson of Pitfour. 6. The coast road has nothing in point of beauty to recom- mend it extensive sands and low rocks accompanying us all the way to Peterhead. Here, on the most easterly promontory of Scotland, and opposite that of Buchan Ness, which is distin- guished by its elegant lighthouse, stands the bustling and im- portant seaport of Peterhead, the commodious and extensive bay and harbours of which annually save many a seaman from a watery grave. It is remarkable for the great commercial enterprise of the inhabitants in the whale and domestic fisheries, and is the nursery of the boldest and most scientific mariners ; while the most wonderful acuteness and activity have been ex- hibited by the people in every detail of trade. It is a burgh of barony, holding of the Merchant Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh, who acquired the superiority by purchase from an English com- pany, who bought it from the Crown, on the forfeiture of the Earl Marischal ; to whose protection the Chevalier St. George intrusted himself on his landing here in 1715. The neighbour- ing bay exhibits a perfect chevaux-de-frize of needle-shaped granite rocks, jutting up in all directions ; and of this stone, which is of a beautiful flesh colour, the houses of the town are erected ; and a considerable quantity is exported for building- blocks, and polished slabs for chimney-pieces and monuments. Peterhead was once much resorted to in summer for sea-bath- ing, and for the waters of its celebrated sparkling mineral well ; and it is a common feat for the valetudinarians to visit the Bullers (or Boilers) of Buchan, about six miles distant on the southern coast, but which, if the weather be rough, can also be approached from the shore. They consist of an immense caul- dron, or pot, fifty feet wide, hollowed out by the waves, and the rock is arched beneath, so as to admit the entrance of a boat ; but which can also be looked down upon from the lip above. The general height of the cliffs is fully 200 feet ; and they are ROUTE III. SLAIN'S CASTLE INVERALLOCHY CASTLE. 327 perforated on all hands by deep caves and recesses, along which a tremendous surge constantly rolls. Dr. Johnson quaintly describes the Buller as "a rock perpendicularly tubulated;" and alluding to the narrow ledge at the top, which appeared " very narrow," he gravely assures his readers that his party " went round, however, and we were glad when the circuit was completed ! " Hard by, Slain's Castle, the seat of the Earl of Errol, a spacious quadrangular edifice, stands on the edge of a crag, as wild as that of the Buller : and the castle wall seems only to be the continuation of a perpendicular rock, the foot of which is beaten by the waves. The Earl's next neighbour, on the north-east, is the King of Denmark, whose subjects, it is said, claim a right of sepulture in the adjoining " kirk-yard," which they periodically visit to renew the grave stones of their departed brethren, who are so often drowned on this fearful coast ; and so desolating is the sea-breeze, as to prevent Slain's Castle from being adorned by a single tree, " a characteristic (as remarked by Mr. Chambers) in which, as the residence of a Scottish nobleman, it is happily singular." Proceeding onwards to Fraserburgh (eighteen miles from Peterhead) the tourist will take a passing glance of Inverugie Castle, which was the ancient seat of the Earls Marischal, and was occupied till the attainder of the family for their joining in the Rebellion of 1715. Here was born Field-marshal Keith, brother of the last earl, who, after the affair of Sheriffmuir, went abroad, and attained the highest fame and honours in the ser- vice of Peter the Great and King Frederick of Prussia. 7. The roads now deflect inward from the coast, to avoid the sandy beaches, which here extend a great way along the shore ; the country also being bare, tame, and uninteresting, but abounding in herds of the finest cattle, and celebrated for its superior butter and cheese. But Cairnbulg Castle (two miles off), though a mere heap of ruins, is conspicuous at a distance, from the flatness of the country. It lies near Philorth, the re- sidence of Lord Saltoun. Inverallochy Castle, which next comes in view, stands near the very dangerous promontory of Rat- teray Head, on which, as yet, there is no lighthouse, and from which a reef of very fearful rocks runs out, which are partially covered at high water, and are, hence, often the more fatal to shipping. 8. Fraserburgh, strange offshoot of a Highland clan, is a 328 FRASERBURGH KINNAIRD's HEAD. SECT. VI. burgh of regality, of which Lord Saltoun is superior and per- petual Provost, which was founded in the middle of the six- teenth century, along a fine bay and safe road-stead, by Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth. In 1592 he obtained a royal charter for the institution of a University here ; but the design was never carried farther than the erection of a square tower of three storeys for one of the Colleges ; and in which, and at Peterhead, the students of Aberdeen were taught one season (1647), when that city was infested with the plague. The beautiful stone-cross, surmounting an hexagonal structure (adorned by the British and Philorth arms), which was erected by the founder, is still entire ; and the adjoining magnificent harbour, constructed partly at the expense of Government and partly by subscription, cost about .50,000. It has rendered Fraserburgh a retreat to vessels of war, as well as merchantmen, in stormy weather ; and hence, the town has become wealthy, stirring, and populous. The adjoining district has, ever since the Reformation, been a stronghold of Episcopacy ; and the town was long the residence of the late venerable and learned Bishop Jolly, whose piety united the strictness and self-denial of an ancient monk or hermit to the simplicity of primitive times, and the cheerfulness and activity of the best Protestant divines. 9. Kinnaird's head and lighthouse lie a mile north of Fraserburgh, and rough and uninviting though the approach in all directions to this promontory is, the scenery partakes much of the sublime, for the far off hills and headlands of Sutherland and Caithness stretch away in dark undefinable masses over the blue waves, which roll in wide expanse between ; while near at hand huge detached blocks of rock jut out upon the waste of waters, as if to meet the lashings of the Pentland tides which dash full tilt, and are broken upon them. Here and there grim old eyry-like fortresses, the giant guardians of the land, frown out upon the sea ; and in some places a recess of yellow beach, where perhaps some fleet of Norsemen had formerly stranded, and found a sandy grave. 10. The tourist is now twenty-one miles distant from Banff, a space which is divided into two stages by the excellent inn at Troup, the patrimonial property of Lord Gardenstone, and where he should visit Troup Head, which presents a breastwork of old red sandstone precipices several hundred feet high, and nearly ROUTE III. BANFF. 329 three miles in extent, to the waves. There are no other emi- nences to be seen, saving the hill of Mormond, eight miles inland from Fraserburgh ; and though only 800 feet high, it is con- spicuous for at least forty miles all round. The flatness and want of trees bestow an imposing altitude even on the stone walls or dykes and cottages. 11. The neat and cheerful town of Banff (which can boast of a large and excellent hotel), on a gently sloping hill side, and the. fisher town of Macduff, connected with it by a hand- some bridge over the Deveron, should both be examined before proceeding to Duff House, though in the first there is scarcely a house remaining to indicate its very high antiquity. It is known to have been a residence of Malcolm IV., called the Maiden, most probably while engaged in exterminating the an- cient inhabitants of Moray (1160), and whose charters are some- times dated from Banff ; and it is not clear but that his pre- decessor, Malcolm Caenmore, also resided here. Banff Castle was a constabulary or royal one, held for the crown was the head of a small thanedom and, like the similar fortresses of Cullen, Elgin, Forres, Nairn, and Inverness, was the king's re- sidence when visiting his dominions, and the abode of his sheriffs or constables, and the place of administering justice in his ab- sence. Randolph, Earl of Moray, appears to have got the thanedom of the Boyne from Robert the Bruce, by whom also the liberties of the burgh were renewed and confirmed. Sub- sequently it became the county town, and Banff Castle was de- clared the messuage of the earldom of Buchan, on the marriage of Margaret Ogilvie of Auchter House with James Stuart, Earl of Buchan, and brother of King James II., the Earl being then appointed hereditary thane or constable, an office which after- wards was resigned to the Findlater family, and by them exer- cised till the abolition of heritable jurisdictions. Pecuniary embarrassments caused the Earl of Buchan to part with the castle to Robert Sharp, sheriff-clerk of Banff, elder brother of the celebrated and unfortunate Archbishop Sharp, who was born there in 1613, and on whose murder, in 1679, his brother, Sir William Sharp of Stonyhill, took up the property. The arch- bishop's father previously held the castle in feu. In Banff there was a large monastery of the Carmelites, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and supposed to have been co- eval with the royalty. At the Reformation, the friars made p 2 330 BANFF DUFF HOUSE. SECT. VI. over their possessions to Sir Walter Ogilvie ; but these, along with the superiority and feu-duties, which were gifted by James VI. to King's College, Aberdeen, have all been bought up by Lord Fife. The Knights Templars, also, had an hospital here, long distinguished by their usual mark, an iron cross, on the top. Like all the Scottish towns of any consequence, the free traders, and wealthy burghers of Banff, were, in ancient times, continually harassed by the exactions and cupidity of the feu- dal aristocracy of the neighbourhood ; and even such great nobles as the Duke of Gordon and the Marquis of Montrose, disdained not occasionally to mulct the citizens in loans which were never intended to be repaid, but which could not be re- fused. According to the last very able Statistical Report of the parish, it would appear that Banff is not now a " thriving place," neither increasing in size nor population (which amounts to about 3000 souls), though it has the advantage of excellent schools, abundant markets, numerous places of wor- ship, literary institutions, and good society. The modern suburb of Macduff, which is provided with a better harbour, and lies more conveniently for trade, threatens to attract the young and adventurous part of the community to itself ; while the domains of two great landed proprietors, hemming in the burgh on all sides, necessarily prevent its spreading itself out into new streets or ornamental villas. But the chief object of interest about Banff is Duff House, which was erected about ninety years ago by William, Lord Draco, after a purely Tuscan design, by Adams, at an expense of .70,000. It was never fully completed, the large quadran- gular central part without the wings being alone executed, and though rich and graceful in detail, the structure is not impos- ing when viewed at a distance. The interior is perfectly " Lou- verized" with pictures, all remarkably interesting, and with many first-rate works of art, " at which criticism may vainly level her eye-glass." The walls are quite crowded with pro- ductions of Titian, Corregio, Murillo, Vandyke, Cuyp, Jameson, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Raeburn, and many others, both of the past and present day ; and the collection is parti- cularly rich in portraits of distinguished personages ; but not the least interesting of the curiosities is the ponderous sword of the famous outlaw Macpherson, who was seized, after a desper- ate resistance, by the Laird of Braco (ancestor of the Earl of ROUTE III. PORTSOY MINERALS LORD FIFE. 331 Fife), and some of his followers, at a fair at Keith ; and was tried and condemned, along with three of his accomplices, by the Sheriff of Banff, in November 1700, as " known holden and repute Egiptians and vagabonds, and oppressors of his Majesty's free lieges, and as thieves and receptors of theives pessimafama." The records of the trial are amusing and instructive : " three young rogues in prison" having, at the same time, had substan- tial, though perhaps not formal, justice administered to them, iu having their " ears cropped, burnt on the cheek, and pub- lickly scourged" through the town of Banff; but though all were found guilty, Macpherson alone was executed, two of the other culprits having been repledged as vassals of the Laird of Grant, and probably saved as subject to his jurisdiction. Mac- pherson, who was an excellent musician, is said to have com- posed his own beautiful Lament and Pibroch, and to have played them " under the gallow's tree." He then offered his Cremona violin to any one in the crowd who would receive it as a remembrance of him, and the gift being declined, he broke it, and threw the fragments into the grave prepared for his body. 12. At Portsoy (8 miles from Banff), the most conspicuous object in which is a new and neat Episcopal chapel, the tourist will find a perfect mineralogical world, an epitome of the science ; and choice polished specimens may be purchased of Mr. Clark, a local lapidary. The district abounds with the greatest variety of granite, quartz rock, and all the usual pri- mary rocks, with large beds of beautiful marble and serpentine, and quantities of crystals of garnets, Labrador felspar, Hyper- stene, Tourmaline, Hornblende, and Bronzite, with asbestus, tremolite, actynolite, and many of the allied magnesian mine- rals. The marble and serpentine beds have only been occasion- ally employed for chimney-pieces, vases, and small ornaments ; but if extensively worked, and opened up, we feel confident that the purity and variety of the colours would command a ready market, especially if the serpentine was exhibited in large and highly-polished slabs. Professor Jameson, in his mineralogical travels, was the first to describe this extremely interesting neighbourhood. Cultivation and woodland here abound, where not many years ago the whole country was a wide wilderness of bog. The Earl of Fife, the principal proprietor, has long devoted himself to the personal superintendence of those vast improve- 332 FOSSIL FISH OF GAMRIE CULLEN. SECT. VI. mcnts ; and three hundred persons, it is said, are constantly employed about the grounds of Duff House alone. The rough and wild scenery occasioned by the primitive rocks which com- pose the great mass of the country, and which in the Buchan district, to the eastward, project into the sea in rude and dan- gerous reefs and headlands, here give way occasionally to smoother ridges and promontories of red sandstone and its as- sociated conglomerate, which diversify and soften the outlines, and which are the remains of the great sandstone basin now filled only by the heaving waters of the Moray Firth, but which, in an ancient state of things, was so extensive, that we can identify the remote sandstone ridges at Tomintoul abutting against the granite of the Grampians, as parts of them. In Gamrie Bay, on the south side of the great conglomerate mass of Troup Head, nodules of a subcrystalline, fibrous, and radiat- ing structure, occur in a bed of bituminous clay, each enclos- ing an organic remain (generally a coccosteus) ; and these or- ganisms, after many guesses and speculations, have been found to belong to the petrifactions of the old red sandstone formation, and to be connected with the similar fish-beds which stretch along the country past Dipple, Rothes, Scatscraig, Clunie, Lethan Bar, Cawdor, Culloden Moor, and Inverness, round to Cromarty, Caithness, and Orkney. To complete our glance at this most interesting geological district, we have to add, that flint nodules, and other traces of the chalk formation, as well as of the inferior lias and oolite, are found on the surface and in the tertiary deposits of Banff and Aberdeen shires ; but whence they have come has not yet been properly ascertained. 13. A drive of six miles lands us opposite the three rocky kings in the bay, at the sumptuous hotel and three towns of Cullen, of which the neat houses of the more modern portion, strongly contrast with the habitations of the humble fisher town. In the midst rises an eminence on which a large fortress once stood, where Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Bruce, breathed her last. The dense woods behind environ Cullen House, the low country residence of the Earl of Seafield, chief of the clan Grant, built on the edge of a deep rocky burn course, and which is almost buried in them, and is screened from view by the sides of the narrow dell or valley in which it lies, but which is worthy of a visit, not only as one of the most princely and wealthy mansions in the north, but as containing, as has been remarked, ROUTE III. CULLEN HOUSE BOYNE CASTLE. 333 " several battalions of pictures, both foreign and domestic," of great interest and value. The historical and family paintings are chiefly deserving of attention ; and of the former, one of the finest is of James VI. by Mytens, which was rescued at the great revolution by the Earl of Findlater, then Chancellor of Scotland, from a mob who had torn it off the walls of Holyrood- house ; a portrait of James, Duke of Hamilton, who was beheaded in 1649, by Vandyke, and another of the admirable Crichton. The woods and policies lead up to the top of the Bein Hill, a prominent hill fort, which, with the Durn-Hill behind Portsoy (which is formed of the most beautiful slaty quartz rock), having three entrenchments round it, constituted the first links of the great chain of signal stations (many of them vitrified) which stretch inland towards the sources of the Don and Dee, and westwards around the coasts of the Moray Firth. Dunidich on the shore side, and numerous cairns and stones of memorial along the district, attest the frequent struggles of the natives with the Danes and other Northmen. The church of Cullen is an interesting old fabric, and contains a fine canopied tomb, but the history of which is unknown. The ruins of Findlater Castle and of Boyne Castle below the road as we approach from the east, are interesting objects. Both belonged to the old family of the Ogilvys, Earls of Findlater. From Cullen a pleasing drive of twelve miles through a fine corn country, and latterly through dense fir woods, leads us past the great estuary of the Spey to Fochabers, which we shall afterwards notice when we have brought on the itinerary by the middle and upper or great north road from Aberdeen. MID-ROAD PROM ABERDEEN TO BANFF, BY OLD MELDRUM AND TTTRRIFF. 14. This route for some miles adheres to the Vale of the Don, and then passes into that of the sluggish Ythan. The country naturally is bleak and uninteresting, but its broad un- dulating surface, which, intermediate between the different river courses, is an aggregation of wide, somewhat saucer-shaped elevations and hollows, locally designated as " heights and hows" is now becoming highly cultivated. The staple cereal, however, in Aberdeen and Banff shires, is oats ; and there is comparatively little wheat grown. In the first stage, the most 334 1IADDO HOUSE FYVIE CASTLE. SECT. VI. conspicuous eminence is that of Benochie, the high and trun- cated summit of which is a noted landmark to all vessels making this coast. The burgh of barony of Old Meldrum, a village chiefly of artizans and labourers, has nothing to detain the stranger ; but it overlooks a great expanse of fertile land to the west, called Chapel of Garioch. By diverging from the turn- pike road, at Old Meldrum, to Methlick, on the Ythan, and thence along its course, rejoining the high road to Turriff, near Fyvie Castle, Haddo House, the seat of the Earl of Aberdeen, can be numbered among the tourist's reminiscences. It is a substantial square structure, with wings advancing in front at either extremity, and set down amid a wide expanse of undu- lating and well-wooded park-ground, and contains a good col- lection of paintings, including several of Lawrence's master- pieces. The banks flanking the Ythan rise steeply, and are well wooded, and the scenery very pleasing within the vale itself, and when regaining the higher ground, the eye courses over more expanded sections of the winding and deeply-imbedded stream. It dwindles to the size of a mere brook as it curls round the pleasure-grounds of Fyvie Castle laid out like an English park, half-way between Old Meldrum and Turriff and is there still and sedgy. As remarked by Mr. Billings, Castle Fyvie was originally a very old keep, but added to and orna- mented by Chancellor Seton, afterwards Lord Fyvie and Earl of Dunfermline.^" There is no such edifice in England. It is, indeed, one of the noblest and most beautiful specimens of that rich architecture which the Scottish barons of the days of King James VI. obtained from France. Its three princely towers, with their luxuriant coronet of coned turrets, sharp gables, tall roofs and chimneys, canopied dormer windows, and rude statu- ary, present a sky-outline at once graceful, rich, and massive, and in these qualities exceeding even the far-famed Glammis. The form of the central tower is peculiar and striking ; it con- sists, in appearance, (in front, i. e.) of two semi-round towers, with a deep curtain between them, retired within a round-arched recess of peculiar height and depth. The minor departments of the building are profusely decorated with mouldings, croc- kets, canopies, and statuary. The interior is in the same fine keeping with the exterior. The great staircase is an architec- tural triumph, such as few Scottish mansions can exhibit ; and it is so broad and so gently graduated, as to justify a traditional ROUTE III. TURRIFF DALGETTY CASTLE. 335 boast, that the laird's horse used to ascend it." The three towers are in a line, with high roofs, and not battlemented, and of uniform height, and square, with the variation alluded to. The ample staircase winds under a succession of massive arch- ways at right angles to each other, and is vaulted overhead ; and the outer gateway and lodge a large square structure, with a high conical turret at each corner, and completely enve- loped in ivy forms a remarkably fine outwork in keeping with the castle itself. Here, also, are several valuable paintings. Aberdeenshire is rich in these fine old castles ; and in this neighbourhood, the tourist should see those of Gight and Tol- quhon, though they are much inferior to Castle Fyvie and to Castle Fraser, and others mentioned as occurring along the course of the Don. As it nears Turriff, the road passes the house and grounds of Hatten (Duff). Turriff is a thriving manufacturing village, with fine bleach- fields, and overlooking the Vale of the Deveron. It claims a high antiquity, and is known to have had an almshouse or hos- pital, erected by the Earl of Buchan in 1272, which was after- wards enlarged by Robert Bruce. The Knights Templars also had lands here ; and the present buildings of the town most worthy of notice are, a handsome parish church, a venerable old disused one, and an Episcopal chapel. Thence to Banff, the banks of the Deveron exhibit a deal of fine woodland and river scenery, especially opposite Forglen House, near Turriff, and again at the Bridge of Alva, and thence through the policies of Duff House ; but, generally, the country away from the river's .side, and along the public road, is bleak and cold, though well cultivated. The road passes at a short distance from Dalgetty Castle, (James Duff, Esq., M. P. for Banffshire,) another and a very interesting specimen of the old Tower, embellished with French additions, and where the old family chapel is still pre- served. It will be apparent, that the round by Turriff and Banff to Fochabers, gives opportunity of seeing a succession of mansions, each well worthy of a visit Haddo House, Fyvie Castle, Duff House, and Cullen House, in addition to Gordon Castle besides presenting a specimen of the coast scenery, as well as of the central districts of that part of the country. 336 ABERDEEN TO HDNTI.Y. SECT. VI. THE UPPER OB GREAT SORTH ROAD BY HUNTLY TO INVERNESS. 14 b. The traveller by coach is usually surprised to find himself accompanied side by side for the first stage out to Inverury (16 miles), by the tract-boats of an inland canal which was formed chiefly for the transit of merchandise, and the ex- port of the great quantities of corn raised in the interior valleys of Aberdeenshire, and of the slates and limestones of the adjoin- ing hills. Passing Kintore, Inverury, and other thriving villages, the road then proceeds through an upland moorish country, winding among a succession of undulating shapeless hills, the passes through which, especially in the Foudland Hills, south of Huntly, are often in winter for a considerable period blocked up with snow. The hill sides, however, are now being extensively planted with forest trees, to increase the shelter and ameliorate the climate ; and here, as well as along the coast, most noble and extraordinary efforts have been made to reclaim and improve the ground. In no part of Scotland have greater industry and skill been exhibited, or more capital invested in agricultural pursuits, than in this quarter, and that with a soil naturally wet and cold, and a climate by no means propitious.* Though now possessed by a race of Flemish or Saxon origin, and speak- ing a dialect of the lowland Scotch, peculiarly broad, where Gaelic is never heard except in the more inland glens, Banff and Aberdeen shires anciently composed a great Celtic territory under the dominion of the Earls (previously the Maormors) of Mar and Buchan, in which the names of places still point out the Celtic character of the first inhabitants. Hence, apart from the outline of the country, we might not inappropriately con- sider these two counties as Highland, though Scotchmen in general rank them as belonging to the Lowlands.']' * The district about Huntlv and Keith abounds in primitive limestone and slate. which have largely contributed to local improvements. t Instead ol proceeding the length of Inverury, and following the course of the Ury and the direct road to Huntly, a very agreeable detour may be made by striking across from near Kintore, so as to regain the Don near Kemnuy (distinguished for an excellent school, and a schoolhouse and grounds, which are a marvel for spruceness) following its course to Mom musk, thence by Alford to Kildrummie; and there diverging northwards, by Clova and Strathbogie, to Huntly. Some of the reaches of the ifon, as at Fetternear and Monymusk tfie Paradise near it and Castle Forbes, a showy modern castellated building, which may be reached at some sacrifice, as the turnpike road docs not follow the river here, are exquisitely sweet and beautiful. The river is lined by soft and moderate-sized eminences, highly wooded, while the low grounds are well cultivated. Kildrummie Castle, which repeatedly figures in ROUTE III. HUNTLY AND KEITH ROAD. 337 15. Huntly and Keith, the two principal inland towns on this road, owe their prosperity chiefly to their localities being well adapted for bleachfields, and the manufacture of linen and woollen stuffs. The latter, or rather the new town of Keith, was founded in 1750, on a barren moor upon the Isla Water, by James, father of the last Ogilvy, Earl of Findlater, whose title and estates have now passed into the family of Grant of Grant, Earls of Seafield. Huntly stands on a dry and pleasant bank at the confluence of the Bogie with the Deveron, and consists chiefly of two principal streets crossing each other at right angles, and forming a spacious square or market-place. Near it on the banks of the Deveron, is the elegant residence of Huntly Lodge, the jointure-house of her Grace the Duchess of Gordon ; and hard by, the ruins of the old castle of Huntly, the ancient seat of the Duke of Gordon's eldest son while Mar- quis of Huntly, and which is a structure with peculiar features, and far more imposing, when examined in detail, than it seems to be at a distance. Scottish history, is a bulky and imposing structure, now a mere shell, however, ou an elevated recess overlooking Strathdon. The Burn of Clova presents a fine wooded dell, and the Clova hills are a fruitful botanical habitat. In Strathbogie, which descends to Huntly, the first throes were experienced of that great convulsion which has rent asunder the Church of Scotland. But one of the chief recommendations of this route is, that between Kemnay and Monymusk, it leads within little more than a mile of Castle Frascr (Colonel Fraser), wliich, and Fyvie Castle, already described, form the finest architectural ornaments of Aberdeenshire. The following is the description in Messrs. Billings and Burns' Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities : " It may be considered as standing in competition with Fyvie Castle for supremacy among the many French turreted mansions of the north. "While its rival rest's supreme in symmetrical compactness, Castle Fraser is conspicuous for the rich variety of its main features, and its long, rambling, irregular masses. Descending to minute details while Fyvie is remarkable for its grotesque statuary, Castle Fraser has u more abundant richness of moulding and carved decoration. The quantity of tym - panumed dormer windows, and the variety of decorations with which they are enriched, give much character and effect to the b'uilding. There is one small feature, taken from France, seldom exemplified in the turreted mansions of the north, yet of which there are a few specimens in edifices otherwise meagre this is the light, lofty turret, with an ogee or pavilion-shaped, instead of a conical roof, and airy-looking tiers of small windows, perched in the recess where the round tower joins the central square mass. Of that mass, the upper will be seen to be of very different character from the lower architectural department, which probably was the unadorned square tower of the fifteenth century. The dates, wliich appear on the more modern and orna- mental portions, point to the time when the turreted style had reached its highest development in Scotland 1617 and 1618." The central square mass above alluded to, with the roof springing from a more decorated superstructure, has a lofty round tower of six storeys overtopping the roof on one flank, occupying the fore half of that side, and a higher slender turret, perched, as described, in the front junction ; while, on the opposite side, the main buildins; is embraced by another square tower, retreating back, uniform with itself, and which leaves the fore portion of that side of the central tower free. The main building is thus more massive than Fyvie. Two ranges of lower buildings extend behind, each terminating in a conical-roofed tower. All the angles of the whole structure arc surmounted by high similar shaped turrets, and the effect of the whole is admirable. -MS FOCHABERS GORDON CASTLE. SECT. VI. Aberdeenshire is traversed by a number of fine rivers of various character, giving rise to much diversified scenery, and to many rich alluvial plains or straths, along their banks. In the maritime and more easterly portions of Banff and Aberdeen shires, Episcopacy has ever retained a strong footing, her con- gregations being numerous, embracing both rich and poor ; while a considerable portion of the population are also Roman Catholics, especially in the district of the Enzie, in Banffshire. About the city of Aberdeen, and towards the north-west, Pres- byterianism early obtained the ascendancy. 16. A short but rapid descent of nine miles from Keith terminates at Fochabers, a little town which stands at the dis- tance of a few hundred yards from the east bank of the river Spey, on an elevated gravel terrace ; and Gordon Castle, now the seat of his Grace the Duke of Richmond, about a mile to the north, on a lower one. The town forms a regular parallelo- gram, the sides of which are composed chiefly of thatched cottages. A square, surrounded by respectable houses, occu- pies the centre ; from the east and west sides of which straight streets of similar buildings proceed, and the town is traversed by two parallel and cross lanes of houses. On one side of the square there is a porticoed church, surmounted by a neat spire; and on the south side of the town, a Roman Catholic chapel, remarkable for its handsome and tasteful front, has been lately erected. A Scotch Episcopal chapel has also been recently added. The population of Fochabers is about 900. It con- tains an excellent hotel, about seventy slated houses, and thrice that number of thatched cottages. A munificent educational fund has lately accrued to the place, through the bequest of a townsman, Alexander Mylne, merchant of New Orleans, whose institution has been erected at the eastern approach. Gordon Castle, the north-country residence of the Duke of Richmond, formerly the seat of the ducal family of Gordon, is a magnificent structure, consisting of a large central building of four storeys, with spacious two-storeyed wings, and connecting galleries or arcades, of a like height ; forming altogether a front of 540 feet. Behind the main building rises a square tower six storeys high, which harmonises with the general design. The castle is faced on all sides with freestone, and encircled by an embattled coping. It stands in a park 1300 acres in extent, formerly a marsh called the Bog of Gicht, ROUTE III. RIVER SPEY ELGIN. 339 whence the duke himself was often styled only the " Gudeman of Gicht," and is adorned with a variety of forest trees of large dimensions, particularly the limes, horse-chesnut, and walnut trees. One of the finest is a lime behind the castle, measuring eighteen feet in girth, whose drooping branches cover an area of upwards of 200 feet in circumference. The gardens occupy about twelve acres, and the grounds are ornamented by a large pond, where the lordly swan holds undivided though secluded sway. In the castle are several paintings, copies from the old masters, by Angelica Kauffman, and a large collection of family and other portraits, of which a few are by Vandyke, Jameson, and Sir Peter Lely. As remarked by Miss Sinclair, Gordon Castle, on the whole, was, when she wrote, " the finest ducal residence in Scotland " " a world of a house ; the park is bounded only by the horizon, the trees are gigantic ; every- thing, in short, appears on the grandest scale :" while of the older palace which preceded the present one, and which was in the Moorish style, Franks wrote in 1658, that " it struck me with admiration to gaze on so gaudy and regular a frontispiece, more especially to consider it in the nook of a nation." 17. Crossing now the Spey by a handsome suspension bridge, from which the view, both up and down the valley, is remark- ably beautiful, we leave behind, with no regret, the last bleak spurs and ridges of the Grampians, and enter upon the soft and verdant alluvial plains of Moray. The river Spey, it will be remarked in passing, is a deep and rapid stream, subject to sudden speats or overflows, during which it " rolls from bank to brae" a fearful and desolating torrent. Hence it has ever been regarded as the natural bulwark or safeguard of the North Highlands, which, before the erection of the present bridge, were often completely isolated by it. Here the clans of old fought many a tough battle for their independence, and here Prince Charles Edward, in 1746, ought to have contested the passage with the English troops, and which he could have done with great advantage, instead of letting them quietly cross the Spey, and the rivers Findhorn and Nairn, before he met them at Culloden. 18. A beautiful ride of nine miles farther ushers us to the capital of Moray, the fine old ecclesiastical city of Elgin, built on the winding haughs of a deep but sluggish stream, the Lossie, and a ridge south of them, and marked from afar by 340 ELGIN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. SECT. VI. the late Duke of Gordon's monument at the west end, erected near the ruins of a very old castellated structure on the Lady Hill, and by the dark massive towers of the cathedral at the east end, and by various public buildings, quite remarkable for a small provincial town. All the public coaches stop at the Gordon Arms Inn, in the central square of the town, which is close by the market-place and esplanade, and has the post-office directly opposite the windows, with an immense freestone fountain beneath them, suggesting rather freezing than pleasing sensations for this cool climate. Directly east of it is the huge parish church (of a Grecian design, surmounted by a Prince of Wales feather !) on the site of the ancient Gothic church of St. Giles, which was of venerable antiquity, and which had retained ample bounds around it so as to throw the neighbouring buildings well away from it in a kind of square, having a long street running east and west from either end, and numerous cross lanes and small streets south and north like the old town of Edinburgh. North Street, a little west of the inn, leads to the Lossie, and the village of Bishopmill, on the farther side of it (past the loch and old castle of Spynie), and to the seaport of Lossiemouth, distant five miles, and which, with the adjoining village of Stotfield, is much resorted to in summer for sea-bathing. A street (Moss Street and Lossie Wynd) at the east end of the town runs directly north and south, conducting, in the latter direction, to the Glen of Rothes, and the interior of the country, and near which, as being the sunny side of the place, there are a perfect labyrinth of old crofts and burgh riggs, a number of handsome houses and villas, and the neat churches erected by the Roman Catholic and Free Church congregations. At the west end, besides the main post road to Forres, which inclines to the north, one proceeds south- west along the Infirmary and Lunatic Asylum walls to Palmer's Cross, and the rich corn district watered by the Lossie. Elgin contains a flourishing population of about 4500 inhabitants, and possesses public printing-presses giving forth two ireekly newspapers, and an extensive and valuable circulating library, and excellent academy. Society in Elgin comprehends an un- usual proportion of persons in affluent or easy circumstances. The town is lighted with gas, and the inhabitants display much spirit in all measures of improvement. Owing to the vicinity of the freestone quarries of Quarrywood and Caussie, its newer ROUTE III. ELGIN CATHEDRAL. 341 houses and the adjoining villas appear to an advantage rarely exhibited by small provincial towns ; and they are likewise, in general, tastefully designed. The streets also abound with pic- turesque and fantastic-looking houses, some of them of con- siderable antiquity, which, besides every variety of shape, often display projecting wooden balconies and piazzas, overhanging and partly encroaching on the public way, and one or two of them have still the mark of the old Templars' property on them a high iron cross on the topmost chimney. 19. But the glory of Elgin is its venerable cathedral, now in ruins, long and. justly styled " The Lanthorn of the North." (Speculum patrice et decus regni.) Of this edifice there are standing only the two large square western towers (84 feet high), but without their spires, though, fortunately, the intermediate large doorway, and part of the window above, are entire ; as also, at the eastern end, the choir and its cloister, the grand altar, and double-rowed and orieled windows above it, with the two eastern terminal turrets and adjoining chapter-house. The length of the cathedral measured 282 by 86 feet over the walls, and the transept was 115 feet in length, while in the centre of the whole a magnificent tower, supported on massive pillars, rose to the height of 198 feet. A flight of spacious steps re- ceived the visitor on his approach, and landed him at the great western entrance, the floor of which represents the general basement level of the whole structure. Traces of this pavement have lately been discovered, and the ascent of steps may yet be restored. The chapter-house is of an octagonal form, with windows of variously patterned tracery ; and its flat stone roof is supported by a clustered pillar, nine feet in circumference, rising from the centre of the chamber beneath, and from the top of which, beautiful light groined arches proceed round the building, and unite with those composing the windows. While the general dimensions of the whole cathedral (which is in the style of the early decorated Gothic) attract admiration for their symmetry, the workmanship of the chapter-house (erected, it is supposed, about 1480) is peculiarly deserving of notice for its lightness, richness of ornament, and great delicacy in the execution of the minuter tracery, and the flowered fillets and capitals of its columns. The cathedral stands at the east end of the town of Elgin, and was surrounded by a high wall 1000 yards in circuit, having four gates. The officials had each a 342 DIOCESE OF MORAY. SECT. VI. manse and garden within the precinct, in a street still called the College, and a glebe in a large adjoining field. But little is known of the original building of this noble minster, which alone, of the Scottish cathedrals of the thirteenth century, had two western towers. The diocese of Moray was constituted by Alexander I., in the year 1115, and the foundation-stone of the cathedral was laid, on 19th July 1224, by Bishop Andrew de Moravia, nephew of that St. Gilbert who, on the opposite shore of the firth, at the same time, raised the humbler walls of Dornoch. The work was afterwards completed, through the exertions of the Popes, who caused collections in aid of the undertaking to be made in different parts of Europe, and sent artisans and archi- tects from Rome to forward and superintend its execution. Along with the towns of Elgin and Forres, this magnificent pile was, in 1390, burned by the ferocious " Wolf of Badenoch." Alexander Stewart, son of Robert II., who also, to avenge him- self on Bishop Bar for refusing to recognise him as his liege lord, set fire, at the same time, to the College, the Maison Dieu (an hospital, it is believed, for lepers), and the Town Church of St. Giles, which, with their whole writs and documents, were all reduced to a heap of ruins. Well might the old Church Chronicler style those as days in which there " was no law in Scotland, but the great man oppressed the poor man, and the whole kingdom was one den of thieves. Slaughters, robberies, fire-raising, and other crimes, went unpunished; and justice was sent into banishment beyond the kingdom's bounds." The Bishop, making his lamentation to the king of the damage done on this occasion, describes the cathedral " as the pride of the land, the glory of the realm, the delight of wayfarers and strangers, a praise and a boast among foreign nations lofty in its towers without, splendid in its appointments within its countless jewels and rich vestments, and the multitude of its priests." It had seven dignitaries, fifteen canons, twenty-two vicars-choral, and about as many chaplains. (See Quarterly Review for June 1849.) A second plundering and burning of the town and cathedral was perpetrated in 1402 by Alexander, third son of the Lord of the Isles, a worthy rival of the ferocious Wolf, who, like him, was previously sworn, bound by writ, " not to allow his men, nor any other Kethranes, to beg or strole through the country of Moray, nor to annoy or destroy ROUTE III. HISTORY OF ELGIN. 343 the inhabitants ! " Both incendiaries had speedily to propitiate the Church, and obtain absolution by costly presents. The rebuilding of the cathedral was commenced by Bishop John Innes, a son of the family of Innes, in 1407, but was not com- pleted till 1420. In 1506, the great tower fell, and its re-erec- tion was not finished till 1538. On the 14th of February 1568, the Regent Moray and his council issued an order to strip the roofs of the cathedrals of Elgin and Aberdeen of their lead ; but the vessel freighted with it is said to have sunk in the bay of Aberdeen. Since that period the building has been, till of late, totally neglected, and suffered to fall into its present state of decay. A small sum was latterly given, by the Barons of Exchequer, to a self-constituted guardian, who displayed great taste and industry in clearing away the rubbish and restor- ing the ground-plan of elevation, and is still continued. Its original extent and history have been traced out by a gentle- man of Elgin (Isaac Forsyth, Esq.), to whose public spirit the inhabitants of this district are, for many reasons, much indebted, and by whom a series of beautiful engravings, on a large scale, of the remains of the cathedral, with letter-press descriptions, was published some years ago. It is difficult for us, who lavish so much on our own " ceiled houses," to appreciate the senti- ments of the age that decorated so profusely the house of God : but even after visiting Melrose Abbey, the stranger will be obliged to confess, on beholding Elgin, that " enough yet re- mains of it to entitle it to rank as at once the grandest and the most beautiful of our cathedrals, if not the most superb edifice of Scotland." Reg. Norav. Prefaced) Elgin, as remarked by the learned author, whose words we have just quoted the pre- sent sheriff of the county (C. Innes, Esq.) " long retained a strong impress of its ecclesiastical origin. Within the memory of some yet alive, it presented the appearance of a little cathe- dral city, very unusual among the burghs of Presbyterian Scot- land. There was an antique fashion of building, and withal, a certain solemn, drowsy air about the town and its inhabitants, that almost prepared a stranger to meet some church procession, or some imposing ceremonial of the picturesque old religion. The town is changed of late. The dwellings of the citizens have put on a modern trim look, which does not satisfy the eye so well as the sober gray walls of their fathers. Numerous hospitals, the fruits of mixed charity and vanity, surround the )14 ELGIN MUSEUM. SECT. VI. town, and with their gaudy white domes and porticos, contrast offensively with the mellow colouring and chaste proportions of the ancient structures. If the present taste continues, there will soon be nothing remaining of the reverend antique town but the ruins of its magnificent cathedral." Elgin possesses a good museum, chiefly illustrative of the geology of the district, and from this town have emerged many learned scholars and most able men, in all departments of the state. No province in the kingdom has been better illustrated than Moray by local historians and antiquaries the foundation materials being the cathedral records which were published in 1837, under the eye of the Bannatyne Club, by the late and present Dukes of Sutherland ; and the most interesting of which consists of transcripts of the more ancient documents, collected under papal authority immediately after the burnings by the Wolf of Badenoch and Alexander of the Isles. The History of the Province of Moray, by the Rev. L. Shaw, one of the minis- ters of Elgin of the last century, is a most valuable work ; and while all the recent agricultural and other improvements have been chronicled in the new Statistical Accounts of the different parishes, and the scenery and antiquities by Sir Thomas I>ick Lauder, the Flora of the province have been separately illustrat- ed by one of the clergymen, the Rev. George Gordon of Birnie, and the geology by P. Duff, Esq., a professional gentleman in the town, and by Alexander Robertson, Esq., a native of it.* * Instead of the summary of the Geology of Moray, contained in the last edition of this work, we have now the pleasure or submitting to our readers the following synopsis or index of the subject, with which we have been favoured by Alexander liobertson, Esq., and which is the result of original observations carried on for many years. It illustrates the geology of the whole basin of the Moray Firth, and may be referred to by the geologist in Orkney. Ventose accumulations of sand, or dunes, are largely developed at Culbin, to the west of the bay of Findhorn, where they have buried an extensive area of what was once the most fertile cultivated land in the county, and attain a height of 113 feet above low-water mark. Similar deposits, though on a less conspicuous scale, are found all along the seaward zone of the district, the sand in some cases, as at Inve- rugie, alternating with seams of vegetable soil All the different kinds of peat (with the exception perhaps of the maritime spe- cies) are met with in Moravsliirc. The slopes of the upper hills are covered with mountain peat, while their flats and hollows are occupied by the marsh and forest varieties. In some elevated and exposed mosses, as those on 'the Brown Moor, which are from 600 to 1100 feet above the sea, the stools and trunks of oak and other trees are found of a size, which the climate now existing at such heights in this district does not admit of. The stools of the oaks are sometimes more than three feet in diameter, and the breadth of their annual rings testifies to a rapid growth having taken place. In the lower region, accumulations of forest, lake, and marsh peat are of frequent oc- currence, but they are, for the most part, now cultivated. In general they exlu'bit little that is noticeable. In autumn of 1849, however, the horn cores and part of the frontal bone of a large Bos priuigenius (Boj.j, together with the shed horn of a stag, ROUTE III. CASTLE OF SPYNIE. 345 20. In the vicinity of Elgin, the castle of Spynie, the old residence of the bishops of Moray, and the abbey of Pluscardine, are objects highly worthy of the traveller's attention ; our limits, however, prevent us from attempting a description of them. We will advert, however, to were found in cutting a drain at "Westfield. These specimens are now in the Elgin Museum. A little to the west of Burgh-head there is a submarine forest, which must, from the circumstance of trees being occasionally dragged up by the anchors of ships riding in the bay, extend for a considerable distance beneath the sea. Part of it is exposed at low water. It is a combination of forest, lake, and marsh peat, and is full of cavities containing dead shells of Pholas Candida, P. crispata, and Venempis perforans. Shell marl occurs in some places, as in the old bed of the Loch of Spvnie and at Inverlochty, associated with lake peat. Rock marl is found, under similar circum- stances, at Newton. Clay of a dirty white colour appears below marsh and lake peat in Mosstowie, and brownish and bluish clays are generally found thus accompanied, as at West Calcotts and Spynie. The fiuviatile deposits of the district consist of shingle, gravel, and coarse sand, and of fine sand and loam. The coarser accumulations are chiefly to he found for some distance below the gorges through which the rivers pass, as on the Lossie and Shoggle in the parish of Birnie, and on the Spey about Craigelachie. A considerable extent of the flat and fertile lands which lie along the rivers consists of loam. It is distinctly laminated, and sometimes several feet in depth, with partings of fine sand. The colour is generally brown, as at Invererne, near the Findhorn, Haughland on the Lossie, and Dandaleith on the Spey. Lower down on the last mentioned river, after the stream has passed through the" deep red sandstones and conglomerates there pre- valent, the loam changes to the hue mentioned, as at Dipple. Ko organic remains are found in the fluviatile loam ; but, from the physical configuration of the country covered by it, it has evidently been deposited in lakes and estuaries now obliterated. The character of the mass precisely resembles that of the modern detritus brought down by the rivers when in flood. Where the coast is not rocky, as is the case from the western extremity of the county to Burgh-head, between Craighead and Stotfield, and from Lossiemouth to the Spey, the present beach is bounded by a series of ridges, externally of shingle, but shewing rudely saddle-shaped alternations of gravel and shingle, when a transverse section is made. The ridges vary in size, and the distances between them are un- equal. The breadth to which they extend inland is sometimes, as near Inchbroom, a mile and a half, and their number is occasionally from twenty to twenty-five, as near the Black Hill of Spey. They are, in general, nearly parallel with the existing coast line ; but at Culbin and at Speyslaw they are so contorted as, in some places, to run at right angles to it. The same occurs near Inchbroom; but here the phenomenon has clearly been produced by the interference of the ancient estuary of the Lossie, and similar agency was probably at work in the other cases : in that of Speyslaw this hypothesis agrees both with etymology and tradition. The ridges are due to the pil- ing action of waves during storms. Srom their mode of distribution they may be re- garded as rings of growth, shewing the intermittent nature of the elevation of the land. To the east of Hopeman Lodge, and on a terrace about half a mile west of Craighead, similar series of ridges, though on a smaller scale, are found about forty feet above the present high-water mark. Caves, as at Covcsea, occur in the precipitous cliffs along the coast. Although due to the action of waves, they are at present generally far removed beyond the abrasive influence of the ocean. Some isolated rock pillars, as the Gu's (i. e. gull's) castle, near Covesea, appear on the beach below the cliffs, their bases only being now washed at high water. From ten to twenty feet above high-water mark there are beds of rubbed and com- minuted shells of existing species, as to the west of Hopeman, and close to the inn at Branderburgh. Some years ago a waterworn fissure was discovered in a sandstone quarry at Hopeman. The lower part of the cavity contained deposits of sand, shingle, and fragmented shells. At some points these reached to within four inches of the ledge which projected from one side, and formed a sort of roof to the fissure. Above 346 BURGH-HEAD. SECT. VI. 21. Burgh-head, a seaport, about nine miles distant from Elgin, and ten from Forres. The rocky promontory on which the town or village is built projects into the firth, from the general line of the coast, in a north-westerly direction, to the extent of about three-quarters of a mile. This promontory them lay a quantity of bones of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, shells of Littomia lit- torca, Patella vulgata, and Helix hortensis, pieces of charcoal, burnt stones, and a Hint arrow-head. These relics were imbedded in a brown and fetid sand, both the colour and odour of which were due to the decomposition of animal matter. Among the bones, Professor M'Gillivray distinguished those of the beaver and crane. The others belonged to the ox, red deer, &c., and, with the remaining exuviae, were pre- cisely similar to those usually found, as at Culbin, around the residences of the an- cient inhabitants of the country. In the interval between the deposition of these remains and the quarrving operations which led to their disiuterment, the upper open- ing of the fissure had been partially overgrown by vegetation, and then covered with blown sand. The cavity was simply a convenient receptacle for the rejectamenta of a carnivorous people, and, but for the occurrence of remains of the beaver and crane, both of which are now extinct in Britain, its investigation belongs rather to the do- main of the antiquary than the geologist. In many parts of the old bed of the Loch of Spynie there is a stratum of sea shells, under a foot or two of sand. The shells are Littorina littorea, Nerita littoralis, Os- trea edulis, Mytilus edulis, Lutraria compressa, Carduim edule, Tellina solidula, &c. In some places, as near the Watery Mains road, opposite Findrossie and Duffus Castle, the shell bed reposes on lake peat and shell marl, the latter containing Lvmneus periger, Plunorbis vortex, P. contortus, Pisiduim pulchellum, &c. Below this there is marine sand. The phenomena prove that, after the area had been occupied by a fresh water lake, it was again covered by the ocean. Sand, gravel, and shingle, with occasional layers of sandy loam, all more or less regularly stratified, are very generally distributed tliroughout the lower part of the district. These beds are found at all elevations, from the present beach line to the height of 259 feet, as at Cluny hill near Forres. The superficial character of the strata is seldom level, in general undulating. Sometimes they appear as flat-topped hills, and bare flat hills ; and at other places, as in the woods east of Lochnabo, irregular hol- lows have been worn into them by denudation, producing groups of confusedly ar- ranged hillocks. Erratics of various sizes, consisting of crystalline and conglomerate rocks, are strewn over the surface of these strata in some localities, as the low grounds eastward of the Loch of Spynie, and in the woods of Urquhart. These blocks have, certainly, been transported by icebergs. No fossils have been found, owing doubtless to the porosity of the masses which are, however, unquestionably of marine origin. Clays of various kinds, belonging to the same period as these arenacious strata, are found in some places. At Rosehaugh and Shempston the clay is red, and attains a height of thirty to forty feet above the bottom of the valley. Below the old bed of the Loch of Spynie a gray clay occurs at Lochside, and the same deposit appears at Ardivot, the top of it being here about ten feet above the present surface ol the lake. Some bones of a red deer were found in the clay at Locnside. All these beds are superior to the boulder formation ; but the relative ages of the different members of the series have not been satisfactorily determined. There are grounds for believing that, since the glacial period, the land has thrice suffered subsidence and elevation. The boulder formation is well seen in Morayshire. It consists of a red loam, con- taining more or less rounded and striated masses of a great variety of rocks. The rocks on which it rests are grooved and scratched in a direction generally within a few degrees of north-west by west, and south-east by south ; but, more rarely, as at Spynie and Linkslield, the markings ran between north by east and north-north-east, to south, by west and south-south-west. The loam covers the slopes of the hills in the lower district, especially on their northern and western aspects, where, from the strata dipping in that direction, they are in general less abrupt than on their oppo- site faces, formerly it must have extended over the tops of tbese hills, as traces of it are to be found near their highest points, and scratched surfaces occur on the sum- mit of Quarrywood Hill, and are strikingly developed on the Moor of Garden. On the Brown Moor, 1100 feet above the sea, the 'thickness of the deposit is still considerable. The loam is seen to pass under the stratified sand and gravel which mantle the infe- ROUTE III. BURGH-HEAD. 347 rises from the neck uniting it to the mainland, at first with a gentle inclination, to within 400 feet or so of its termination. Of the remaining extent, which narrows towards the extremity, and ends in a perpendicular front towards the sea, the south- western half is a level space, of an average width of 250 feet, rior parts of the slopes, and it is often reached, at the depth of a few feet, on pene- trating thft superficial beds spread over the bottoms of the valleys, as in digging for the purpose of founding houses at Elgin. In the western and southern parts ot the district, the masses included in the loam are, chiefly, crystalline rocks, identical in composition with those which occur in situ in the Wyvis group, and old red conglo- merates agreeing with those of the lower region of eastern Ross-shire. A small ammo- nites duplex (Low) inclosed in a matrix, corresponding with that of specimens from Shandwick, near Cromarty, was found in the boulder loam at Inverugie, nearly a mile from the sea, and 200 feet above it ; and, in another part of the deposit, a slab with the peculiar fucoids of the lower old red sandstone, its mineral character being the same as that of strata at Navity, to the south of Cromarty, which yield the same spe- cies, was met with at Windberg, at an elevation of 600 feet above the sea, and about ten miles inland. Towards the interior, masses of the sandstones and conglomerates, which form the hills of the lower district of Morayshire, are mingled with the farther travelled rocks already mentioned. Thus the conglomerates of the moors of Alves and Carden are found on the Brown Moor and Tiendland, having traversed the inter- vening valleys, and ascended the slopes which lead to their present situation. The boulders in the loam of the northern and eastern portions of the county are probably derived from the north-east of Ross and the south of Sutherland shires, but their ori- gin has not as yet been clearly traced. The theory of floating ice is quite inadequate to account for the phenomena asso- ciated with the boulder loam of Morayshire. Its distribution is unequivocally due to glaciers, one of which must have come from Ben Wyvis. At Inverugie lime-quarry, the surface of the limestone is striated and covered with boulder loam. Above this there is a thin stratum of sand and gravel, which is succeeded by several beds identical in composition and structure with the boulder loam, but separated from each other by arenaceous and gravelly seams. These beds of loam are doubtless droppings from icebergs, deposited during that subsidence of the land which ultimately put an end to the glacial period. Between the Wealden beds at Linksfield, and the subjacent " old red" limestone, a mass of boulder loam is intercalated. The surface of the limestone is scratched and polished, and the thickness of the loam varies from an inch or two to about five feet. Besides the usual boulders, the loam contains nearly angular fragments of both the subjacent limestone, the overlying Wealden beds, and sometimes includes considerable seams of the clays and limestones of the latter. The Wealden beds have suffered considerable disturbance, and are irregularly curved. In explanation of these appearances, it is supposed that the terminal portion of a vast glacier, in the course of its resistless march, inserted itself between the surface of the underlying limestone and the yielding beds of the Wealden, scratching the former, elevating the latter, and introducing a mass of subglacial detritus (the boulder loam) beneath them. On the melting of the ice, the Wealden beds would fall down in flexures, force the plastic loam to accommodate itself to their sinuosities, and finally rest upon it, as they actually do. It may be mentioned, that M. Agassiz gives his sanction to this hypothesis. None of the systems between the Pleistocene strata and the Oolitic series are re- presented in Morayshire, nor is it certain that any of the oceanic members of the lat- ter occur absolutely in situ. Detached blocks belonging to several of the divisions from the superior Oolite to the Oxford clay, both inclusive, are found in the boulder loam, as well as in the overlying stratified deposits ; and in some places, as near Lhanbryde, they are associated with a sandy-gray clay. Their angles are in general but slightly rounded, and they are very abundant in certain localities, from which cir- cumstances, it may be inferred that their parent sites are not far distant from the spots where they now rest. The fossils which have been extracted from these masses include many new shells, Hybodus uudulatus (Ag.) (erroneously stated in Poiss. Foss. to be from Linksfield), and an undescribed tooth of another species of the same genus. At Linksfield, near Elgin, Wealden beds are found ; but as none of the oceanic 348 BURGH-HEAD. SECT. VI. and 80 feet above the water; while the rest of the ground attains a somewhat higher elevation. Where the declivity commences, three parallel ramparts 15 and 20 feet high, with intervening ditches 16 feet wide (considerable portions of both of which still exist), were carried quite across the promontory. Oolitic beds are associated with them, it is impossible to determine their position in the series. They consist of green, gray, and black clays, gray limestones, varying in shade from a dirty white to almost black, and in texture from compact to crystalline, shale, and calcareous grit in nodules and concretional masses. The fossils of'the grits are bones, scales, and teeth of fishes, and teeth of Plesiosaurus ; some of the upper pale-coloured limestones abound in shells, with occasional remains of fishes; the gray shale is full of the cases of Cypris, and also contains icthyic relics ; while the under surface, of a blackish limestone, ten or twelve feet from the bottom of the se- ries itself almost a mass of bivalves, and resting on dark-coloured clay has yielded most of the larger specimens of vertebrata hitherto discovered. The total thickness of these strata is about thirty-five feet. They are found, though much less developed, in other places in the neighbourhood of Elgin ; and that their former extension must have greatly exceeded their present limits, is proved by the occurrence of detached masses of the stony beds, in the superficial detritus of localities several miles apart. The remains obtained from these strata are, a femur of a species of Trionyx, (Prof. Owen,) vertebra of Plesiosaurus subconcavus oro, and teeth of Plesiosaurus ; scales of species of Semionotus, Lepidotus, Pholidophorus, and Euguathus (?) ; teeth of Hy- bodus Lawsoni, Duff, and II. dubius Agass., and of Sphenonehus Martini, Ag., and ' an Acrodus ; spines of Hybodus. The shells are of the genera Melanopsis, Paludina and Planorbis, Ostrea Avicula, Modiola, Mytilus, Astarte, Unio, and Cyclas. There are also valves of Cypris, fragments of carbonized wood, and two or three species of ferns. Morayshire contains neither Triassic, Permian, nor carboniferous rocks ; but those of the Old Red Sandstone system are well displayed, and several of the strata abound in icthyic remains, although as yet no trace of Mollusca or Crustacea has been dis- covered. As is generally the case with this series, the classification of its members, from their included fossils, does not correspond with that of any other district. Many of the beds are unfossiliferous, so that a rigid definition of the limits of the divi- sions is impracticable. The uppermost of these consists of gray, yellow, and red sandstones and conglomerates, both fine and coarse, associated in some places with chocolate-coloured shale ; there are also occasional deposits of more or less siliceous limestone. The ridges of Stotfield, Covesea, Inverugie, and Roseille, belong to this division. Its thickness is considerable, but notwithstanding diligent search, it has only produced a single fossil, the Stragonolepis Robertsoni Ag. found at Stotfield by Mr. Duff. The second division is composed of sandstones and siliceous conglome- rates of various hues, and sometimes containing calcareous matter ; seams of choco- late-coloured shale and fuller's earth ; limestones like those above them ; and at Cot- hall, on the Findhorn, above the limestone, a green clay with calcareous nodules. The strata of Quarrywood, and the moors of Garden and Alves, of the magnificent section on the Findhorn, of Scat Craig, and of the Lossie and Shoggle in Birnie, are included in tliis division. The limestone beds are unfossiliferous ; but the other strata generally vield either osseous relics of fishes, or the impressions of them, in greater or less' abundance. Prof. Agassiz has figured and described the following icthjrolites from these beds, in his " Monographic des Poissons du Vicux Gres Rouge, Ptericthys major, Holoptychius Nobillissimus, H. giganteus, Dendrodus strigatus, 1). latus, D. sigmoideus, I/amnodus viporcatus, L. hastatus, Cricodus incurvus, Aste- rolepis Malcolmsoni, Bothriolcpis ornata, B. favosa, Actinolepis tubcrculata, Placotho- rax paradoxus, and Cosmacanthus Malcolmsoni. There have been found, besides these, many species as yet unedited. The conglomerate of Scat Craig abounds in fossils, and many are also to be extracted from the rocks of the Findhorn. Beauti- fully perfect impressions of scales and osseous plates have been discovered in the Bishopmill and Hospital quarries, and in those of Garden Moor. The lowest division includes red and gray sandstones and conglomerates, red shales, and clay with calca- reous nodules, all resting on a very coarse conglomerate of great thickness. These strata are found on the Spey, and the base of the Brown Moor and Tiendland is com- posed of the lowest conglomerate. At Dipple, near Fochabere, the nodular beds occur ROUTE III. BURGH-HEAD. 349 Ramparts, on some sides still pretty entire, encompassed both the upper and lower terminal areas within these breastworks. The houses of the modern town occupy the inclined surface in regular lines of low-sized buildings. About thirty years ago, there was discovered, within the rampart of the upper area, a very interesting memorial of the mighty people whose grasping ambition led them to tenant even this remote comer of the world, and whose soldiery, in all probability, ceased to be its occupants less than a couple of centuries after the commence- ment of the Christian era. It consists of a cubical-shaped covered chamber (the sides of which measure 14 feet each) cut in the solid rock, and having in the centre a cistern, 4 feet deep, and 10 feet 9 inches square, in which springs up a fountain of clear fresh water. A projecting cornice, one foot broad, runs They are of the same age as those of Tynat, in Banffshire, and Lethenbar, in Nairn- shire, and also contain remains of fishes ; hut the fossils are both fewer in species, and much less perfect, than those of the adjoining counties just mentioned. The fishes are of the genera Coccosteus, Asterolepis, Glvptolepis, and Osteolepis. No Silurian rocks have been discovered in Morayshire. The interior of the county is composed of Hyppgene masses, but, so far as thes'e have been examined, they present little worthy of special notice. Neither Volcanic nor Trappian rocks have heen met with, hut the dip of the Old Red Sandstone strata (sometimes as much as twelve to fifteen degrees) shews that powerful subterraneous forces at one time prevailed in the district. The " Sketch of the Geology of Morayshire," by P. Duff, Esq. of Elgin, published some years ago, contains much information on the subject to which it refers, and is beautifully illustrated by engravings of the unique specimens in the author's cabinet. There are, besides the collection referred to, that of the Elgin Museum, and several others, belonging to Mr. Martin, Mr. Robertson, and other gentlemen in the town and its vicinity, all of which are, doubtless, open to the inspection of the geological wanderer. According to Mr. Duff, the following is the Descending Series in Morayshire. 1. Purbreck beds of the Wealden, a branch of the Oolite. Localities. Linksfield, Pitgaveny, Spynie, Waulkmill, and Maryhill. 2. Inferior Oolite. Inverugie, Duffus-house, and Lhanbryde. 3. Cprnstone Linksfield, Inverugie, Glassgreen, Cothall. 4. Old red sandstone, or Devonian System.^ (a.) Yellow, or Uppermost Division. Bishopmill and Quarrywood. (}.) Gray or Middle Division. Newton, Moor of Alves, Burgh-head, Hopeman, Covesea, Lossiemouth, and sections of the Findhom above Cothall to Sluie. (c.) Lowest, or Red Division. Dipple, Burn of Tynet, Clunie, Lethan Bar (fossiliferous), and Lossiemouth and Laurencetown (unfossiliferous.) JV. At Lethan Bar and Clunie, the fossil fish occur in crvstalized fibro-caleareous nodules of an elliptical form, embedded in a bituminous shale, which is there the representative of the great calcareo-bituminous schists of Caithness and Ross shires. The same strata are prolonged westward, and are found to be fossiliferous in the ridge of the Leys, in Strathnairn, and behind Inverness. The height of Covesea hill is 288 feet ; "of Quarrywood hill, 280 feet ; Pluscardine hill, 776 feet; and the hill of Dallas, 850 feet. 350 ULTIMA FTOROTON. SECT. VI. round the chamber, about 6 feet from the top of the walls, and at one of its angles is a pedestal for a statue. The communi- cation from without is through an excavated passage on one side, and a flight of stone steps ascending to the surface of the ground. The chamber is coated with plaster, which, though now faded, was, when first opened, of a deep red colour, and its angles are rounded. No Roman coins have been dug up here, but on some shapeless slabs of freestone met with in the well, the figure of a bull is outlined in coarse basso-relievo, believed to have been sculptured by the Roman soldiers. There can hardly be a doubt that Burgh-head is the Ultima Ptoroton of the Romans, mentioned in the monk Richard of Cirencester's curious but questionable journal, said to have been written A.D. 1338. The position assigned by him to that station is the mouth of the Varar, which is generally admitted to mean the river Beauly, one branch of which is still named the Farrar ; and there are reasons for thinking that this river then flowed through the open strath on which the sea has since encroached, forming the Beauly Firth, and that the dry land at that time extended as far eastward as the promontory on which Fort-George stands ; so that Burgh-head and Tarbetness, opposite to it, would have really composed the points of the Varar jEstuarium. General Roy in his " Military Antiquities," and Chalmers in his "Caledonia," concur in opinion that Tuesis, a name made use of in connexion with Ptoroton, was a station near the mouth of the river Spey, probably at Bellie, north of Gordon Castle, where there are still the vestiges of an encamp- ment believed to be Roman. A place called Varis is stated as eight miles distant from Ptoroton. The name and the distance correspond with those of Forres (in Gaelic Far-Uisge, pronounced Famish) ; above which, midway, round the highest of the Clunie Hills, are traces of an encampment ; while at the Doune Hill of Relugas, and, we believe, some others also of the neighbouring vitrified forts and ancient British strongholds, remains of Roman pottery and arms have been found, seemingly indicating that they were occupied for a short time by that people. Towards the south, between Forres and Cromdale, near Grantown, on the Spey, there are traces for several miles through the hills of what appears to have been a Roman road. In two different routes to Ptoroton, Tuesis or the Spey is noticed, and on one is set down as the stage next to that place, and on the other to ROUTE III. COVES OF CAUSSIE. 351 Varis, and Varis to Ptoroton : Bellie and Cromdale seem exactly to answer this description of the situation of Ptoroton. It is easy, however, to deceive one's self, like Monkbarns, on Anti- quarian matters : and Mr. Arrowsmith has shown many reasons for our being suspicious of the old English monk and all the modern illustrations of his supposed journey to Scotland. We may add, however, as matter of fact, that some years ago Burgh- head was known among the country people of this district by the name of Torrietown. The Norwegian Earls of Orkney, who were in constant warfare with the Scottish Earls of Suther- land and Caithness, and the pirates from Denmark and Norway who infested our seas for nearly four centuries, are known to have found at Ptoroton a commodious harbour for their fleets, and an impregnable fortress ; and after their occupation of it the place acquired its modern Norse appellation of Burgh-head. All our historians are silent as to the length of time during which it was either permanently held or occasionally resorted to by these Northmen. About two miles east of Burgh-head, a range of high rocky cliffs commences, containing a series of caves, and presenting some fine cliff scenery : they are called the Coves of Caussie, and are celebrated as the resort of bands of tinkers or Scottish gipsies ; and close by them is the house of Gordonstown, built by the last Sir Robert of that old family, a cadet of the House of Sutherland, and who, from his morose disposition, and retired scientific habits, was believed to have dealt in the "Black Art" of Diablerie, and to have had no shadow like other men. Sir William Gordon Gumming of Altyre and Gordonstown, now en- joys this estate and baronetcy. 22. We now resume the route along the main post road. A beautiful drive through the woods, and past the freestone quar- ries, of Quarrywood (belonging to the Fife property), and be- hind the Knock of Alves, brings us (four miles from Elgin) at Newton (Forteath) upon a high moorish table land, along which, with a few slight undulations, the road continues to Forres overlooking the plain or " laigh of Moray," an immense stretch of cultivated land, scarcely elevated above the present sea-level, and on the further side .of which a continuous ridge extends westwards from the Stotfield lighthouse to the hill of Roseille at right angles, to which the bold promontory of Burgh-head juts out into the ocean. Along with the next western seaport 352 SWENO'S STONE ABBEY OF KINLOSS. SECT. VI. of Findhorn, it will be descried as dotted over with clusters of houses and shipping. The ridge alluded to was at one time an insular one, and was likely elevated by a granitic upheaval, which has burst out among the sandstones at Stotfield in the form of pure white and highly crystallized quartz rock, with small veins and nests of galena or lead ore. On the farther side of the firth the mountain ranges of Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross, come distinctly into view ; while more to the west the bluff Sutors of Cromarty in the foreground lead off the eye to the Cromarty or Dingwall firth, backed by the huge and im- posing form of Ben Wy vis, and the more elegantly-formed peaks of Strath Conon. The proprietors along this stage are chiefly the Earl of Moray, Campbell Brodie of Lethan, and Grant Peterkin of Grange ; and the places of most interest along the road side are the village of the Crook, and old kirk of Alves on the right ; the Free Church of the same parish, with the old towers of Burgie and Blervie on the left. 23. Half a mile from Forres the celebrated carved cross or obelisk, called Sweno's Stone, stands on the right hand, on the margin of a field close to the toll-bar, whence a road strikes off to Findhorn. Since the days of Pennant it has given rise to many puzzling questions among archaeologists. It is about twenty feet high above ground, and is carved over with figures of warriors, both on foot and horseback (some of them also de- capitated), and with birds and animals, together with very beau- tiful Runic knots and circles, cut in alto-relievo. By whom, or for what purpose, this very costly pillar was erected, are ques- tions as yet undetermined, and on which our limits forbid us to enter ; except to remark, that the general belief is, that it was erected to celebrate the final expulsion of the Danes, in the reign of Malcolm II., from this coast ; and that an expression in a charter of the neighbouring lands of Burgie by Alexander II., and which bears, among other signatures, that of Freskinus de Moravia, stating that the grant extended " a magno quercu in Malvin usque ad Rune Pictorum" is supposed as possibly re- ferring to Sweno's stone, and to be the earliest written document which mentions it. 24. Two miles north of this obelisk are the ruins of the once extensive and beautiful Abbey of Kinloss, founded in 1150 by the pious King David I. The monks were Cistertians, and amply endowed ; and they appear to have been excellent gar- ROUTE III. FORRES. 353 deners. The abbots were mitred, and had a seat in Parliament. In 1650, the Laird of Lethen, the then proprietor, with Gothic- barbarity, consented to the destruction of this stately edifice, and converted it into a quarry for the erection of Cromwell's citadel at Inverness. It stood on a slightly elevated plain, bor- dering the wide embouchure, or bay, into which the river Earn or Findhorn empties itself below Forres, and from which its waters are again ushered through a narrow passage into the open sea at the port of Findhorn. This village is beset with great sand-banks, on which a heavy surf is generally beating, and as these bars frequently shift their position, the navigation is not pleasant. Findhorn, it is be- lieved, has changed its site more than once, owing to the en- croachments of the sands which have been drifted along from the westwards. The extensive and beautiful estate of Culbin, or Coubin, on the west side of the estuary, anciently called " the granary of Moray," having been possessed, from the earliest times, by a wealthy family of the name of Kinnaird, who derived their des- cent from Freskinus, first Lord of Moray, and whose last curious monument (dated in 1613) still exists in the adjoining church- yard of Dyke, was swallowed up, about two centuries ago, by these moving sands, which rise on it in long shelving hillocks and ridges to the height of more than 100 feet above the sea. 25. Forres probably stands on the site of the ancient Varris of Ptolemy, one of the stages between Ptoroton (Burgh-head), the farthest Roman station on this coast, and their permanent encampments in Strathspey, and on their road across the cen- tral chain of the Grampian mountains. At the west end of the town, a high projecting bank, level on the surface, but steep on three sides, is supposed to have been the site of the Roman camp ; and on the same foundation the Castle of Forres, a strong- hold of the Earls of Moray, and frequently dignified, both before and during their sway, by the presence of royalty, was subse- quently built. A small part of the walls, and the lower dun- geons of this structure, still remain. Forres was the seat of the Archdean of Moray, but it was never rich in ecclesiastical buildings. The modern town of Forres contains at present about 3701) inhabitants, and is situated on a dry and beautiful terraced bank, sloping gently towards the south and north, having one Q2 354 CLDNIE HILLS TARNAWAY CASTLE. SECT. VI. main street, with numerous lanes of houses diverging from its sides, which are separated from one another by old and produc- tive gardens. Forres commands the advantages of cheap living, and a good seminary of education, a large parish church, a free church, one or two dissenting meeting-houses, and an Episcopal chapel, a new jail and court-house, a decorated cross, handsome assembly rooms, two excellent inns, and the Forres Gazette; and its neighbourhood has always possessed a polite and kind gentry. None of the buildings in the town require particular notice ; but the traveller will not fail to perceive strong indica- tions of the Flemish origin of the people in their fair features, broad dialect, and in the old-fashioned style of having their houses generally erected with their gables towards the street, and in the low Saxon archways, conducting to their inner courts and small dark shops. The very beautiful undulating range of the Clunie Hills, which are crowned with pine woods, and encircled with nume- rous walks, press in upon the town towards the south. On the nearest of them an ancient hill fort stood the first link, also, it is probable, of the chain of signal-posts which extended from the sea to the interior of the country, and by means of which the approach of hostile fleets was announced in ancient times to the inhabitants of the inland glens. In its room a high tower has been erected, to commemorate the victory of Trafalgar under Lord Nelson ; from the summit of which a most extensive view is obtained of all the very varied lands and mountain screens bordering the Moray Firth. We have in a separate chapter (Route n. D.) described the scenery about Altyre and the upper parts of the Findhorn, and we have here only to remind the tourist, that he ought, on no account, to quit Forres without examining the course of the stream upwards from Findhorn bridge, by Cothall, the Rarn- phlet, and Sluie, to Logic and Relugas, and thence to Farness, with the glen of the Divie, than which, a finer or more varied walk does not exist in all Scotland. 26. Crossing now the Findhorn, along the handsome sus- pension bridge latterly erected over it, the road skirts, for the first two miles on the left, the lower fringes of the Tamaway oak and pine forest which extends for many miles inland, con- cealing from view, though not far distant, Tarnaway Castle, the northern seat of the Earl of Moray. The grounds them- ROUTE III. TARNAWAY CASTLE. 355 selves are well worthy of being examined ; but the castle hall, an apartment 90 feet long by 35 feet broad, is inferior to none in Scotland, and resembles much the Parliament House of Edinburgh. The walls rise to the height of 30 feet, and a carved roof of solid black oak, divided by large knobs and compartments, forms the arched ceiling. A suitable fire-place that would roast a stalled ox, an enormous oaken table, and some carved chairs, still garnish this hall, though the modern apartments in front of it but ill correspond with its Gothic character. It was erected as a hunting-lodge, in the fourteenth century, by Randolph, first Earl of Moray, the friend and com- panion of Robert the Bruce, and Regent of Scotland during the minority of David II. ; but it was not the Earl's chief country residence, as, in the charter of erection of the earldom, the Castle of Elgin, "manerium de Elgyn," is appointed "pro capi- tali mansione comitatus Moravite." It appears also, from a charter of Robert III. to Thomas le Graunt, son of John le Grant, dated in 1390 (Regist. No. 22, p. 473), that there was an older royal castle of Tarnaway, which was previously in the keeping of the Cumings, and afterwards of the Grants ; and in fact, the Cuming family, Earls of March, seem to have been introduced from Forfarshire, as the great instruments for ex- terminating, or at least suppressing, the early insurrections of the clan Chattan, who were thus in all probability the aboriginal Celtic inhabitants of Moray. 27. The road now rapidly passes along the estate of Brodie of Brodie, an old and respectable family, whose castle (modern- ized) lies on the north side surrounded with fine old trees, and the hall of which is a small but beautiful specimen of its sort, with a finely carved pendant roof of oak. The adjoining church- yard of Dyke contains one of the strange old sculptured obelisks which abound in this district ; and immediately to the eastward is the beautiful little property and mansion-house of Dalvey (Norman M'Leod), distinguished in the north for its flower gardens and conservatories, and which fully justify the eulogium of old, passed by George Buchanan on the amenity and produc- tiveness of this district. 28. About a mile beyond Brodie, we quit Elgin or Moray shire and enter on the parish of Auldearn and county of Nairn ; and, ascending a little eminence, we see beneath, on the north, an extensive plain, stretching eastwards from an old tower (the 356 MVCBETR'S WITCHES AULDEARN. SECT. vi. Castle of Inchok) for several miles, but partially cultivated, and exhibiting many ugly dark pools and quagmires. Until a recent period the whole neighbourhood, to the banks of the Findhorn, was bleak and heathery, and passed under the name of the " hard moor." Tradition assigns to it a highly classic interest, as being the "blasted heath," on which Macbeth, according to Shakespere, met the "weird sisters ;" and a little hillock planted with fir trees, immediately north of the toll-bar west of Brodie, is shown as the precise spot at which they vanished from the sight of the ambitious usurper. "Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence ': or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, 1 charge you." Well might a traveller, in the olden time, here anxiously inquire, " How far is't call'd to Forres V The thanedom of Cawdor is made, in the dialogue between Macbeth and Banquo, an object only second to the crown : "Macbeth. Your children shall be kings, Banguo. You shall be king. Macbeth. And Thane of Cawdor, too; went it not so? Banquo. To the self same tune and words." After all, these same thanedoms could not have been such objects of ambition as the dramatist and popular belief make them ; for, from the undoubted evidence of the Registrum Mo- raviense, or Chartulary of Elgin Cathedral (page 471-2), it appears that there were at least four of them between Nairn and Forres namely, Cawdor, Moyness, Brothyn, now Brodie, and Dyke ; and an opinion is gaining ground among antiquaries, that the term Thane is a Saxon translation of a Celtic office of no great dignity and importance; and that latterly, at least, the landed territory belonging to such was partially cultivated, and was not always held of the crown, or even of a subject- superior, for the usual return of personal military service. 29. Auldearn, two miles farther on, a village of considerable antiquity, at which the river Nairn seems at one time to have emptied itself into the sea, and where the district road from Inverness and Cawdor joins the post road, is noted as the scene of a most sanguinary battle (in 1645) between the celebrated .Marquis of Montrose, the King's Lieut.-General in Scotland, and the Parliamentary army, commanded by the experienced ROUTE HI. BATTLE OF AULDEARN. 357 Hurry, and the Earls of Sutherland and Seaforth, who were accompanied by the flower of the covenanting clans, and the gentry of Moray and Aberdeen. A sketch of the order of battle and onset is subjoined.* In the burying-ground of Auldearn, there are several inte- resting covenanting monuments, and also some of the Hays of Lochloy and Moyness, whose Castle of Inchok stands a ruin a little to the eastward. It was in apology of an injury done to * The battle of Auldearn was fought on the 9th May 1645. Montrose seems to have calculated for success almost entirely on generalship and artifice ; and he made an exquisitely skilful arrangement of his troops. The ground he selected was a sort of hollow, behind, or to the east of the ridge on which stands the village of Auldearn, and behind various other heights which stretch northward from that village, towards the house of Boath. He arranged his army in two wings or divisions : one, consisting of the Gordons and the horse, he placed on the left, to the south of the village; the other, comprehending the Irish and Highlanders, he arranged on the right, amidst the gardens and enclosed fields to the north of Auldearn. The former he commanded in person, with Lord Gordon under him ; the latter was given in charge to Alaster MacCol. The entire village intervening betwixt the two bodies was only occupied by a few foot, who however displayed a number of banners, and passed off for a main body. He gave the charge of the royal standard a large yellow banner to MacCol, in the expectation that it would induce the enemy to attack him with their best regi- ments ; in which case, as they were sure to be difficulted in charging, he calculated upon deciding the day by attacking their flank obliquely with his left wing at the moment of distress, when the whole were almost sure of being thrown into irreme- diable confusion. The battle turned out almost exactly as he had calculated. Hurry, the covenant- ing general, on approaching him from Tuairn (with an army of 3500 foot and 600 horse, to whom Montrose could only oppose 1500 foot and 200 horse), found it totally impos- sible to comprehend the arrangements of an enemy who had taken up so mysterious a position ; but was induced, by the sight of the royal standard on the right wing, to direct his strength chiefly upon that point. His men not only met there with a warm reception from MacCol, but presently became confused by reason of the enclosures and ditches through which they had to make their charge. When Montrose saw them in that condition, he brought forward the left wing, which, by an arrangement similar to that of Epaminondas at Leuctra, was much the strongest, and made a furious flank attack upon the great mass of the covenanting enemy. This being chiefly com- posed of raw Highland foot from Ross and Sutherland, probably averse to the cause, was quite unable to withstand the charge of the Gordon chivalry, led, as it was, by such men as Montrose, Lord Gordon, and the brave Sir Nathaniel. Hurry saw the advantage his opponent had gained, and endeavoured to neutralise it, by ordering his whole horse to the support of the wavering lines on his right ; but the commanding officer, a Captain Drummoud, either through treachery or stupidity, misapprehended the order, and, wheeling to the left instead of the right, only tlirew the disciplined regiments who were contending with MacCol into greater confusion. It was at this battle that this Hebridian ally MacCol, commonly called Macdonald Colkitto, performed most signal prodigies of valour almost single-handed. With the impetuosity of a Highlander, he had permitted himself to be drawn beyond the enclosures, which Montrose had assigned to him to defend, by the insulting language of the enemy, and, in consequence, he was nearly surrounded and cut to pieces. At one time he received several successive pikes on his target; but by his amazing strength of arm he cut off the heads of those weapons, sometimes more than one at a time, and by one particular stroke, no fewer than five, breaking his own sword. The enemy's foot fought most bravely; and this was one of the most sanguinary battles ever fought by Highlanders, there having been no less than 3000 of the Covenanters slain (of whom, it is said, 87 left widows in the lordship of Lovat alone) ; while Montrose only lost 24 men, and captured 16 standards and the whole baggage and provisions of his opponents, whose general officers had great difficulty in escaping to Inverness. 358 NAIRN. SECT. VI. this family in a cattle-lifting raid that Cameron of Lochiel wrote to the Laird of Grant on the 18th October 164o, that his men went not to his " worship's bounds, lot to Morray land q" all men take yair prey, nor knew not y* Moyness was ane Graunt, but thocht y l he was ane Morray man ;" and adding, in reference to the conflict that had occurred at the " lifting" "that who got the greatest loss be refearrit to the sight of friends that luveth us both alyke ; for their is such a truble heir [Glenlocharkeg in Lochaber] we cannot luke to the samin for the present time, for we have aught men dead alreadie, and twelve or thirteen under cure, q lk I know not quho shall die or quho shall live ! " 30. Nairn is a clean, healthy, little town, on a dry airy bank, rising from the river of that name, near its embouchure into the sea ; having, on a lower beach, a cluster of fishermen's houses, called the sea-town. It is a royal burgh, uniting with Forres, Fortrose, and Inverness, in sending a representative to Parliament ; and, anciently, it had a royal castle, of which the neighbouring Barons, Roses of Kilravock, were constables. A jail and court-house, a large and comfortable hotel, three banks, and five churches (one of them intended for an Episcopal con- gregation), a good academy, a free church school, and an in- firmary, constitute its principal public buildings ; while in the neighbourhood, are several pretty villas and numerous well- stocked gardens. The soil is early and kindly ; and from the cheapness of living, purity of the air, and especially from its having an extensive sandy sea-beach, Nairn is, in summer, a resort of many strangers for sea-bathing. A most comfortable set of warm and cold salt-water baths have been fitted up on the shore, which are let out on very moderate terms. Recently the harbour has been greatly enlarged, and a long jetty thrown out, so as to give safe access to sailing vessels and steamers, which now touch at Nairn as one of their regular calling ports. It was of this town that the facetious King James VI. was wont to boast to his English courtiers, that he had a town in Scot- land " sae lang, that the folk at the tae end couldna understand the tongue spoken at the tother" alluding to its being inha- bited by Gaelic Celts at the west end, and by Broad Scotch fishermen at the opposite extremity. 31. One mile west from Nairn the house of Balblair (to the left), on the summit of a lofty terrace, marks the spot where the ROUTE III. CAMPBELLTOWN. 359 Duke of Cumberland's army lay encamped in April, 1746, prior to their marching to fight the decisive battle on Culloden or Drumossie Moor. It overlooks the whole route by which the Highlanders had to approach in their meditated night attack ; and the spot may be seen from it (about two miles off), where the rebels faced about, in the early dawn, on perceiving, by the watch-fires and the noise of the kettle-drums, that their enemy was aware of their advance, and could not be taken by surprise. West of the encampment a great extent of dark and very deep peat mosses, with quagmires and ugly lakes, may be seen, filling hollows in the gravel beds, which here overspread the district. These peat hags are continued almost uninterruptedly west- wards to the great moss of Petty, which is nearly on a level with the sea, and seems at one time to have been overflown by it. 32. A little way beyond the second mile-stone the road forks into two, the branch inclining to the left being the newest and shortest route to Inverness, while that which proceeds direct on to the right (and along which the mail coach still travels) leads to the village of Campbelltown and the garrison of Fort-George, described below.* The undulating gravel plain we are now passing, is in itself quite uninteresting, except that in summer and autumn it is rendered beautiful by the rich yellow blossoms of the furze, or whins and broom, succeeded by the crimson of the heather bell, and that cultivation and improvement increase as we get west- wards. On the road side, towards Fort-George, a few upright * The village of Camplelltmcn (eleven miles and a-half from Inverness) is a burgh of barony on Earl Cawdor's property. It is a poor place; but on the high bank behind the town there are the mounds of an ancient British hill fort, called Crorual (by some supposed to have been a station of Oliver Cromwell's troops), which com- mands a most extensive view. It is likewise a locality of several rare plants, espe- cially the beautiful mountain pink (Dianthus deltoides), which also occurs on the Ross-shire coast, especially near Craigton, at Kessock. Fort-George is situated on the point of Ardersier (one mile from Campbelltown), which projects far out into the sea, and appears from a ditance as if united to the opposite point of Chanonry in Ross. It is an irregular polygon, with six bastions, mounting 18 twenty-four, 25 eighteen, 22 twelve, and 4 six pounders, and 4 thirteen- inch mortars. It was built soon after the rebellion of 1745, for the purpose of keeping the Highlanders in subjection. The land front is defended by a ditcn, covert way, ana glacis, two lunettes and a ravelin, mounting 8 twelve-pounders. The north and south curtains are casemated, each containing 27 bomb-proof apartments, fifty-two feet long by twelve feet wide. The grand magazine is bomb-proof, and will hold 2474 barrels of gunpowder. The staff buildings lie towards the land front, and are occu- pied by the governor's, lieutenant-governor's, and officers' quarters: the artillery barracks are also in these buildings. At the eastern extremity of the garrison there are two small casemated magazines, fifty feet long by thirty-four broad, with ammu- nition made up for immediate use. The barracks are constructed for a governor, .".(JO CASTLE STEWART. SECT. VI. stones of memorial, circles of stones, and circular enclosures of earth (like the pond barrows of England), seem to indicate the sites of ancient encampments and battle-fields. The other road is fringed by the fine woods of Kilravock and Cawdor (as to "/tick see Branch A. to this Route), and every step as we advance, the hills of the Highlands, to whose capital Inverness we are now advancing, seem to approach us in increasing beauty, pre- senting in close detail and relief their garniture of trees, and fields, and wide heaths, with summits of every variety of out- line. 33. Conspicuous on the ridge to the left is the old Castle of Dalcross (see Branch A. Route in.), where Cumberland's troops were put in battle array by his officers, ere entering on their last tough conflict with Prince Charlie's clans on the same ridge a little to the westward ; and on the plain of Pettie below, Castle Stewart (six miles from Inverness) comes in sight, near the junction of the upper road with the old military one from Fort-George, and on the line of the latter. 34. Castle Stewart, a residence of Lord Moray, is worthy of a visit, as a fine example of the castellated mansion, interme- diate between the baronial keep and the plain modern house. It consists of a large high-roofed building of several storeys, the lower having a row of cells or dungeons ; the upper contain- ing the great hall and principal apartments. In front it is pro- tected by two projecting square towers thrown out from either extremity ; and behind it is fretted with a variety of long-stalked chimneys, hanging bedchambers, pointed windows, and round pepper-box turrets. The western tower is the largest and hand- somest, and contained the principal entrance-gate and main staircase. It appears to be of greater antiquity than the rest lieutenant-governor, fort-major, chaplain, 8 field-officers, 22 captains, 56 subalterns, and 2090 non-commissioned officers and privates. The fort is also provided with a chapel, brewliousc, bakehouse, and inn, and is supplied with water from eight punip- welfs. At the north and west angles the sea has thrown up large gravel Uiuiks, hut on the east it has rather been encroaching too near the foundation of the walls; "and like all other promontories opposed to the sea, this one must necessarily, though very gradually, give way on one side, while the debris will be deposited in a bay or hollow on the other. The drawbridges and main approach form an elegant and imposing piece of workmanship, and tne whole of the masonry lias been executed in the handsomest and firmest manner. Fort-George, in short, is considered a model of for it is thought ew ocers wo are oge o rese n urng e ppng mes o peace n exceedingly dull ; and, certainly, had their comfort, and the interests of the Highlands in general, been thought of at the tune of its erection, it would have been ouilt at Inverness, not on the remote cold promontory on which the garrison now stands. ROUTE HI. CASTLE STEWART. 361 of the building ; and may, perhaps, be part of the older castle of Hallhill, often mentioned in the annals of this parish, and which for some time was possessed by the Ogilvies of Findlater. It was burnt in the year 1513. Till very lately, this castle was celebrated for its orchard, especially for its geans, a small kind of cherry ; and the forest trees round the park were among the finest in the country. The apartments inside had become dis- figured, the rafters were carried away, and the slates had fallen from the roof, and the whole fabric was fast crumbling into ruin, had not the proprietor, the late Earl of Moray, seasonably interfered, and given orders for restoring the structure as much as possible to its ancient beauty. The precise period at which this castle was erected is disputed. By some it is said to have been a favourite residence of James IV., and to have been built as a hunting-seat. Others assert that the Eegent Moray was its founder, and that Queen Mary occasionally paid it a visit. Its style of architecture rather belies the antiquity assigned to it ; and the date on the building (1625) tallies with the only authentic notice we can find of it, which is in Sir Robert Gor- don's Earldom of Sutherland, p. 391. Speaking of a dissension between the Earl of Moray and the clan Chattan, the historian says, " This year (1624) they goe (the clan Chattan) to ane hous which he (the earl) hath now of late built in Pettie, called Cas- tell Stuart ; they dryve away his servants from thence, and doe possess themselves of all the Earl of Moray his rents in Pettie. Thus they intend to stand out against him." The whole dis- trict, however, originally, we suspect, belonged to the clan Chat- tan, and they were only trying to regain what the "bonnie" Earls of Moray had gradually squeezed from them. The estate of Culloden, on which we now enter, was the last holding on the plain of Pettie which belonged to the Mackintosh, chief of clan Chattan, and it was parted with in James VI.'s time to the founder of the Culloden family (Duncan Forbes, provost of In- verness, and an advocate at the Scottish bar), for good service done, in protecting the laird at court against the oppressions of the Earls of Moray and Huntly. Four miles from Inverness is seen on the left the House of Culloden, a stately mansion, in the style of the English palaces of last century, beauti- fully embosomed in woods ; and in which, besides some relics of the " forty-five," there is a good collection of paintings one, 362 MOAT HILLS INVERNESS. SECT. VI. in particular, by Titian, the " Flight into Egypt," being highly valued. Behind Castle Stewart are previously seen, on the right, the church and manse of Pettie, with the bay of that name beneath. On the bank above are two of the largest tumuli, called Moat Hills, in this country. The circumference of each is at the base 150 feet, at the top 120 ; and the height 42 feet. On the south side of the bay an immense stone, weighing at least eight tons, which marked the boundaries between the estates of Moray and Culloden, was, on the night of Saturday, the 20th February 1799, removed and carried forward into the sea about 260 yards. Some believe that nothing short of an earthquake could have moved such a mass ; but it is more probable that a large sheet of ice, which had collected to the thickness of eighteen inches round the stone, had been raised by the tide, lifting the stone with it, and that their motion forward was aided by a tremen- dous hurricane which blew from the land.* 35. At length (when three and a-half miles off) the smoke, with the houses and shipping, of Inverness the low lying High- land capital come into view across a reach of the Moray Firth, the waters of which, pressed in at Kessock Ferry (which sepa- rates Inverness from Ross-shire), again expand and fill the inner basin of Loch Beauly, the huge lengthened bulk of Ben Wy vis looming high above the skirting eminences. The oppos- ing shores are lined with terraced gravel banks, on which are seen numerous cottages and farm-steads ; and the prospect on all hands, and particularly to the south-west, along the course of the great Caledonian valley the foreground intersected by rich belts of hardwood and westwards, in the direction of the Lovat country, called the Aird, and Strath Glass ranges of dis- tant mountains rising beyond the valley of the firth is from this point as varied and beautiful as can well be imagined. The mid-distance of the picture, also, is very elegantly set off and framed, as it were, between the opposite hills and vitrified forts of Craig-Phadrick, and the Ord of Kessock, which guard the entrance to Loch Beauly. * On the plain of Pettie, and near the junction of the roads last mentioned, a number of small, but very perfect, Druidical circles are to be seen. They vary in form, but in general there are two concentric circles, with the stones set close toge- ther, and havmg an outer circle of larger ones several feet apart from each other. In one instance, two circles touch one another, forming the figure 8. ROUTE III. MAOKMORS OF MORAY. 363 36. Our readers will elsewhere find ample details as to the accommodations and sights in and around Inverness. (See Section iv.) We have only farther to inform them, that in the latter part of the present route, since quitting the Spey, they have been travelling over a portion of the old Province or See of Moray, which, both as to physical structure, and from the history and prevailing language of the inhabitants, rather be- longs to the Lowlands than to the Highlands of Scotland. Anciently, however, the whole of this district was possessed by Gaelic tribes, governed by one of the most powerful families, the great Celtic Maormors of Moray. Continually engaged with hostile Norsemen, who were located on the northern shores of their firth, and who seem occasionally to have established themselves even in the " laigh of Moray," these native lords appear also to have had some pretensions to the Scottish crown, and hence to have drawn their followers into repeated ruinous insurrections against the ruling sovereign, which ended in a most extraordinary exercise of power (scarcely to be credited, were it not confirmed by undoubted authorities) the almost total expulsion and extermination of the inhabitants by King Malcolm IV., in the year 1161, and the settling of a colony of strangers, chiefly Flemings, in their stead (See Chambers' Cale- donia, and Preface to the Registrum Moravien). Hence the cu- rious association in Moray, and partly at Inverness, of Gaelic names of places, with such surnames of persons as Barbour, Brodie, Cant, Cowper, Duff, Dunbar, Fleming, Forsyth, Hay, Innes, Peterkyn, Russell, Reid, Suter, Wilson, Wyat, Wiseman ; and hence the reason of the comparatively modern Highland maxim regarding Moray, as usurped by the Sassanack, and as therefore a " land where all men may take their prey." ROUTE THIRD. BRANCH A. INVERNESS TO THE FIELD OP THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN, TO CLAVA, CASTLES DALCBOSS, KILRAVOCK, AND CAWDOR, TO FORT OEOBGE, AND TO THE FINDHORN. Iloads ; Castle Stewart ; Campbelltown ; Tort-George ; Cross Road to Cawdor Cast le, paragraph 1. Battle of Culloden, or Drummossie Moor; Nature of the Ground, 2. 364 INVERNESS ITINERARY. SECT. VI. Disposition of the Forces, and Battle, 3. Charge of the Highlanders, and their final overthrow, 4. Stone Monuments on the Plain of Clava, 5. Great Boulder Stone or Tomriach, 6. Dalcross Castle, 7. Kilravock Castle, 8. Holme and Cantray, 9. Cawdor or Calder Castle, 10. Thanes of Cawdor, History of, 11. Historv of the Castle, and Clan Conflict, 12. Family Traditions, 13. Scenery ; Oak Wood of Cawdor, 14. Roads to Dulsie, and the Banks of the Findhorn and Strathspey, 15. Raits Castle, 16. Miles. Inverness to Fort-George 13 Fort-George to Cawdor Inn 9 Cawdor, by Cantray and the Moor of Culloden, to Inverness 15 37 1. A VERT interesting day's excursion from Inverness may be enjoyed, by going to breakfast at Campbell town (12 miles) or Fort-George (13 miles), examining Castle Stewart (described page 360) by the way, and then proceeding to Cawdor Castle (7 miles) by the military way from the garrison, which runs nearly due south, to a bridge over the river Nairn, from which Cawdor inn is distant 2 miles to the eastward, and returning in the evening to Inverness by Cantray and the Moor of Culloden, or Dalcross- Castle ; or by reversing this order, and returning by Fort-George. The stage to Campbelltown and Fort- George, and the char- acter of the country backwards to the woods of Cawdor, have already been described (Route in. p. 360) ; and if the tourist does not mean to visit Fort-George, but to proceed direct to Cawdor without returning to Inverness, his best course is either to pro- ceed along the Nairn post-road, beyond the point where it severs from the Fort-George road,* for 2 miles, when a good cross-road will be found leading directly south-east over the ridge of the Leys, past Dalcross Castle to Cantray, where it crosses the river Nairn ; or if he keep the north side the better road of the two at the intersection of the Culloden Moor road, the route lies along the latter north-eastwards by Croy Church and Kilravock, and joins the military way at Clephan- ton ; or he may keep the Nairn post-road all the way till it meets the military one at Breachley, 9 miles from Inverness, and then turn south alongst it. If, on the other hand, the tourist is inclined to proceed by the Moor of Culloden, he takes the great Perth road for the first 3 miles, and immediately be- hind the house of Castlehill, and past Inshes Porter's Lodge, he will find a district road proceeding eastward, which passes * Four and a-half miles from Inverness. ROUTE III. A. BATTLE OF CULLODEN. 365 through the field of battle, and proceeds thence along the ridge between Dalcross Castle and Cantray. Cawdor, by this route, is 15 miles from Inverness. Between Cawdor and Craggy Inn a pretty good road leads along the south bank of the river Nairn, which the pedestrian or horseman can attain by pro- ceeding due south from the spot where the battle of Culloden was fought, whereby he will come across the stone monuments of Clava by the way ; but wheeled carriages will find it diffi- cult to reach the road on the south bank, through the rough fords of the Nairn. The pedestrian can cross it at the wooden bridge of Culdoich above Clava, and by thus gaming the south bank, he will not only considerably shorten the distance from Inverness, but command the best views of Cantray, Holme, and Kilravock Castle, which are passed 2 or 3 miles lower down. BATTLE OF 00LLODEN OB DRUMMOSSIE MOOR. 2. So much has been written on the battle of Culloden, where closed the rebellion of 1745-6, that we shall trouble our readers only with a very short notice of it. It is quite evident that no Highland troops should have fought there, even though their object was to protect and cover Inverness, especially when opposed by horse and artillery : and it seems equally certain that there was something worse than foolishness among the leaders when they perilled their cause on an open heath, while a rough and hilly country lay so near them. Had the rebel army also fallen on the Duke of Cumberland's camp at Nairn, the previous night, as was attempted, they would have found him prepared ; for the Duke's Highlanders had mixed in the ranks of their adversaries during the march, and sent intelli- gence every half hour of their approach. A monumental tumulus or obelisk on the heath, lately be- gun, marks the spot where the contest was fiercest ; and the public road passes through the graves of the slain, which con- sist of two or three grass-covered mounds, rising slightly above the adjoining heath, at the distance of about 200 or 300 yards from some corn land and a cluster of cottages, where the Eng- lish artillery took up its position, a slight marshy hollow in- tervening between them and the Highland army. The spot is about six miles distant from Inverness. On all sides the near prospect is bleak and dreary ; while the general smoothness of 366 BATTLE OF CULLODEK. SECT. VI. the ground points it out as favourable for the movements of cavalry and artillery, but proportionably ill adapted for the protection or defence of the foot soldier. Such is the nature of the ground on which Prince Charles Edward ventured to peril his cause against the disciplined troops of England. His army was drawn up a little to the west of the graves, in a line from south to north, right across the moor inclining towards the parks of Culloden House. 3. Exhausted with hunger and fatigue, dispersed, and buried in sleep in the neighbouring hamlets and enclosures, very many of the Highland army could not possibly be present at this battle. Some had gone to Inverness for food ; others had not joined, as many had been permitted to retire to their homes during the winter season ; and, of those who had just taken up arms, the Macphersons of Badenoch were but that day (16th of April 1746) on their march from the interior to the camp at Inverness. The right of the Prince's front line was composed of the Athole men and Camerons ; in the centre stood the Frasers, Mackintoshes, Maclachlans, and Macleans ; on the left, the Stewarts, Farquharsons, and the three Macdonald regi- ments, commanded by the chiefs, Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. Behind, and towards the right of the second line were Lord Ogilvie's, Lord Lewis Gordon's and the Duke of Perth's regiments, diminished to very small companies, but supported on the left by the Irish pickets. A few horse were stationed in rear of the right wing, and on the gradually as- cending ground behind these stood Prince Charles and his French and Irish counsellors. The declivity of the moor to- wards the house of Culloden, being soft and marshy, rendered it somewhat unfit for the movements of cavalry ; while the right of the rebel position was slightly defended by a stone wall enclosing a young plantation. The Duke of Cumberland advanced from the north-east along the hill in a line from Dai- cross Castle, his object being to force his way to Inverness. After remaining patiently in their ranks for some time, and being galled most dreadfully by the enemy's artillery, the cen- tre of the rebel troops rushed forward to the attack, and re- pulsed Munro's and Birrel's regiments, which were opposed to them. The right wing at the same moment advanced, but were almost immediately turned by the English cavalry, who attacked them in flank through openings made by their infantry ROUTE III. A. CONDUCT OF HIGHLAND LEFT WING. 367 (especially the Argyleshire Highlanders) in the stone dyke. This last manoeuvre was observed by the Prince, who, instead of placing himself at the head of the reserve, and charging in person, to counteract its effect, contented himself with sending repeated orders to Lord George Murray, which that accom- plished general either never received or could not at the mo- ment execute. A body of 100 Highlanders, stationed within the enclosure above alluded to, was cut to pieces without offer- ing any resistance, and the right wing being thus in conse- quence broken, the fate of the day was determined. The Clan Chattan, or M'Intosh regiment, stood the firmest, and were almost totally annihilated. The left wing, formed of the Macdonalds, did not behave with their accustomed bravery, as they had taken umbrage at not having the post of honour on the right assigned them, to which they conceived themselves entitled. In truth, the main body of the army was routed without firing a shot, and they had little else to do than to keep in a body and make good their way unmolested to the hills. The Frasers retired in their ranks with pipes playing : one great body of the rebels moved off in a southern direction towards Badenoch, but those who fled towards the plains about Inverness were hotly pursued by the dragoons, and the carnage ceased not till within half a mile of the town. Prince Charles, acting early on the memorable sentiment, " Sauve qui peut," rode off toward Stratherrick, and slept that night at Gortuleg. The ash-tree whence he beheld the battle still stands, and the less perishable boulder-stone, from which, it is said, the Duke of Cumberland issued his orders, is shewn by the road-side, about a quarter of a mile east from the principal heap of graves. 4. Never was the peculiar and irresistible power of a charge of Highlanders more fearlessly displayed than in this their last feudal engagement on their native hills. " It was the emphatic custom," says Mr. Chambers, in his History of the Rebellion of 1745, "before an onset, to scrug their bonnets, that is, to pull their little blue caps down over their brows, so as to ensure them against falling off in the ensuing melee. Never, perhaps, was this motion performed with so much emphasis as on the present occasion, when every man's forehead burned with the desire to revenge some dear friend who had fallen a victim to the murderous artillery. A Lowland gentleman, who was in 368 CHARGE OF THE HIGHLANDERS. SECT. VI. the line, and who survived till a late period, used always, in relating the events of Culloden, to comment with a feeling of something like awe upon the terrific and more than natural expression of rage which glowed on every face, and gleamed in every eye, as he surveyed the extended line at this moment. It was an exhibition of mighty and all-engrossing passion, never to be forgotten by the beholder. " The action and event of the onset were throughout quite as dreadful as the mental emotion which urged it. Notwith- standing that the three files of the front line of English poured forth their incessant fire of musketry notwithstanding that the cannon, now loaded with grape-shot, swept the field as with a hail-storm notwithstanding the flank fire of Wolfe's regi- ment onward, onward went the headlong Highlanders, fling- ing themselves into, rather than rushing upon, the lines of the enemy, which, indeed, they did not see for smoke till in- volved among their weapons. All that courage, all that despair could do, was done. They did not fight like living or reasoning creatures, but like machines under the influence of some uncon- trollable principle of action. The howl of the advance, the scream of the onset, the thunders of the musketry, and the din of the trumpets and drums, confounded one sense ; while the flash of the fire-arms and the glitter of the brandished broad- swords dazzled and bewildered another. It was a moment of dreadful and agonising suspense but only a moment ; for the whirlwind does not reap the forest with greater rapidity than the Highlanders cleared the line. They swept through and over that frail barrier, almost as easily and instantaneously as the bounding cavalcade brushes through the morning labours of the gossamer which stretch across its path. Not, however, with the same unconsciousness of the event. Almost every man in their front rank, chief and gentleman, fell before the deadly weapons which they had braved ; and although the enemy gave way, it was not till every bayonet was bent and bloody with the strife. " When the first line had been completely swept aside, the assailants continued their impetuous advance, till they came near the second, when, being almost annihilated by a profuse and well-directed fire, the shattered remains of what had been but an hour before a numerous and confident force, at last sub- mitted to destiny, by giving way and flying. Still a few rushed ROUTE III. A. CLAVA ANCIENT STONE MONUMENTS. 369 on, resolved rather to die than thus forfeit their well-acquired and dearly-estimated honour. They rushed on ; but not a man ever came in contact with the enemy. The last survivor perished as he reached the points of the bayonets." According to the general accounts, there were but 1200 men killed in this engagement, and as many on the English as on their opponents' side. The wounded were left three days on the field, and such as then survived were shot by the order of the Duke of Cumberland. He set fire to a barn, to which many of them had retired. In the town of Inverness he insti- tuted a complete military government ; treated the inhabitants and magistrates with contempt ; and he was afterwards obliged to sue out an act of indemnity from the British Parliament for these and other atrocities, of which it is notoriously known he was guilty. Prince Charles' resources, notwithstanding the loss of this battle, were by no means desperate. Eight thousand men were ready to meet him at Ruthven, in Badenoch, had he signified his desire to attempt the battle-strife over again ; but, after some days' deliberation, his only answer to the chiefs who awaited him there was, " Let every man seek his safety in the best way he can." ANCIENT STONE MONUMENTS AT CLAVA. 5. The most splendid series of circles and cairns, existing together in one place on the eastern side of the island, occurs on a meadow plain on the south bank of the river Nairn, about one mile south-east of the field where the battle of Culloden was fought ; and no tourist should omit a visit to them, which will cost but a short walk while his horse rests. A rustic bridge crosses the river, immediately below the graves. The surface of the plain is in one part rough, and strewed over with boulder-stones ; but in general it forms a portion of a soft pas- toral valley ; and the view at either end is terminated by two prominent hills, one of which (Dun-Evan) has on its summit a structure strongly vitrified ; and on the other (Dun-Daviot) is a similar fortified site, but which, however, has not been affected by fire. Even at the first sight of this plain, one is prompted to exclaim " Here is a city of the dead ! " Its whole extent is covered with cairns, encompassed by circles of large upright stones, or slabs of sandstone. :'.7ll CLAVA ANCIENT STONE MONUMENTS. SECT. VI. Among these are several circles of large dimensions uncon- nected with cairns, and others of a smaller size, scarcely elevated a foot above the ground, occur in the intervals between the greater ones. Stones of memorial, or single columns, are per- ceived in several parts of the field, apparently in a line with one another, and uniting the other structures into one general design ; and what is also remarkable, near the west end of the plain is seen an oblong square, which is called the " Clachan '" or church, and which is believed to be the foundations of an ancient Christian chapel. Perhaps it may have been one of the earliest in the country ; and it thus appears most strikingly and appropriately placed in the midst of pagan structures, the dark superstitious rites of which its founders were anxious to expose and abolish. Within this enclosure, children, who die in the neighbourhood before baptism, are still buried. But the most remarkable of these antiquities on the plain of Clava are three great cairns, consisting of loose stones piled up in one of them to the height of fifteen feet, and having each a ring of upright stones hemming in and supporting their bases ; another circle of large masses of sandstone (ten or twelve stones in each), at the distances of several paces from the inner structure, is attached to each cairn. Two of these cemeteries appear to have been much injured by the partial removal of the stones ; but the principal one was opened some years ago under the directions of a lady in the neighbourhood, and it displayed beneath the exterior pile a circular chamber, about five yards in diameter, lined at the base with a ring of fourteen large stones in an upright position, and surmounted by courses of uncemented masonry, the stones of which incline inwards, and overlap one another, so as to have met at the top in a rude dome. This apartment has an entrance looking to- wards the south, with a passage two feet wide, and flanked by great stones, conducting from it through the body of the cairn, to its exterior circumference. Eighteen inches below the floor of the cell, were discovered two small earthen vases or urns of the coarsest workmanship, but containing calcined bones. The urns were unfortunately broken, and the ashes scattered about in a small bed of prepared clay on which they lay. This struc- ture is precisely similar, though on a smaller scale, to that at New Grange, near Drogheda, in the county of Meath, Ireland, ROUTE III. A. DALCROSS OR DACUS CASTLE. 371 figured in Mr. Higgins' Celtic Druids, plates 20, 21 ; and Arehael. Soc. Antiq. London, vol. ii. p. 254. 6. About a mile east of Clava, is an enormous boulder mass of conglomerate, called Tomriach, which rests on a bed of gravel, in which, at one time, it was likely embedded. It is about thirty feet long, and fourteen high, and at a little dis- tance may be mistaken for a Highland cottage, which it re- sembles in size and form. It is well worthy of a visit, especially by the geologist. DALCROSS OR DACUS CASTLE. 7. This building, which lies two miles north-east of the field of Culloden, consists of two towers, joined at right angles; the inner corner, where they meet, being covered with a pro- jecting turret and large entrance gate. Many of the appur- tenances of an old baronial residence are here still entire, and therefore to the antiquary the place is of considerable interest. Water is still raised from a deep draw-well in the front court. The windows are all stancheoned with iron. The huge oaken door, studded with large nails, and the inner iron gratings, still turn on their rusty hinges. The kitchen, with its enormous vaulted chimney, like the arch of a bridge ; the dungeons, and the hall, are quite entire. The ceiling of the latter is of fine carved oak, in part rudely painted ; but its most interesting feature is the dais, or portion of the floor raised above the rest, for the special use of the lord of the manor, his family, and principal guests. The roof of one of the bed-rooms was painted all over with the coats of arms of the principal families in the country, and those of Robert Bruce, of the Earls of Huntly, Marischal, and Stuart, are still quite distinct. This castle was built in 1620, by Simon, eighth Lord Lovat. The property had long been in the family, but previously, we believe, was a portion of the M'Intosh estates. It afterwards came to Sir James Fraser of Brea, third son of the founder, who gave it as a marriage portion with his daughter Jean to a Major Bate- man. The Major sold it to James Roy Dunbar, bailie of In- verness, from whom Mackintosh of Mackintosh purchased it in 1702, and with his descendants it still remains. Dalcross was a vicarage depending on the Priory of Urquhart, and in the year 1343 there was an agreement between the prior and the 372 KILRAVOCK CASTLE. SECT. VI. Baron of Kilravock, that the Vicar of Dean-an-Ross, now Dai- cross, should officiate in the private chapel of Kilravock. The minister of the parish of Croy has still part of his glebe near the castle. Sir Lauchlan Mackintosh of that Ilk died here in 1 7< >4 ; and the last additions to the building appear to have been made about that period. The present chief has begun to restore the edifice. KILRAVOCK CASTLE. 8. The family of the Roses of Kilravock, anciently one of the most powerful in the north, have still to boast of an old tower, the next in our course, and a range of castellated build- ings in an imposing situation overhanging the Nairn. The series of old paintings, armour, and writings, in the house is considerable ; and one of the manuscripts, a curious old diary by the successive tutors or chaplains of the family, has lately been published by the Spalding Club. The Roses came into possession of Kilravock about 1280. They owed it to an alliance with the powerful family of the Bissets, once pre-eminent in the north. Sir John Bisset left three daughters, heirs-por- tioners. The first brought the estate of Lovat to the Frasers, the second (designed the lady of Beaufort) married William de Fenton, whose posterity continued for several descents ; and the third daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Sir Andrew di Bosco, an English or Norman knight. This Elizabeth Bisset, or de Bosco, had a daughter, Marie, who was married to Hugh de Rose, then owner of Easter Geddes. Hugh Rose, the seventh baron of the name, built the tower of Kilravock, having ob- tained license by patent to do so from John, Lord of the Isles, 18th February 1460, which was confirmed in 1475 by King James III. It is handed down by tradition, that the towers of Calder, Ironside, Dallas, and Spynie, were built about the same time ; and that the architect was Cochrane, the minion of James III., whom that monarch created Earl of Mar, and who was afterwards hanged over Lauder Bridge in July 1482. The iron gate of Kilravock tower was made in the time of the tenth laird, named Hugh, the " Black Baron," who died in 1597 at the extreme age of 90 years. He entertained Queen Mary in his tower, her Majesty's bed-room, which is still in its original state, having no fire-place in it, nor was it lathed or plastered, while the floor consisted of great coarse boards roughly sawn ROUTE III. A. CAWDOR CASTLE. 373 and nailed together. The gate weighed 34 stone 3 Ibs., and cost 34 : 3 : 9 Scots ! For this sum the maker of it, George Robertson, smith in Elgin, granted receipt 5th February 1568, receiving, also, three bolls of meal, one stone of butter, and one of cheese. This gate was removed by the English in the wars of Cromwell. The representative of this ancient race did effectual service to the cause of Government in the rebellion of 1715 ; and their history presents the singular aspect of an unbroken male de- scent retaining their baronial state, without the support of any clan of their name, in the midst of jealous and ferocious neigh- bours. Their residence is one of the most picturesque in the country ; a square old keep, with a long range of high -roofed additions to it, perched on a rocky bank overlooking the river Nairn, and surrounded with dense woods and tall " ancestral trees." The principal additions are said to have been designed by Inigo Jones, and the elegant proportions of the public rooms are not unworthy of his name. The gardens and pleasure- grounds are laid out with very great taste, and the lady (Mrs. Campbell), who at present occupies the castle, has spared no expense in supplying the finest and rarest shrubs and flowers, and adding in every way to the comforts and elegance of the place. 9. Immediately above Kilravock, is the property of Holme (General Sir John Rose), which is also distinguished for its woods and fine gardens ; and next, up the river's course, is the property of Can tray ( Davidson), formerly belonging to a family of the name of Dallas, where a fine old French chateau has lately been supplanted by a modern residence, and which estate marches with the properties of Culloden and M'Intosh of M'Intosh. CAWDOR (ANCIENTLY CALDER) CASTLE. 10. If the name of this castle be not sufficient to excite curiosity, the beauties of its situation, the freshness in which all its appurtenances of ancient feudal gloom and grandeur and means of defence remain, will amply recompense the tourist for the trouble he may be put to in visiting it. Perched upon a low rock, overhanging the bed of a High- land torrent, and surrounded on all sides by the largest-sized forest-trees, which partly conceal the extent of its park, it 374 CAWDOR CASTLE. SECT. VI. stands a relic of the work of several ages, a weather-beaten tower, encircled by comparatively newer and less elevated dwellings, the whole being enclosed within a moat, and ap- proachable only by a drawbridge, which rattles on its chains just as in the years long gone by. This castle is still inhabited ; the staircase, the iron-grated doors and wickets, the large baro- nial kitchen, partly formed out of the native rock, the hall, the old furniture, the carved mantel-pieces, the quantity of figured tapestry, and even the grotesque family mirrors, in use 200 years ago, are still cherished and preserved by the family. The drawbridge and gateway are particularly worthy of notice. 11. Tradition in this quarter asserts that good King Dun- can was murdered in this castle by his relative Macbeth, who was his sister's son. Some of the old Scottish chronicles, as interpreted by Lord Hailes, refer to a smith's hut in the neigh- bourhood of Elgin as the place where the mortal blow was given, and render it probable that the unfortunate monarch breathed his last within some of the religious houses then already built there ; while Shakspere and his commentators, following the authority of Buchanan, assign Macbeth's castle at Inverness as the scene of the murder. It is, at least, undoubted, that Mac- beth may have had strongholds in all the places mentioned, as, on his marriage, he became, in right of his wife Gruoch, Maor- mor or great Celtic lord of Moray, having by birth the same power attached to that name in the adjoining county of Ross ; and that King Duncan was betrayed and slain while residing at one of his nephew's castles, on his way to reduce Torfin, the Scandinavian Jarl of Caithness, to submission, he having refused to surrender the customary tribute to the Scottish crown. Malcolm (Duncan's eldest son, and afterwards called Caen- more, or the large-headed) fled, on his father's death, to Eng- land, where he was courteously received by the reigning prince, Edward the Confessor ; and waiting there till the dissensions betwixt the usurper Macbeth and the Scottish nobles presented him with a favourable opportunity for recovering his inherit- ance, he at length sallied forth across the border, supported by an English army of ten thousand men, under the command of his own maternal grandfather, Siward, Earl of Northumberland. Macbeth's inveterate foe, the Thane of Fife, raising the stan- dard at the same time for the lawful monarch, entered Angus- ROUTE III. A. THANEAGE OF CAWDOR. 375 shire, and encountered and defeated his great enemy near his own castle of Dunsinane. Such is the bare outline of facts on which the deeply excit- ing tragedy of Macbeth was reared by Shakspere. No such title or person existed at that period as the " Thane of Cawdor ;" but there is no question as to Malcolm Caenmore having allotted large estates to the English and Flemish knights who assisted him in recovering his native possessions, and that they thence- forward surnamed themselves after the appellations of the lands thus acquired. Among others, some of the powerful family of Ostiarii, or hereditary door-wards of the king, who held large possessions in Mar, seem to have obtained Macbeth's estates in Nairnshire, and, perhaps, by assuming the name of Calder, one of them has since been regarded as the first Thane ; the thane- age of Calder, or Cawdor, including (at least in subsequent char- ters) not only the principal messuage lands, but also the barony of Ferintosh, in Ross, and several parts of Stratherrick, Strath- nairn, and Strathdearn, and a large portion of the lands of Glammis in the Meams, all of which were hence politically, and for several other purposes, considered as pertinents of the sheriffdom of Nairn. The original family name of Hostiariws or Osliarius (anglice door-ward, and afterwards corrupted to the common surname of Dur-ward) is mentioned in charters still extant in this castle, and in one especially dated at Forres the 22d July, of the twenty-second year of King Alexander II. (1236), in which his majesty grants the lands of Both and Ban- chory, in thebailliary of Invernarn " Gilberto Hostiario," which words, by a stupid misreading, are marked by a modern scribe on the back as " Gilberto Horstrat." Upon this mistake, which was unfortunately copied by Shaw in his valuable History of Moray, a most ridiculous theory has prevailed that the family name at first was Horstrot. For many generations, however, the only surname by which the family was known was that of Calder of Calder, now pronounced Cawdor. At whatever time the title of Thane became common, men- tion is found of the Thanes of Calder in the records of Nairn- shire so early as the year 1295 ; although, from what has been said, they undoubtedly had possessions there long prior to that date. They were constables of the royal fortress of Nairn, where they chiefly resided ; and to this day the constabulary garden in Nairn, partly surrounded with the old castle wall, is the 376 SKIRMISH FOR THE HEIRESS OF CAWDOR. SECT. VI. property of the family. Hence, Calder must have been a resi- dence of minor importance ; and, indeed, the oldest part of the present tower was only built, according to Shaw's History of Moray, in the year 1454. The royal license by James II. is to " William, Thane of Calder, to build and fortify the castle of Calder," with a proviso, that " the said castle shall be always ready and open to his majesty and his successors, and that they should always have free entrance and egress to and from the same." 12. This Thane William, who completed the keep, lived till about the year 1500 ; his son John married Isobel Rose, daugh- ter of Kilravock, and, dying in 1494, left one posthumous child, a daughter, named Muiriel, or Marion. " Kilravock intended this heiress for his own grandson, her first cousin ; but Kilra- vock being pursued in a criminal process for robbery, in joining Mackintosh in spoiling the lands of Urquhart of Cromarty, Argyle, the Justice-general, made the process' easy to him, got the award of Muiriel's marriage of the king, A.D. 1495, and she was sent to Inverary in the year 1499. In autumn of that year, Campbell of Inverliver, with sixty men, came to receive the child, on pretence of sending her south to school. The lady Kilravock, her grandmother, that she might not be changed, seared and marked her hip with the key of her coffer. As In- verliver came with little Muiriel to Daltulich, in Strathnairn, he was closely pursued by Alexander and Hugh Calder, her uncles, with a superior party. He sent off the child with an escort of six men, faced about to receive the Calders ; and, to deceive them, a sheaf of corn, dressed in some of the child's clothes, was kept by one in the rear. The conflict was sharp, and several were killed, among whom were six of Inverliver's son's. When Inverliver thought the child was out of reach, he retreated, leaving the fictitious child to the Calders. And In- verliver was rewarded with a grant of the 20 land of Inver- liver. It is said, that in the heat of the skirmish, Inverliver cried, \3fada glaodh o' Lochow, 'Sfada cabhair y the Reformation, and afterwards assumed those of the Presbyterian party. It is a remarkable fact, that there is not a single Roman Catholic to this day within the county. With Lord Reay and the Baron of Foulis, they twice (in 1624 and 1629) raised 3000 followers, who went over to Germany and were highly distinguished in the armies of Gustavus Adolphus. They were leaders in the Covenanting army in the north of Scotland ; and the clan boast that the Earl i if Sutherland took part in the celebrated General Assembly at Glasgow in 1638, where, however, he seems to have had influence enough to have saved the Bishop of Suther- land and Caithness from excommunication, along with the rest of the Episcopal pre- lates, on his submitting himself to Presbyterian rule; though Keith says ne was " deprived ;" and the Earl also subsequently protected in their livings several of his parochial clergv, who were admitted to be very pious men, on their nominally relin- quishing their Episcopal orders. The family were uniform supporters of Wh\g prin- ciples, and among the best friends in the north of the Hanoverian dynasty; for the Earls of Sutherland took part in 1715 and '45, as well as previously, against the pre- tensions of the house of Stuart. The superficial extent of their prodigious territories in the North is little short of 2000 square miles. ROUTE IV. DTJNROBIN CASTLE. 411 and staircase are lined within with polished Caen stone ; but the exterior is all of a hard white silicious freestone from Brora and Braambury Hill, on the Duke's own property. Internally the castle is arranged into suites of apartments, each containing a complete set of sitting rooms and bed chambers, and named the Duke's the Argyle the Blantyre apartments, and those of other members of the family ; and each suite has its own pecu- liar style and colour of decorations and painting. The grand seaward front has been appropriated to her Majesty, whose apartments are separated from the rest of the palace by a wide gallery or passage. They are done up in the most costly and elegant manner, with silk tapestry hangings in some of the rooms instead of papering. From the oriel window of her bed- room, her Majesty will command, in one view, the whole circuit of her dominions, from Ben Wyvis in Ross round by the Alps of Inverness, Moray, and Aberdeen shires, and across the firth almost to the Ord of Caithness, which is concealed from view only by a projecting headland ; while the mid-distance is beau- tifully varied by the yellow sands of the Dornoch Firth, and the rocky promontory and high bright lighthouse on Tarbat Ness. Extensive as the buildings are, the entire design will not be finished until another tower or two and the family chapel are added, and in the former of which we presume it is intended to have a great feudal receiving room ; for the present main din- ing room, large though it be (and which is beautifully pan- nelled with oak, with large paintings inserted in the compart- ments and processions in the frieze), seems yet rather small for the reception of all the company the tenantry, and native retainers of the noble Duke and his guests, who on state occa- sions may be convened to enjoy his hospitality. The furniture, now being placed in the different rooms, with the paintings and decorations, is of the most chaste and beautiful description, and it is pleasing to know that all the carpets and hangings have been cut out to order by the young women of the neighbour- hood. Two very beautiful and effective mantle-pieces of great size and height, representing the Sutherland arms and their supporters, in alto-relievo, are also the work of a local sculptor, Mr. Munro, a native of Inverness, a protege of her Grace the Duchess, and who has been extensively employed by Mr. Barry in the carved work of the new Houses of Parliament. 112 DUNROBIN CASTLE. SECT. VII. Below the castle the old garden and orchard occupied the level space extending to the sea beach. It was till of late, like the gardens at Ospisdale and Skibo, celebrated for its peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, and almonds, which all ripened on the open wall. These have now been removed, and the whole plain is being converted into a flower garden, with walls and flights of steps leading up to the basement storey of the castle. Should the whole design, as planned by his Grace, ever be completed, including the chapel, landscape gardens, drives, and pleasure grounds, the entire cost will not fall far short of half a million sterling ! 22. Brora, five miles and a half from Golspie, is a little vil- lage, for some years dependent on the salt and coal works car- ried on in its vicinity ; now chiefly supported by the produce of the quarries of beautiful, though rather brittle, freestone found in its neighbourhood. The former have been discontinued. To the geologist this place presents the most interesting appear- ances perhaps in Scotland, as regards the occurrence of coal and its associated minerals in the immediate neighbourhood of granite. The formation with which the coal is connected is the lias and oolite, the principal bed of coal being about two hun- dred feet beneath the surface. The freestone or sandstone which composes the upper bed, and which abounds in organic remains, is adapted for building ; and at Helmsdale, and other places not far distant, a fine secondary limestone, called cornstone, occurs.* * Referring to the geological notices of Moray and Inverness shires, at pages 344 :md 382, we shall complete them by the following short description of the Brora, Coal Field .-On passing the granitic mass of the Ord of Caithness froiu the north, we come immediately upon a series of oolitic and lias deposits, a great portion of which has heen tilted up against the granite without the intervention of the old red sandstone, and which is also brecciated, establishing thereby the elevation of the granite subsequent to the formation of the oolitic rocks. These newer deposits stretch along the coast of the firth, and are found not only in Sutherlandshire, out also in front of the gneiss nd older sandstone mountains of Ross-shire, their most recent beds appearing in the promontory of Tarbat Ness, which was flanked on the sea-side by exterior layers of Uas shale, and limestone; the remains of these being still visible at Cadboll, Geanies, Shaudwick, and Ethie. Proceeding westward from the Ord, the Brora coal field first merits our attention. It forms a part of the deposits which, on the coast of Sutherlandshire, occupy a tract of country of about twenty miles in length, from the Ord to Golspie, and three miles in its greatest breadth, divided into the valleys of Brora, Loth, and Navidale, by the successive advance to the coast of portions of the adjoining mountain range which liounds them on the west and north-west. The first of these valleys is flanked on the south-west by hills of red conglomerate, which pass inland to the north-cast of Loch Brora, and give place to an unstratified granitic rock, that forms the remainder of the mountainous boundary. The highest beds at Brora consist of a wliite quartzose sandstone, partially over- laid by a fissile limestone containing many fossils, the greatest number of which have ROUTE IV. KILCALMKILL GEOLOGICAL NOTE. 413 23. An excursion of a few miles up the Strath and Loch of Brora, will be found very interesting, as the scenery is beautiful, giving place gradually, as we proceed, to wild and heathy mountains. The rock Carrol, on the south shore of the loch, is precipitous for nearly four hundred feet ; and opposite it, four miles up, is Killin, where anciently there was a cell or chapel, dedicated to St. Columba, who was truly the most ex- tensive patron saint in the Highlands. From it is evidently derived the name of the beautiful residence, (two miles farther on), Kilcalmkill, which was the seat of a respectable branch of the clan Gordon, descended from Adam Gordon, Dean of Caith- ness, uncle of Lord Aboyne, who married Countess Elizabeth, been identified with those of the calcareous grit beneath the coral rag ; and along with these, several new species have been discovered. The next beds, in a descending order, are obscured in the interior by the diluvium which is generally spread over the surface of these valleys, but are exposed on other places on the coast; and they con- sist of shale, with the fossils of the Oxford clay overlying a limestone resembling corn- trash and forest marble, the latter associated with calciferous grit. To these succeed sandstone and shale, containing belemnites and ammonites, through which the shaft of the present coal-pit is sunk to the depth of near eighty yards below the level of the river Brora. The principal bed of coal is three feet five inches in thickness, and the roof is a sandy calcareous mixture of fossil shells, and a compressed assemblage of leaves and stems of plants passing into the coal itself. The fossils of this and the superior beds are identical, for the greater part, with those which occur in the strata above the coal in the east of Yorkshire; and of the whole number of species collected, amounting to upwards of fifty, two-thirds are well-known fossils ol the oolite, the remainder being new species. The plant of which the Brora coal seems to have been formed is identical with one of the most characteristic vegetables of the Yorkshire coast ; but differs essentially from any of the plants found in the coal measures beneath the new red sandstone. It has been formed into a new genus by Mr. Konig, and is described by him under the name of Oncylogonatum ; but M. A. Brongniart regards it as an Eqnisetum, which he has figured and named Equisetmn columnare. The Brora coal may therefore be considered, from its associated shells and plants, as the equivalent of that of the eastern moorlands of Yorkshire, and in no respect ana- lagous to the coal fields of the south of Scotland. At I/oth, Helmsdale, and Navidale, shale and sandstone overlie calcareous strata resembling the cornbrash and forest marble; and these are, in many cases, dislocated where they are in contact with the granitic rock, and distorted where they approacli it. The base of the entire series above mentioned is seen, at low water, on the coast, near the north and south Sutors of Cromarty, where the lias, with some of its cha- racteristic fossils, is observable, resting upon the sandstone of the red conglomerate the latter in contact with the granitic rock. Braambury and Hare Hills, near Brora, composed of the upper beds of the oolitic series, owe their forms most probably to denudation; a supposition recently con- firmed by the exposure on their surface of innumerable parallel furrows and irregular scratches, both deep and shallow : such, in short, as could scarcely be produced by any other operation than the rush of rock fragments transported by some glacier or current. These appearances resemble very closely those in other places described by Sir James Hall and Dr. Buckland; and show, here, that the course of the current which gave rise to them observed a direction by the compass, from north-west to south-east. (See the papers in the Geological Society's Transactions for 1827, &c., by Sir Roderick j. M. Murchison, and Rev. A. Sedgwick.) At Inverbrora, Mr. Robertson of Elgin was enabled to detect the remains of a dr- nosit of the wealden, having the usual characteristic organisms of that fresh-water formation, and resembling especially those in the wealden clay of Mora) -shire. 414 PORT GOWEB. SECT.' VII. daughter of the fourteenth Earl of Sutherland. Two miles farther north is Cole's Castle, an ancient Pictish fortress of most prodigious strength, situated on a rock on the Black Water or river of Strathbeg. It is circular, and built of uncemented stones, with chambers in the walls, and it seems to be as entire as Dun Dornadilla in Strathmore. 24. The distance from Brora to Loth Church, one of the neatest in the county, is six or seven miles ; and thence two to three miles to Port Grower, where are a neat little village, a good inn, and the parish school. In the secure little bay of Helmsdale, two miles from Port Gower, a harbour has been formed for the herring busses, which collect here in great numbers, reckoning it the safest station on the coast. The village is thriving and populous, and possesses a sub-branch bank. From Helmsdale a road branches to the left for Kildonan Kirk, about six miles off, whence it is continued north to Melvich inn, about twenty miles west of Thurso. The stage is just thirty miles long, and twenty miles of it uninhabited ; and the only comfortable con- sideration is, that the road is good. Adjoining Helmsdale are the ruins of a romantic old castle, once the seat of an extensive proprietor of the name of Gordon. On occasion of some unfor- tunate broil, he had to fly with his family under the silence of night ; but the ship which conveyed them foundered at sea, and they were never heard of. 25. Between Helmsdale and Berridale (nine miles and a half) the road passes, at an elevation of 1200 feet above the sea, along the acclivity of the granitic Ord of Caithness, which is the commencement of a long chain of mountains running north-west, and separating Caithness from Sutherland. The whole of this stage is occupied by the Ord, and its huge rami- fications ; but the passage of these, though tedious, is now comparatively free from danger. Formerly the road proceeded along the edge of a tremendous range of precipices, which overhang the sea, the very sight of which was enough to frighten both horse and rider. Even the modern descent to the valley of Berridale, where the beautifully situated little inn of that name occupies the centre of a chasm hollowed out among the mountains at the junction of two alpine streams, is ex- ceedingly abrupt.* Descending to the inn, Langwell (Donald It is considered unlucky for a Sinclair to cross the Ord on a Monday, because it was on that day that a large party of the name passed on their way to Flodden Field, where they were cut off to a man. ROUTE IV. CAITHNESS. 415 Home, Esq.) appears on the left, within the edge of a thriving plantation. Here, towards the sea, we behold the commence- ment of those grand cliffs and stacks, or detached pillars of rock, which accompany us thence round all the coasts of Caith- ness. A few trees, the most vigorous in the county, ornament this spot, and were planted under the eye of the justly celebrated Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Between Berridale and Swiney (twelve miles and a half), the country again presents a sudden change of character. The mountains recede inland, and give place to bleak, open tracts, partially cultivated ; and a barrier of high, shelterless precipices, washed by the ocean, extends on the right of the observer to the distant horizon. 26. Caithness may be described as a broad, undulating plain, devoid of trees, but covered with stunted heath in some places, also, by deep peat mosses. The dwellings of its peasantry very generally till of late were, and still in part are, poor hovels, built of turf and stones in alternate layers, and thatched over with straw or sods, which are kept down by straw ropes thrown across the roof, to the end of which flat stones are attached as safeguards against the violence of the winds. Yet Caithness is not a poor county ; and its agricultural products are greater than those of some others of the northern shires. Its advance in all sorts of agricultural improvements, and in rearing the finest stocks of cattle, has of late years been pro- digious ; and the last Highland Society's Exhibition at Inver- ness proved that Caithness henceforth will not yield the palm to any of her neighbours. Its gentry are hospitable, polished, and well educated. The ruins of their ancient towers crown the cliffs of their rugged shores, as if still watching the approach of the northern pirates ; and some of these are even yet habitable. The Scandinavian origin, or at least admixture of the people, is portrayed in their tall forms, and soft fair countenances ; the names of places, and the language generally spoken, show undoubted marks of a foreign extraction ; and nowhere in the county, except on the borders of Sutherland, are Gaelic sounds to be heard. At Dunbeath, seven miles and a half from Berridale, there are an ancient village, and the ruins of Dunbeath Castle. 27. Three miles from Dunbeath, we reach the church and manse of Latheron. On the north of the manse, a branch road strikes off to the west for Thurso, by Achbreanich, where there 416 BRAAL CASTLE WICK. SECT. VII. is a tolerable inn, six miles from Latheron, and sixteen from Thurso. On this road there is a good view of the hills called the Paps of Caithness, behind the Ord ; and of Braal Castle, surrounded with wood, an interesting spot a mile to the left. It surmounts an eminence on the banks of the Thurso, about five miles from that town, near the junction of this branch with the Wick and Thurso road ; and is not a little deserving the attention of the antiquary, as exhibiting a style of building apparently but a stage in advance of the round burghs or towers. The form here is square, and cement is used ; but the disposition of the apartments is much the same as that of the galleries in the burghs. They are contained in the wall itself, and open into the inner court or area, and communicate by passages and staircases similarly situated. These rooms, of which there is one on each side, have, however, an external window, and are moreover furnished with a stone bench round the inside. Oldwick Castle is a similar, but rather ruder struc- ture still. 28. Wick lies fifteen miles farther north than Swiney inn, two miles past Latheron ; and Thurso, at which the mail-coach road stops, is twenty miles beyond Wick. Like many mighty cities, these two burghs contend with one another for pre-eminence. Thurso, though more beautifully situated, and withal the genteeler of the two, must yield to its rival in the bustle of life and mercantile wealth. Wick lies low, and in a dirty situation ; and, but for the stream which passes through it, and the sharp breezes of the north, the smell of its fish and garbage would be intolerable. Though the bay is long and dangerous, and hemmed in on both sides by high rocks, it is the resort of a great many fishing vessels ; and in the proper season the town swarms with crowds of Lowland Scotchmen, fair Northmen, broad-breeched Dutchmen, and kilted Highlanders. No sight can be more beautiful than the look-out, on a fine summer's morning, from the seaward cliffs near the town, on the surface of the ocean, bespangled with, perhaps, from 500 to 800 herring boats, either sailing in lines to or from their stations, or busied hauling in their nets, or rowing round them to guard and watch the indications of their buoys. Larger vessels gliding on among this small craft seem like stately swans surrounded by a flock of lively sea-gulls ; and here and there the broad pennon of a revenue cruiser, and the swift ROUTE IV. WICK HERRING FISHERY. 417 light-rowing boats of the preventive service, remind us that no small degree of caution and order is required to be maintained among the numerous little objects dancing on the waves before us, like the motes in a sunbeam. During the fishing season, the busy hand of industry is tried to the utmost, and man, woman, and child, are obliged to bear " watching, and labour, and pain." Wick carries on its trade principally through a small village, Staxigo, situated a short way to the eastward, near the lofty promontory called Noss-head, and which pos- sesses a convenient harbour. Its own harbours are improving ; and its suburb, called Pulteneytown, planned under the auspices of the British Fishery Society, and built, in 1808, on higher ground than the old town, is a regular and handsome village. The population of the parish was, in 1831, 9580, being an in- crease of 3137 since 1821 ; and, in 1841, the numbers fell to 9346. The following statement respecting the Wick herring fishery for 1829 and 1840, will give an idea of the bustle of the place during that season of the year, and the great value of the fishery. The apparent falling off latterly is owing to the resort of many boats to Helmsdale : 1829. 1840. Boats belonging to Wick engaged in 457 428 Do. not belonging to the district 498 327 Total number of boats 955 755 Fishermen 3,761 3,882 Carers (only 91 regularly entered in 1840) ... 1,146 91 Women (chiefly employed in gutting the fish) 2,937 2,175 Coopers 442 265 Carters 117 127 Other labourers 177 196 Seamen in coasting vessels for carrying away herrings 3,200 1,200 Total number of persons employed ... 11,780 7,936 Total of barrels cured 112,698 63,495 Owing to the establishment of fishing-stations on other parts of the coast, the attendance of boats at Wick (which at one time amounted to about 1200) has fallen off, and perhaps fortunately so for the morals of the people ; but the success of their exertions varies exceedingly in different seasons. The following comparative statement will give a tolerable idea of 418 WICK HERRING FISHERY. SECT. VII. the whole take of herring for two years on the east coast of Scotland. We extract it from the John-o 1 -Groat Journal, which is published at Wick : QUANTITY OF HERRINGS CURED. 1835. 1836. Peterhead 33,000 Barrels 44,000 Barrels. Fraserburgh 54,000 ditto 45,000 ditto. Banff. 24,000 ditto 18,000 ditto. Cullen 5,000 ditto 3,000 ditto. Findhorn 8,000 ditto 6,000 ditto. Cromarty 7,000 ditto 7,000 ditto. Helmsdale 28,000 ditto 18,000 ditto. Lybster 32,000 ditto 15,000 ditto. Wick 106,000 ditto 40,000 ditto. Thurso and Tongue 22,000 ditto 7,000 ditto. Orkney 45,000 ditto 28,000 ditto. Shetland 38,000 ditto 27,000 ditto. Berwick 30,000 ditto. The cost of a boat, with outfit of nets, is about 120. A drift of nets consists of from sixteen to twenty-six, each about sixteen fathoms long and four deep. The fisher generally re- ceives from 9s. to 10s. a cran or barrel for the herrings ; and a crew (four in number), when proprietors of the boat, sometimes make 20, 30, and even 50, a-head. The wages allowed for about two months' service from the middle of July to Sep- tember are 3 to 7, and a peck and a-half of meal a-week. Poor widows and girls are employed to gut and pack at about 4d. per barrel ; they make 20s. to 3 a season. Whisky is con- sumed among all to a most enormous and demoralising extent. Wick and Pulteneytown present numerous proofs of growing prosperity in the style of the newer houses and the public build- ings, as the town-house and jail, the town and county hall, new church, bank, and gas-work. Wick has been incorporated as a royal burgh since 1589 ; and, since the Union, it has been asso- ciated with Kirkwall, Dornoch, Tain, and Dingwall (and, since the late Reform Act, with Cromarty), in returning a member to Parliament. The Sheriff-courts, since 1828, by order of the Court of Session, are held in Wick, having been then removed from Thurso, where they had previously met from time imme- morial. The Custom-house establishment has also been removed to Wick, which likewise possesses a Chamber of Commerce ; and a steamer, of 200 horse-power, touches here from Leith once ROUTE IV. EARLY HISTORY OF CAITHNESS. 419 a- week, between March and November, on its passage from that port to Aberdeen, Kirkwall, and Lerwick in Shetland. It car- ries passengers, stock, and goods, and has been of immense use both to town and county. Two trading smacks ply once a-fort- night between Leith and Wick ; and an almost constant inter- course is carried on with London, Hull, and other English ports, by means of the vessels which are continually passing along this coast. We subjoin, in the foot-note, a sketch of the early history of the county, from the last statistical account of the parish of Wick ; and we also beg to refer, on the same head, to our his- torical notices of Orkney.* 29. Besides the parliamentary road to Thurso, a district road, twenty-seven miles long, leads along the coast to Houna and John-o'-Groat's House. On the way there is an extensive sweep of sands to pass over, a ferry on Waster Water, and several bleak hills. The view of the cliffs next the sea, however, is always grand and interesting ; and the castles of Oldwick, Keiss, Girnigo, and Sinclair, with the tower of Ackergill, &c., perched like eagles' nests on their summits, render these cliffs still more picturesque and magnificent. These " dark places of the earth" were truly full of horrid cruelty. Thus, about the year 1570, George, Earl of Caithness, apprehended his own eldest son, and * " There can be no doubt that the aboriginal inhabitants of the district which now forms the parish of Wick, were of Celtic origin. This is proved by several names of places and rivulets, such as Auchairn, Altimarloch, Drumdrug, which are significant in the Gaelic language. " About the year 910, Harrold the Fair-haired, a Norwegian King, having expelled the pirates who infested the northern seas, from the Orkneys, carried the war into Pictland, where he was defeated with great slaughter. On his return to Norway, he granted the Orcadian islands to Ronald, a powerful Norwegian chieftain, to comfort Mm for the loss of Ivar, his son, who had fallen in battle. Ronald made over this grant to Sigurd, Ms brother, who, having speedily reduced the Orcadians, passed into Caithness and subdued it, with Sutherland and Ross, under his authority. Under a succession of Norwegian earls, a very close and frequent intercourse subsisted after tMs event for ages, between the north of Scotland and Norway ; whence numerous bands of Norwegians successively came and settled in Caithness. Surnames of Nor- wegian extraction, as Swanson, son of Swen, Manson, son of Magnus, Ronald, Harold, &c., are frequent in this parish. The termination ster, softened from stadr, a steading, wMch enters into the names of Camster, Ulbster, Stemster, Hanster, Thuster, Bilb- ster, Sibster, &c., shews also the prevalence of Norwegian colonization within the district now forming the parish of Wick " Caithness continued subject to Orcadian earls, of Scandinavian extraction, till about 1330, when, owing to the failure of the male line, tMs earldom went by mar- riage into other families, and the power and influence of the Norwegians passed away " These various marriages brought the Sinclairs, Sutherlands, and Keiths, into the parish of Wick ; and subsequent events gave rise to the following couplet, wMch is yet often repeated : " Sinclair, Sutherland, Keith, and Clan Gun, There never was peace whar thae four war in." 420 CLAN FEUDS AND CONFLICTS. SECT. VII. confined him in the dungeon of Castle Girnigo, where, after a miserable captivity of seven years, the unfortunate youth is believed to have died of starvation. Ackergill is still habitable, and is well worthy of being inspected, and may give a good notion of the rude strongholds which frowned along this iron- bound coast. " It is a square tower, 65 feet in height ; and in breadth, at each angle, 45 feet, having three storeys, each of them arched, the walls above 10 feet thick at the butts of the arches. It stands on a rock close to the sea, a few feet above the highest water-mark, and is defended by a moat twelve feet deep, and equally broad, extending along each of its angles, excepting the one facing the sea." But among the many fear- ful stories with which the history of Caithness abounds, one of the most extraordinary relates to so recent a period as 1680. In the summer of that year, 700 Argyle Highlanders suddenly appeared in Caithness, in support of the king's patent of the earldom, which had been granted three years before to Camp- bell of Glenorchy, afterwards created Earl of Breadalbane, and whose pretensions were resisted by George Sinclair of Keiss. So lawless and peculiar was the condition of Scotland at that time, that here we see a subject arming his vassals, and waging war in. support of his private legal claims! The infatuated Sinclairs, instead of encountering their foes at the Ord, trusting to their superior numbers, awaited their arrival in the vicinity of Wick, and sat up all night drinking and carousing. Still reeling from their potations, they attacked the Campbells next morning at Alt-o-MhairlicJi , two miles west of Wick, where their enemies were advantageously posted, and who received them steadily. The Caithness men were routed, and pursued for many miles with great slaughter. It was on this raid that the well- known quick steps, " The Campbells are coming," and " The Braes of Glenorchy," obtained their names. 30. Who has not heard of the inn of Houna, " that pretty little circle on Mr. Arrowsmith's map," so poor and humble, yet withal so hospitable and cheering to the way-worn traveller ; or of the stacks of Duncansbay, the Berubium of Ptolemy ; of John-o'-Groat's House ; of the rocky shores and shell-banks of the Pentland Firth ? At the famed John-o'-Groat's is to be seen merely the indented site of a house on a small green knoll close to the beach. John was a worthy Dutchman, who settled here about the year 1509, and whose sons or kinsmen having ROUTE IV. PENTLAND FIRTH. 421 disputed for precedency at table, he contrived the expedient of erecting an octagonal room with a door on each side, and a table to correspond, that each member of the household might be able to enter at his own door, and sit as at the head of his own board. The bold adjoining headland of Duncansbay, with its numerous deep and lengthened chasms or ghoes, and curious detached stacks or columns of rock in the sea, is well worthy of inspection. 31. Authors and artists, poets and historians, have vied with one another in delineating the dangers and the wonders which beset the northern coasts of sea-girt Albion. But who has yet fully described the life and majesty of that vast body of moving waters this eastern gulf-stream of the Atlantic the force of all its united tides hurrying on with the same impulses and in the same direction which here pour through the narrow open- ing between us and the Orcades ? The Pentland Firth is the throat connecting the Atlantic and German Oceans. From the Hebrides and Cape Wrath, the flow of the former comes rolling on in one uniform unbroken stream. As it approaches the Eastern Sea, it is dashed and buffeted against the projecting headlands of Caithness and Orkney, which contract its channel, and send it spouting on between them with increased velocity and the utmost agitation. No wonder, then, that thi$ strait should be the dread of mariners, or that vessels unfortunately entering it in a calm, should be kept for days together tossed about and carried from side to side by the conflicting currents and the alternate ebbs and flows, while, with contrary winds, the passage is still more tedious and difficult.* * In the evidence submitted to the House of Commons, along with the Report of Sir Edward Parry on the Caledonian Canal, many curious anecdotes are related, showing the detention which vessels often are subjected to in attempting to pass from one side of the island to the other through the Pentland Firth. Thus, a house in Newcastle despatched two vessels on the same day, one for Liverpool by the north of Scotland, and the other south by the English Channel and the Cape of Good Hope, for Bombay in the East Indies. The latter reached its destination first ! We also happen to know that, not many years ago, a shipowner at Inverness sent off a vessel on Christmas day for Liverpool, and which had to go " round about," as the Caledonian Canal was then undergoing some repair. On the 1st of January she got into Stromness harbour in Orkney, along with a fleet of other traders, and there they lay weather-bound till the middle of April, when the Inverness skipper was the first to venture out in prosecution of his voyage ! Dnnnet Head, the most northerly point of the mainland, and on which a fine beacon light has been erected, is one of the best places for viewing the commotions of the Pentland Firth, and the wild and sublime scenery by which it is surrounded. The late Statistical Account of the parish thus describes the changing appearance of the sea. " The current in the Pentlaud Firth is exceedingly strong during spring tides, so that no vessel can stem it. The flood-tide runs from west to east at the rate of ten miles an hour, with new and full moon. It is then high-water at Scarfskerry (which is about three miles distant from Dunnet Head) at nine o'clock. Immediately 422 PENTLAND FIRTH. SECT. VII. 32. The road from Houna to Thurso, about eighteen miles distant, proceeds along the margin of the firth. The views which are obtained in different parts of it, of the Isles of Ork- ney, the Pentland streams, and the projecting points of the mainland of Caithness, are so grand and varied, that no one who can command his time should quit the country without seeing them. The improvements of the late Sir John Sinclair, of James Traill, Esq. of Ratter, and James Smith, Esq. of Olrig, in regard to agriculture and the planting and reclaiming of waste lands, deserve particular notice ; and much may be gathered from an examination of their estates, as to the management of lands exposed in a similar manner to the bitter northern blasts, and the blighting influence of the sea breeze. These gentlemen have demonstrated how capable the peasantry are of being improved and rendered comfortable, and at the same time of adding to the wealth of the proprietors ; and indeed the statistical accounts of the whole of this district show that the poorer tenantry re- quire only moderate-sized holdings, leases of a fair endurance, with prohibitions against squatting and subsetting, and ready access to markets by roads and steamers, in order to acquire independence, and by their increase in numbers, to be a blessing instead of a burden to the country. At Castlehill, Mr. Traill for many years employed a number of labourers in quarrying pavement for the southern cities and towns, and besides occu- pying about 4000 tons of shipping, from three to four hundred thousand square feet of stone are annually exported. 33. Thurso, or Thor's Town, a burgh of barony holding of Sir George Sinclair as superior, and containing about 2400 inhabitants, is little more than half the size of Wick, and is an irregularly built town. It contains, however, some neat as the water begins to fall on the shore, the current turns to the west; but the strength of the flood is so great in the middle of the firth, that it continues to run east till about twelve. With a gentle breeze of westerly wind, about eight o'clock in the morning the whole firth seems as smooth as a sheet of glass, from frunnet Head to Hoy Head in Orkney. About nine the sea begins to raqe for about 100 yards off the Head, while all without continues smooth as before. This appearance gradually advances towards the firth, and along the shore to the east, though the effects are not much felt upon the shore till it reaches Scarfskerry Head, as the land between these points forms a considerable bay. By two o'clock, the whole firth teems to rage. About three in the afternoon it is low-water on the shore, when all the former pheno- mena are reversed, the smooth water beginning to appear next the land, and advan- cing gradually till it reaches the middle of the firth. To strangers the navigation is very dangerous, especially if they approach near the land. But the natives along the coast are so well acquainted with the direction of the tides, that they can take advan- tage of every one of these currents to carry them safe to one harbour or another. Hence very few accidents happen, but from want of skill or knowledge of the tides." ROUTE IV. THURSO. 423 freestone houses in the suburbs, and the church is a building highly creditable to the taste of the heritors. To the east of the town stands a venerable old castle, the residence of Sir George Sinclair of Ulbster, Bart., and farther east, Harold's Tower, over the tomb of Earl Harold, the possessor at one time of half of Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness, and who fell in battle against his own namesake, Earl Harold the Wicked, in the year 1190. Close by the town, on the west side, are the ruins of a once extensive castle, a residence of the Bishops of Caithness, alluded to in Branch F. For the credit of Thurso, we are glad to say that it now possesses an excellent new inn. Great improvements have been projected in the neighbourhood of this town ; but, besides being too far distant from the east coast of Scotland, and too near the Pentland Firth, the Bay of Thurso is itself too dangerous to admit of its ever being a resort for shipping ; and, in consequence, the bounds to the increase of the town are almost already known. But who is he who finds himself on its beach, and thinks of the town or its re- sources ? The lengthened waves thundering along the shores of the spacious crescent-shaped bay, arrest his attention as their curling crests break upon and splash up the sandy slope at his feet. The white streak and the hollow moan of each billow, as it yields up its power, lead away the eye and ear to the sides of the bay, formed of precipitous rocks, and termi- nated by the high bluff promontories of Holborn and Dunnet, over the top of which, though upwards of 400 feet in height, the spray dashes during storms, and on which even the sea pink and the short tufted grass hardly obtain a footing. In the distance, the prodigious western precipices of Hoy, which form, perhaps, the most magnificent range of cliff scenery in Britain, with the outlines of the Orkney hills, compose a most splendid termination to the seaward view. The traveller should not fail to walk as far as Holborn Head, where the majestic mural and fissured cliffs, with the Clett, a huge detached rock, the boundless expanse and heaving swell of old Ocean, and the clouds of screaming sea birds, afford a perfect epitome of this style of scenery. The sail across the firth from Thurso to Stromness, in Pomona, by the west of Hoy, is about twenty- four miles in length, and should not be attempted except in fine steady weather. A boat costs fifty shillings, with some- thing additional if required to wait. By the east end of 424 BEAULY TO KINTAIL. SECT. VII. Hoy, the navigation is longer, but comparatively free from danger. In the branch route from Tongue, in Sutherlandshire, to Thurso, will be found a succinct account of the road between these two places. A mail-car, carrying four passengers, besides the driver, leaves Thurso every Monday, Wednesday, and Thurs- day, for Tongue (distance, 46 miles), returning the intermediate days. The road to Houna, a distance of 18 miles, is now much improved, and fitted for a gig or carriage. ROUTE FOURTH. BRANCH A. BEAULY TO STRATHGLASS, GLENSTRATHFARAR, GLEN CANNICH, GLEN AFFRICK, AND THENCE TO KINTAIL. Roads ; Falls of Kilmorack ; Old Church ; Manse ; The Drhuim ; Isle of Aigas, 1. Approach to Strathglass ; Eskadale ; Erchless Castle ; Clan Chisholm ; their late Chief, 2. Beaufort ; Fort Lovat ; The Fentous ; Grahams ; Bissets ; Sieges under Edward I. and Cromwell ; Accommodations of the Eighteenth Century, 3. Bel- ladrum; Glenconvinth; Ferries, 4. Strathglass; Ancient Pine Forests; Lead Mine; Cross Roads to Urquhart; Bridge of Invercannich; Bridge and Chapel of Fasnakyle ; Dun Fion, 5. Geusaehan ; Termination of the Road ; State of the Country in 1745-6. Passes to the West Coast ; Tracks, or Footpaths ; Mountains on the Boundary between Inverness and Ross shires, 7- Glenstrathfarar ; Loch Miulie ; Loch Monar ; Great Deer Hunt, 8. Scournalapich, and other Mountains and Valleys, on the route to Attadale, on Loch Carron ; MacRaas of Kintail, 9. - Glen Cannich, 10. The Chisholm's Pass ; Falls of the Glass ; Knockfin, 11. Loch Benneveian, 12. Loch Aifriek ; Resting-houses of Culivie and Annamulloch, 13. Mam Soul ; Glaciers, 14. Strath Affrick ; Glen Greenivie ; the Beallach ; Crowe of Kintail ; Falls of Glomak ; Characters of the Scenery, 15. 1. From Beauly Inn to public house at Qrask of Aigas, at the upper end of the Drhuim 6 16 Struy Bridge and Inn 4 20 Invercannich (p. h.) 7J Fasnakyle Bridge, where the road to the Chisholm's Pass, and Falls of the Glass strikes off. 2J 30 Chisholm's Pass to Loch Benneveian 5 35 Annamulloch, west end of Loch Affrick, by footpath ... 10 45 Shielhouse, by the Beallach and Crowe of Kintail, about 17 62 2. From Struy Bridge, through Glenstrathfarar, to lower end of Loch Monar 16 Shepherds' cottages at upper end of Loch Monar 7 23 Thence to Attadale, on Loch Carron (no house by the way), equal to 20 43 Across Loch Carron to inn at Jeantown 2 3. From Struy, through Glen Cannich, to Invercannich ... 7$ 27| KOUTE IV. A. BEAULY TO KINTA1L. 425 Shepherd's cot at Longart 15 42 Thence to Killellan on Loch Long, 15 (no house by the way). Falls of Glomak, say 15 W* Thence to Shielhouse 8 65j 4. Road by Kiltarlity on south side of Strathglass : Inverness to Bogroy 7 To the turn off towards Beaufort Castle, on the top of the ridge, 1^ mile from Beauly Bridge 3 N.B. At Kiltarlity church, a good district road branches off to the south, through Glenconvinth, to Drumnadrochet, in Glen Urquhart, distant seven miles. Eskadale public -house 5 N.B. Below it is Aigas Ferry, on the river Beauly. Many tourists cross here, and proceed down through the Drhuiin to the Falls of Kilmorack and Beauly. Mauld, opposite Erchless Castle public-house 3 N.B. A little above the junction of the Farar and Glass, there is a bridge on the latter communicat- ing with that at Stray on the former, and with the road on the north side of the Glass, and affording a longer circuit than Aigas Ferry. Fasnakyle, where the roads on the" opposite sides of the Strath unite 9 Geusachan House, at which the road stops 3 N.B. At Crochiel, an old cart tract crosses the hill into Glen Urquhart ; but a new district road is pro- jected from Corrymony, which (about three miles in length) will descend on Strathglass, opposite In- vercannich. 1. WE proceed to give in this route a short account of the upper portion of the river Beauly, including the valleys of Strath- glass, Glen Cannich, and Glenstrathfarar, and the passes through them to the west coast, all of them being very interesting. Returning to Lovat or Beauly Bridge, a road, as formerly mentioned, has been carried westward along the north bank of the Beauly, through the parish of Kilmorack, (the burying- ground of St. Marion), to the summit of the first-mentioned strath, which is about twenty-five miles distant. Another road nearly parallel to it, already referred to, runs on the opposite side of the river, through the parish of Kiltarlity ; both uniting at the bridge of Fasnakyle ; in Strathglass. The lower falls of Kilmorack are situate about two miles west from Beauly, immediately beneath the parish church. They are less remarkable for their height, than for breadth and quantity of water, and for the beautiful accompaniments T 2 426 FALLS OF KILMORACK. SECT. VII. of lofty rocks, smooth green banks, and hanging woods which encircle them. The river, dashing from between two lofty precipices, where it is confined to an extremely narrow chan- nel, suddenly expands into an open semicircular basin, through which it slowly glides, and is then precipitated over its lower edge in a series of small cataracts. These falls are not sufficiently high or powerful to prevent salmon from getting up the river ; but the rocks next the shore being accessible, the fish are often caught by men who stand watching them, with hooks or spears fixed to long rods, and with which the salmon are seized when in the act of springing over the cascades. It is obvious that the sport is a dangerous one ; and many a stal- wart Highlander has met his death by it. Below the falls, the stream flows on through a rich plain, overtopping which Beau- fort is beheld to great advantage ; and close by, on the further bank, the visitor will perceive the ruins of the old church and the deserted manse of Kiltarlity, with the small adjoining burying-ground, which, as being the resting place of their forefathers, is still resorted to by the parishioners. On the Kil- morack side, the same objects of human mortality and affection are still more picturesquely situated ; the church and manse stand on a green bank a little above the road, but the burying- ground has been perched on the brink of the precipice over- hanging the river. Part of the same bank has been enclosed for the clergyman's garden, at the corner of which a summer house looks down into the deep gulf, where the torrent chafes and foams in its nar- rowed bed. Beyond the garden, the river forms some other cascades over shelving masses of red sandstone and conglome- rate, and comes sullenly on, threading its way through a set of high precipitous cliffs clothed with the bright foliage of the birch-tree, and a thousand trailing shrubs ; its channel cut below, by the force of the stream, into small fantastic caves and boiling caldrons. The next group of waterfalls occurs about three miles up the river, at the top of a most romantic ride called " The Drhuim," which signifies a narrow pass. This is the most sweetly Highland and beautiful part of the course of the Beauly : on either hand the mountain acclivities are rather steep and rocky, and the valley between them is not a quarter of a mile broad ; but woods of birch and fir encompass the whole scene, especially on the north side ; and the edges of the ROUTE IV. A. THE DHRUIM ISLE OF AIGAS. 427 river are fringed all along with rows of oak, weeping birches, and alders. In one part, half up the strath, near the cottage of Teanassie (the burn of which will reward its being explored), the waters plunge through a rocky passage encircling high pyramids of stone, standing up in the midst of the stream, gigantic witnesses of its ceaseless and consuming power. Im- mediately below, the turmoil ceases, and the quieted element reposes in smooth dark linns ; while the rocks at the same time recede and give place to soft daisied banks and sweet patches of corn land. On the southern shore, on a high conical mound rising above a perpendicular sheet of rock, is Dun Fion, a vitrified structure, which was laid open some years ago for the inspection of the curious by order of Lord Lovat. He has also formed a drive along the whole of his side of the river, which thus comprehends, as a part of his policies, this interest- ing piece of scenery. At the further end of the Drhuim, the road begins to ascend towards the interior of the country, and here the river is seen pouring down on each side of a high rounded hill, covered with oak and birch, at the lower extre- mity of which it forms the second set of small but beautiful cataracts. This wooded hill is the Island of Aigas for the river parts into two, and encircles it noted as having been the temporary retreat to which Simon, Lord Lovat, conducted the dowager Lady Lovat (whom he had forced to become his wife), when letters of fire and sword were issued against him and the principal families of his clan by King William, in 1697. Eilan Aigas is now more appropriately occupied by a beautiful villa, which is approached by a rustic bridge from the east side, and which was recently the summer retreat of Sir Robert Peel and his family. 2. On ascending the high ground opposite this island, another valley, of a very different character from that we have just passed, opens to view. Its surface is broad and flat, and has greatly the appearance of being the dried-up bed of an old inland lake ; and along it the Beauly winds a broad and sluggish stream, quite different in aspect from the impetuous torrent it appeared below. We are now approaching the con- fines of Strathglass, and the country assumes a wilder and rougher aspect. Under the brow of the wooded hill on the right, is the house of Aigas a property lately added to the other possessions in this neighbourhood of the Chisholm of 428 ERCHLESS CASTLE THE CHISHOLM. SECT. VII. Chisholm, and on the opposite side of the valley rises the ele- gant mansion of Eskadale (Thomas Fraser, Esq.) : to the west- ward, the small hamlet of Wester Eskadale, behind which, though half concealed by the birch-trees, appear the white walls and pinnacles of a handsome Roman Catholic chapel, erected by Lord Lovat. Five miles on, the traveller arrives at Erchless, or Easter Glass Castle, a stately old tower modernized, surrounded by well-dressed grounds, the residence of " The Chisholm," whose estates lie on the north side of the Beauly, and in Strathglass, and extend over hundreds of hills to the westward. We have already alluded to Sir Robert Chisholm as being king's constable of Urquhart Castle, on Loch Ness (see page 130), early in the fourteenth century. He appears to have been the founder of the family's greatness in the north, and by his alliance with the Lauders of Quarrelwood, in Moray, to have obtained extensive possessions in that county, in addition to his Inverness-shire estates. Under the titles of " Chisholm of Comar," " The Chisholm," or " Chisholm of Chisholm," the successive chiefs continued to rule over a respectable clan till the first rebellion of last century, when Laird Roderick, by joining the Stuarts' cause, was attainted, and his property for- feited to the crown, though he himself was subsequently par- doned. After passing through various hands, it was ultimately bought back (less a good many slices sold or picked off by friendly neighbours) for behoof of the family in the year 1774. The change of system in the management of Highland proper- ties caused several large and heart-rending migrations of the clan to Canada. Hard by the castle is the picturesque " last resting-place" of the late chief, Alexander William Chisholm of Chisholm, for several years M. P. for the county of Inverness, and whose many virtues and ardent attachment to his kinsmen, and to the civil and religious institutions of his country, which he defended in many arduous struggles, will be long and fondly remembered. 3. Before proceeding up this valley, it is necessary to return to the spot where we parted from the post-road, between Inver- ness and Beauly, on the height above the Lovat Bridge, and bring on the description of the parish of Kiltarlity, on the south side of the country. A few hundred yards on from the main post-road, we pass, on the right, the porter's lodge at the en- ROUTE IV. A. BEAUFORT CASTLE GLENCONVINTH. 429 trance to the extensive and wooded policies of Beaufort Castle, which stands on the site of the old fortress of Beaufort, or Dunie, which, with its subsidiary fortalice, Lovat, is noticed in Scottish story as early as the era of Alexander I. Persons of the name of Fenton and Graham, who seem to have been nu- merous in the adjoining country, were governors or constables of these castles, even after the Bissets' lands, on which they stood, were given to the Frasers. The Bissets themselves were an extremely powerful family, denizened in the north during the sway of Malcolm III. and William the Lion, and whose greatness seems to have reached its acme under the sovereignty of Alexander II. They pos- sessed the Aird, a great part of Stratherrick, and Abertarff on Loch Ness ; but their head being implicated in the murder of Patrick, Earl of Athole, in 1242, and subsequently in the rebellion of Donald, Lord of the Isles, the estate was forfeited, and of new granted to the Frasers, who originally appear in Caithness (then a part of Inverness-shire) so far back as 1296, from the counties of Peebles and Tweeddale. In the year 1303, Beaufort sustained a regular siege by Edward I., whose army battered it with catapultse, from trenches still visible on the opposite side of the river : it was also seized by Oliver Cromwell, and the citadel blown up ; and, lastly, it was burnt and entirely razed to the ground by the royal troops, after the battle of Culloden. The accommoda- tions of the fortress seem not to have been great ; for Simon, Lord Lovat, is related, on the authority of Ferguson the astro- nomer, as having " received company and dined with them in the same room in which he slept. His lady's sole apartment was her bedchamber, and the only provision for lodging the domestics and the numerous herd of retainers, was a quantity of straw on the four lower rooms of the tower: sometimes above 400 persons were kennelled here." 4. Proceeding onwards, the road immediately winds in front of the pleasure-grounds of Belladrum (J. Stewart, Esq.), one of the most elegant and costly mansions and demesnes in the Highlands. The estate of Belladrum stretches southward up a pastoral dell called Glenconvinth, through which a new road leads across the hills into Glen Urquhart, on the side of Loch Ness. Glenconvinth takes its name from a nunnery, the foun- dations of which, in the centre of the valley, are still visible. 430 STRATHGLASS. SECT. VII. Crossing now over a long dreary ridge, we at length regain the course of the Beauly, as the island of Aigas, the fertile plains of Eskadale, and the distant woods of Struy and Erch- less, suddenly burst on our sight. At Eskadale there is a ferry across the river, which affords a convenient means to the visitor of the Falls of Kilmorack and scenery of the Drhuim, to vary the homeward route to Inverness. The road passes from Eska- dale towards Strathglass, past the hamlet and chapel before noticed. 5. Both sides of this valley may now be described together. Its course is nearly south-west, and almost rectilineal. It is throughout pastoral ; traversed by a sluggish river, the over- flowings of which give rise to the most luxuriant pastures, although at the same time they render the grounds rather too wet for cultivation. The sides of the glen are all along fringed with beautiful woods of birch, over which, in ancient days, large pine forests stretched up to the summit of the hills. Successive burnings the necessities of the proprietors the general introduction of sheep and cattle into the country (some will have it a change of climate), have entirely swept these away, and a few solitary trees, clinging to the precipices, or trunks dug up from the peat-mosses, are all that now remain to attest their former abundance. Strathglass was, at one period, a great storehouse for timber, and it contributed, in no small degree, to the scanty commerce which this country carried on. The Protector Cromwell used an immense quantity of the pine from the Struy estate in the construction of his fortifica- tions at Inverness. Near Little Struy, half a mile from the bridge, a lead mine, situate in a thick vein of heavy spar, traversing gneiss, was some years ago opened by Lord Lovat ; but for the present it has been abandoned. The geologist will observe how powerful the denuding agents once were in Strathglass, and will have noticed, from Eilan Aigas upwards, the effects of undoubted glacial action in rounding, polishing, and scratching the ledges of the hard gneiss rocks of which the country is composed. From Mid Crochiel a bridle road leads across the hills into Urquhart. Another path, farther up the glen, conducts from Geusachan to the same district, and another strikes farther west into Glen Moriston, while the new district road between Strathglass and Corrymony long projected, will, we trust, be ROUTE IV. A. STRATHGLASS GEUSACHAN. 431 speedily formed, so as to enable the traveller to return from this excursion, if he pleases, by Glen Urquhart. On the north side of Strathglass, about seven miles above Stray, a wild torrent comes pouring down from a glen on the right, called Glen Cannich, along the banks of which are seen two groups of black huts, styled Easter and Wester Inver- cannich. This stream is crossed by a strong massive bridge, from the farther end of which a branch road slants up the acclivity of the neighbouring hill, and, bringing us to a con- siderable elevation, ushers us on the upland glen, which we will presently describe. Nearly opposite Invercannich, seven and a half miles from Struy, is the old clachan or chapel of Fasnakyle ; the area of the sacred enclosure, with a small space around it, being occupied by the graves of the inhabitants of the glen. A little further on is the wide moor of Comar, the house of Fasnakyle, and a neat Roman Catholic chapel, embowered among weeping birches. At the bridge of Fasnakyle, the two Strathglass roads unite. Here the river Glass flows through a rocky channel, from a wooded glen, lying to the westward, which leads up by the Chisholm's Pass to Lochs Beneveian and Affrick, the main road deviating towards the south. The high bold crag, rising betwixt the two, and forming a conspicuous object through the greater part of Strathglass, is called Knockfin, or Fingal's Fort. It is surrounded on the summit by two enormously thick walls of stone, but it is not vitrified. 6. Through flourishing plantations and highly cultivated grounds, we now reach Geusachan, the beautiful residence of Fraser of Culbockie, the representative of a family which suffered much at the rebellion of 1745, and in the flames of their dwelling-house lost many of their most valuable papers. A mile or so beyond Geusachan the public road stops on the brow of a hill, just as the traveller expects it is to usher him on Glen Affrick one of the great openings to the west to which we are immediately to direct attention, after a short traditionary narrative. The districts of Strathglass and Urquhart, being easily accessible from the extensive tracts of moor ground lying to the west of them, and which were too remote to be under the command even of the ancient chieftains of the country, were formerly much infested by depredators, who occasionally took 432 STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN 1745. SECT. VII. possession of these wilds ; and by the more distant, but equally unsettled clans who resided on the western coasts of Inverness and Ross shires. An excessive population, which had outgrown its means of subsistence, and totally regardless of the indus- trious and peaceable occupations of civilized life, was always ready for desperate enterprises ; and the chiefs were obliged, if not to encourage, at least to connive at such, to prevent their retainers from quarrelling among themselves. Hence our late venerable and learned friend, Mr. Grant of Corrymony, author of an erudite, but now scarce, work, on the origin and descent of the Gael, used to relate that his father, when speaking about the rebellion of 1745, always insisted that a rising in the High- lands was absolutely necessary, to give employment to the numerous bands of lawless and idle young men who infested every property. Besides, he added, Sir Ludovick Grant, our chief, plainly told the gentlemen of his name, resident in the Braes of Urquhart and Glen Moriston, that it was not in his power to protect them from the attacks of the neighbouring clans, such as the Frasers, Macdonells, and Camerons, who were favourable to the cause of Prince Charles Stuart ; and that they must just consult their own safety, and take whichever side they considered best. Whether these gentlemen understood the meaning of this sly and shrewd advice we cannot say ; but, in the circumstances in which they were placed, we cannot wonder that they joined the cause which, in the Highlands at least, appeared the strongest and most legitimate. At the period just alluded to, cow's flesh formed almost the exclusive food of both gentry and peasantry, and hence much disease prevailed from the want of vegetables. Corn was scarce, and the reaping of such as arrived at maturity was uncertain, as well from robbery and bad husbandry as inclement seasons. Hence, like the patriarchs of old, the head of every considerable family had occasionally to send forth his sons and servants to the Low Countries to buy corn for food. Old Corrymony had every season to do so ; and a goodly band of young fellows would he despatch, with leathern bags on their backs and money in their hands, to purchase meal at the Earl of Moray's granaries, in Petty. Such an expedition, however, was too important to be disregarded by the neighbourhood ; and it so happened that the kind old laird seldom sent out his household accoutred with their sacks, but intelligence was some way or other communi- ROUTE IV. A. FROM STRATHGLASS TO THE WEST COAST. 433 cated to the famished Camerons of Lochaber, who instantly crossed the hills in great strength, under cloud of night, and waylaid the Grants on their return from the low grounds. Some- times without, but oftener only after a struggle, the caterans would succeed in relieving the Urquhart men of their treasure, which they instantly carried away to their own hungry families on the banks of Loch Arkaig ; where, perhaps, the luxury of meal was not again experienced till the following year, when another successful foray might bring it them. PASSES PKOM STRATHGLASS TO THE WEST COAST. 7. We now proceed to describe the routes from Strathglass through the great passes or openings between the mountains leading to the west coast. They are three in number : 1st, by Glenstrathfarar and Loch Monar; 2d, by Glen Cannich; and 3d, by the Chisholm's Pass and Strath Affrick, through the Beallach to the Crowe of Kintail. The last is the highest and grandest, and, on the whole, the best adapted for a public road, as being the shortest, and communicating most directly with well-inhabited districts ; and in fact it was marked out by the Parliamentary Commissioners as one of their first lines of road, though it has not hitherto been carried beyond the top of Strath- glass. At present there are but mere tracts or foot-paths through these wilds, without drains or bridges, but sufficiently marked for the pedestrian, though rendered extremely rough by the constant tread of the little country garrons, and the droves of cattle which for ages have been passing along from coast to coast, and whose footsteps have scooped out the earth between the rocks and stones on the surface, which has thus been con- verted into a sort of broken causeway. The whole of the moun- tains through which we have to pass, composing the irregular boundary between Inverness and Ross shires, are grouped into enormous chains and clusters, set on a high table-land or base, to which the lesser chains, on the confines of Loch Duich, Strath- glass, and Glen Urquhart, appear only as buttresses, and which attain an elevation in some places equal, and in general but little inferior, to Ben Nevis and the Grampians. They contain mul- titudes of lakes at a very high level, which communicate with one another by rapid streams, the descent from these great cen- tral masses of rock to either coast being also for the most part 434 GLENSTRATHFARAR LOCH MITJLIE. SECT. Til. abrupt and steep. Guides may be hired at the inn at Struy Bridge, or at the little village of Invercannich, to direct one's course, and carry his wallet and provisions, the charge being from 5s. to 7s. a-day. 1. GLENSTRATHFARAR, BRANCHING OFF FROM STRATHGLASS AT STRUT. 8. Of old, the whole district from Inverness to this point was known under the name of Strathfarar ; the Firth of Beauly was called by the Romans, latinising most probably the native names, JSstuarius-Varrar, and the valley at present denomi- nated Glenstrathfarar, shows itself, by its designation, to be the narrowest part of the great strath. Glenstrathfarar runs nearly due west along the base of the mountain Benevachart, on the estate of Struy, for a distance of about ten miles, and is con- fessedly one of the most picturesque valleys in the Highlands. In geological phrase, it is formed of a succession of small cir- cular valleys, opening into one another, and in consequence it presents a variety of landscape, generally bold and rocky, but beautifully wooded, and interspersed with soft, low meadow grounds. At its further end the glen terminates in the basin of Loch Miulie, in which is a small island whither Lord Lovat retreated after the disaster at Culloden, and from the summit of one of the adjacent mountains, encompassed by a few faith- ful adherents, he beheld the flames of the conflagration which consumed his own and his clansmen's houses. Three miles beyond is Monar House (Captain White), at the lower end of Loch Monar, and thus far the road is adapted for carriages ; but beyond, it is a mere tract, and the traveller should, if possible, make his way to the head of the lake, which is seven miles long, by boat. There he will find a shepherd's cot, at which, as it is twenty-five miles distant from Struy, he should rest for the night. The shores of Loch Monar are wild, but picturesque, and at the eastern end, where the water is hemmed in by a narrow tortuous strait, the remnants of an ancient pine- forest are seen, of which, farther on, stumps and fallen trees only appear, though these are met with in the mosses all the way to Kintail. According to the historical manuscript of a Highland clergyman of the seventeenth century, a great hunt took place here in the year 1655. It is thus described : ROUTE IV. A. GREAT DEER HUNT. 435 " The law here is strict against loyalists, so that the Earl of Seaforth entered his person prisoner in the Sconce at Inver- ness, as also the Lord Macdonald, and had their respective lodg- ings within the citadel. Seaforth procured a furlough this year, putting himself under bail to Governor Miles Man, and went to visit his friends the length of Kintail ; and resolving to keep a hunting by the way in the forest of Monar, he prevailed with the Master and Tutor of Lovat to go along with him. The tutor pitched his tent on the north side of the river, and Struy his tent upon the south. Next day we got sight of six or seven hundred deer, and sport of hunting fitter for kings than country gentlemen. The four days we tarried there, what is it that could cheer and renovate men's spirits but was gone about? Jumping, archery, shooting, throwing the bar, the stone, and all manner of manly exercises imaginable. And for entertain- ment, our baggage was well furnished of beef, mutton, fowls, fishes, fat venison a very princely camp and all manner of liquors. The fifth day we convoyed Seaforth over the moun- tain in sight of Kintail, and returned home with the Master of Lovat a very pretty train of gallant gentlemen. Masters Hill and Man, two Englishmen who were in company, declared that in all their travels they never had such brave divertisement ; and if they should relate it in England, it would be concluded mere rant, and incredible ! " 9. Scuir-na-Lapich, a beautifully-peaked mountain belong- ing to Lord Lovat, lies on the south side of Loch Monar, and between it and Glen Cannich ; and to the west of it an enor- mous shapeless mass, called Ryuchan, flat at top, and seared in front by innumerable streams and gullies, the first and highest mountain on the Lochalsh property, and from the summit of which both seas are visible. The peaks of Crechil come next, and most splendid grassy shoulders descend from them, stretch- ing off and uniting with the rich pastures of the west coast. It will take seven hours' hard walking to reach Attadale, on Loch Carron, from Loch Monar, and that over the most rugged ground, but without any considerable ascents, the path passing at no great distance from Lochs Ged, Cruashi, and Calivie, and from one great pastoral valley to another by gentle undulations, till, after crossing Luip-Y-Guilig, an open hollow, where the hill paths from Monar, Strathconon, Loch Carron, and Loch Long unite, it descends into the rocky and picturesque Strathan of 436 GLEN CANNICH. SECT. VII. Attadale, where brushwood, cultivation, and the cottages of the MacRaas, a pure, swarthy, dark -eyed, and tall Celtic race, greet the weary traveller. From Loch Monar the scenery is rather wide and open, but the straths and hill sides are beautifully green, and the forms and tints of many of the mountain groups and single peaks are exceedingly interesting. In Glenstrath- farar, the tourist can refresh himself at several farm-houses, and perhaps he might get quarters for a night at one or other of the shooting-lodges there, but for the last twenty miles there is no bothie at all to be seen. 2. GLEN CANNICH. 10. Glen Cannich, or the Glen of the Cotton Grass, which abounds throughout its pastures, strikes off from Strathglass at the clachan or village of Invercannich, seven and a half miles above Struy, and after a short rocky ascent, it turns westward, and stretches out for twenty miles before the eye, as a broad mossy valley, abounding in most valuable pasture, but covered to a great extent by a succession of uninteresting lakes or tarns, of which Loch Longard (called in maps Loch Moyley, and which is six or seven miles in length) is the most considerable. At the farther end of this lake, which is about half way across, is a shepherd's cottage, where the traveller will be made welcome, but no other is to be seen till he reaches Killellan, on Loch Long, about fifteen miles distant. Glen Cannich is of a lower level than Strath Affrick, to which it is nearly parallel, except that it trends more to the north, and it is higher than Glenstrath- farar. Its west end is called Glasletter, significant of its rich green pastures, and here the estates of the Chisholm and Loch- alsh meet. From the edges of the plain the mountain acclivi- ties rise up on all sides in long unbroken and beautiful slopes, clothed with the richest herbage, and thousands of choice Che- viot sheep are reared upon them. A good road could easily be made along this glen ; but the overflowings of the lochs in win- ter would have to be guarded against, whilst higher up it would be much exposed to deep snow wreaths, and the rough shores of Loch Long, at the west end, could only be surmounted at a great expense. Instead of going so far as Killellan, we would advise the traveller, soon after passing Loch Edrum, where the waters first shear towards the west coast, to ford the Elcaig ROUTE iv. A. CHISHOLM'S PASS LOCH BENNEVEIAN. 437 river, and, ascending to the south-west, visit the Falls of Glo- mak, and thence proceed, as after described, to Shielhouse by the Crowe of Kintail. 3. THE CHISHOLM'S PASS, AND STRATH AFFRICK. 11. Between the bridges of Invercannich and Fasnakyle, the tourist will find an excellent road striking off to the right, which was made for the conveyance of wool from the Chisholm's sheep farms in the interior, and which terminates at the nearer end of Loch Benneveian, four or five miles distant. It ascends rapidly, and then becomes level, and it commands fine views of the strath it has left, and of the river above whose course it conducts, on which are a series of beautiful cascades, from ten to thirty feet high, occurring in the course of a rapid upwards of a mile long. The opening through which this road leads is called THE CHISHOLM'S PASS. The scenery is somewhat similar to the celebrated birken bowers of Killiecrankie and the Tro- sachs, but on a much ampler and grander scale ; and to the beauty of the birch, and of many large native ashes and elms, the intermixture of tall, fantastic pines, here superadds the sober and imposing majesty of the Rothiemurchus and Mai- forests. In ascending the shelving opening, a prolonged vista in one general mantle of foliage ascending high on either side, forms a woodland picture of incomparable beauty, threaded by the rocky channel of the river. The path is prolonged west- ward from the termination of the good road through the Chis- holm's Pass, and is daily becoming more passable for horses as well as foot passengers. 12. After resting at the shepherd's cot at Achagait, on a fine green haugh at the exit of the Glass from its parent lake, the tourist must proceed by land, if not so fortunate as to find the Loch Benneveian boat at the east end. This sheet of water is five miles long, and about a mile broad in the centre, and wider at the lower than the upper end. The surrounding mountains are high, bold, and massive quite bare on the north side, but the sloping declivities on the south are closely and extensively covered with pine forest, of which a fine circular screen also encloses the head of the lake. Beyond it the gigan- tic mountain masses of Loch Affrick rise in most graceful ma- jesty, and present long, slightly-curving summits and lines 438 LOCH AFFKICK SHEPHERDS' COTTAGES. SECT. VII. subsiding very gently in the distance, the broad and remote peaks of Kintail filling up the centre, the whole composing an exquisite landscape of severe but most engaging grandeur. The character of the scene is realized in Thomson's " Castle of In- dolence." " Full in the passage of the Vale, ahove, A sable, silent, solemn forest stood ; Where nought but shadowy forms were seen to move, As Idless fancied in her dreaming mood : And up the hills, on either side, a wood Of blackening pines, aye waving to and fro, Sent forth a sleepy horror through the blood ; And where the valley winded out, below, The murmuring stream was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow." 13. A narrow rocky barrier, covered with pine and birch separates Loch Benneveian from Loch Affrick ; and launched again upon the latter, the tourist will perceive every feature as he advances more gigantic and imposing than those he has already explored. The hoary pine forests still continue, but in more broken masses ; but with groups and single trees now only crowning a zone of low eminences, which line both shores. Loch Affrick terminates below in a lengthened stripe, widening for a space in the centre, partially bordered with meadow ground, and overhung by birch and pine trees, and thus afford- ing the most admirable foregrounds, comprising a most roman- tic shooting-lodge of the Chisholm's ; while the distant vista retains the same finely outlined character. As we advance, the mountains, which previously appeared in depressed perspective, increasing in size, press close at hand, especially on the north, in all their lofty majesty ; and the pine-clad shores bestow an indescribable sense of lonely and sombre solitude on the scenery. This lake is also about five miles long, and a mile across where widest. The foot-path on the northern shore glides along the beetling crags of Scour-na-Lapich and Mam Soul, and at length ushers us on a fine meadow plain at the farther end of the loch, where the shepherd's house at Culivie, neatly fitted up, will be heartily welcomed by the traveller as his night's quarters. The water of Affrick separates this house from Annamul- loch (a ford, where a set of reivers from Mull are said by tra- dition to have been drowned) from another shepherd's cottage, which is similarly fitted up, either for sportsmen or travellers, that is, having the "ben " room boxed round, with snug boarded- up beds in the side, which are farther provided with the luxu- ROUTE IV. A. MAM SOUL STRATH AFFRICK. 439 ries of English blankets and sheets ; and the occupants, to their other civilities, will obligingly assist in procuring the use of the boats on the lochs, especially if a message is sent before- hand that they are wanted. 14. Should the tourist have time, we would recommend his ascending Mam Soul before proceeding farther, if the weather is fine, as the view is remarkably grand, both seas being visible from the summit ; and, if a botanist, he will find on the upper shoulders a most interesting intermixture of east and west coast plants ; while in some of the greater corries he is almost sure of being gratified with a sight of a herd of red deer. The nearest approach in Britain to perpetual glaciers, likewise oc- curs in the snow and icy patches on this mountain ; but the story is quite fabulous, that a green little lake on the northern shoulder is frozen the whole year over. 15. An eight or nine hours' walk from Culivie, or Anna- mulloch, will land our pilgrim at Shielhouse, in Kintail the foot-path being quite distinct the whole way, keeping on the north side of the Affrick Water, along an open level valley, at the further end of which a sudden cleft in the terminating range of rocky hills, called the Beallach (literally the Pass), lets us " drop down," with cautious footsteps, to the Crowe of Kintail. A single bothie at Aultbae, at which a bowl of milk may be had, is to be met with in the hill, about four miles west from Loch Affrick, where an opening in the mountains leading southwards conducts to Cluany, in Glen Moriston. At the head of Strath Affrick, a glen, or hollow, running at nearly right angles to the north, and containing three small lochs, brings us, at about four miles' distance, to the Falls of Glomak, on the river of that name, from which a different route from that by the Beallach conducts to Shielhouse. For a description of those remarkable falls, the highest in the Highlands, and the approaches to them, and of the scenery generally in this day's route, we refer our readers to Route i., Branch F., page 198. Throughout this last day's walk, the whole country has been treeless ; but the green pastures redeem the loss by their brilliant lively hue, very different from the brown sombre colour of the east-coast moors. A few alders and birches reap- pear in Kintail, as we attain the level of Loch Duich, but they seem dwindled down to mere twigs ; and an impression of 440 KESSOCK FERRY. SECT. VII. solemn admiration and awe steals over the mind, as the stu- pendous peaks and frontlets of Kin tail first burst on the view. ROUTE FIFTH. BRANCH B. (THE BLACK ISLE.) INVERNESS, BY KESSOCK FERRY, TO DINGWALL, REDCA8TLE, AVOCH, FOHTROSE, AND CROMARTY. Kessock Ferry, paragraph 1. Beads ; Allangrange; Kilcoy; Ferintosh; footnote. History of Redcastle, 2. Ord of Kessock; Drumderfit; Origin of the Logans; t Munlochy ; Rosehaugh ; Avoch, 3. Fortrose ; Cathedral of Ross ; Rosemarkie, 4. General Sketch of the Black Isle, or Ardmeanach, footnote ; Cromarty ; Trade, 5. Traditions of Cromarty, 6. Conveyances ; Sculptured Stones at Nigg, &c ; Geo- logy, 7. Old Churches ; Urquharts of Cromarty, 8. Miles. Dingwall by Kessock Ferry 13 Strathpeffer Spa Hotel 4 By Beauly, 25 Miles. 17 Mile*. Redcastle from Kessock 5 Muir of Ord, where junction with Great North Post Road 3 8 Mile*. Mile*. Kessock to Munlochy 5 Avoch 4 9 Fortrose 2 11 Cromarty 9 20 20 Invergordon Ferry, 15 Miles. 1. THE road along the west bank of the river Ness conducts us towards its estuary, through the lands of Merkinch, to Kessock (Kesswick) Ferry, the narrowest part of the Moray Firth, and the main passage to the Black Isle, Dingwall, and the west of Ross-shire. This strait is about three-quarters of a mile broad, and is now one of the safest ferries in the north. The current of the river Beauly, which flows down next the northern shore, and the reflux of the ebb of the sea meeting the flow, create, at certain periods, an agitation of the waters ROUTE V. B. BLACK ISLE REDCASTLE. 441 which is more dangerous in appearance than in reality. It is thus pompously described by Franck, an officer of Cromwell's army, who wrote memoirs on his sojourn in Scotland who, besides the dangers of the waves, says that his boat was nearly upset by the porpoises, " which vented so vehemently at the stern :" " In the midst of this Pontus Cambrosia is a white spumation, or frothy, foaming, sparkling spray, that resembles via lactea; occasioned, as you see, from luxuriant tides and aggravating winds, that violently contract the surface of the sea, and so amalgamises them together, that neither the one nor the other can divide nor expatiate itself till inevitably sucked into the bowels of the ocean." Of the many beautiful points of view around Inverness, that, from the midst of Kes- sock ferry, of the Beauly and Moray Firths, and of the heights which line the great glen, of the town itself, and river's mouth, and the surrounding fields and hanging woods, especially at full tide, is one of the most interesting and extensive. 2. The peninsula lying between the firths of Beauly and Cromarty, called the "Black Isle," or "Edderdail" (the land between the two seas), or " Ardmeanach" (the monk's height), consists chiefly of three great ridges parallel to one another, and running nearly from south-west to north-east, of which the loftiest and farthest back, called the " Maolbuy " (or yellow hill), rises to the height of between 600 and 700 feet, and which, though now enclosed and extensively planted, was, till of late years, a bleak undivided commonty. To the tourist this peninsula is useful, as affording him short routes either to the West or North Highlands, and as presenting, in all direc- tions, from its high, undulating surfaces, most grand and ex- tensive views, whether he looks southward, across the Moray and Beauly Firths, upon Inverness, and towards the recesses of the Great Glen and Strathglass, or, on attaining the summit of the highest ridge, he beholds all at once beneath him the ex- panse of the Cromarty Firth, embosomed in fine cultivated grounds, with high and wild mountains of every shape and size extending in grand groups and chains behind them. From the inn of North Kessock, on the Ross-shire side of the ferry, where carriages, gigs, and saddle-horses can be had, two roads proceed, one by the sea-side westwards by Redcastle* * The fine old tower of Redcastle, which is still inhabited by the proprietor, Colonel H. D. Baillie, was anciently the head castle of the lordship of Ardmeanach, 442 KILCOY CASTLE. SECT. VII. (five miles), which joins the great post road at the Muir of Ord (three miles on, and two miles from Beauly), and is continued across it to Moy and Contin (five miles more), on the Loch Carron road from Dingwall. The other road from Kessock holds over the hill, in a north-west direction, for Dingwall, and at the first toll-bar (two miles on) a branch of it strikes off for Munlochy, Avoch, Fortrose, Rosemarkie, and Cromarty. Another branch from the Dingwall road breaks off three miles farther on, at the Tore Inn or public-house, and which also conducts to Avoch and Fortrose, without passing through Munlochy; and an arm of it strikes west from nearly the same point of junction for Redcastle and Beauly. Near the top of the ridge of the Maolbuy, a very tedious but straight road proceeds due east to Cromarty, intersected by cross ones from Munlochy and Rosemarkie leading to Invergordon ferry. At Arpaphily (three miles from Kessock) we pass a small Episcopal chapel, and opposite it, in the hollow on the right, the house of Allangrange, and the site of an old chapel of the Knights Templars. Farther on is the Castle of Kilcoy (Sir Evan Mackenzie), on the height above Redcastle, and behind it one of the largest cairns en- closed with circles of upright stones in the north of Scotland. These lie about half a mile north-west of the tower. Descending thence towards the head of the Cromarty Firth, the traveller will behold one of the most magnificent panoramic views in the country, as he passes through the barony of Ferintosh, a district long celebrated for its superior whisky. The privilege of dis- and also a royal castle. " On the forfeiture of the old Earls of Ross, it was annexed inalienably by parliament to the Scottish Crown in 1455 ; and in 1482, the Earl of Huntlie, the "king's lieutenant in the north, bestowed the keeping^ of Kcdcastle on Hugh Rose, Baron of Kilravock. It was seized soon thereafter by Hector Mackenzie, and the country of Ardmeanach spuilzied by William Forbes in Strathglaish, Chisholm of Comer, and other accomplices, against whom Rose of Kilravock obtains sentence, 12th May 1492. Thus armed, the Earl of Huntlie farther gave commission to Mackintosh, Grant, Kilravock, and others, to the number of 3000, to go against Cainoch M'Cainoch and his kin (the occupiers of Glen Cainoch) for spuilzing Ard- meanach, and killing Harold Chishoun in Strathglaish, and that they did Iiarrie, spuilzie, and slay the clan Kynech by his command, as the king's rebels and oppres- sors of the liedges" (Kilravock MSS.) Tradition says, that when Queen Mary was at Inverness, on which occasion it is also believed her majesty bestowed the name of BeavlifH or Beaulv on the priory there, she visited Redcastle. It was afti wards burnt in Montrose's time ; and the family of Mackenzie of Redcastle (the first of the house being Bory More, second son of Kenneth, fifth Laird of Kintail, and who acquired the estate about the year 1570) having become unfortunate, the property was sold in 1790 by authority of the Court of Session, and purchased for 25,000 by Mr. Grant of Sheuglie, the gross rental being about 1000 a-year. In 1S24, the same estate was bought by the late Sir William Fettes for 135,000, but has since been resold to the present" proprietor for a sum considerably less. On the estate of Red- castle, the tourist will pass the ruins of the old chapel of Gilchrist (or Christ's church \ the burning of which is described in the horrid " Raid of Cillie-christ," (page 149.) ROUTE V. B. OED OP KESSOCK. 443 tilling spirits in this barony, not subject to the excise laws, was granted to President Forbes of Culloden (the proprietor), a poor recompense for his extraordinary exertions in behalf of the Hanoverian government ; and it was bought back by the Crown, in 1786, for a sum of about 20,000. The tower of Ryefield, on the right, is the messuage of this estate, which be- longs to the county of Nairn ; and on the left will be observed another small tower or fortalice that of Kinkell, on the estate of Conon, the old residence, on the eastern side of the island, of the Gairloch family, an ancient and powerful branch of the clan Mackenzie, now represented by a promising youth, Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, whose estate in this quarter is also valu- able and beautiful. At Scudal Bridge (two miles from Ding- wall) we join the main post road. (See page 388.) 3. Let us now revert to the roads proceeding from Kessock to the eastern parts of the Black Isle. The high, round-caped hill, immediately to the east of Kessock, is called the Ord, or Wardhill of Kessock, and is crowned with a strong walled struc- ture, extensively vitrified. One of its acclivities on the right hand, as we descend towards Munlochy by a side or district road, is called the ridge of Drumderfit or Druim deur, " the ridge of tears," which, as the many cairns strewed over it would indicate, was about the year 1400 the scene of a strange and sanguinary event. Donald, the then Lord of the Isles, having collected a powerful army, made a descent upon Ross, and en- camped on this ridge, opposite the town of Inverness, which he threatened with fire and sword, if not propitiated by an exor- bitant ransom. Happily for the town, the provost, whose name was Junor, was a man of penetration and address. Aware that Donald's army was greatly fatigued, and in want of provisions, Provost Junor contrived to smuggle into the camp a large quan- tity of strong spirits, which were eagerly consumed by the isles- men, who soon sunk, under the power of the intoxicating beve- rage, into the most profound slumber. In the mean time, the provost collected a number of resolute adherents, and crossing Kessock ferry at dead of night, suddenly fell on Donald's camp and massacred almost every man. The farm of Drumderfit was, till very lately, occupied for upwards of 400 years by a respect- able family of the name of Logan, from the Lothians, who were extensive merchants or traffickers, and who, tradition says, re- ceived by marriage into their house the last heiress of the old 444 AVOCH FORTROSE. SECT. VII. Bissets of Lovat, an alliance for which they paid dearly, through the inroads and jealousies of the clan Fraser, who succeeded the Bissets in the Lovat estates. The Logans also suffered from their attachment to Episcopacy ; but they afterwards retrieved their losses, by becoming commissioners for Forbes of Culloden, for the sale of the licensed Ferintosh whisky. Munlochy is a little post town, situated at the head of a small but picturesque inlet of the Moray Firth, from which a road continues nearly due north, across the elevated and far-extending moorland, to Invergordon Ferry on the Cromarty Firth, and another branch- ing from it leads straight forward along the ridge of the hill to Cromarty. That by the coast introduces us, four miles on, to the little fishing village of Avoch, passing previously the man- sion-houses and grounds of Rosehaugh (Sir James Mackenzie of Scatwell, Bart.), and of Avoch (Alexander G. Mackenzie, Esq.), and, one mile further, to the ancient burgh of Fortrose.* 4. As a free town, and as the seat of the bishops of Ross (whose palace or castle was completely, and their cathedral in a great measure, destroyed by Oliver Cromwell), Fortrose was in ancient days a place of considerable consequence ; the re- cords of its chanonry or canon courts contained transcripts of almost all the valuable documents relating to the family his- tories and estates in the county of Ross, and it gave birth to men eminent both in church and state. Here resided the celebrated historian, Bishop Lesley, the last Catholic bishop of Ross, who lost his see for his zealous support of Queen Mary. Dr. Gregory Mackenzie, the laborious compiler of the lives of the most eminent writers of the Scottish nation, also dwelt here, in an old castle belonging to the Earl of Seaforth, and lies interred in the tomb of that family within the cathedral ; * Between Avoch and Fortrose a broad green sward formerly extended along the sea-beach, and was continued to the Ness of Clianonry, on which the burghers used to play at bowls and golf, and along which the great Sir George Mackenzie, Lord Ad- vocate to Charles II., and author of some of our best Scottish statutes, used to ride with a large escort when on his way to court or Parliament. It abounded with the little white Burnet rose (rosa spinosissima), and hence the name of the estate, " Val- lis Rosarum," or " Rosehaugh. On a rocky mound now called " Ormond," or the " Lady Hill," at the west end of these green links, stood the ancient Castle of Avoch, to which, as related by Wyutoun, the Regent, Sir Andrew de Moravia, " a lord of great of Rosmarkyn." Passing afterwards into the possession of the Earls of Ross, this castle was, on their forfeiture in 1476, annexed to the crown, when James III. created his second son, Duke of Ross, Marquis of Ormond, and Earl of Edirdal, otherwise called Ardmanachc, and hence this district, which still bears these names, thus became one of the regular appanages of the royal family of Scotland. ROUTE V. B. FORTROSE. 445 and a physician of the same name, noted in his day for a work entitled " The Art of preserving Health," is said to have been in his youth a teacher of the grammar school in this burgh. The famous Scottish statesman and lawyer, Sir George Mac- kenzie, often retired from courts and senates to enjoy the delightful and secluded walks about Fortrose ; and the late Sir James Mackintosh, the well-known historian, senator, and author of the " Vindiciae Gallicae," received the rudiments of his education in this place. With the adjoining older burgh of Rosemarkie, which dates its first privileges from Alexander II., and with which the old chanonry of Ross was united by a char- ter from King James II. (anno 1444), under the common name of Fortress, softened into Fortrose, it now shares the honour of possessing a numerous tribe of knights of the awl and shuttle ; but, although provided by government with an elegant and commodious harbour, and by the neighbouring gentry with an academy for the education of youth, and an Episcopal chapel, Fortrose boasts of little or no trade, and no rapidly increasing population. The situation of the town is romantic and sunny, and the grounds about it, which have long been under cultiva- tion, are rich and in high order ; and when the cathedral green was surrounded by large old trees, before Cromwell's axe was laid to their roots, and the houses of the town were re- moved to a distance from the cathedral save that the canons and presbyters of the see had each, near it, his manse, with gardens and court-yards, entered by gothic arched gateways the whole place must have had a very beautiful and imposing appearance, more like an English ecclesiastical town than a Scotch one. After the Restoration in 1660, the bishops, from poverty, feued out small portions round the edges of the green for building, and thus the sacred enclosures, which were for- merly reserved as a site for certain annual fairs, and as a burying-ground, has been encroached upon. Mr. Neale, in his " Ecclesiological Notes " of 1848, thus describes what remains of the cathedral though his ground plan which accompanies it was too hurriedly got up ; and we doubt much his accuracy in separating the south chapel into distinct nave and chancel : " On one side of this green are the remains of the once glorious cathedral, the see of the bishops of Ross. It was not destroyed in the Knoxian Reformation, but by Oliver Cromwell, who applied the stones to the construction of a fort at Inverness. 446 CATHEDRAL OF ROSS. SECT. VII. The fort has perished ; the cathedral, in the last stage of decay, still exists. It formerly consisted of choir and nave, Arith aisles to each, eastern lady chapel, western tower, and chapter- house at the north-east end ; what remains consists merely of the south aisle to chancel and nave, and the detached chapter- house. The style is the purest and most elaborate middle- pointed ; the material, red sandstone, gave depth and freedom to the chisel ; and the whole church, though probably not 120 feet long from east to west, must have been an architectural gem of the very first description. The exquisite beauty of the mouldings, after so many years of exposure to the air, is won- derful, and shows that, in whatever other respect these remote parts of Scotland were barbarous, in ecclesiology, at least, they were on a par with any other branch of the mediaeval Church. The east window, fragments of the tracery of which hang from the archivolt, must have been magnificent, and consisted of five lights ; it is wide in proportion to its height, and must have afforded great scope for throwing up the altar beneath. On the outside, in the gable, there are two lancets, the lower one much longer than the other ; the whole effect is extremely satisfactory ; I know not, indeed, where one could look for a better model for a small collegiate church, and such as might suit the needs of our communion at this moment. There are two windows on the south side, of the same elaborate and beautiful description, but consisting of four lights. The pis- cina remains, and the mouldings are truly the work of a master. The south aisle was separated from the chancel by two middle pointed arches, now walled up, but not so much injured as to destroy their extreme loveliness. In the first of these arches is a canopied tomb for the foundress, a Countess of Ross, the date of which is probably 1330. Very possibly her lord might be interred in a similar position in the north side of the choir. This must have been one of the most beautiful monuments I ever saw. Between the foot and the easternmost pier, a credence is inserted, sloping up with a stone lean-to against the passage wall. In the second arch is a poor third- pointed high tomb and canopy, with the effigy of a bishop, by tradition, the second bishop of the see ; a thing manifestly im- possible, unless the monument were erected long after the decease of the person commemorated. The chancel-arch is modern. The nave consists of four bays, and much resembles ROUTE V. B. CATHEDRAL OF ROSS. 447 the chancel in its details : the fourth is, however, blocked off for the burying place of some family (the Mackenzies of Sea- forth). In the second arch is another third-pointed monument. On the south side the first window is injured ; the second re- sembles those in the chancel arch ; the third is high up and mutilated ; the fourth is a plain lancet. The west front is re- markably simple, and contains nothing but a small two-light middle-pointed window, without foliation. The rood turret still exists, and is a very elegant, though somewhat singular composition. It stands at the junction of the south aisle of nave and chancel, and acts as a buttress. Square at the base, it is bevelled into a semi-hexagonal* superstructure, and has elegant two-light windows on alternate sides. The top is modern. The chapter-house, as at Glasgow, consisted of two stages, a crypt and the chapter-house properly speaking. The crypt still remains, and is used as a coal-hole ; the upper part, which has been rebuilt, is now a school and court-room. The remarkable disorientation of the chancel to the south is worthy of notice ; it gives, at first sight, the effect of a gigantic apse to the whole north side of the ruins. There is a Scotch chapel in Fortrose, a horrible conglomeration of pinnacles, without chancel without any one good point ; it seems quite new." We trust her Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests will now save the remains of the cathedral from farther decay, and protect the green from encroachments, by enclosing it as a place of healthy recreation for the inhabitants. A new parish church has lately been erected by subscrip- tion, and a stipend for a minister appropriated out of a fund left by a worthy bailie of Fortrose in the end of the seventeenth century, intended for the benefit of the Episcopal communion. This building, and a Free Church near it, both make pretensions to modern Gothic, but they are spiritless and devoid of sym- metrical proportions. The Gaelic language is but little known in this or the adjoining parish of Avoch, but the English spoken dialect is peculiar, and abounds in obsolete words and phrases, many of which, especially among the fishermen at Avoch, are Danish. So late as 1686, the bishop and his chapter made over the grass of the cathedral green, and the feu and manse maills and duties, to the schoolmaster of the parish, on account of the " troubles," and seeing that Episco- * Octagonal. It forms a cross or short transept to the chapel. 448 CROMARTT. SECT. VII. pacy was then again likely to be overturned. The first Pres- byterian pastor was established here about the year 1710. Fortrose can boast of a most comfortable inn, and private lodgings are easily had, both here and at Rosemarkie, which are delightful sea-bathing quarters. The manse and church of Rosemarkie (on the site of the tomb of St. Boiiiface, the patron saint of this parish, and who is believed to have taken up his residence here on a mission from the Pope in the seventh cen- tury), a little to the east, are beautifully situated. In digging the foundations of the present church, a large stone coffin was come upon, and a cross, which is beautifully carved with foliage and knotwork on both sides, but without any inscription, and was likely the patron saint's cross. It was coolly appropriated as a grave-stone, and broken in two. The projecting sandy point of Chanonry, running out into the firth, between Fortrose and Rosemarkie, is terminated by a fine and useful lighthouse, and by the ferry-house, where we take boat for Fort-George and the Inverness-shire coast. From Fortrose, the public road to Cromarty sweeps across to the opposite firth, and a shorter branch by Eathie, but at present in bad order, bends inland across the intervening hills, whilst beyond Raddery there is a further choice of the road from Munlochy to Cromarty. A footpath along the cliff's overhang- ing the sea is generally preferred by the pedestrian, and to the geologist we would particularly recommend it, that he may visit the small but very curious lias deposit near Eathie, and the sandstone beds with the Ichthyolite concretions, in the de- scription of which Mr. Hugh Miller laid the foundations of his fame. We may also remind our scientific friends, that along the sea-beach eastward from Rosemarkie, they can form a good collection of specimens of hornblende-rock, chlorite and acty- nolite schist, quartz-rock, and granite and gneiss charged with garnets ; and by the botanist, these rocks will be found ex- tremely prolific in herbaceous plants, ferns, and mosses. 5. Cromarty is celebrated all the world over for the safety of its bay (the Portus Salutus of the ancients), the convenience and neatness of its harbour, the boldness of its bluff" promon- tories (called the Sutors) the opposing disjoined members of the coast line and which protect it from the blasts of the north-east, south, and west, and for the exceeding beauty and fertility of its neighbourhood. At morning's glow it hails the ROUTE V. B. CROMARTY. 449 sun, rising, between the Sutors, from the bed of the German Ocean, and at even it beholds his level rays gilding the massive shoulders of Ben Wyvis, and burnishing the broad retiring waters of its own inland firth. Cromarty is often a stirring place, and a refuge in storms to all vessels which may be out on the adjoining seas. It has a fine pier and lighthouse, and a beautiful esplanade, and has a good beach for sea-bathers. It contains also a manufactory for bagging, one or two timber yards, several cooperages, a brewery, two banks, and a depot for pickled salmon and for the other produce of the country, which is collected here previous to being carried away to the southern markets by the Inverness trading vessels and steamers. A considerable trade in pork has for fifty years been carried on at Cromarty : the annual value now cured may be from ,5000 to 10,000. The import and export trade of Ross- shire for- merly passed through this town ; but the erection of a harbour at the more convenient and central port of Invergordon has, of late, diverted it very much ; and the many ruinous and totter- ing buildings in Cromarty indicate, that unless a new spur to its commerce is found out, its glory will speedily depart. The estate on which it is situated has been, till very recently, under trust, and the subject of litigation, which also of course mar the prosperity of the whole neighbourhood. It now belongs to the family of Mrs. Rose Ross. As at Rosemarkie, Fortrose, and Dingwall, the ancient cross of Cromarty is still standing, though it is perhaps questionable whether the worthy burghers should be allowed to retain any such mark of distinction, their ances- tors having, through their simplicity, and little estimation of those political honours for the acquisition of which people now- a-days manifest such inordinate zeal, resigned to his Majesty King Charles II. their privilege of presenting a delegate to par- liament. Cromartyshire is now united with Ross. 6. Macbeth was Thane of Cromarty or Crombathi,* and Cro- marty House stands on the site of the old castle of the Earls of Ross. The seaward quarters of the town are inhabited by a colony of fishermen, who go ten or twelve miles out to sea to the haddock and herring banks, where they find their perilous livelihood. A friend and fellow townsman of their own, Mr. Hugh Miller, their most interesting and graphic historian, a few years ago, among his other writings, published an account * The curved or crooked bay. U 2 450 TRADITIONS OF CROMARTY. SECT. VII. of these hardy fishermen ; from which we extract the following notices of the former history of the town of Cromarty : " James the Sixth attempted to civilize the Highlands and Isles, by colonising them with people brought from the southern counties of the kingdom ; and his first experiment, says Robert- son, was made in the Isle of Lewis, where, as the station was conveniently situated for prosecuting the fishing trade, he settled a colony brought from the shores of Fife. The historian adds further, that the project miscarried in this instance, through the jealousy of the islanders, who were alike unwilling to for- sake their old habits, or to acquire new ; and that it was alto- gether abandoned on the accession of James to the throne of England. That Cromarty was originally peopled by some such colony, appears at the least probable, from the following cir- cumstances. The surnames of the oldest families in it are pecu- liar to the southern counties of Scotland ; and the Gaelic lan- guage, though that of the adjacent country, was scarcely known in it prior to the erection of its hemp manufactory. " At the close of the seventeenth century, and early in the eighteenth, the herring fishery of Cromarty was very success- ful ; and the era of the Union is still spoken of as the time of the ' herring drove.' " During the era of the ' herring drove,' Cromarty was a place of considerable commercial importance. I have heard from old men, that at the beginning of the last century, not less than five three-masted vessels belonged to it, besides others of lesser size. Like many of the trading towns of Scotland, it suffered from the Union, and the failure of the herring fishing completed its ruin. It fell so low before the year 1730, that a single shopkeeper, who was not such literally, for in the sum- mer season he travelled the country as a pedlar, more than sup- plied the inhabitants. It is a singular fact, that the tide now flows twice every twenty-four hours over the spot once occupied by his shop. " Those acquainted with the natural history of the herring, know that it is not uncommon for it to desert on the sudden its accustomed haunts. " Cromarty, as I have stated, after the failure of its herring fishery, dwindled into a place of no importance ; and its excel- lent harbour, which, as an old black-letter folio states, was so early as the sixteenth century ' callit by Scottish folks the haill ROUTE V. B. TRADITIONS OF CROMARTY. 451 (health) of seamen,' proved of value only to a few half-employed fishermen, or to the voyager driven from his course by tempest. This change materially affected the character of the inhabitants. " Unsuccessful exertion is naturally succeeded by inert apathy, a mood the most unfavourable both to learning and the arts. During the era of the ' herring drove,' strange as it may seem, there were fishermen in Cromarty who were no contemptible scholars. There is a tradition that one of the Urquharts (extensive proprietors in the neighbourhood) of that time, when sauntering along the shore, accompanied by two guests, gentlemen from England, asked a fisherman he met several questions in Latin, and to the surprise of the visitors received prompt answers in the same language. In the age which suc- ceeded, education among this class was entirely neglected. No- thing can give a stronger conception of their nerveless apathy than the fact that children of the men who, their rank in life considered, were both learned and intelligent, scarcely knew that the world extended more than a thousand miles round the plact of their nativity. Though inhabitants of a sea-port town, they believed that at the distance of a few weeks' sailing the ocean was bounded by the horizon, and that all beyond was darkness : but though thus ignorant, not Virgil himself was better ac- quainted with the signs of the weather, or could tell more truly when storms or calms might be expected. " The domestic economy of the people at this age is deserv- ing of notice. Their clothing they manufactured themselves. Every half-dozen neighbours had a boat, and every family a strip of land. The latter supplied them with bread, and by the former they supplied themselves with fish. At midsummer, when cod, ling, mackerel, &c., are to be caught near the shore, it was customary for them to sail to Tarbet Ness, an excellent fishing station, twenty miles north of Cromarty, and stay there for several weeks, laying up store for winter. The day was oc- cupied in fishing ; at night they moored their boats and con- verted the sails into tents. In autumn the more enterprising among them formed parties, and scoured the firth in quest of herrings. During the time of the ' drove,' a premium of twenty pounds Scots was awarded every season to the boat's crew that caught the first barrel of fish. This premium (I have not learned from what quarter it came) was afterwards much more the object of the fishermen than the herrings themselves ; but 452 TRADITIONS OP CROMARTY. SECT. VII. it was not every season they caught enough to entitle them to it. The grandfather of the writer, a man who witnessed the smoke of Culloden from the hill of Cromarty, and who, in his eighty-fifth year, possessed all his faculties, bodily and mental, frequently made one in these parties. I have often, when a child, stood by his knee, listening with an intense interest to his minute characteristic details of men and times, which were unknown almost to every other person living. From his nar- ratives, and the knowledge I have acquired of the character of the present age, I find data to conclude, that in the last ninety years, there has been a change in the manners and habits of the inhabitants of this part of the country, greater beyond com- parison than any other that has taken place among them since the era of the Reformation. The men of the present age in the north of Scotland are much more unlike their predecessors of the reign of Queen Anne and George the First, than the latter were to the people who lived there three hundred years before. To give a detail of the signs of this change, to examine into the various causes which effected it, and to consider and balance its advantages and disadvantages, physical and moral, would be a work of interest, and, as the subject now presents to me, one not of great difficulty." The writer from whom this extract is taken is now well known to the public as a poet, a man of science, and a reviewer ; and Mr. Miller's work on the " Old Red Sandstone," and his " Foot-prints of the Creator, or the Ostrolepis of Stromness," will long be popular proofs that we may find " sermons in stones, and good in everything." 7. In summer a two-horse coach runs daily to and from In- verness and Dingwall by Kessock, or by Beauly, and proceeds up Strathpeffer, for and with passengers visiting the mineral wells. Another coach used, in favourable and busy seasons, to proceed from Kessock by Avoch and Fortrose to Cromarty, but for the present it has been discontinued.* The London, Leith, and Inverness steamers regularly call at Invergordon and Cro- marty, landing passengers and goods by the way at Fortrose and Fort- George ; and a small steamer has lately been intro- duced solely for the Moray Firth and Sutherlandshire coasting trade. A packet-boat in summer sails daily between Nairn and * The post gig, carrying three passengers, now supersedes it. ROUTE V. B. URQUHARTS OF CROMARTY. 453 Cromarty (fare for a single passenger being 2s., or about 15s. for the boat), and another twice a-week between Fortrose and Inverness.* 8. Three miles westward of Cromarty, by a good road, the tourist will reach a pier and ferry, where a boat may be had for Invergordon, and into which carriages and horses can be safely taken. We pass on the way Pointzfield (Sir G. Gr. Munro), Braerlangwell (General Sir Hugh Fraser), and New Hall (Shaw Sculptured Stone at Sandwick. Esq.), and the interesting remains of the old church of Kirkmi- chael, so picturesquely described by Mr. Miller. A district road proceeds westwards past the modern kirk and manse of Resolis, which joins the main post road from Inverness to Thurso, near Scudel bridge, one branch of it, already mentioned, striking * The antiquary should not omit, while at Cromarty, crossing to Nigg, and seeing the beautiful sculptured stone cross in the churchyard there, and the similar ones at Hilton and Sandwick, five or six miles to the eastward. They resemble the great carved pillar at Forres ; but are in some respects more interesting and beautiful, the figures on them being more distinctly Christian. The geologist, also, will find the ichthyolite beds, so fully illustrated by Mr. Miller, at low water, in the bay between the town and the Sutor of Cromarty ; the lias and fish beds at jEthie, beyond the Sutor, on the margin of the Moray Firth ; and the nearest cliff to the ferry-house on the Nigg shore, exhibits the line of junction of the primary with the red sandstone and fish beds, which enabled Mr. Miller to determine the true position of the latter, and which he regards as displaying an epitome of the geology of the whole north of Scotland, and especially of Caithness-shire. 454 ROADS TO WEST COAST OP ROSS-SHIRE. SECT. VII. across the hill southwards, past Belmaduthy, the beautiful re- sidence of Sir Evan Mackenzie of Kilcoy, to Munlochy, and the other proceeding by Findon and the shore side to Alcaig Ferry, at the mouth of the river Conon. This road is interesting, as it commands most extensive and beautiful views of Easter Ross and Ferindonald, and at its western extremity, looks right into the long vista of Strathpeffer, having the town of Dingwall most suitably placed at its entrance, and in the centre of the picture. Beneath the road, likewise, we see the ruins of the ancient church and grave-yard of Cullicudden the old Bishop's palace of Castle Craig and the site of a church dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. The whole district, in fact, was a very early seat of the church (probably from the seventh century), and when her earthly power fell, it was taken up by the wild iron-fisted barons the Urquharts of Cromarty the gable of one of whose mansions at Kinbeachy, with the date on it of the middle of the sixteenth century, is still standing ; and hard by, 9 cottage contains one of their monumental tablets, showing, from its astrological dates and signs, their learning, and probable connection with the superstitions of diabolrie, or, as the people called it, the " black art." ROUTE SIXTH. BRANCH C. DINOWALL TO THE WESTERN COAST OF BOSS-SHIRE. Strathpeffcr; Knockfarrel ; Mineral Well, 1. Castle Leod; Auchterneed; Enlist- ment; Eaven Rock, 2. Ben Wyvis; Rare Plants ; White Hare, 3. Battle of Blar- na-Parc ; The Turning Stone, 4. Contin ; Coul, 5. Excursion to the Falls of the Conon and Scuirvullin ; Tor and Loch Echiltie ; Comrie ; Scatwell ; Loch Luichart ; Scuir Marxy, 6. Strathconon ; The Black Rocks, ?. Scuirvullin, 8. Short Route to the West Coast, 9. Strath and Loch Garve ; Falls of Rogie ; Sheep Farming, 10. Loch Luichart; Strath Bran; Loch Carron, 11. Road to Ullapool, Strath Birie, and Dirie More ; Loch Fannich ; Strath and Loch Broom ; Croft System ; Fisheries, 12. Ullapool, 13. Routes from Ullapool, Coigach, Little Loch Broom, Loch Greinord ; Road to Poolewe, 14. Road to Auchnasheen ; Loch Torridon, 15. Loch Maree, 16. Gairloch ; Flowerdale ; Poolewe, 17. Roads to Shieldaig and Applecross ; The Beallach ; Applecross, 18. To Kyle Akin. Mile*. Contin 7 Strathgarve, or Garve Inn 1\ Auchnanault (good) 11 ROUTE VI. C. STRATHPEFFER. 455 Mile*. Auchnasheen (inn now removed) .............................. 5 Luip (public- house) ................................................ * Craig, do.) ...................................................... 8 Jeantown (good inn) ........................ - ................... 9 Strome Ferry ..................................................... 5 Kyle Akin ............................................................ 12 To Ullapool. Strathgarve Inn ................................................... 14 Glascarnock (public-house) .................................... 12 Fascrinich (public-house now removed nearly a mile far- ther on, to Braemore) .......................................... 13 Ardcarnich (public -house) ....................................... 7 Ullapool ............................................................... 5 51 To Poolewe. Auchnasheen ...................................................... 30J Kinloch Ewe (new inn) .......................................... 12 SSSf } * .................................... {'! (By new road.) Slatadale to Gairloch Inn ........................... 8 Gairloch to Poolewe .................................... 5 13 60| To Shieldaig. Jeantown ............................................................ 50 Kishorn ................................................... 5 5 Applecross ................................................ 12 Shieldaig ................................................ 9 17 64 1. FROM Dingwall, the main parliamentary road to the west coast of Ross-shire proceeds through a succession of valleys, extending nearly to about the same length as the great glen of Inverness-shire. The first of these is Strathpeffer, stretching five miles westward from Dingwall. It was, till within a few years, a low marshy valley, occupied by stagnant waters, large reeds, and a few stunted alders. Now it yields the most luxu- riant crops of grain, and is one of the richest and best-peopled districts in the country. On one side the parks and woods of Tulloch Castle (D. Davidson, Esq.) diversify the front of the hill which intervenes between the strath and the base of the 106 STRATHPEFFER MINERAL WELLS. SECT. VII. mountain Ben Wyvis ; and, on the other, the ridge, significantly called Druimchat, or the cat's back, which separates the valley from the policies of Brahan and Strathconon is crowned with the vitrified fortress of Knockfarrel, one of the most celebrated and, at the same "time, one of the most beautiful and strongly marked hill-forts in the country. The vitrified rampart at top encloses an oval area about 140 yards long by 40 wide, with breastworks proceeding down the adjoining slopes. There was a well or tank for rain-water on the summit ; and the sections made long ago by Williams, one of the earliest writers on these forts, still remain open, and show the great extent of the vitrified matter, which is in some places from eight to ten feet deep. The fir woods stretching down from the southern side of this station embosom a beautiful little lake (Loch Ousie), with tree-clad islands and promontories, and which, especially from the southern shore, displays magni- ficent views of Ben Wyvis, with a soft and rich foreground. Strathpeffer has, of late years, become a fashionable water- ing-place. Near Dingwall it contains some chalybeate springs, which, however, are not much used ; but at the opposite extremity of the valley a handsome pump-room has been erected over a well strongly impregnated with sulphureted hydrogen gas, and which is recommended as a cure for a great many diseases. Dr. Thomson, of Glasgow, on analysing this water, found that, while a quantity of it holds twenty-seven cubic inches of sulphureted hydrogen gas, a like quantity of the celebrated Harrowgate water contains only about twenty cubic inches. In the Strathpeffer Spa several saline ingredients also exist, which add much to its medicinal properties. The following are the results of Dr. Thomson's analysis of the well, till lately principally used ; but adjoining it an older and much stronger and more abundant spring has this season (1850) been found. An imperial gallon of the water attached to the pump- room yielded Sulphureted hydrogen gas, 13-659 cubic inches. Sulphate of soda 52-710 grains. Sulphate of lime 30-686 Common salt 19-233 Sulphate of magnesia 4-855 107-484 ROUTE VI. C. STRATHPEFFER MINERAL WELLS. 457 Until of late years strangers found much difficulty in obtain- ing lodgings in the vicinity of this well. Several villas and neatly built houses, however, are now springing up about the place ; and there are two good inns, at one of which, the Spa Hotel, visitors often arrange to mess together at a common table, when the charge for board and lodging is two guineas a-week for each person. In summer, private lodgings near the well cost from 10s. 6d. to 21s. and 50s. a-week. The season for drinking the waters in greatest perfection extends from the month of May till October. Their valuable properties are un- doubtedly derived from the bituminous rock through which the waters flow, and which is a member of the old red sand- stone formation. Composing the hill of Tulloch on the northern boundary of Strathpeffer, the rock passes by Castle Leod, and assumes its most characteristic form on the estate of Coul, that of a dark-coloured calcareo-bituminous schist, soft and foliated, and frequently much contorted and mixed with beds of shale, abounding with pyrites, or sulphuret of iron, the rapid decom- position of which by water obviously gives rise to the medici- nal springs. This rock displays most singular and unaccountable contortions, more numerous and varied in aspect and position than almost any other rock in the Highlands. It also con- tains, in a few places, some small pieces of pure hard bitumen, which have occasionally been collected, and used as coal by the tenantry on the Tulloch and Cromertie properties, on which it is found. This anthracitic coal has also been discovered on the ridge north-west of the Dun of Castle Leod imbedded in pri- mary gneiss rocks, a most unusual occurrence. 2. The greater portion of Strathpeffer formed part of the estates of the old Earls of Cromarty (Mackenzies), which now belong to the Marchioness of Stafford, one of whose residences, Castle Leod, is in the immediate vicinity of the Spa. Placed near the base of a round-topped ward-hill, and surrounded with avenues and clumps of tall " ancestral trees," and large parks, which conduct to the entrance of an alpine valley and rivulet immediately to the westward, and which form a convenient pass on the ascent of Ben Wyvis, Castle Leod presents as truly venerable and baronial an appearance as any residence in the Highlands.* * A single chesnut tree here was lately thrown down by the wind, which measured 21 feet in girth at the ground, and 18 feet breast high. 458 BEN WYVIS. SECT. VII. Opposite the castle is the small rural village of Auchter- need, which straggles up the hill side with its little patches of corn land, originally allotments to the hardy veterans who re- turned unscathed from the great American war. There are a few still alive who remember the enrolment of the Highland corps ; and it but ill assorts with the free notions of the pre- sent day to think of the manner in which they were embodied. Their landlord, Lord Macleod, fixed a day for meeting his people at the castle ; and taking the rent-roll of the estate, his factor and he arranged the number of young men that could be spared from each farm and homestead, and then announcing their resolves to the tenantry, their behests were most unhesi- tatingly and thankfully acceded to. 3. Ben Wyvis, or Ben Uaish, " the Mountain of Storm," is of easy ascent, but from the quantity of mossy ground at its base, and the great breadth of its shoulders, an excursion to its summit is generally regarded as very tiresome. Visitors may avoid much of the fatigue by riding part or most of the way, provided they can procure ponies accustomed to soft hilly ground. From the summit the view of course is most exten- sive ; and a hundred-fold worth all the labour of climbing to it. Ben Wyvis is the king of Ross-shire mountains, and, indeed, of all the mountains on this side of the island ; but its impor- tance arises less from its altitude (by the late government tri- gonometrical survey ascertained to be 3426 feet, being less than that of Ben Dearig, on Loch Broom, which is 3551 feet) than from its enormous lateral bulk, and extensive ramifications. The noble proprietrix, however, need never be apprehensive of being unable to yield the return for which it is said she holds the mountain from her Majesty, that of producing a snow-ball from its conies on any day of the year. On the ascent, the pedestrian will be annoyed at the immense extent of mossy broken ground at the base ; but after passing the first snow wreaths in Aultcunire, which we recommend as the easiest track, he will find the whole upper acclivities deeply covered with a firm elastic moss, and from the cairn on the top, he may approach and look down the cliffs of Corie-na-feol or the Flesh Corry, from the number of deer and cattle that used to tumble into it, and which has of late been a very fertile ground of liti- gation, more expensive many times over than its intrinsic value. Moorfowl and ptarmigan abound on the heights, and white or ROUTE VI. C. BEN WF/VIS STRATHPEFFEE. 459 alpine hares are also numerous. They burrow and bring forth their young in holes under the peat banks, and their habits are quite intermediate between those of the common hare and rabbit ; when disturbed they run first for a short distance, and then sit up on their hind legs and look at the intruder as a tame rabbit would. Ben Wyvis is composed of slaty gneiss, with numerous large veins of horneblende and granite, and inter- mixed with garnets. To the botanist this mountain is chiefly interesting for the earlier spring flowers, as Saxifraga oppositi- folia, Arbutus alpina, Azalea procumbens, Betula nana, &c., and for its mosses, and as a habitat for the scarce grass, Alopecurus alpinus. The lower straths and woods are more prolific in rare species. Thus in the woods of Brahan, Linncea borealis occurs in great beauty, and in the Coul fir wood, about a mile to the west of the Strathpeffer pump-room, the extremely scarce and beautiful little bell flower the Pyrola uniflora, has been de- tected in two or three large patches, as also Corallohiza innata, Malaxis paludosa, and Lycopodium inundatun. 4. Strathpeffer, now the resort of the fair and the gay, as well as of the sick and decrepit, was, in days of yore, about the year 1478, the scene of a bloody conflict between the Macdonalds of the west coast and the Mackenzies, who were aided by parties of their neighbours, the Dingwalls, Baynes, Maccullochs, and Frasers, in which the latter were victorious. Gillespie Mac- donald the nephew, or, as some say, the brother of the Lord of the Isles, headed one party, and the chief of the Mackenzies, whose residence stood on an island in the small adjoining lake of Kinellan, commanded his troops in person. This chief had, for a slight offence, repudiated his wife, a sister of the Macdonald, and married another lady, a daughter of Lord Lovat. The clan, in revenge for the injured honour of their chieftain Macdonald, laid waste the lands of the Macken- zies. It is said they were challenged by the latter to meet them on this spot, and the combat which ensued was most desperate. A thousand of the Islesmen were either killed or drowned in the river Conon while attempting to escape. This conflict is gene- rally known as the battle of Blar-na-caun or Blar-na-Parc, and was immediately followed by the utter downfall of the Mac- donalds, Earls of Ross, and the complete establishment of the power of the Mackenzies. Kenneth-y-vlair, the conqueror in this battle, was afterwards knighted by James IV., and was 4'Vi STRATHPEFFER. SECT. VII. buried at Beauly ; and, being succeeded by his son Kenneth Oig, (or the younger,) his estates were long managed by Hector, the uncle of the latter, and who was founder of the house of Gair- loch. During his tutory, Sir William Monro of Foulis, harassed the Mackenzies, and it is said even carried off by force Seaforth's lady ; but the tutor of Kintail finally defeated him on the ridge of Knockfarrel, and the spot where the Monroes and their allies first gave way, is marked (a little below the pump room) by a stone pillar with an eagle the Monroes' crest, rudely carved on it, and which is called Clachan-Tiom-pan, or the turning stone. This neighbourhood would admit of a guide-book for itself, so rich is it in varied and interesting scenery and tradi- tionary story, and we have dwelt rather much in detail, as Strathpeffer is now a place of great resort. As our limits are circumscribed, we will only at present add, that Episcopacy was long of giving way here, and even after its overthrow, some of its old nonjuring clergy were quietly permitted to enjoy their stipends till their deaths. At Fodderty, however, the people for a long time, defied the Presbytery ; and at every attempt even for years after the beginning of last century to settle a minister, the old wives stoned him back and would not permit him to enter the church. 5. Quitting Strathpeffer, the road again brings us to the banks of the Conon, passing by the beautiful manse and island of Contin, and the mansion-house of Coul (Sir Alexander S. Mackenzie, Bart). This is the proper and finest native wood- land district of Ross-shire, and is, at the same time, greatly diversified with alpine and lake scenery, and fertile cultivated fields. Crossing, a little below the beautiful residence just men- tioned, by a handsome bridge, over the river Blackwater, which flows from Loch Garve, lying to the westward, the road ascends the birchen height on the west bank ; but on passing Contin Inn, near the bridge, a branch road will be seen deflecting to the south, which conducts past Loch Echiltie and Comrie, to the falls of the Conon, and the strath of that name. As we would recommend an excursion in this direction to the visitors of Strathpeffer, as well as to tourists generally, we will here endea- vour to thread them through its various beauties as succinctly and accurately as we can. 6. Behind the conflux of the rivers Conon and Blackwater, ROUTE VI. C. TOR AND LOCH ECHILTIE. 461 which unite a little to the east of Contin village, a broad allu- vial flat will be seen, extending to the base of a beautiful rounded birch and pine-clad hill, from which a long undulating ridge declines to the westward. This hill is called Tor Echiltie, and is an excellent botanical habitat. It exhibits an interesting junction of the old red sandstone and primitive gneiss rocks, the former being seen abutting against the others on the eastern frontlet, at a high angle ; while all along its base, and on each side of the adjoining valleys, the eye will be struck with a suc- cession of beautiful terraced banks, on which several sweetly- placed cottages have been erected. A private drive round Tor Echiltie to the southern side, proceeds through splendid oak and birch copses, overhanging the bed of the river Conon. Re- turning, however, to the branch road which, as we mentioned, strikes off" at the inn of Contin, on the Blackwater, we shall find that it leads us past the pleasure-grounds of Craigdarroch, lying at the base of an oak-covered rocky bank of that name, to Loch Echiltie, an exquisitely beautiful sheet of water, about three miles in circumference, which is embosomed among birch-clad knolls, formed of the terminating ridges of Tor Echiltie on the south side, but which, on the opposite hand, rise into higher, and bolder, and more picturesque eminences. Two or three small islets at the lower end, and several wooded promontories projecting into the lake, afford beautiful foregrounds to the view ; while the extreme distance is closed in by the sharp blue- toned peaks of Scuirvullin in Strathconon. The carriage-road keeps along the northern shore, and after a few abrupt ascents and descents among the birken knolls, it leads us past a series of little circular lochs or ponds, (the edges of which are sur- rounded by magnificent belts of the broad-leaved white water- lily, and their coves the nestling-places of water-fowl), and then ushers us, two miles on, to the smooth green plain of Comrie, and the beautiful pastoral valley of Scatwell, watered by the combined streams of the Meig and the Conon.* The former river flows from Strathconon, which lies almost due south from the spectator, its direction being strongly marked by the great guardian peaks of Scuirvullin ; while the latter is found to turn to the right hand, and is discovered to proceed through an' opening of the mountains at the lower end of Loch Luichart. * A fine heronry, with numerous nests, exists in an island on a lake u little to the north-west of Loch Echiltie. 462 SCUIR MARXY THE BLACK ROCKS. SECT. VII. This lake, which is celebrated for its trout, is the parent reser- voir of the Conon, which, for the first mile of its course, tumbles over a series of gneiss rocks, dashing its waters through them in several picturesque low cascades, or running cataracts. The bold rocky frontlet which overhangs the lake and these falls on the southern shore, is called Scuir Marxy ; and, although not above 1600 feet high, we can recommend it to the botanist as exhibiting, at this low elevation, several interesting and truly alpine plants, as Rubus Chamcemorus, Thalictrum alpinum, Circea alpina, Arlutus alpina, and in connexion with the ridges stretching westward to Mossford, whole forests of the suberect but beautiful dwarf birch, or Bettda-nana. Its gneiss rocks, also, abound in large crystals of shorl, inclining to tourmaline. Tor Echiltie is the extreme westward limit of the common whins and broom, neither of which are found as native plants further inland, nor on the west coast, though it has there been extensively introduced. 7. We have now led our readers six or seven miles westward from Contin ; and, before returning to the main road, we would advise them to pursue their course through Strathconnon to the top of Scuirvullin, which lies not more than eight miles farther on. A ford across the rivers Conon and Meig will be found near their junction, through which horses can pass, if the weather is fine and dry; but the regular ferry-boat, which lies a little farther down, opposite Milltown of Scatwell, near the beautiful residence of Captain Douglas, will be preferred by strangers, especially if the waters are high. Attaining the southern bank, a fine new road, which commences at the Muir of Ord near Beauly, where it leaves the main post road, and conducts along the side of the valley, leads us, a mile on, over a high and bare rocky ridge, to the entrance of Strathconnon. It is a green, narrow, pastoral plain, once the bed of an ancient lake, the waters of which, in cutting through the barrier of rock at the lower end, penetrated to a great depth, and formed a channel for the present river Meig, which here presents the unusual but very interesting appearance of a continuous cataract nearly a mile in length, rushing along at the bottom of a narrow, savage gorge, which few heads can bear to look into. Some scattered birches, oaks, and roan trees in the clefts of the " Black Rocks," as they are called, give us an index to their height ; and perhaps the passenger in the summer season may enjoy the additional ROUTE VI. C. STRATHCONON SCUIRVULLIN. 463 excitement of beholding the tenants of a neighbouring hamlet descend these steep rocks for salmon, which they catch in wicker baskets suspended over the falls below, or which they spear while resting themselves in the still pools and eddies at the sides of the river. A false step in this descent would prove instant destruction ; and when the waters are swollen with rain, no man could stand against their stream if once fairly involved in it. A few large alder trees and birch copses line the margin of the river and the sides of the valley of Strathconnon, which is seldom half a mile wide ; but which retains still the melancholy proofs of having once been thickly peopled, in the numerous deserted and ruinous houses and hamlets strewn over its now lonely pastures. Part of an old estate, the owners of which were attainted for their participating in the rebellion of 1745, Strath- conon has never since regained a proprietor's family, attached by old recollections and kindly services to the poorer inhabi- tants ; and being long in the hands of creditors, and exposed to all sorts of experiments in the arts of sheep and cattle graz- ing, many fires have in consequence been extinguished in it, which were rekindled no nearer than the other side of the Atlantic ; and gloomy, therefore, must be the feelings with which the stranger will now trudge on over its almost silent fields. Several rather large farm-steadings and shepherds' cottages, however, are still to be seen ; and when the tourist approaches near the base of Scuirvullin, he will descry the white walls of the government church, and the neat, respectable manse of the minister of the district, with the large shooting-lodge of Mr. Balfour, the recent purchaser of the estate, near to which the road crosses the river by a bridge, but as yet it has not been carried farther.* 8. Scuirvullin may be ascended without a guide, and the outer breastwork, which composes its base, may be scaled along the course of a small burn immediately to the north-west of the church. This is the most arduous part of the ascent ; for, having surmounted it, the higher acclivity is found to be a gently inclined and mossy plane, which is nowise steep. Close by the summit the rocks jut out, and, for a short way, make * Great ijuantities of honey are raised in this district ; and the gardens at lower Scatwell bring to perfection almost every variety of fruit, and of the most delicate foreign flowering shrubs. 464 CONTIN STRATH BRAN. SECT. VII. the ascent to the highest central peak more abrupt. The other two pinnacles, which are much sharper, are not nearly so ac- cessible ; and the eastern one is separated from the main body of the mountain by a deep, circular hollow or corry, at the base of which lies a small lake or tarn. The fundamental breast- work composing the lower acclivity rises, as a continuous wall of rock, nearly 600 feet high, all round the mountain ; proceed- ing westward past Strath Bran, and turning thence round by Strath Manie, which skirts it on the south, it deflects into Strathconnon, thus shewing the mountain to be isolated, and contained between three great valleys, its circumference extend- ing at the base to nearly eighteen miles. Scuirvullin is an isolated three-topped mountain, with a deep corry and lake between two of the summits, about 2500 feet high, and it con- sists entirely of micaceous schist, inclining in some places to gneiss. All the common alpine plants are to be seen on it ; but the dryness of its surface, and low elevation, prevent our recom- mending it as a peculiarly good locality for the examination of the botanist. 9. The tourist must now return to Contin by the way he left it ; but if desirous of gaining the main road from Dingwall to Loch Carron, he can proceed directly across the northern shoulder of Scuirvullin, by a continuation of the Strathconon road into Strath Bran, and he will attain his object after cross- ing some rather soft ground, being ushered to the parliamentary road half way between Auchnanault and Auchnasheen. The country people, in passing to and from the west coast, always adopt this route ; and, from experience, we can assure our readers that in summer it is quite safe, much more interesting, and greatly shorter than the other, especially if the journey is undertaken from Inverness or Beauly, in which case the road by Arcan, Fairburn, and Strathconon, should be exclusively followed. But to return to the Dingwall road. 10. Ascending from Contin towards Strathgarve, the next valley towards the west, over a series of birch-clad hills, the picturesque waterfalls of Eogie, which have been likened to those of Tivoli in Italy, present themselves in the river below us, and to which the proprietor has formed an accessible footpath, and connected the opposite banks by a neat airy bridge, now, however, requiring to be repaired. Loch Garve is a fine open sheet of water, with extensive ROUTE VI. C. LOCH GAKVE LOCH LUICHAKT. 465 green meadows and plantations at the west end. The inn is small, but comfortable ; and here, whether he has to proceed on to Loch Carron, or over the Dirie More to Loch Broom, the traveller takes leave of the cultivated and wooded scenery. Those immense sheep-tracts here commence, which supply the great staple commodity of this county the farms varying in size, being capable of accommodating from 2000 to 10,000 sheep, or more, some of them occupying whole estates, and one gentle- man having almost an uninterrupted sheep-walk from the pas- tures of Wyvis to the western sea. One hundred pounds is the average rent applicable to the pasture of 1000 sheep ; and to shew the change of value of the land, we may mention, that the hill grounds of Fannich, were rented, not above 70 years ago, for five pounds, while they now yield annually nearly as many hundreds. A system thus requiring the land to be exclusively and quietly devoted to the " beasts of the field," could not admit the presence of the old Highland peasantry ; and hence they have had to emigrate, or to be crowded into small ham- lets of turf-built huts, each with a croft or a few roods of enclosed arable ground, (for which, however, they pay from three to five guineas a-year, a rent which the land itself can- not produce), or they are still found densely huddled together on some bye corner or promontory of the west coast, where they are allowed to squat, and eke out a livelihood by fishing. 11. Loch Luichart, with its heaving braes and fine rocky screens on the southern shore, where the summer-sunset effects are exquisitely beautiful and varied, relieves much of the mono- tony of the journey through the bleak bare mountains. Al- though the hand of taste and opulence is now discernible on its shores, and especially around the beautiful shooting lodge of the proprietor, Sir James J. R. Mackenzie of Scatwell, yet its native glory has departed, for it was once, about a generation ago, encircled within an oak forest, having some of the largest stems in the Highlands, the felled stumps of which are still occasionally to be seen, and at a little distance are often taken for rocks instead of trees. At Grudie, where the river issuing from Loch Fannich comes roaring down from the right, the road enters a picturesque gorge, and immediately after ushers us on the great upland valley of Strath Bran, which stretches for eight to ten miles before us a broad sheet of meadow pastures, through 466 LOCH 8CAVEN. SECT. VII. which the silver thread of a small river, expanding here and there into pools and lakes, creeps lazily along. At its farther end, the abrupt descent and inclination of the hills to the west coast is perceptible ; while the southern flank of the strath is bounded by the beautiful peaks and ridges of Scuirvullin, and the northern by the long green slopes of Foin Bhein, (Fingal's hill),* and the other rich pasture hills of Loch Fannich. Beautiful terrace banks encircle Strath Bran ; and as we approach Auchnasheen, they are deflected into the opening by Loch Roshk, towards Lochs Maree and Torridon. At Luip we pass the last fresh-water lake (Loch Scaven), whence the streams begin to bend towards the west coast ; and presently the upper bays of the salt-water loch Carron come into view. Here also are met the wrecks of another splendid oak and pine forest ; and the mountains opening wider their arms, and decreasing in height, give space to fields and large belts of cultivated ground, and to a broad expanse of sea, which is often enlivened by mul- titudes of boats and busses occupied in the herring-fishery. Since leaving Strathpeflfer, the principal properties through which the road passes belong to Sir Alexander Mackenzie of Coul, Sir James J. R. Mackenzie, Thomas Mackenzie, Esq. of Ord, and Sir Evan Mackenzie of Kilcoy. We now enter on the domains of Thomas Mackenzie, Esq. of Applecross, late M.P. for the county of Ross. From Jeantown on Loch Carron, where there is a long and straggling, but prosperous fishing village, the Skye road leads to Strome Ferry, which was anciently guarded by a square keep or castle, and thence by Balmacara to Kyle Akin. Some noble views are obtained, on the way to the latter place, of the fine inlet of Loch Duich, and the steep and lofty alps of Kintail. Some, however, prefer taking a boat the length of Plockton, and thence crossing over by a new road (six miles) to Kyle Akin, or at once sailing direct to Broadford, in Skye, which is the preferable course, if it is meant to perambulate that island. 12. The districts to which the roads branching northwards * Sportsmen and tourists often rest awhile at the comfortable inn of Auchnanault, and the latter generally ascend Scuirvullin from it. We would recommend Foin Bhein as preferable, inasmuch as it is directly opposite the Scuirmore of Fannich, wliich with its associated alps is cut into stupendous corries and precipices, and as it is nearer to the western chains on Lochs Alaree and Torridon, and besides com- mands a view of both seas. The ascent is quite gentle ; and the back of Foin Bhein itself, overlooking the loch, is cut from the summit downwards into a series of grand cliffs. The botany is intermediate between that of the east and west coasts. ROUTE VI. C. DISTRICT ROADS. 467 from the Dingwall and Loch Carron road lead, are among the wildest and least known in the country ; but they abound, in several places, with striking and varied scenery. They are three in number : 1. From Strathgarve to Ullapool, on Loch Broom. 2. From Auchnasheen to Lochs Maree and Torridon, and the district of Gairloch, ending with Poolewe, the packet station for Stornoway. 3. From Jeantown, on Loch Carron, to Shieldaig and Apple- cross. We shall describe each of these routes in their order. 1st. The district road to Loch Broom, and the village of Ullapool, on the shores of that loch, strikes off near Garve Inn, proceeding over the high ascent of the Dirie More. Its old course may be seen for a mile or so, tending to the north-east of Loch Garve ; but a gentler line has lately been taken to the north, along the Dirie Water by Achnaclerach and the deer forest of Kirkan. The distance to Ullapool is about thirty- seven miles. This road was first made about sixty years ago, at the expense of government, and cost .4500, and it was then one of the best roads in the Highlands ; but, after being long neglected, it is now undergoing a thorough repair. It conducts across a dreary district, called Strath Dirie and the Dirie More (the long road or step), to the glen at the head of the larger Loch Broom. There are two very indifferent public-houses on the way, the first at Glascarnock, about twelve miles from Strathgarve, and the other at Braemore, a like distance from the former, at which also provisions are not always to be had ; and then the traveller has to trudge on for other seven miles, to a miserable little village called Ardcarnich, where he may possibly get some refreshment, should he previously resolve not to throw himself on the hospitality of some of the farm-houses ; but the accommodation will doubtless soon also partake of im- provement. The mountain torrents which cross the Ullapool road are exceedingly annoying to travellers ; and the largest one, the Torrandu river, a little beyond Glascarnock, is not always fordable with safety ; but we are glad to hear that the bridges are now being all restored, and this season the line is expected to be open throughout. The very existence, not to say prosperity of the Loch Broom and Dundonald people, who 468 D1RIE MORE ROAD. SECT. VII. are in a state of abject pauperism, almost depends on this great line of communication with the lowland markets, and the pro- prietors are actively exerting themselves to complete the line of communication by Dundonald and Loch Greinord to Poolewe. The strong pedestrian can greatly diversify and shorten the way, if, instead of quitting the main road at Garve, he goes on to the public-house at Grudie, and then takes a guide over the hill past the end of Loch Fannich by Ault Derag, Ault Cunire (the Fox's Burn), and Ben Lia, and crossing high up the Torrandu to avoid the boggy ground which skirts it lower down, he should reach the Dirie More road a little westward of Loch Drome or Draim, not far from the top of Strath Broom, where the waters shear to the opposite coasts. By taking this route the tourist sees Loch Fannich, which is a mirror encased among most wild and picturesque mountains, of which its two great guardians at the east end, Cairn-na-Beast and Ben Eigen (or the difficult pass), with their splendid deer corries and rifted precipices, are particularly striking ; and where (especially in Garrow Corrie- More and Quilichan, and indeed all the way to Ullapool), if in any parts of Britain, there are the most undoubted evidences of ancient glacial action. A close view is also had of the Scuir- more of Fannich, and at the same time all the stupendous, wild, and terrific screens and ranges of mountains which rise along the western and northern sky burst on the sight ; as those of Loch Maree, Strath-na-Shalag, Ben More of Coigach, Ben Derag, and Ben Lair, at the top of Strath Dirie, and the more distant but exquisitely-formed peaks of Freevater. Each dis- trict in Ross-shire is thus distinguished by its own group or cluster of high bare rocky alps, and each is marked by its own peculiar form and outline, while great blanks occur between the lower heights, which are composed of long unbroken chains and ridges, separated by wide table-lands or pastoral valleys. Strath Dirie is one of these, nearly twenty miles long, and which, even from the road through it, is visible from end to end, the road itself appearing as a faint yellow line undulating along the heath. The most oppressive gloominess prevails throughout its solitudes ; no sounds to break upon the ear, save the bleatings of sheep or the lowings of cattle ; no trees, no houses, or marks of man, save a few shepherd's huts at great distances from each other, or the grass-covered walls of hamlets long deserted, and the rude cairn piled here and there ROUTE VI. C. STRATH DIRIE. 469 to mark the graves of persons who perished in the storm. With Goldsmith's Traveller one feels himself continually exclaiming that here " wilds immeasurably spread, seem lengthening as they go." A sudden bend northward at the pretty Falls of Strome, where dwarf birch, alders, aspens, and rowan trees first again meet us, changes the scene, and the lower, softer, and grass- clad hills of Loch Broom or Broam (the Lake of Showers), greet the eye. Cultivation and dense fringes of copsewood occupy the strath, and in the background the bright waters of the ocean, dotted with sunny islets and rocky promontories, are spread out for many miles ; the whole view to the northward being closed in by the long and singularly bold Ben More of Coigach, which resembles a quantity of bright red drapery hung by invisible cords from the sky, its front being quite precipi- tous, and seared by innumerable water-courses. The big strath and shores of Loch Broom resemble some of the finest and best wooded districts in Argyleshire, while the mountain-ranges rise very abruptly, and are of very peculiar outline from the frequent straight lines and their sudden devi- ations. Inverbroom, which lies on the west side of the river, is now the spacious shooting-lodge of D. Davidson, Esq. of Tulloch, and immediately beyond are the beautifully lying church and manse of Loch Broom, the glebe extending for two miles down along the loch, and, besides small patches of corn ground, affording pasture for several hundred sheep. The rough foot-path to Dundonald and the beautiful valley of Little Loch Broom crosses it. On the east side of the bay, we pass the house and farm of Inverlair, indicated by its ruined chapel and burying-ground, and which is an old holding of the Coul family, now converted into a fine sheep-walk, but capable of extensive agricultural improvement. The house, we believe, was erected by the British Fishery Society, and intended for an inn, but the neglect of the Dirie More road, till of late, rendered such a luxury unnecessary. A very marked feature of the vegetation in this district is its constant greenness a sort of perpetual spring. Even late in summer there is a continued shooting forth of leaf and flower, with little tendency to ripen- ing the hazels and alders are mere bushes, rarely attaining to the maturity of trees, and are interwoven into perfect thickets by long rank twigs of dogrose and woodbine ; while, even in the 470 CHARACTER OF THE VEGETATION. SECT. VII. end of July, the sward beneath is bedecked with the delicate petals of such spring flowers as the wood sorrel, harebell, dog violet, and primrose. So umbrageous and dark are the copses, that the thrush is tempted to sing the whole day long, and not in the morning and evening, as elsewhere, and the bat comes forth in broad daylight. A soft dasied zone of meadow-land encircles the whole of Loch Broom, the rocks of which are formed of gneiss, and this green carpeting instantly disappears as we reach the red sandstone deposits on the outer shores to the west or northward, which are all brown and heathery. Small irregular crofts of corn land have been gained from the pastures, on which, in general, clusters and rows of black huts arise, having walls and passages of loose stones leading up to them disposed in all the labyrinthic forms o^ the Chinese puzzle ; and to each such little holding is attached the privi- lege of an outlet for one or two cows to the hill-grazing above, which, however, is limited to the ridges next the sea. The rent of the crofts varies from one to five guineas a-year, the average on the adjoining estate of Coigach being ,3:8:6 to each crofter no part of which is ever looked to as to be produced by the land, but to be won from the sea, if the fishing should be prosperous. In short, the people seem to be penned in, not the sheep ; and while squalid poverty is marked in every counten- ance, the average number of each family is 6 souls, which is equal to the most prolific and wretched Irish cabins. Thousands are willing and anxious to emigrate, but it is only the robust and active who are able to earn as much as to defray their passage ; and hence the Highlands are yearly being drained of the young, while the old and feeble are of necessity, and most reluctantly, left as paupers at home. Trees would grow well in this district, (as may be seen at the manse, Inverlair, and Loch Melim) ; but the poor Highlanders would not now let them grow, the tempta- tion to use them for firewood and spars being too great. The herring seems to be almost the only fish the native cares to look after, (perhaps from its giving them only occasional and exciting occupation) ; and hence their boats are not fitted for deep-sea fishing : and in consequence the produce of the coast in cod and ling is annually picked up by enterprising crews from T *'- v '~ and the Moray Firth, in the very teeth of the .. famished Highlanders. 13. Ullapool, like many more renowned cities, i> ROUTE VI. C. TJLLAPOOL. 471 from a distance, and from the sea. It stands on a fine terraced, gravelly promontory, about half a mile square, between the Loch and the mouth of the river of Achall, and from the sea- beach to the summit it exhibits several parallel lines of houses, most of them whitewashed, and slated or tiled, the church, manse, and the principal inn, being the most conspicuous. A few handsome old ash trees about one of the residences and the burying-ground, with a neat harbour and breakwater, form the chief adornments of the place the post-office and all the princi- pal shops and houses being arranged along the beach, looking southwards, and extending along its whole length ; but behind these, three parallel and spacious streets, with ample gardens, were lined off for the poorer fishermen, though, in fact, they have only been, half finished. The village was founded by the British Fishery Society about sixty years ago, when the herring trade was at its height, and was intended to be a beautiful town on a spacious and regular plan ; but the herring shoals having for many years abandoned the adjoining loch, the pros- perity of the place has been sealed up, and now " ruin greenly dwells " in many a half-built house of considerable outward show, the one end only being occupied as a dwelling, and the other left to the elements, or as a residence to the cow and pig. A more delightful bathing beach could not be desired than that of Ullapool the air, in summer, is soft but bracing the splendid mountain scenery is generally enlivened and set off by boats and vessels, which here find a safe anchorage ; and should the herring fishery revive, and the land communication by the Dirie More to Dingwall, and Achall to Bonar Bridge and Tain, be again properly opened up, Ullapool may yet revive, and become, more efficiently than at present, the emporium and market-town to the neighbouring extensive districts of Loch Broom, Coigach, and Assynt. The popolution of Ullapool is between 700 and 800 inhabi- tants. They held their tenements, till lately, of the Fishery Society, who feued the ground from the superiors, the Cromarty family, and sub-feued it again at one penny for every foot in front, and sixty feet back, the arable land behind which is o.c. --. TONGUE HOUSE. 497 side of the road, commences the boundary of the Reay country, now the property of the Duke of Sutherland. Ben Loyal's lofty summit here begins to rear itself conspicuously, presenting to the fancy at one point of view the form of a lion couchant, and at another a close resemblance to the royal arms, " the lion and the unicorn fighting for the crown." Beneath, on the east, lie the still waters of Loch Loyal, with its verdant islands, on the margin of which the road winds around the foot of the mountain, forming, along its whole extent (of about six miles), a truly beautiful and picturesque ride ; but as the road keeps the west side immediately along the base of Ben Loyal, its fan- tastic outline is almost lost. On the banks of Loch Loyal, previous to the sheep-farming depopulation system, dwelt some of the most comfortable tenants in the county of Sutherland. This loch is succeeded by two others, Craggy and Slam, all abounding in trout, char, salmon, and large pike. At a short distance from Loch Loyal, the Kyle of Tongue, a long arm of the sea, with its low rabbit islands and the large rocky isle of Rona at its mouth, greets the sight, and in a few minutes the woods and plantations around the old baronial residence of Tongue present themselves in full view. Tongue house is beautifully situated at the foot of a lofty craggy moun- tain, on the neck of a long point or tongue of land projecting into, and about the middle of, the east side of the Kyle, the waves of which wash the very walls of the garden ; whilst the " tall ancestral trees" that surround it form at once an orna- ment and a shelter, and pretty extensive plantations are nourish- ing around, a peculiarity to be noticed where trees are few and far between. The mansion itself is an old structure, no ways distinguished in its architecture, but interesting as a specimen of the honest simplicity of taste of our forefathers, and although every comfort is to be found within its exterior, the work of successive generations. This fine domain, the ancient seat of Lord Reay, chief 'of the clan Mackay, has now become the property of the Duke of Sutherland ; and although it is natural to feel regret it the necessity which has denuded the former owner of the home of his forefathers, still it is matter of rejoic- ing to all the numerous tenantry of the estate, that his succes- sor is their next neighbour, the Duke of Sutherland, than whom they could scarcely wish a more liberal landlord. On an eminence near the sea, projecting from the foot of T2 498 TONGUE KIRKIBOLL THE MOIN. SECT. VII. Ben Loyal stands Caistil Varrich, the ruins of an old watch- tower. The scenery about Tongue is altogether very grand, an extensive semicircle of mountains stretching around ; in the centre Ben Loyal, 2508 feet in height, spreading widely at its base, and cleft above into four splintered summits, each strongly defined, and receding a little, one behind the other, and the southern extremity of the western limb of the mountain ranges, otherwise somewhat mountainous, though of no considerable elevation, suddenly shooting up in the huge mass of Ben Hope to a height of 3061 feet. On the opposite side of the Kyle, the receding slopes are partially occupied with cultivated fields. So much is the surface of Sutherlandshire interspersed with sheets of water, that from one eminence in the parish of Tongue, no less than 100 lochs are visible at once a peculiarity still more strikingly exemplified in the western section of the county. The village of Kirkiboll, which is pleasantly situated upon the slope of a hill, is within rather more than a mile of Tongue House, and contains only, besides the manse and a commodious inn, a few scattered cottages. Kirkiboll is about four miles north of Loch Loyal, and eighteen from Aultnaharra. 11. Until recently there was no regularly made road west- ward from Tongue towards Erriboll. The traveller required a guide to pilot his dubious way across the rugged mountains, and over the trackless waste of the Moin, a highly elevated boggy moorland, stretching from the base of Ben Hope and Ben Loyal to the sea, and between Loch Hope and the Kyle of Tongue, a width of eight miles ; but now, thanks to the late noble duke, (by whom, on his acquisition of the Reay country in 1829, eighty miles of road were formed at his own expense,) there is an excellent road in this direction, by which the tra- veller may proceed, without fear of broken bones, or the perils of bogs and pitfalls, as formerly, along the whole west coast to Assynt. Crossing, therefore, the Tongue Ferry, about a mile wide, the passage of the Moin, which formerly was the labo- rious achievement of an entire day, may now be accomplished in an hour's time with ease and comfort. The expense attend- ing the construction of this piece of road must have been very great, from the mossy nature of the ground : the foundation was formed with bundles of coppice wood, laid in courses across one another, a layer of turf was next placed over these, and ROUTE IV. D. FERRY BOATS, ETC. 499 the whole being covered with gravel forms a road of the best description. Great ditches and numerous smaller drains are excavated in different parts on either side to contain the moss water. 12. The north coast of Sutherland is deeply indented by three arms of the sea, the Kyle of Tongue, Loch Erriboll, and the Kyle of Duirness, or Grudie, occasioning as many ferries to be crossed between Tongue and Cape Wrath. The river Hope to the west, and the Naver and Hallowdale to the east, of Tongue, are likewise as yet unsupplied with bridges. But these rivers are crossed by a large flat boat, which is moved from one side of the river to the other by means of a windlass and chain, attached underneath to the boat, and connected also with the banks. These boats admit a carriage, without the horses being unharnessed, and the largest is capable of convey- ing nearly two hundred passengers, and of carrying seven or eight tons' weight at a time. About the best views of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope are obtained in crossing the Moin, the castellated summit of the former coming laterally under the eye, while the great shelving precipice in which the rounded highest mass of Ben Hope terminates on the north- west, and to which the mountain rises in long successive stages, is displayed in its whole extent. More to the west, Foinnebhein and Benspionnadh, south of the head of Loch Duii- ness, uprear their extensive and varied heads and precipitous corries above the lower ranges which immediately encircle Loch Erriboll. 13. From the banks of the river Hope, which is crossed at . its outlet from the lake, and in the descent to it, and again as- cending the eminence forming the west bank of the river Hope, one of Nature's grandest scenes, lies displayed before us. The huge Ben Hope, which raises its shaggy head about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, stands full in view at the eastern head of the lake ; in the intermediate space lies the wide un- ruffled expanse of lone Loch Hope, embossed amid long ascend- ing slopes, and brightened perhaps by the " yellow radiance " of the setting s*n to the appearance of one unbroken sheet of burnished gold. " Nor fen nor sedge Pdlute the pure lake's crystal edge. Abmpt and shear, the mountains sink At Z(> LOCH INTER SUIL VEINX. SECT. VII. angler. His collection of stuffed animals, particularly birds, is indeed most valuable and interesting, more especially as con- taining specimens of all the different varieties of eagles, hawks, owls, and other birds of prey found in Sutherlandshire. The eagle is to be found in greater abundance in Sutherland than elsewhere. Some keepers have killed as many as forty in a season. Eagle's eggs fetch as high as fifteen shillings a-piece. A boat-car is kept at Loch Inver for loch-fishing, and a dog- cart is also to be had at the inn. Loch Inver is pleasantly situated at the head of the loch, at the foot of a zone of craggy hills, and during the herring-fishing season it is the resort of a great number of those adventurers, from all parts, who obtain their bread upon " the waters." There is likewise a good salmon-fishery here. A pier of some size has been built by Donald Macdonald, Esq., sometime of Culaig, who erected houses sufficient to cure 800 barrels of herrings at a time, and who also used to carry on here extensively the preparation of preserved meat, fish, and vegetables ; but this establishment is now discontinued, and the buildings have been converted into a residence for the Duke of Sutherland when he may visit this part of his estates. The extent and majesty of the mountain screens about Loch Inver, the conical detached forms of some of the hills, and the boundless reach from the adjoining heights, of " the dark and deep blue ocean," streaked only in one or two directions by the dim chains of Skye and the Long Island, bestow on this village a most peculiar interest. Even Dr. Macculloch himself seemed at a loss how to describe the scene. Yet, in his own most graphic style, he has thus sketched some of its bolder features : " Round about there are four mountains, which seem as if they had tumbled down from the clouds ; having nothing to do with the country or each other, either in shape, materials, position, or character, and which look very much as if they were won- dering how they got there. Which of them all is the most rocky and useless, is probably known to the sheep ; human organs distinguish little but stone ; black precipices, when the storm and rain are drifting by, and, when the sun shines, cold bright summits that seem to rival the snow. Suil Veinn loses no part of its strangely incongruous character on a near approach. It remains as lofty, as independent, and as much like a sugarloaf, (really, not metaphorically,) when at its foot, ROUTE IV. E. SUIL VEINN. 521 as when far off at sea. In one respect it gains ; or rather the spectator does, by a more intimate acquaintance. It might have been covered with grass to the imagination ; but the eye sees, and the hand feels, that it is rock, above, below, and round about. The narrow front, that which possesses the conical outline, has the air of a precipice, although not rigidly so ; since it consists of a series of rocky cliffs piled in terraced suc- cession above each other ; the grassy surfaces of which, being invisible from beneath, the whole seems one rude and broken cliff, rising suddenly and abruptly, from the irregular table- land below, to the height of 1000 feet. The effect of a mountain thus seen is always striking ; because, towering aloft into the sky, it fills the eye and the imagination. Here it is doubly impressive, from the wide and open range around, in the midst of which this gigantic mass stands alone and unri- valled ; a solitary and enormous beacon, rising to the clouds from the far-extended ocean-like waste of rocks and rudeness. The conical appearance of Suil Veinn vanishes on a side view. Thus seen, it displays a prolonged ridge with an irregular summit, but the sides all around are precipitous, like the western extremity ; and at the east end, it terminates in a similar manner, looking wide over an open rocky country, and thus preserving its independence in every part. The lateral outline is varied and graceful ; the whole mountain in every direction, presenting an object no less picturesque than it is uncommon and striking in effect : combining, in some positions, with the distant and elegant forms of Canasp, Coul Beg, and Ben More (3230 feet high), it also offers more variety than would be expected ; while even the general landscape is varied by the multiplicity of rocks and small lakes with which the whole country is interspersed. The total altitude from the sea- line is probably about 2500 feet ; the table-land whence this and most other of the mountains of this coast rise, appearing to have an extreme elevation of 1500 feet. To almost all but the shepherds, Suil Veinn is inaccessible : one of our sailors, well used to climbing, reached the summit with difficulty, and had much more in descending. Sheep scramble about it in search of the grass that grows in the intervals of the rocks ; but so perilous is this trade to them, that this mountain, with its pas- ture, which, notwithstanding its rocky aspect, is considerable, is a negative possession, causing a deduction of fifteen or z2 522 SUIL VEINN FALL OF KIRKAIG. SECT. VII. twenty pounds a-year from the value of the farm to which it belongs, instead of adding to its rent." To aid the reader's ideas, we must observe that these moun- tain-tops are some miles inland, and that between them and the spectator extends that agglomeration of gneiss eminences which we have mentioned. Suil Veinn is quite unique among the mountains of Scotland ; the cone rises quite by itself, nearly 2000 feet, we should say, instead of 1000, according to the foregoing extract, above the rugged table-land of gneiss hills, which may rise about 800 or 1000 feet above the sea-level. One of the best points of view is about a mile from the inn, on a road lead- ing up from the loch, a little south of the inn. Here a limb of the mountain, on the east, shews as a wart-like excrescence on the acclivity. But the tourist ought not to omit to take boat out for a mile or more. Thence a whole series of huge moun- tain masses, of the most varied shape and outline, are seen at different points rising from the rugged table-land, as Cunaig, Ben More of Assynt (in the distance), Canishp, and Suil Veinn (forming the central points), Coul More, Coul Beg, Stack Pollie, Ben lone, Ben More of Coigach (in the distance), all ranging about 3000 to 3500 feet, or more, above the sea. From the water, Suil Veinn looks first like a huge glass-house, and as one gets out more from the land, it assumes more of the " sugar- loaf" aspect. The tourist will also be repaid by a walk of five miles along the road leading from Loch-Inver House to the Fall of Kirkaig, on the river of that name a stream of consi- derable volume, the boundary, on this side, between Ross and Sutherland shires. FROM ASSYNT TO DTTIENESS. 11. Instead of retracing his steps, and crossing from near Innisindamff, by the east shoulder of Cunaig, to Kyle Skou, on his way further north, the traveller may vary the route by pro- ceeding to Stoir and Oldney, fourteen miles from Loch Inver, to which a branch road has been made, and there taking boat for the Kyle. The road winds at first rapidly up and down, and among gneiss hillocks deeply divided, and containing in their bowl-shaped hollows several small tarns covered with water-lilies, and from the elevations commanding views of Suil Veinn and Canishp to their very base. The former here presents ROUTE IV. E. KYLE SKOU INLET. 523 two distinct summits, the lowest reaching about three-fourth? of the height of the principal mass, with which it connects by a narrow ligature the whole, perhaps, having as much the ap- pearance of a helmet as any other object which can be instanced. About six miles from Loch Inver we reach the township of Stoir, a group of fishermen's huts upon a spot of sandy downs. Ascending the further hill face, we pass the Church and manse, and shortly after the Free Church and manse of Stoir. Here the whole summits, Canishp, Suil Veinn, Coul More, and Coul Beg, with numerous successive ranges, come under the eye the Corgach and Loch Broom mountains, with those of Skye beyond, while the Lewis is seen stretching sea- ward. Some three miles further, another considerable collec- tion of huts, called Clachanessy, occupies the head of a shel- tered bay. The distance from Oldney to the entrance of the inlet to Kyle Skou may be six or seven miles. The hills of Eddera- chillis are spread out before us, rising stage behind stage of gneiss ranges, on which the naked rock, and the scanty heath and pasture are pretty nearly equally intermixed, forming one continuous rocky band the only marked deviation from the mean elevation being, as seen from hence, the tabular summit of Stack, on the south side of Loch Shin. Near hand, Cunaig, lying between Loch Assynt and Kyle Skou, presents itself in various aspects the central point of the panorama, which, from the point of Stoir, on the south, to the perpendicular cliffs of llanda, on the north, a circuit of upwards of twenty miles of coast shews only one at a time of the half-dozen of isolated houses, all, with the exception of the little township of Clach- anessy, to be found along its iron-bound shores ; so scattered, even on the coast, are the scanty population of this vast county. The inlet to the Kyle, and to Loch Dhu and Loch Coul beyond, is as grand a sea loch as can be imagined. There are two or three successive compartments, the largest about a mile and a-half wide, completely land-locked by barriers of low rocky hills, behind which are upreared the lofty bare hills which en- viron the two branches of Glen Dhu and Glen Coul, into which the inlet forks ; while, on the right hand, Cunaig presents two enormous mountain masses at right angles to each other, one of which descends from the summit in a segment of precipices of the most imposing grandeur. 524 LETTER-CARRYING KYLE SKOU. SECT. VII. 12. Until the year 1831, there was no proper road, excepting that from Golspie, to Loch Inver, just described, through any part of this very rugged district ; and the traveller desirous of proceeding northwards, had only the alternative of threading his dubious and weary way over rocks and bogs, under the pilot- age of a guide, or of hiring a boat and coasting it along the singularly torn rocky shores that gird the district of country between the great Promontory of Stoir and Cape Wrath. These shores are covered with jagged and stupendous rocks, with huge promontories projecting into the sea, stoutly braving the fury of the waves. The lofty and impending cliffs are the home of the eagle and numberless aquatic birds ; while the deep caverns below are the habitations only of the seal and the otter. Previous to the formation of the road, a foot-runner penetrated to the north with the letters once in six weeks ! He served as a walking chronicle, putting up for the night at set houses, whither the people gathered on his arrival to learn the news. Now, however, an excellent road (though very narrow, like most of the roads in Sutherlandshire, excepting the Great North Road, being only eight feet wide, with an edging of sward of a foot broad on each side) to the northward has been formed, through the parish of Eddrachillis, to the North Sea, at the church of Duirness, which completes the communication round the coasts of the county of Sutherland. It strikes off from the Loch Inver road, near the base of the mountain Cunaig, at Loch Assynt, and about three miles from Innisiridamff. Proceeding across the high ground between this lake and the Kyle Skou, this line of road is, in consequence, somewhat steep in several parts, although by no means so much so as the ele- vated appearance of the country on all hands would lead a stranger to expect. The aspect of the scenery along its course is that of utter wildness, joined to the most uninterrupted soli- tude and seclusion. From the length of the ascent from Loch Assynt, the interminable ranges of hills become somewhat monotonous ; but at the top a magical change of scene occurs, as the magnificent expanse of the Atlantic, with numerous islands, presents itself, and a deep, but narrow, arm of the ocean, and in several compartments connected by very confined straits, penetrates among the mountains, while Cunaig, on the left, uprears above a tremendous craggy front. Nine miles from Loch Assynt we arrive at the township of Unapool, and at ROUTE IV. E. GLEN COUL. 525 the narrow, and very rapid, but well-regulated ferry across the Kyle Skou to Kyle Strome, in the parish of Eddrachillis. The small public-house is on the south side. A spring-cart is kept here. The Kyle at this point is seen dividing into two branches, near its termination at the east ; one branch passing into Glen Dhu, the Dark Glen, and the other into Glen Coul two of the wildest and most romantic glens in this part of the Highlands, the hills rising on all hands to a great height, interspersed with formidable cliffs, and the water of great depth.* At the Kyle the scenery alternates at every turn from soft to wild and ro- mantic. The north front of Cunaig is also here beheld rising in great majesty, and in two huge masses, faced from summit to base, sheeted, and deeply furrowed precipices. From Kyle Skou a road is proposed to be formed in a southerly direction along the coast to Oldney, from which a road is already made to Stoir and Loch Inver. The north side of the ferry consists of a small peninsula, which at first sight is mistaken for an island, on which there is a tall prison-like storehouse, said to have been erected upwards of 200 years ago. The Kyle at this place is one of the best frequented fishing-stations in this quarter, in consequence of the safety of the anchorage, and the almost incredible shoals of fish that may be said to fill up this little channel their young being found in abundance in it in winter, as well as early in summer. So many as 100 herring- busses have resorted to it at once ; and the value of the herrings killed here in 1829 was estimated at .30,000. The take of herrings was also very large in 1849. The communication now opened by land along the coast will, it is hoped, encourage the establishment of a chain of regular fishing-stations from Loch Inver northwards to Wick ; by which means the capitalist, fol- lowing the migratory course pursued by the fish, will be enabled to turn both this rich marine treasury and his own resources to the best advantage. Meantime, however, we regret to say, that * Should the tourist wish to penetrate to the extremities of the lochs of Glen Dhu and Glen Coul, we recommend him to procure a boat from the ferry, as the footing by land is undecided, easily lost, and not easily found. The scenery up Glen Coul is wild and savage in the extreme. It consists of three compartments, up the two lowest of which the salt-water flows. Between these is a very narrow strait, flanked by lofty rocks, and the land communication is along a ledge on the face of one of these, exceedingly narrow and dangerous. The water below is of great depth, and a false step were certain destruction. Glen Coul is, in wet weather, distinguished by one very high fall that of Egg Coul Awlan, the beautiful back-lying waterfall in the course of a burn which comes down the face of a rock about 700 feet in height. 526 EDDRACHILLIS. SECT. VII. the two there were at Loch Inver and Rispond have been dis- continued, and thus the people have no means of getting the fish cured and disposed of in any quantity. Before quitting the Kyle, we must not omit to notice an unusual appearance, and, as far as we are aware, peculiar to itself, excepting a similar occurrence in the south of Arran, in the walls of the ruins of a round dune or tower on a little tongue of rock near the Kyle, which is isolated at high-water. These uncemented walls remaining are about eight feet high, and at the top about four feet thick. In the middle of the thickness of the wall, for about two feet, and extending all round, the stones are mingled with bones, which are decidedly human, but rather under the usual size. Their occurrence and preservation, supposing, as we needs must, the building to be of any considerable antiquity, are alike unaccountable, though the salt of the sea air and spray may be conceived to have had some influence. 13. Having crossed the Kyle Skou, we enter the parish of Eddrachillis, which is justly reputed the wildest and most rugged district in Scotland. The whole face of the district of Eddrachillis, as far as Rheconich, is composed of ranges and knolls of gneiss, only partially covered with vegetation, but still valuable to the sheep farmer from the sheltered nature of the ground. The hollows are more roomy, the masses of hilly rock larger, and the appearance less intricate than about Loch Inver. After leaving the ferry, the road proceeds with a long but not very steep ascent, until, rounding the shoulder of the hill, it declines gently along the high side of a deep valley. For a considerable distance the road winds up and down in many a tortuous flexure through narrow defiles, the view being limited by the surrounding masses of rock and hill ; but several small tarns and lochs, occasionally of some size, each, completely girdled round with rocky eminences, and frequently adorned with beautiful aquatic plants, appear at almost every bend of the road. The number of these lakes here, as in Assynt, especially in the north-west division, is incredible ; and, being distinguished either by dark, still water, indicative of great depth, at the foot of rugged rocks, or by green sedgy banks and shallow margins, beautifully ornamented with the stately bulrush, and the elegant flowers and handsome leaves of the white water ROUTE IV. E. BADCAUL SCODRIE. 527 lily, (Nymphcea alba), are very pleasing features amid the singular scenery of the district.* The road is generally pretty much elevated, but here and there it descends to the coast. From the top of the mountains, many of which attain an ele- vation of 3000 feet, the country, intersected by arms of the sea, and chequered with lakes, rivers, and ravines, presents a pecu- liar aspect. Viewed from some miles' distance at sea, the landboard is considered to bear a close resemblance to the Norwegian coast. A few miles further on, the road passes through a small wild glen, along a noisy stream that foams down its rocky bed into the sea at the safe harbour of Loch Colva. The projecting and angular ledges of rock that form the south side of this glen are very striking, and form a marked and beautiful variety in the scenery. Beyond this glen, the scenery retains a similar character until we reach the sheltered bay of Badcaul ; improved, how- ever, at a few points, by occasional vistas of the ocean. Bad- caul, where the manse and parish church are situated, and a large establishment for the preserving of the salmon caught all along the coast, is distant nine miles from the ferry at Kyle Strome. Here a great many small islands attract attention from their number and grouping. About three miles farther on, through the same description of country, we reach the inn (now a very good though small one, and at which a phaeton is kept) and township of Scourie, surrounded on all sides, except the west, by an amphitheatre of rugged ledges of rock, backed by the pyramidal summit of Stack, and having in front a bay, wide at the opening, but receding at its upper extremity behind sheltering rocks. This place is comparatively verdant and arable, though the arable ground is of small extent ; but then in Eddrachillis there is no such thing as ground capable of cultivation, except on the most confined scale, and it derives additional attractions from the contrast it presents to the sterile and rocky surface that encompasses it. 14. Nearly opposite to Scourie, and at no great distance, is the large, but of late, uninhabited island of Handa. This island forms the most wonderful object along this coast, from its tower- * In a marsh on the right of the road, about half-way between Kyle Strome and Badcaul, the prickly twig rush, Cladium Mariscus, grows. 'Until its discovery here, (1833,) it was said to be extinct in Scotland since the.draining of the moss of Restenet, near Forfar. 528 HANDA. SECT. VII. ing and majestic cliffs, and the immense number of wild sea-fowl that inhabit every crevice of its rocks. No tourist ought to omit a visit to Handa. The island is formed of red sandstone, on which a highly comminuted and beautifully grained conglomerate overlies. The strata dip on the landward side, and the seaward front, is a range of preci- pices perfectly perpendicular, and for most as smooth and mural as the most perfect masonry, and washed by the ocean depths. They form a line of about two miles, ranging from perhaps 600 to fully 700 feet. This is so stupendous as to be almost unequalled in the British islands. Happily for the view hun- ter, they are admirably disposed for being seen to the best possi- ble advantage from the summit, though in fine weather, when they can be approached by boat, new and, in some respects, most striking effects may be obtained from beneath. But they are widely indented, so that from opposing ends the eye commands the various sections, and as the ground slopes upwards to the very verge, the spectator can approach them without apprehen- sion. In one of these indentations two detached columns rise, at the distance of a stone throw, and near each other one about a fourth of the height, the other of the full height of the ad- joining cliff. A fissure in the rock exhibits the sides of the larger one, which is perforated underneath its upright lines seemingly at a few yards' distance from the perfectly perpen- dicular parted lines of the contiguous cliff. At another, the highest spot of all, a mural face of prodigious length demands undivided admiration of its truly majestic dimensions. Again, an enormous perforation reaches down to the level of the ocean, which makes its flux and reflux by two natural arches, on either side of a huge supporting block, underneath the seaward wall of the perpendicular aperture. The tour of inspection ought to be commenced on the north side, as the precipice attains the greatest elevation towards the opposite extremity of the range. On the narrow horizontal ledges of the cliffs and detached co- lumns, and on the top of the larger one, are ranged and grouped, at the breeding season, myriads of beautiful black-backed guil- lemots, and other sea-fowl, as close as they can sit, while thou- sands are flying swiftly about. A shot fired sets inconceivable numbers of birds on the wing. But the pertinacity with which others stick to their roos ting-places is quite as extraordinary ; stones, and even repeated shots among them, fail to displace them. ROUTE IV. E. HANDA. 529 A gun will be found a desirable accessory. It is a common thing for the adventurous fowlers, who hesitate not to descend, with the utmost unconcern, crevices where it can hardly be cre- dited that man would venture, to take the birds with the hand. They are frequently, too, let down by a rope from above, when they capture their prey by a noose fastened to a short stick. In this manner a man will at times make free with eighteen or twenty score at a time. The eggs, too, large, richly-tinted, and spotted, are an object of spoliation. These chiefly lie singly on the naked rock. The nestling season is from the middle of May till the middle of July, at which time a visit has the additional attraction of the seafowl, which at other times do not congre- gate here in any great number. Handa is covered with a fine sward, but it is unsuited for raising any sort of grain ; and the few families who tenanted it, not long ago, voluntarily aban- doned it. It is now pastured by a few sheep, and a flock of patriarchal-looking pure white goats. Some years ago a vessel went to pieces on the terrific western precipices, when three or four of the seamen succeeded in reaching, from the yards, a cre- vice in the face of the cliffs. Here they were detected, after a lapse of some days, and rescued with life still flickering in them, attention being directed to them by parts of the wreck floating round the island. What a situation of hopeless suspense and of protracted peril, and suffering from hunger, cold, and the raging deep, and what a miraculous preservation from the very jaws of death ! The cliff scenery is not alone what distinguishes Handa. It stands so high, and far enough from the land, to command a most comprehensive view of the coast from Rustoir past Loch Inchard, and of the huge mountain masses which, throughout this wide circuit, uprear their gigantic and varied forms, each apart from the other, above the encircling zone of rocky hills, which form, as it were, a common base to the whole beginning at Ben Calva and Ben Spionnadh in Duir- ness, succeeded by Poinnebhein, Arkle, Stack, Ben More of As- synt, Cunaig, Cannisp, Suilvein, Coulmore, Coulbeg, Stackpollie, and the other Coigach and Loch Broom mountains, and various other more remote summits, with Skye and the Lewis. Such a magnificent mountain panorama can hardly be surpassed, for the mountains here are all giants. These, it may be remarked, generally range towards the east and west, so that in progress- ing from north to south, they assume an infinite variety of ap- A 2 530 HANDA RED DEER. SECT. VII. pearance. The sea to landward, all around, is diversified by long projecting rugged headlands, and lines of rocky islands, while to the west extends the boundless surface of the Atlantic, one glorious expanse of cserulsean hue, patched with shifting masses of brown, produced simply by the shade of the varying sky. The most striking-looking mountain from this quarter is Stack, the terminal aspect of which is that of an enormous pyramid, rising to a perfect point. Suilvein appears under quite a new charac- ter, the two summits being far removed, and it shews itself to be in reality a long mountain, instead of the terminal sugar-loaf figure from which it is so well known. On the way to Handa a detached pillar of rock, at the point of Rustoir, from 200 to 300 feet high broader above than below shews, in the distance, exactly like a large ship under studding sails. 15. The holdings of the poor tenants on the west coast of Sutherlandshire average from 2 to 5 of rent. The crop of a 3 croft, of which the stocking consists of three small High- land cows, eight sheep, and one horse, will, in a favourable sea- son, with milk and fish, support a family of four for eight months. An almost neglected mine of wealth lies at the door, in the cod and ling fishery, which hitherto have been but little attended to. However, the deep-sea fishing is said to be pre- carious on the coast ; but abundance of the finest lobsters are sent to the London market. A lobster smack calls every ten days, and on the north coast every week, during three months, from the middle of April to the middle of July, carrying away each time from 2000 to 5000 lobsters. The disinclination to round Cape Wrath makes a difference of one-third (3d. and 4d. a-piece) on the price at Scourie and Duirness. Salmon vessels call twice a-week for the fish of the whole coast northwards from Skye, collected and packed chiefly at Badcaul. They are caught in bag-nets off the headlands, net-fishing on the rivers on this coast being discontinued. The destruction by the bag- nets is so great, as to have a palpable effect in diminishing the numbers of the fish. Substantial cottages of stone and lime have pretty generally been substituted for the comfortless High- land hut, under the auspices of the noble proprietors. About 60,000 acres of the parishes of Eddrachillis and Duirness are allotted exclusively to the red deer ; of which ani- mal, the Foinnebhein and Reay Forests amongst the principal in Scotland support some thousands, under the charge of ROUTE IV. E. LOCH LAXFORD -LAWSON'g ROCK. 531 several foresters. The numbers in Reay and Foinnebhein are computed at about 5000. The deer of Sutherlandshire (and they are numerous in other parts of the country) are considered to surpass any in Scotland, averaging fifteen stone Dutch in weight, and at times exceeding eighteen stone. Those of the Reay country have long been distinguished by a peculiarity of forked tails. The family of "Mackay of Scourie" gave birth to Lieute- nant-general Hugh Mackay, commander-in-chief at the Revo- lution, and Dundee's unsuccessful opponent at Killiecrankie, but a brave and able military, and otherwise excellent character. 16. From Scourie the road leads along the south side of Baddyndarroch ; then, winding through several rocky passes, and over a considerable tract of deep moss, and by a shepherd's house at Baddynabay, the wayfarer arrives at an arm of the salt-water loch of Laxford, which is of very irregular outline, with many projecting points of rocky eminences, and at the con- siderable river Laxford, which is crossed by a large substantial bridge seven miles distant from Scourie. In this neighbourhood, some of the large mountains to the east particularly the huge pyramidal Stack, Arkle, also detached and tapering, and the ponderous-looking and extensive Foinnebhein (pronounced Fou- niven) form very grand and picturesque objects. The Laxford is esteemed among the best angling rivers in the north, both for salmon and trout, and used to be of great resort to the angler ; but it is now rented by Lord Grosvenor still free, how- ever, we believe, for trout-fishing. The word Laxford is a good example of the Scandinavian derivation of a great many of the names of abiding features of the country Laxfiord, the salmon- firth. Stac and Merkland are also Scandinavian words, descrip- tive of the form of the mountain and situation of the lake. Of the Scandinavian Dune or Burgh there are traces of a great number along the west and north coast, although Dune Dorna- dilla is the only one generally known. The names of places and townships are Celtic. In many instances, a Celtic prefix is found where the Scandinavian word is entire thus, Helmsdale is now Strath-Helmsdale. After leaving Laxford, the road is formed along the face of an extensive and formidable rock, now called Lawson's Rock, from the engineer who lined out the road, so situated and over- hanging the water as to have required great labour and expense 532 TIIK KERRNGARBH KINLOCH-BERVIE. SECT. VII. in its formation. Hence the road still proceeds through nar- row and lonely openings, formed by nature amidst the innume- rable masses of rock which from their ruggedness have pro- cured this piece of country the appropriate name of the Kerrn- garbh as far as Rhiconich Inn, at the head of Loch Inchard. another extensive salt-water loch, distant six miles from the Bridge of Laxford. There is also another large bridge here over the river Inchard, the country beyond which appears more open. Intricate rocky hills, however, are still for a little fur- ther the principal features of the scenery ; on the summits of which numerous large detached blocks of stone, resulting from disintegration, are seen marking the outlines of the ridges. The pasture of this rugged district is composed of deers'-hair-moss and coarse grass, with little or no heather ; and, in fact, it may be stated generally of the pastures of Sutherland, that great tracts of them, especially in the lower valleys, are more adapted for the rearing of cattle than of sheep, the latter preferring to browse on the tender grasses of the uplands, where they are also in the summer season less annoyed by insects than in the plains. Indeed, the meadow-grasses are becoming so strong, from want of being pastured, as to choke up the waters and in- crease the extent of marshy ground. The shores of Loch Inchard are pretty numerously inhabited ; and near the mouth of the loch stand the new Government Church and manse, and also the Free Church and manse of Kinloch-Bervie, to which a branch road strikes off from Rhiconich. At Rhiconich there is a better sort of public-house, where two or three beds can be had, should tourists have occasion to remain ; but they will gene- rally push on for Durin or Scourie.* After leaving Rhiconich, the road passes northward, and for a considerable distance proceeds along and overhangs the river of Achrisgill, which is sometimes seen forming pleasing cas- cades over the high rocks that cross its channel. But the sides and bottom of the little strath through which it flows, are co- vered with heath and pasture, and we now find ourselves in quite a different character of country, the surface uniformly covered, except in the mountain masses, with peat, heath, and pasture. The road still ascending but very gradually for some miles reaches the shoulder of a lofty hill, proverbial for * A spring-cart, carrying three, is kept by the inn-keeper at Rhiconich, and a . diicle of the same description at Kyle Skou. ROUTE IV. E. THE GUAI.IN DUIRNESS INN. 538 its open exposure, and the consequent severity with which the storm beats upon it. This tract is called the Gualin, signifying " the shoulder ;" and here, on its most exposed part, a house has been erected, where a dram is sold, which, like the cara- vansaries of the East, may serve to shelter the luckless traveller who may chance to encounter tempestuous weather while pass- ing along. The Gualin looks down upon the bend of a widety- extended valley, stretching down from between Foinnebhein and Ben Spionnadh, on the west side of which it descends to the head of the Kyle of Duirness. At each end of the Gualin House, and also of the Mom House, between the Kyle of Tongue and Loch Hope, there is a large slab inserted, with a long inscription commemorative of the completion, in 1831, of the great chain of Sutherlandshire roads an allowable expres - sion of natural complacency in the contemplation of the suc- cessful achievement of a very arduous and highly-useful under- taking. About half-way to the Inn of Durin, which is ten miles from the Gualin, we reach the Kyle, a fine wide land-locked inlet, bordered by heathy granite hills on the west ; but the mountains on the east decline into an elevated table-land of limestone rocks, stretching across to Loch Erriboll, and affording the most fertile, beautiful pasture, and fine arable land, subdi- vided by high and substantial stone dykes. The road, crossing the river Grudie, which discharges itself into the Bay of Duir- ness, passes along the shores of the bay to the farm of Keoldale ; immediately to the north of which, and distant fourteen miles from Rhiconich, the wearied tourist will gladly hail the green knolls and modest church, and to him the more immediately interesting comforts of the excellent Inn of Duirness. ROUTE FOURTH. BRANCH F. TONGUE TO THURSO. Strath Tongue; Strathnaver ; Farr Church, &c., 1. Port Skerry; Glen Hallowdalc and Melvich; Keay Village; Forss, 2. Scrabster Roadstead; Murder of two Bishops, 3. Miles. BettyhUl of Farr Inn 12 Strathy Village and Inn 8 Melvich Inn in Glen Hallowdale 8 Reay Kirk and Inn 4 Thurso 12 44 534 STRATHNAVER. SECT. VII. 1. THIS line of road, from Tongue to Thurso, possesses consi- derable variety of surface, the ground being intersected by several cross ridges and valleys. Cheerless moors occupy the greater part of the intermediate spaces, many portions of which, however, seem susceptible of cultivation with comparatively little labour and expense. From the house and highly ornamented grounds of Tongue, the road makes a rapid ascent, and winds along the high ground above. Passing Strath Tongue and Coldbackie, a con- fined but fertile valley, with a birch-wooded rivulet at the base of the bold Crockreikdun (the Watch Hill), a singular rock, entirely destitute of vegetation, and presenting a lofty perpen- dicular front ; it leads for several miles through a long and uninteresting tract of moor to the river of Borgie, whence, having gained the high ground, it proceeds down a deep ravine, alongside a mountain torrent (whose course presents a con- tinued series of small cascades), into Strathnaver and to the ferry station on the river, which is crossed by one of the chain- boats alluded to in a preceding branch. Through this extensive and beautiful valley an ample river winds among rich holms and meadows. Its mouth is sandy, and the hill bounding the valley to the west also appears as one great sandbank, with masses of rock protruding out at in- tervals. On the rising ground on the farther side of the river, a little way down the strath, we reach (twelve miles from Tongue) the inn of Bettyhill of Fair, a comfortable house, in an airy and exposed situation ; and beneath are the church and manse of Farr, with its fine green downs stretching to the bay.* Between the valley of the Naver and that of Hallowdale the country is, for the most part, barren and moorland. The rocky shores of the coast are the most marked objects in the scenery ; the surrounding country being by no means mountainous, though sufficiently rugged and hilly. Intermediate are several small glens, as Swordle, Armadale, and Strathy. Swordle is steep and rocky ; Armadale remarkable for the deep rocky shores of its bay. At Strathy, about half way between Farr and Melvich Inns, there is a populous hamlet, a government church and manse, a small neat inn, and good limestone and sandstone quarries. Strathy Head stretches far into the North Sea. * Ilieraciiim umbellatvm grows abundantly on the knolls behind Farr Kirk. ROUTE IV. F. GLEN HALLOWDALE SANDSIDE. 535 2. Approaching Glen Hallowdale, a road branches off towards the sea, which leads to the romantic and superior boat harbour of Port Skerry, one of the best and most successful fishing creeks in the North. The Hallowdale is a considerable river, entering the sea at the Bay of Melvich, and along which are seen large and extensive embankments, recently erected, at a great expense, to protect a valuable and fertile meadow. On the west side of the river is the township of Melvich, with several scattered cottages on the sloping side of the valley ; and conspicuous towards its mouth, on the opposite side, close to the river and the sea, the House of Bighouse, the seat of an ancient and respectable branch of the clan Mackay, recently added by purchase to the ducal territories of Sutherland. The Hallowdale, like the other rivers we have mentioned, is at present crossed by a chain-boat. Ascending gradually from Hallowdale towards the top of the bleak and lonesome hill of Drumholstein, the boundary be- tween Sutherland and Caithness (no very definable line) is passed, and, traversing several tracts of moss, the road descends to the small village of Reay, four miles from Bighouse, passing the venerable mansion of Sandside (Innes, Esq.), pleasantly situated amidst wood. The bay of Sandside, flanked by dark frowning rocks, the sandy banks in front, the church detached from the village, and seated prominently on a green rising ground, with the round-headed hills which girdle in the place, form altogether a very unusual scene, and one which the stranger generally feels as peculiarly secluded. Proceeding eastward, past Isauld (Capt. Macdonald), and the ruins of Castle Down Reay, the ancient seat of the Mac- kays of Reay, a tract of barren heath is crossed, when we reach (six miles from Reay), the handsome though rather heavy- looking residence of Forss (Sinclair, Esq.), romantically situ- ated beside a meandering and rocky stream, and surrounded by several belts of young trees judiciously arranged. Beyond Forss the country again assumes a bleak aspect, and the road conducts almost due east, parallel to, but at a dis- tance from, the shore, passing the House of Brinns. 3. Approaching the safe and commodious roadstead of Scrabster, in Thurso Bay, which is protected from the swell of the stormy Northern Sea by the great promontory of Holburn Head, well-cultivated and extensive corn-fields greet the eye, 536 THURSO BAY DUNROBIN CASTLE. SECT. VII. occupying the remaining distance to Thurso, which lies south- east. In the distance, and lying north of Dunnet Head, the ma- jestic niural western termination of Hoy is in full view, while the shores of the Bay of Thurso, and their fine sandy beach, extend before us with an ample and graceful sweep. Not far from the road stood Scrabster Castle, one of the residences of the bishops of Caithness ; but the foundations alone now remain. It was here that John, Bishop of Caithness, was cruelly put to death in the twelfth century, the prelate's tongue and eyes having been previously pulled out. A similar instance of barbarism occurred in the following century, at the neighbouring place of Halkirk, when Adam, another of the bishops, after being dragged by the hair and scourged with rods, was boiled in a large cauldron by the natives, in retali- ation of his fulminations against those in arrear of tithes. Thurso, elsewhere described in this volume, is six miles from Forss. NOTE TO ROUTE IV. Dunrobin Castle, 1. Herring, Cod, and Ling Fisheries, 2. Strathpeffer, 3. Meikle Ferry and Dornoch; Errata and Addenda, 4. Steam Communicntion to the West of Boss, and Sutherlandshire. (1.) DUNROBIN CASTiE. Some further details regarding the princely structure re- cently erected by his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, in addition to the general description, page 409, may be acceptable to pub- lic curiosity directed naturally to the country of the " Mor- fhear Chatt," in the prospect of her Majesty accomplishing her long projected visit to this northerly portion of her dominions and as now certainly the largest and most ornamented edifice in the Highlands. The building, as has been indicated, is in the French or Flemish style, which prevailed in Scotland in the latter part of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century, but with suitable adaptations as to light and other comforts. Types of nearly all the exterior parts may be found in the old French castles the turrets and cornices are Scotch. The principal part of the new building consists of a solid mass of about 100 feet square and 80 feet high, of three principal SECT. VII. DTJNROBIN CASTLE. 537 storeys, besides basement and attics, and it is flanked with towers at the corners. The connexion between this mass and the old castle is, with the latter, a storey lower, and the whole presents a five-sided elevation to the sea and coastwise, while the en- trance court, between the opposing extremes, faces the north, the old castle forming the western, and the great quadrangular mass the eastern portion of the edifice ; and the connecting section, which contains the state apartments designed for her Majesty, directly fronting the sea. A small interior court is formed by the different structures. At each corner of the square mass there is a lofty tower those on the seaward side round, the others square the main tower at the north-east corner forming the porte-cocher underneath. All . the towers have high and sharp pointed roofs, excepting the main tower, the roof of which is incurved and truncated. They are covered with lead, formed to represent scales overlapping each other ; and the round towers rise, at the apex, to a height of 115 feet above the terrace, while the great tower, which is twenty-eight feet square, is of the great height of 135 feet above the terrace, thus overtopping the highest main wall by two high storeys, and the round towers by one storey. It has four projecting bracketted turrets on the corners round the uppermost storey, which diminishes in girth, and is bevelled at the angles, and is encircled by a parapet wall. The fourth (the clock) tower does not project superficially, but is 125 feet high. The corner turrets of the old castle have been raised, and other alterations effected, to make it harmonize with the new buildings espe- cially by very well managed additions on the side to the en- trance court. A small turret in this section, on one of the angles, resembles one in the Castle de Cliny, Paris, the pecu- liarity of which is, that the turret stands on the top of a column in a corner, with an ornamental capital. A massive rampart wall stretches along the whole of the sea frontage, a length of 300 feet, with bastions at the ends, and opposite to the angles of the castle enclosing a flagged ter- raced space, a few feet lower than the entrance front. Over the windows of the principal floor are scrolls with coronets, with the initials of the Duke and Duchess interlaced, and the ancient motto of the Sutherland family, " Sans peur;" and over the win- dows of the great tower are pediments and thistles, with the mottoes and initials of the different members of the family; and 538 DUNROBIN CASTLE. SECT. VII. in front of the library window, which is in the front of the great tower, and in the boudoir rooms, which are in the round towers, are projected balconies similarly ornamented. The whole building is finished at top with a deep block cor- nice and parapet, and high ornamented dormer windows, and is wholly faced with ashler from Brora Quarry a hard durable white oolite. Successive broad flights of steps conduct down a wooded bank to the flower gardens, laid out in the style of French gardening, which occupy the space betwixt the site of the castle and the sea, and are lined by a massive ornamental wall. On the landward side the ground rises immediately behind the castle, and the bank has had to be cut into, so that a por- tion of the effect of the great height is lost. The best point of view is from the sea shore to the eastward. Here the building has certainly a very imposing and stately appearance ; and in all directions the numerous pinnacles, and variously elevated roofage, with the gigantic entrance tower looming high at one corner, forms a very striking and picturesque sky outline, gently declining from point to point to the further extremity. The monument and colossal statue of the late Duke, on the top of Ben Vracky in the back ground, forms a peculiar feature in the landscape. The ground-floor contains the entrance hall, vestibule, family dining-room, sub-hall, Duke's business room, and other apart- ments. The Duke's room is entirely panelled with sweet cedar ; the entrance-hall is lined with Caen stone ; and over the chim- iiey-piece of the same material, and sculptured by our pro- mising young townsman, Mr. Alexander Munro are contained, in beautiful panels, the numerous quarterings of the present Duke and Duchess, of the first Duke of Sutherland, and of Lord and Lady Stafford. The arms of the ancient Earls of Sutherland cut in panels, form a frieze, extending round the hall somewhat like the Crusaders Rooms at Versailles. From the entrance hall, by a broad flight of steps and large archway, is the entrance to the vestibule, which is entirely built and arched with Caen stone, and enriched with a statue of Lord Stafford, and numerous coats of arms and armorial ornaments. The grand staircase, which leads from the ground to the principal floor, is about thirty feet square and fifty feet high, SECT. VII. DUNROBIN CASTLE. 539 and is placed in the centre of the new square mass of building, giving access to all the public rooms on the principal floor. The walls, piers, arches, and balustrade are of Caen stone. It is lighted by flat plate-glass panelling, and over the dining-room door is a Madonna and Child in white marble. The principal floor, which is all eighteen feet high, contains the principal dining-room, drawing-rooms, billiard room, and state rooms. The dining-room toward the court is forty feet by twenty-two, and is finished with a panelled oak ceiling, or- namented with gilded stars. The walls are wainscotted, and have for panels valuable large old painted landscapes with figures in oil, and carved oak and plate-glass mirrors ; and a frieze of oil-painting from Italy runs quite round the room. The chimney-piece and door architraves are of polished granite, from the Duke of Argyll's quarry in Mull, which harmonizes very well with the doors, which are of oak ; and the shutters are of plate-glass, corresponding with the compartments of glass in the windows. The depth of the frieze takes away from the height of the room, which altogether is rather heavy and dull. Still the style is uncommon, and the panels and frieze fine works of art. In the ante-room, which faces the east, and gives access to the library and drawing-rooms, is an ornamental armorial chim- ney-piece, by Mr. Munro, with supporters, and the ducal arms complete. The drawing-rooms, with boudoir and ladies' closets, occupy the south-east part of the castle, toward the sea and garden ; the principal drawing-room is forty-five by twenty-two feet, and the smaller one twenty-two feet square. The ceilings are orna- mented with a series of square and octagonal panels, in the for- mer of which, in gilt letters, are the initials of the Duke and Duchess, of their family, and near relatives ; the cornice is highly enriched and relieved with gold ; all the shutters are of plate-glass ; the wood work is painted white and gold ; the walls of the large drawing-room hung with rich crimson silk, and those of the smaller with flowered green silk, and over the chimneys are two noble paintings of Venice Canaletti's, we believe. Between the dining and drawing rooms, and forming a con- nexion between them, and on the west side of the staircase, with which it communicates by three plate-glass doors, is the billiard-room, with a deep oak and cedar panelled ceiling, high 540 DUNKOB1N CASTLE. SECT. VII. panelled surbase, and the walls finished with blue and gold paper. From the south corner of, and connected with the staircase, runs a long lofty groined corridor, which joins the new to the old buildings, and from which the state-rooms enter. The different compartments of the walls are filled with paintings, with marble tables, and vases for flowers, &c. The state bedroom is twenty-three feet square and eighteen feet high, with a block cornice, ornamented with gilded ar- morial emblems and thistles, and panelled ceiling, painted blue, with stars ; the doors are of ornamented oak, relieved with gold, and the walls hung with rich flowered silk ; and the cur- tains are of the richest description. Between the bed-room and the small drawing-room, and connected with each, is the Queen's dressing-room, which is nearly twenty feet square, and on the opposite side Prince Albert's dressing-room, of nearly the same dimensions, both of which are finished similar, and to corres- pond with the state bed-room. These, with the drawing-rooms, certainly are very beautiful and splendid suites of rooms, and exhibit no less chaste elegance of taste, than prodigality of expense. There seems, however, reason to fear that the climate and sea-air may prove trying to the delicate hangings, and to the lustre of the gilding ; but great attention having been paid to heating the whole edifice by means of two large apparatus in the basement storey, the risk of injury may be diminished. The third floor is occupied by the family and other bed- rooms. The Duke and Duchess' bed and dressing rooms and bath rooms occupy the sea front, and overlook the gardens. These rooms have panelled and ornamented ceilings, the doors and other wood-work are of varnished deal, relieved with gold ; the walls hung with silks and papers of the choicest patterns, and the panels of the shutters of the Duchess' apartments are of mirrors which reflect the gardens and sea view. About 130 beds can be made down in Dunrobin. Such an extent of building has been in a great degree owing to the re- moteness of the situation, and from a desire, by abundant ac- commodation for the very numerous members of the family, to induce their prolonged stay together in the north. The approach is to leave the public road near Golspie Church, skirt along the wooded bank, cross the ravine called Meg's Burn by an arch of from sixty to seventy feet span, and enter the centre court on the east side. SECT. VII. DUNROBIN CASTLE FISHERIES. 541 The entire plan which the Duke has in view embraces building a large keep (in which there will, in all probability, be a suitable feudal hall), an elegant chapel to the east of the castle, and connected with the library and entrance hall, and the enclosing of the whole court. The whole of the arrangements have been made by Mr. Leslie, of Messrs. M'Donald & Leslie, stone and marble works, Aberdeen, under the Duke's directions, and some of the orna- mental parts are from sketches furnished by Mr. Barry, but all examined and approved by the Duke before being executed, and his Grace has suggested the greater part of them, and the whole has been finished under his directions. During the recent years of distress from the potato failure, the works have been a source of very seasonable relief, in the employment of a large number of persons. Besides the labourers engaged about the building, many women and girls have been daily at work with the furniture. A marked effect has been produced on the industrial habits of the people of Sutherland- shire by the large amount of labour at all times in progress on the Sutherland estates. (2.) HERRING, COD, AND LING FISHERIES. In reference to the remark made (p. 16), that " it is singular that this economical article of food (herring) is still so little used in the great manufacturing towns of England," our atten- tion has been called to a correspondence detailing the results o a trial of this fish recently made in the Staffordshire Potteries. The manufacturers would seem to disincline the use of the cured fish, from a notion that they would serve but as a fresh provocative to the further indulgence in the favourite beverage of beer. This seems not an insuperable barrier. With 'due attention to the remedying of any undue saltness before being dressed, and the using them in moderation, and as only a part of the bill of fare, we apprehend all objections on this score might be met. Fresh meat is, however, the all-in-all of the English operative, and they cling to it, to the exclusion of other fare, partly from a sort of association of fish, especially salted cod, with low wages and short commons. It is surely possible to disabuse them of this prejudice. A good salted or cured herring would soon come to be esteemed as an economical 542 FISHERIES. SECT. VII. and savoury occasional relish. Perseverance in any attempts to introduce their general use is, however, indispensable, and the co-operation of employers is desirable. Could it be brought about, it would open up an important market for this staple of our north seas. Yarmouth bloaters are sometimes sold in the English manufacturing counties, but so sparingly, that this is thought to augur ill for the herring. However, the bloater is comparatively dear, and cannot be retailed under a penny a-piece. Efforts are being made to promote the use of coffee at the herring-fishing stations in Sutherlandshire, in place of whisky. It seems to require but perseverance and the use of a genuine article, to bring it into favour. From the Report of the British Fishery Society for 1849, which has appeared since the preceding pages were thrown off, we gather the following particulars : Barrels. The Returns of the Herring Fishery for 1849 are much the largest upon record. The total quantity of herrings cured throughout the kingdom was 770,698} Taken and sold for immediate consumption (in so far as can be ascertained 381,281 1,151,979} Cwt Of cod and ling, there were cured dried 98,903 Barrels. And cured in pickle 6,588 Cwt Used fresh 276,287 Barrels. It would appear that of the herrings, the proportion cured along the English coasts was 88,829 North of the Clyde on the west, and of the Spey on the east of Scotland 343,140 Rest of Scotland 338,729} 770,698} While of those used fresh, the relative quantities stand Barrels. England 235,971 Scotland, north of above limits 66,072 Rest of Scotland 79,138 381,281 SECT. VII. FISHERIES. 543 Cwt. Of cod and ling, the quantity cured in England was 1,973| Barrels. North of Scotland, as above 1622 87,731J Rest of Scotland 4964 9,198i 6588 98,903 Of cod and ling used in Afresh state England 205*337 North of Scotland, as before 30,594 Rest of Scotland 40,356 276,287 The number of boats, decked and undecked, on the shore curing herring, and cod and ling fisheries, in 1849 ; ^fishermen, boys, coopers, and other persons employed, were Fishermen Persons employed Boats. and in cleaning, curing. Boys. coopering, Ac. In England 4,698 20,259 7,695 North of Scotland 7,100 27,973 19,459 Rest of Scotland 3,164 11,560 11,380 14,962 59,792 38,534 The exports of herring to the continent of Europe have risen, we are glad to learn, within twelve years, from 64,870 barrels, to 257,108 barrels, notwithstanding the commercial restrictions in most countries where this fish is much in use, and to the modification of which the Fishery Board have anxiously directed the attention of the Board of Trade, as the opening of markets for disposal has not kept pace with the increasing quantities being taken thus causing a paralysing depreciation in price. The consumption of herrings abroad is enormous ; and were foreign markets fully open, there can be no doubt that there are around our shores almost unlimited undeveloped resources of production. It may interest the reader to know, that the tonnage employed in 1849 in carrying salt to the fisheries, amounts to 39,061 tons, and the number of hands, to 2834 ; tonnage employed in exporting, to 42,730 tons, and number of hands, 3267 ; tonnage of fishing boats, to 126,520 tons. The number of square yards of netting employed in the fisheries amounts to 94,916,584; the number of yards of lines amounts to 36,313,706 ; and the total value of boats, nets, and lines, amounts to ^1,189,090. 544 STKATHPEFFER. SECT. VII. (3.) STBATHPEFFER. It escaped us, in our notice of this watering-place, to allude to the very unsuitable condition of many of the lodging-houses. Some of the more respectable but they are comparatively few are very comfortable ; but, generally speaking, there is a sad want of tidiness and thorough cleanliness, an absence of such pieces of furniture as sofas, and easy-chairs, and similar acces- sories to the lounging habits of a watering-place, or they are so hard and comfortless, as to be anything but inviting ; while most of the houses are most disgraceful a century behind in the first essentials of health and decency. The furniture alto- gether is not at all what it ought to be, and even the very beds are too frequently objectionable. On the other hand, charges are very high for the accommodation. The supplies of provi- sions, too, are most inadequate, and troublesome to be had, more especially of groceries, at least excepting some of the most in- dispensable articles ; fish, excepting occasionally grilse and sal- mon ; vegetables, especially in the commencement of the season ; liquors, and coals. These are hardly to be procured at all, un- less carried, at much inconvenience and cost, from a distance. There is good bread to be had, and a tolerable supply of butcher- meat that is, of mutton, lamb, and veal ; but even for dairy produce, one has to trust to chance calls, or c \e arrange- ments which a stranger is at first not up to. Were a well-con- ducted general provision store, for all sorts of commodities, to be opened during the season, it could not fail to prove a good speculation, as the visitors would not grudge, and those who have had experience of the present state of things would gladly acquiesce in, a remunerating profit. The proprietor is called upon not only to give facilities for building accommodation for the numbers of all classes who now resort to this valuable mi- neral, but to do everything to stimulate and encourage a better order of things in all respects. By a little mutual arrangement and co-operation, water could easily be introduced into all the houses. At present the cisterns and there are none such ex- cepting in the best lodging-houses are merely of rain water. Even for drinking purposes it is troublesome sending for water. A tolerable number of vehicles on hire would also, we think, meet with demand where there is so much fine scenery at hand. SECT. VII. MEIKLE FERRY DORNOCH. 545 There is a coach three times a-day to and from Dingwall, at very reasonable fares. (4.) MEIKLE PEEBY AND DORNOCH ERRATA AND ADDENDA. (P. 400.) The distance from Tain to the Meikle Ferry is four miles ; the width of the ferry three quarters of a mile ; and there is no pier as yet on the south side. The accident there happened in 1809. The road to Dornoch, from the Bonar Bridge road, strikes off about a mile north from Clashmore, and the town is rather more than two miles from the main road. Though the soil about Dornoch is light, there are well culti- vated fields near the town. Its population is about 800. There were aisles to the nave of the old cathedral. These have not been restored. It requires but the removal of one or two houses and gardens, which obstruct the area of the large square space round which are ranged the Cathedral, the tower of the Bishop's Palace, the County Buildings, and the Prison, to display this assemblage of imposing public edifices to a degree of advantage which would place Dornoch on a footing, in point of architec- tural embellishment, little expected in the somewhat out-of- the-way county town of Sutherlandshire. There are extensive portions of the parish of Dornoch under young plantations, and there is a considerable rural population comfortably settled. (5.) STEAM COMMUNICATION TO THE WEST OF ROSS, AND SUTHERLANDSHIRE. The Skye steamer calls once a-fortnight at Gairloch, and the Tobermory steamer once a-fortnight at Loch Inver, during the summer months. 2 A 2 540 AKRAN. SKCT. VIII. A. SECTION VIII. 'I Hi: WESTERN ISLES AND CANTYRE. A. ISLE OF ARRAN AND AILSA CRAIG. General Features; Coast-line, 1. Brodick Bay aiid Castle, 2. Ascent of Goatfell, 3. Corriegills ; Lamlash Bay, 4. Brodick to Loch Ransa ; Corrie ; Glen Saunox ; The Fallen Rocks ; The Cock of Arran ; Scriden, 5. Loch Ransa, 6. West Coast of Arran; Corrie an Lachan; Caves and Cliffs at Tonnore; Drumodune Point; Obelisks, Circles, and Caims, 7. Shiskin to the Struey Cliffs ; Tor Chastel ; Southend Harbour ; The Black Cave, 8. Kildonan ; Pladda Island ; Falls of Es- siemore, 9. The Pippin Bocks; Glen Ashdale; Attractions of Arran, 10. Ailsa Rock, 11. 1. ARRAN is one of the most remarkable of our islands. It pre- sents in itself an epitome at once of geology and of scenery, while it offers a rich field to the botanist, conchologist, and stu- dent of the more minute and less perfect forms of animal life ; and in its antiquities it exhibits still further sources of interest. In extent this island is about twenty-eight miles of extreme length, and about twelve of average breadth, and it forms nearly a regular parallelogram. The characters of the northern and southern divisions are strongly contrasted. The great mass of the former consists of granite mountains, upheaved to an eleva- tion of from 2000 to 3000 feet, the highest summit, that of Goatfell, being 2959 feet above the sea, while the southern por- tion, generally elevated and hilly, does not, however, attain a higher altitude than about 900 feet. While the mountainous portion is distinguished by the very abrupt character of the closely grouped naked mountain masses, the sharply serrated outlines and peaked summits of the connecting ridges, and their deeply cleft and precipitous glens, corries, and ravines, the other is spread out in the undulations characteristic of the trap, por- phorytic, and other igneous rocks, of which it is mainly composed covered with a deep stratum of peat and alluvium cropping out, however, especially on the coasts, in many bold perpendi- cular cliffs, and the hill faces assuming a markedly terraced character, the stages of verdant and cultivated slopes presenting an exceedingly pleasing appearance. The formations in the order SECT. VIII. A. ARRAN BRODICK BAY. 547 of their superposition are granites, coarse and fine grained, in mass and in veins ; clay slate and schists ; old red sandstone ; car- boniferous series (limestone, shales, coal, and hematite), new red sandstone, overlying igneous rocks, viz., claystone, porphyry, lyenite, pitchstone, and pitchstone porphyry ; basalt, greenstone, porphyritic trap, and Amygdaloed. This enumeration may serve to shew the geological attractions of Arran, than which the student could not select a more instructive field of observa- tion. The subject will be found fully illustrated in " The Geo- logy of the Island of Arrau," a detailed and very lucid treatise, by Andrew Crombie Ramsay, while the pages of Macculloch form a mine of information, not only on the geological but all the other features of the island. The general student of natural history is referred to " Arran and its Natural History," by the Rev. David Landsborough ; and in the number of Murray's handbooks on Arran, a large amount of miscellaneous matter is embodied. An almost uninterrupted belt of gravelly shingle its land- ward surface carpeted with grassy sward and pasture encircles the island, affording a ready access round the coast, and fre- quently tinted over with daisies and buttercups, and associated wild flowers. The shores are generally steep and rocky. At the mouths of the numerous streams are further considerable alluvial deposits. Large blocks of granite from the primitive district lie scattered on the surface, and imbedded in the gravel banks throughout the island. 2. On the east side of the island are two bays Brodick and Lamlash. The latter, being protected by an islet (Holy Isle) lying right across, is a roadstead of frequent recourse to ship- ping in stress of weather. Goatfell, whose peaked summit forms the apex of several converging ridges, forming so many rocky shoulders, lies north of Brodick Bay. Brodick Bay (twenty miles distant from Ardrossan) is a scene of very varied and striking beauty. Well indented into the side of the island, a fertile plain or valley, about a mile square, succeeds the white sloping beach, and branches on the north into two other glens ; Glen Ro/a running back northward into the heart of Goatfell and the other associated granitic mountain ranges, which flank it with rugged precipices and Glen Shirray, extending to the west, and both presenting much of wild picturesque beauty ; while from the southern head of 548 GOATFELL. SECT. VIII. A. the bay extends another opening Glen Cloy through softly swelling hills. Each of these valleys sends down its channelled stream. The fertile fields and pastures, and lower hill slopes, are bedecked with numerous houses (Brodick being the most considerable village in the island), and variegated with trees ; while on the north side of the bay, Brodick Castle, a lofty and very old square keep, with extensive additions of various ages, and some of them quite recent, surmounts a rocky wooded bank. Behind the surrounding woods stretches a long expanse of heath, and beyond rises the elegant tapering form and gray peak of Goatfell. Nor must the accessories be forgotten of the numer- ous boats and vessels which enliven the waters and shores of the bay. The greater part of Arran has for centuries belonged to the family of Hamilton, and Brodick Castle forms a favourite residence of the Marquis of Douglas. In the gardens many exotic plants flourish in the open air. 3. The ascent of Goatfell is a frequent excursion with visi- tors to Arran. It is noways difficult, and the ordinary path leads from near the village inn, but the geologist will thread his way along the course of the Cnocan burn. The shoulders of Goatfell and of the adjoining mountains, especially Beinn Gnuis and Caistael Abdael, are characterised by cyclopean walls of granite blocks. On the summit of the last named, several such isolated masses rise to an elevation of perhaps a hundred feet. Portions of the slopes of the southern shoulder of Goat- fell exhibit masses of granite overlapping one another ; and far- ther down a huge horizontal slab of granite, called the Druid stone, rests on pillars of stone. The eye, from the summit, looks down upon a series of sharp roof-like mountain ridges, rising into spiry peaks, and intersected by deep and precipitous hol- lows. The immediately near features, and especially of the masses of Nature's masonry, give, we have been assured, a very tolerable notion of the scenery of the Andes. With this rugged expanse the softer character of other parts of the island form an immediate contrast. Around stretch the waters of the ocean and of the Firth of Clyde and Loch Fyne, and their very varied framework of hill and dale spread map-like before the spectator. A peculiar feature of the granitic ranges is the frequency and bowl-shaped configuration of the corries. 4. Between Brodick and Lamlash Bays the seaward cliffs at Corriegills attain a height of about 500 feet. SECT. VIII. A. LAMLASH GLEN SANNOX. 549 Lamlash is distinguished by the fine conical form, and on the east side the columnar cliffs of Holy Island. The islet is about 1000 feet high, and three miles long, and is almost com- pletely covered over with the trailing Arbutus Uva-ursi. It gives a double entrance to the bay, and is distinguished by the cave of St. Molios, a missionary from lona, the waters of a spring in which were long held of sovereign medicinal efficacy, and by the indistinct traces of a monastery founded by John of the Isles. Kilbride is a mean village. There is a vitrified fort on Dun Fionn, and several upright stones on the hill behind the parochial manse, are among the numerous antiquarian vestiges, as sepulchral cairns and obelisks, scattered over the island. There are similar tall slabs of stone at Brodick. Mac- Culloch is disposed to regard those at Lamlash as ruined cromlechs, similar to those in Cornwall, Wales, and Guernsey, a species of monument comparatively rare in Scotland. 5. Between Brodick and Loch Ransa, another smaller bay on the north or north-west of the island, lies the finest section of the coast scenery. The rocky shore is indented by numerous creeks, to all the sinuosities of which the encircling terrace in most parts gives access. Many home-steads accompany our steps along the first part of the coast, while the irregular cliffs, revealing glimpses of the lofty mountain tops and their shelving sides, frequently strewed with broken masses of shi- vered rock, are ornamented by trees and brushwood, frequently descending to the very margin of the water. In working the extensive limestone quarries at the village of Corrie, artificial excavations of considerable extent have been formed in the rocks. Further on, Glen Sannox is found run- ning up from the coast into the heart of Goatfell. Encompassed by spiry barriers of naked granite, it presents, in common with others of the adjoining glens, but perhaps in higher degree, in its breadth of light and shade, its silent and unadorned grandeur, much of the character of the wild solitudes of the Cuchullms in Skye. About two miles north of Glen Sannox, the upper part of the cliff having given way, has strewed the whole abrupt hill- face and the shore with huge masses of rocks called the Fallen Rocks and again at Scriden, the most northerly point of the island, a similar appearance is presented on a still larger scale, there having been a landslip of the strata which affected almost 550 LOCH RANSA. SECT. VIII. A. the entire hill even to the summit, covering the declivity and the shore to the sea-margin with an avalanche of rock for a space of about a mile, the passage through which is uneven, tortuous, and somewhat troublesome. But the scene is highly picturesque, accompanied by a peculiar impression of the pos- sible o'ertoppling of the impending fragments. Several deep lateral chasms run alongst the broken fragments ; and a similar rent of great depth, which, being almost covered with heather, might prove dangerous to the unwary observer, seams the hill near its summit, where there has been comparatively little dis- placement otherwise. To the east of this rugged space there is a large detached block of rock upon the beach, a well-know 11 landmark, called " The Cock of Arran ;" but decapitation has impaired the resemblance it used to bear to a cock flapping his wings. 6. Loch Ransa, an inlet of about a mile in length, by from half a mile to a mile in width, is one of the scenes of most se- questered attractiveness in Arran. It is encompassed by the imposing serrated mountain ranges, from which rise the peaks of Caistael Abdael and Cairn na Caelleach, pierced by two narrow glens Glen Chalmadale and Eis na Bearradh and flanked on the south by the elegant cone of Torrnaneidneon. A promontory projects from the south shore, which encloses an inner basin of great depth. On this neck of land stands the shell of one of the royal castles, erected in the fourteenth century. It consisted chiefly of two square towers connected by high curtains. Loch Ransa is only five or six miles from the coast of Cantyre, on which the massive old castle of Skipness is conspicuous. The loch is a favourite rendezvous of the vessels and boats engaged in the Loch Fyne fishery ; and the bustle of departure of an evening, and of return with the spoils of the deep, and the ope- rations of preparing the fish for market for most part in a fresh state and shipping them on board the attendant busses, con- tribute, during the fishing season, a peculiar interest to the otherwise retired spot. 7. The west and south coast, and to Lamlash, present less of continuous attraction than the portion between Brodick and Loch Ransa. Still there are several points of interest. The northern portion of the western coast slopes up from the sea, the cliffs attaining much of the same altitude as those on the corresponding part of the east coast. To the south, the cliffs SKCT. VIII. A. CORRIE AN LACHAN KING'S COVE. 551 are lower. The whole line of coast is intersected by several fine valleys, as Glen Catacol, a little south of Loch Ransa, Glen Jorsa, towards the south of the northern or primitive division, and wider valleys along the Mauchrie and Black Waters, to- wards the north of the southern division of the island. The Cantyre coast, with Kilbrandon Sound between, diversifies the view. On the shore, near Thunderguy, south of Catacol, two sin- gular masses of rock will be observed, of peculiarly-contorted schist. One of the most picturesque mountain lochs or tarns, and partaking somewhat of the character of Coruishk, in Skye, is that of Corrie an Lachan, in a deep hollow, in the recesses of Ben Varen, east of Thunderguy. The steep encircling rocks which encompass it on all sides, except that towards the sea, are almost bare of vegetation. Ben Varen is in form like a long house with rounded roof, and on its summit are two of the Cyclopean walls, meeting at right angles, of granite blocks, al- ready mentioned as characterising several of the mountain-tops of Arran. At the village of Immachar, north of the Jorsa, there is a ferry across to Saddell, in Cantyre, the distance being only be- tween four and five miles. Between the mouths of the Mauchrie Water, and of Shiskin, as the valley along the Black Water is called, an eminence rises, called King's Hill, which presents to the sea a range of bold cliffs, chiefly sandstone, but at Drumodhuin Point of basalt, and there distinguished by the regularity of columnar arrangement. This hill is crowned, on its landward side, by an immense rampart of loose stones, having a gateway, and on the seaward front it is pierced by a number of water-worn but dry caves, of which the largest, which is upwards of 100 feet in length, by about 50 in width and height, is called the King's Cove, from having for some time afforded shelter to the Bruce, when, after taking temporary refuge in the Island of Rachrin, on the Irish coast, he sojourned for a time in Arran, concerting measures for his adventurous but ultimately triumphant descent on the opposite shores of Carrick, in Ayr- shire. Stone slabs on the floor doubtless have borne the gallant monarch's weight, and the smoke-grimed roof, and the re- mains of bones of animals, are in all probability referable to that anxious period of his stormy career. Rude scratchings on 552 OBELISKS, ETC. THE BLACK CAVE. SECT. VIII. A. the walls, in which patient decipherers detect representations of objects of the chase, may have been traced by some of the royal attendants. The fond credulity of the natives, however, ascribe them to the Fingalian era. The smaller caves are dig- nified by the names of the King's Larder, Stables, &c. The cliffs of the cave are appropriately embellished with the royal fern, osmunda regalis, a plant which, in Arran, has attained the great growth of twelve feet. In the district about Mauchrie and Shiskin are several tall upright slabs of stone, or obelisks, some of them from fifteen to twenty feet high, and several stone circles and cairns, most likely sepulchral memorials of a distant age. Of these last, there is a very large one near the mouth of the Vale of Shis- kin, and a little further up the glen there is a circular mote hill. A good road leads across the country from Shiskin to Brodick. 8. From the mouth of the Black Water there is a ferry to Campbelltown, distant about twelve miles. About the centre of the south end, and itself the most southerly point of the island, a range of basaltic columns, called the Struey Cliffs, rises to a height from 400 to 500 feet. The intermediate shore between these and the Black Water is rocky. On a round and isolated eminence, called Tor Chastel, connected with the adjoining land by a narrow neck, there are traces of a round structure, probably a Danish burgh, and also of defending outworks ; but Mr. Landsborough mentions having been told that human bones were, several years ago, discovered in considerable quanti- ties between the connected walls. The only other instance of the kind that we have heard of is at Kyle Skou, on the west coast of Sutherlandshire. A fertile tract of country, west of the Struey Rocks, is watered by the Sliddery and the Torlin, and a number of minor streams, mostly with deep water-courses. Southend harbour, near the mouth of the Torlin water, is a very curious natural harbour, formed by trap-dykes, which are so disposed as to compose sides, quay, and breakwater. Trap- dykes abound in this quarter. At the commencement of the Struey cliffs* is a large excavation called the Black Cave, which is about 160 feet in length, about half that height, and about one-fourth in breadth. The floor inclines upwards, and * Several rare plants are to be met with on the Struey Cliffs, as Lathynu Sylvct- trii, Althea Officinali*, Carlina Vulgaris, and Jnula Helenium. SECT. VIII. A. KILDONAN CASTLE GLEN ASHDALE. 553 there is an orifice at the inner end of the cave. Bennan Head forms a continuation of the Struey Rocks. 9. At the south-east corner of Arran stands an old square keep Kildonan Castle. Off shore lies the island of Pladda, on which there is a lighthouse. An extensive plain occurs at Kildonan. It is traversed by the Glen of Auchinhew, and on the course of the burn by which the latter is traversed, there is a waterfall Essiemore, or the Great Fall of upwards of 100 feet in depth, which plunges into an amphitheatre surrounded by lofty rocks composed of sandstone, with overlying masses of greenstone and basalt. 10. North of Kildonan, a noble range of precipices, called the Dippin Rocks, rise perpendicularly from the sea to a height of 300 feet. A somewhat hazardous footing can be found along the base of the cliffs. The dash of the waves close at hand, and the screams of the wild fowl overhead, conspire to try the nerves of the adventurous wayfarer. At one point, a stream issuing from the brink is projected beyond the base of the rocks, forming an arch of whitened spray well known to mariners. Glen Ashdale, a fertile and beautiful glen, runs up from Whiting Bay. Towards the upper extremity of the glen, the burn course is lined by walls of basalt, and the stream forms two successive cascades, the lower about 100 feet, and the upper about one-half that height ; and still further up, the glen terminates, almost at the summit of the hills, in a range of rude columnar cliffs. Next in succession comes Lamlash Bay, which completes the round of the coast. Arran presents many attractions for a summer sojourn, as well as to the mere tourist. There is capital deep-sea fishing and good trouting in the streams, and there is plenty of game, excellent bathing and boating ; while it must be apparent that the scenery is of no common order, and the variety very un- common ; while to the geologist, and general student of natural history, there is perhaps no other district equally inviting. There are lodgings to be had in several spots, and there are small inns at intervals all round the coast. Brodick, in parti- cular, is a very favourite sea-bathing quarter, and there is a constant intercourse by steam to the different ports on the Clyde. 2 D 554 AILSA. SECT. VIII. B. AILSA. 11. Ailsa Rock, or the Perch of Clyde, forms an interesting day's excursion from various points on the Firth. This insular mass of columnar trap-rises abruptly from the water to a height of 1100 feet. Its base is irregularly elliptical, 3300 by 2200 feet, and the form of the rock varies from that of an obtuse to an acute cone, according to the position of the spectator. The colour of the rock is gray, which, mingled with the green of its vegetation, exhibits the columnar structure to peculiar advantage. The columns are not so nicely regular as those of Staffa, but their effect from a little distance is quite perfect, and by many this rock is considered a grander specimen of the kind than the other well-known object. On the north-west the appearance is particularly striking. This side is almost perpendicular, and composed of successive tiers of columns of great magnitude, both as to length and diameter. The view is especially fine, where a cave, with a grassy acclivity above, forms the centre point. On the southern face there are ruins, still entire, of a square tower of three single and vaulted apart- ments, on a terrace at about 200 feet above the sea. Thus far the ascent is easy, but above becomes very steep, at times among broken fragments of rocks piled together, their interstices filled with prodigious nettles and other rank plants. Large patches of wild-flowers are met with, remarkable for their uncommon growth, and the rich profusion of their showy petals. Innu- merable flocks of sea-fowl, with rabbits and goats, tenant this lonely isle. SECTION EIGHTH. BRANCH B. KNAPDALE AND CANTYRE. FROM FORT-WILLIAM TO CAMPBELLTOWN AND THE MULL OF CANTYRE BY LAND ALONG THE COAST. District of Appin, 1. Berigonium, or Dnn Mac Snichan, 2. Ardchattan Priory, 3. Connel Ferry to Loch Fyne and Lochgilphead, 4. Lochgilphead; Knapdale; Loch Swiii ; Eilan More, 5. Cantyre, west aide, 6. Religions Edifices, style* and ages of, 7. Campbelltown, 8. Seat of early Scottish Monarchy, 9. Mull of Cantyre ; Dunaverty Castle; Sanda Island, 10. East side of Cantyre; Sadell Abbey; Castle of Aird, 11. Skipness Castle, 12. SECT. VIII. B. FORT-WILLIAM TO OBAN. 555 1. FORT- WILLIAM TO OBAN. Miles. Miles. Corran Ferry 9 B. fBallachulish Ferry 5 14 'g,c J Inn on both sides best on south. are about 250 such proprietors here, whose ancestors have occupied the same lands for half a-dozen centuries ! forming quite a rural aristocracy. DUMFRIESSHIRE. Dumfriesshire rises on the north into mountain ranges of very consider- able elevation, some as high as 3300 feet. From these it subsides into lesser central hills, intersected by three nearly parallel rivers, the Nith, Annan, and Esk the courses of which, as they descend, become wide valleys or basins, which latterly subside into extensive plains, separated by eminences of moderate height. The face of the country thus exhibits a very great variety of scenery, the inland portion in particular being highly diver- sified. III. MAES RAILWAY LINES THROUGH SCOTLAND. 1. BERWICK TO EDINBURGH. 30. Communication through the remainder of Scotland has now been almost completely opened up by lines of railway ; and as the several descriptive railway treatises supply a large amount of information on each, it is the less necessary for us to enter into any lengthened details, and we do little more than enumerate the most prominent successive objects which present themselves. The line of the North British Railway is the most interesting of the approaches from England. Before leaving Berwick, now remarkable for the stupendous double bridge across the Tweed, the view from the eminence on which stand the ruins of its very ancient castle, will be found well worthy of attention. The railway commands many splendid sea- coast landscapes, and crosses several deep and beautiful ravines, and leads through the high cultivation of Berwickshire and East Lothian. Various spots important in Scottish history are passed over thus, the scene of the victory in 1296 by the forces of Edward I., under the Earl Warrinne, over far superior numbers under the Earls of Buchan, Lennox, and Mar. and of the defeat of the Covenanting Army under General Leslie by Cromwell in 1650, both within two miles south of Dunbar. Again, between the Tranent station, 10^, and Tnveresk, 6^ miles from Edinburgh, the scenes of the battles of Prestonpans, where Sir John Cope sustained so memorable a defeat from the Highlanders under Prince Charlie, and Pinkie, where the Scottish army, in 1541, in the early part of Queen Mary's reign, suffered from the English Protector, the Duke of Somerset, with but half their force, one of the most disastrous reverses ever sustained by the Scottish arms ; and intermediate Carberry HUL, where Queen Mary surrendered to the Confederate Lords. 31. At Durbar are vestiges of its very ancient and once formidable 776 DUNBAR TANTALLON CASTLE. APP. castle, gifted, so early as 1070, by Malcolm Caenmore to Cospatrick, a Saxon noble, who fled to Scotland with Edgar Atheling, and memorable for the successful defence made in 1337 by Black Agnes, daughter of the great Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, during her husband's absence, against the Earl of Salisbury. The tower of the Gothic church of Dunbar is 117 feet high, and several other churches near the line are remarkable for their high towers. On either side of the Cockburnspath station, twenty- one miles from Berwick, are two remarkable railway works the Tower Dean Embankment, of the very unusual height of 136 feet, and the Dun- glass Dean Viaduct, of six arches ; that which spans the Dean 124 feet in height from the bed of the stream, 135 feet span, and 45 feet of rise in the arch. Between Dunbar and Linton, the silver firs, about 200 years old, at Belton House, and the very extensive hedges of gigantic holly in the grounds at Tyningham, measuring from eleven to eighteen feet in width, and from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height, deserve to be noticed. Off" the line of railway, and between it and the sea, due east from Reston station, 11J miles north of Berwick, the present church of Colding- hame exhibits, in its northern and eastern wall, all that remains of the magnificent priory founded in 1098 by Edgar, King of Scotland, the wealthy priors of which figure so prominently in early Scottish history, and beyond it is the bluff promontory of St. Abb's Head. Due east from Grant's House station, 5 miles to the north, on the verge of the cliffs, are two tall remnants of Fast Castle, the principal strength of the Homes, and the " Woolfscrag" of " The Bride of Lammer- moor." 32. Two tranches of this line lead, the one from Drem, 17 miles from Edinburgh, to North Berwick, on the sea-coast, and the other from Chance Inn, about 3J- miles to the north, in an opposite direction, to Haddington. The former passes over a plain, the most fertile portion of Scotland. The conical and very conspicuous Law at Berwick commands most extensive views. Close by the town are the fine ruins of a Cistercian nunnery, and three miles to the east of the town are the ruins of the impregnable Castle of TantaMon, the celebrated hold of the Douglasses, and so forcibly de- scribed in Marmion, and opposite it, about 1 miles from the shore, the high, isolated Bass Rock, on which stood a still more inaccessible castle, at times used as a state prison, and especially noted for the confinement of several distinguished Covenanters. It is tenanted by great flocks of sea-fowl, and, among others, of solan geese. Boats may be had of the keeper at Canty Bay. Haddington is remarkable as the birthplace of Alexander II. of Scot- land and of John Knox. Its fine abbey was called " Lucerna Loudonite," the nave of which has been converted into a parish church. There are remains of another such structure in the adjoining village, called " The Abbey." APP. EDINBURGH, PERTH, AND DUNDEE RAILWAY. 777 2. CALEDONIAN RAILWAY. 33. There is less to detain us on this great and important central line of communication in the way of description as of the distance of 100 miles from Carlisle to Edinburgh, about one-half is quite uninteresting that is from Beatock Station near Moffat, to within about fifteen miles of Edinburgh. The rest of the line passes through fertile tracts, with the usual accompaniments, and frequently presents beautiful views ; and the Highlands of the south of Scotland possess fine distinctive forms ; but there are no individual objects calling for special note, unless Gretna Green the bare mention of which conveys its peculiar attributes ; and Lochmaben and Moffat Wells, already alluded to ; while the attractions along the Glasgow Branch have met with all we can spare room to say, though much less than they deserve. 3. THE EDINBURGH, PERTH, AND DUNDEE RAILWAY 34. Courses through the fertile undulating plains of Fifeshire, with beautiful sea views at the outset along the Firth of Forth, and passing numerous towns and villages. The cutting of rock close by Pettycur, marks the scene of the death of Alexander III., in the train of which followed such disasters. Grange House, near Kinghorn, was the resi- dence of the celebrated Kirkaldy of Grange, Queen Mary's staunchest adherent. " The Lang Town of Kirkaldy," a street of about 3 miles in length, is celebrated as the birth-place of Dr. Adam Smith. The tourist will be gratified by stopping at the Falkland Station, twenty miles from Edinburgh, to visit the beautiful ruins of the regal palace of Falkland in the neighbourhood, where James V. died, and men- tioned in his " Chrystes Kirk on the Greene" as " Falkland on the Greene ;" celebrated also as the place of imprisonment of David, Duke of Eothesay, son of Robert III., whose life was sustained for a time by a wet nurse, who contrived to carry milk from her breasts through a reed, to the unhappy prisoner, who, however, in the pangs of hunger, is said to have eaten off portions of his own fingers ! The architecture is mixed Classic, Gothic, and Scottish Baronial. Between Ladybank Junction, twenty-seven miles, and Springfield Station, thirty miles, we pass through the parish of Cults, in which Sir David Wilkie (whose father was minis- ter of the parish) was born. The work which brought him into notice was " Pitlessie Fan-," referring to a village in the parish. Lord Camp- bell's father was minister of the adjoining parish of Cupar. Behind the Crags of Blebo, near Dairsie Station, is The Magus Moor, the scene of the murder of Archbishop Sharpe. 35. Should the traveller's time permit, he ought certainly to arrange a visit to St. Andrews, which bears still quite an ecclesiastical and colle- giate air, with its spacious main street the ruins of its magnificent cathedral overlooking the sea and picturesque castle or archiepiscopal palace on the verge of a rocky cliff, where Cardinal Beaton was murdered its University and Madras College the latter founded by the late 778 SCOTTISH CENTRAL RAILWAY. APP. Dr. Andrew Bell ; and the high cincturing fortified walls of the Augus- tine Monastery, which also embrace the cathedral buildings. Of the cathedral little more remains than the lofty east and west ends, with their corner towers, and towering high into the sky separated, and sepa- rated, so large was this structure, by an interval of 350 feet. But of most interest are the walls of the small oblong chapel, and the square tower of St. Regulus, of a size very disproportioned to the fane of which it is an adjunct, beside the cathedral, the memorial of a purer faith, and built of carefully dressed stone, which there is reason to believe, to be the oldest edifice in the kingdom. By monkish legends, the date of its erection is drawn so far back as the fourth century. The archiepiscopal see was transferred from Abernethy to St. Andrews by Malcolm III. The city is associated with many important events not of least interest are the martyrdoms of John Resby and Paul Craw, of Hamilton, Forrest, and Wishart, and the preaching of John Knox. Of the latter, the demolition of the cathedral was however a lamentable result.* 36. At Ladybank Junction the Perth Branch diverges, and passing the beautiful loch of Lindores, affords, near Newburgh, a view of the mouldering fragments of the abbey of that name (Lindores) ; and its clustering old fruit trees. The views of the Firth of Tay and Carse of Gowrie are splendid. Hence the line proceeds through the now incon- siderable village of Abernethy, once the supposed capital of the Pictish kingdom, where is the celebrated round tower (which is seventy-four feet high) regarding which, and the tower of Brechin (the only specimens in Scotland), resembling the Irish round towers, so much has been written. Antiquarians of authority are now disposed to limit the age of these two to the twelfth century. We are unwilling to give up the period of 1000 years as their assignable age i. e. as built in the ninth century when the Scottish and Pictish kingdoms were united, being a conjectured era of their erection, if not the Pictish period preceding. Competent judges range the Irish round towers from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. The state of preservation is at any rate very remarkable. There seems no doubt that these edifices were ecclesiastical, and in all probability used as belfries. Afterwards pass the well-known watering place of Bridge of Earn and Pitkeathly Wells. The view from Moncrieff hill between these and the Tay, was called by Pennant, " the glory of Scotland." 4. THE SCOTTISH CENTRAL, 37. Which continues the direct line of the Caledonian Railway to Perth, branches off from the Greenhill Junction about half way between the Falkirk and Castlecary Stations on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. This line passes across the rich plain of the Forth, near the * Omnibuses run from the Leucliar Station to St. Andrews (6 miles) at all hours, to suit the trains. APP. THE DEVON. 779 battle fields of Falkirk and Bannockburn past Stirling up the course of the Allan past Dunblane and the Sheriff Muir and near the Roman Camps at Ardoch and slants into Strathearn throughout a very rich tract of country. Several points touched by the line have been already alluded to. 38. But we must, diverging for a space, specially call the tourists attention to the scenery of the Devon, which falls into the Firth at Cam- bus, below Stirling, and to the once regal town of Dunfermline. CASTLE CAMPBELL AND THE SCENERY OF THE DEVON, THE CALDRON LINN, RUMBLING BRIDGE, AND DEVIL'S MILL. The course of " the crystal Devon," " the winding Devon," sung by Burns, is of a charming character to Dollar, thirteen miles from Stirling, having, on one hand, the variegated slopes of the Ochils, terminating at the south in Damyat, celebrated for its commanding view, and on the other, the rich expanse of the plain of the Forth, with its singularly winding river and gradually widening estuary. The little glen of Alva, rather more than half way, invites the tourist to turn aside to scan its woodland beauties and cascade. At Dollar, where there is an academy of considerable repute, we are in the immediate vicinity of the fine quadran- gular ruin of Castle Campbell, long a seat of the Argyle family, imposingly perched on an eminence between two deeply channelled rivulets, which, uniting below its walls, form the brook which runs through Dollar. An amphitheatre of hills rises around, clothed, as are the ravines, in close mantling wood. This structure was destroyed in 1645 by Montrose and his adherents, the Ogilvies of Airlie, alike hereditary enemies of the Campbells. The ancient name is the Castle of Gloom, and from the names of the surrounding localities, it has further, by a play of words, been said to be situated on the Water of Grief, in the Glen of Care, and the Parish of Dolour ! About three miles above Dollar, the channel of the Devon, immediately after making the singular change in its course, called " The Crook of Devon," exhibits a succession of peculiar appearances, known under the somewhat fantastical titles of the Caldron Linn, the Mumbling Bridge, and the Devil's Mill. Of these, the last and uppermost is where the river, forming a cascade, falls into a deep rocky cavity, beating against the sides of which a sound is produced resembling that of a mill, and the prefix to its cognomen is derived from this said mill working Sunday as well as Saturday. Less than a quarter of a mile below, the narrow duct of rock is spanned by an arch 120 feet above the water, of which the alteration of its note, as it toils along to a rumbling noise, gives the variation of epithet to this spot. The aspect of the chasm from the bridge, or from the adjoining banks, is startling, and highly pictur- esque. A mile below, the water, within a short space, has channelled out in its descent a series of deep basins or caldrons in the rock, in which it seethes and boils in great commotion, and finally precipitates itself from the third and last caldron in a fine waterfall of forty-four feet. 780 DUNFERMLINE. API'. 39. DUXFEKMLINE. Instead of retracing his steps, we would recommend to the tourist to strike across to Dunfermline, and return to Stirling by Alloa. Dun- fermline is distinguished by having been an early seat of the Scottisli monarchy and frequent residence, and long the burial place of our kiiit, r s. The ruins of a square tower on a peninsular mound, on the side of a deep glen, close by the town, is called Malcolm Ccenmore's Tower. There he was married to his queen, " the sainted Margaret," daughter of Edward Atheling ; and it was he who transferred the place of royal sepulture hither from lona. Malcolm himself, David I., Alexander I. and III., and Robert Bruce, and other monarchs, were buried in the choir of the abbey, the site of the present parish church. The abbey became one of the most richly endowed monastic institutions in Scotland, and was governed by a mitred abbot. The remaining lofty wall of the fratery, with its three tiers of windows, still testifies to the style of the establishment. Of the abbey the strong buttressed nave remains entire, of Norman architecture, with some of the pillars cut in zigzag, others spirally grooved. A gloomy grandeur is the characteristic of the whole. The choir and transept have been re-constructed for a parish church. It will perhaps be in the recol- lection of the reader that, some years ago, in clearing away the rums of the choir, the skeleton of the illustrious Bruce was discovered quite entire, wrapped in its leaden shroud. It was re-interred under the pulpit of the present church. But a fragment of the palace now remains. The last time it was honoured by a royal visit was in 1650, on which occasion Charles II. signed the solemn league and covenant here. The town of Dunfermline is celebrated for its manufactures of fine table linen, in which from 6000 to 7000 persons are employed in the town and suburbs. The whole surrounding district is peculiarly rich in coal, iron, and limestone, including the extensive collieries of the Earl of Elgin, and a variety of metals have been wrought in the Ochils. On the way to Stirling, along the rich carse grounds bordering the Forth, the towers of Clackmannan and Alloa are objects in the landscape which attract the eye; the former a remnant of a castle of Robert the Bruce's, whose sword and helmet are preserved at Broom Hall, the Earl of Elgin's mansion, and the other of the old castle of the Marr family, whose fine mansion and demesne adjoins the town. 40. The Bridge of JHan, past Stirling, is a delightful watering-place. A steep incline, rising to Dunblane, enables to enjoy more leisurely the delightful scenery of the Allan. Here, in the grounds of Kippenross, there is a noted sycamore, supposed to be the largest in the kingdom, and nearly 500 years old. Dunblane Cathedral is pretty entire in the walls, and the choir is used as the parish church. Some of ttte quaint oak carving, and a few old sarcophagi and monuments, are preserved. Dunblane is supposed to have been a cell of the Culdees. It stands associated with the name of the eminent and spiritual Leighton, long APP. CARSE OF GOWRIE GLAMMIS CASTLE. 781 remembered here as " the good bishop." The railway passes close to his favourite walk. His library, bequeathed to the clergy of the diocese, is still entire. About two miles to the north-east of the town, the Sheriff- muir was the scene of the drawn battle, 13th February 1715, between the rebel army, under the Earl of Mar, and the royal troops, under Argyle. The latter's left was speedily broken, and completely routed by Glengarry and Clanranald. while Argyle drove back his opponents (who attempted to rally ten times) to the Allan. The victorious Highlanders returning on his rear, caused him, however, to desist, and both armies withdrew, neither knowing which had won the day ; but Argyle succeeded in pre- venting the intended passage of the Forth. Fortemot, ten miles from Perth, is the locality to which Kenneth M'Alpine removed the Scoto- Pictish monarchy in the ninth century. Dupplin Castle (the Earl of Kinnoull) is seen as we advance. At Moncrieff the line passes through a tunnel of rock, 1J miles in extent, emerging from which, the valley and river of the Tay, with Perth's fair city, bursts in splendour on the view. 5. THE PERTH AND DUNDEE, DUNDEE AND AKBROATH, SCOTTISH MIDLAND JUNCTION, AND ARBROATH AND FORFAR RAILWAY. 41. These lines form a continuous circuit of communication by the several points indicated by their respective names, and by the Dundee and Newtyle Railway having a further middle line of connection, and afford a variety of choice, as far as the Froickheim Junction, about mid- way between Forfar and Arbroath, whence the Aberdeen Railway conti- nues the line of railway to that city. The tourist should, perhaps, prefer the direct line to Dundee. This passes through the level Carse of Gourrie, so well known for its great expanse of the finest corn land ; it is embel- lished with numerous mansions, and, with the contiguous Firth of Tay, is lined by ranges of wooded and cultivated hills. The large, bustling manufacturing and sea-port town of Dundee presents a fine appearance from the water or quays its peculiar feature being its great, massive square steeple, which is worth ascending for the view. In this way, however, unless by taking the Dundee and Newtyle line, one misses the fine Castle of Glammis, the best specimen extant, being in perfect preservation, of the old Scottish baronial architecture the oldest portions early Norman, the latter Flemish. It stands in the midst of extensive woods, quite near the Glammis station on the Scottish Midland Junction, 27 miles from Perth. It is a large and lofty pile, crowned with sharp-pointed turrets and railed platforms. The great hall, and especially the roof, is very fine. There are several valuable paintings and some curious relics. There had been lofty corresponding wings, with intervening courts, which, with very extensive and intricate outworks, have unfortunately been removed. Malcolm II. is said to have died here, having been wounded in the vicinity by assassins ; and the representa- tions on certain curiously sculptured obelisks near at hand, are supposed to represent the occurrence. These, and a curious sun-dial in the court, 782 ARBROATH DUNNOTTAR. APP. are worthy of attention. The outlook from the top of the castle, on the fertile expanse and rich woods of Strathmore, will be found not less so. We ought not to omit to say that the railway runs up from Perth along the course of the Tay, commanding very beautiful views, as far as its junction with the Isla, where the scenery is picturesque. On the right will be seen Dwn&inane. Hill, a name associated with that of Macbeth. It is crowned by what has been a fortified station, which may have owed its origin to him.* Progressing from Dundee, the next point of special interest is jrbroath, supposed to be the "Fairport," and its "Redhead" crags and coves to have been in the novelist's eye, in depicting some of the scenes of the Antiquary. It possesses a more palpable interest in the ruins of the cele- brated Abbey of Aberbrothock, founded by William the Lion, who lies interred within its walls, and dedicated to Thomas A'Becket, shortly after his murder, and rather a singular recognition, if it be so regarded, of the principle of ecclesiastical supremacy to which he fell a martyr. The abbey has been a magnificent building, but now a mass of rather unsightly fragments, having sadly gone or been reduced to decay, none of the pillars remaining, and the friable stone having yielded up all vestiges of the decorative parts ; but the Barons of Exchequer have inter- fered to prevent further demolition, and have had the area cleared out. 6. THE ABERDEEN RAILWAY. 42. There are not many points of particular interest in the further way north. A slight divergence at the Montrose Station, on one hand, leads to Montrose, and a short branch, in the opposite direction, conducts to Brechin. Montrose is a considerable and rather handsome town, built on a low peninsula stretching from the north across the estuary of the Esk, and connecting with the southern shore by one of the largest of suspension bridges, and is girt on the east by extensive links and sands. * Brechin is delightfully situated above the wooded dell of the Esk, and is remarkable for the round tower attached to the church one of the only two such in Scotland the other already noticed being at Abernethy. The cathedral church itself is very old, with another tower short and square, and terminating in a dwarf octagonal spire. Messrs. Henderson's nurseries here are deservedly celebrated. The country to Aberdeen continues well cultivated, but rather bleak ; but the line presents variety in crossing several small intersecting * There is some very fine wooded, river, and cliff scenery at Craighall, on the Ericht, near Blairjrowrie, of much the same character, though not on so grand a scale, as that of the Findliorn. Between Blairgowric and Dunkeld, a distance of twelve miles, the drive by the lochs of Marlie, Cluny, Butterstone, and Lowes, is very E leasing, and especially as we approach Dunkeld. The pass into the Deeside High- imls, by the Spittal of Glenshec, presents some fine rocky mountain peaks towards the summit level. APP. DUNNOTTAR. 783 valleys ; the outskirts of the Grampians cause the interior to assume a hilly character : and north of Stonehaven the railway runs, in great measure, along the face of cliffs immediately above the sea. Near the neat town of Stonehaven, we have the extensive ruins of Dunnottar Castle, built by the Keiths, Great Marischals of Scotland, which occupy four or five acres on the edge of a portion of the iron-bound coast to the south, with a deep intervening chasm. The shell of the great square tower is entire, and is surrounded by the ruins of other numerous buildings, showing how large the garrison had been. The area at top was encircled by a rampart wall, and the access was by a winding footpath, and through a gateway in a wall, forty feet high, and along an arched passage protected by more than one portcullis. During the wars of the Commonwealth, the regalia were placed for safety by the Privy Council in Dunnottar, as the place of greatest security in the kingdom. During the siege which ensued, when driven to extremity, Mrs. Ogilvie, the governor's wife, entrusted them to Mrs. Granger, wife of the minister of Kinneff, who had been permitted to visit her by the English general, Lambert. Mrs. Granger contrived boldly to carry out the crown in her lap, while her servant had the sceptre and sword slung in a bag of flax on her back. They were secreted at times under the pulpit at Kinneff, and at others in a double-bottomed bed at the manse, till the Restoration. Mrs. Ogilvie did not tell her husband where they were till she was on her deathbed. Wallace, about 1296, according to Blind Harry, destroyed 4000 Englishmen at Dunnottar, setting fire to the church where they had fled for sanctuary. " Some hung on crags, right dolefully to dee, Some lap, some fell, some fluttered in the sea." In 1685, 167 of the Covenanters were thrust into the Whigs' Vault at Dunnottar, where many of them died. With these characteristic inci- dents of times to which our own form a happy contrast, we close our rapid survey of the Lowlands, by way of Supplement to our Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. NOTE TO SECTION II. ERRATUM AS TO ROADS ON THE WEST OF ROSS AND SUTHERLAND SHIRES. In our preliminary remarks on the roads on the west of Ross and Sutherlandshire, p. 43, it has been incorrectly stated, that " from Ullapool, through the district of Coigach, to Loch Inver, in Sutherlandshire, there is yet no puhlic road." In the de- scription of Sutherlandshire, p. 515, this mistake is so far rectified hy the sentence " At Ledmore a road branches off south-west to Cnockan, the extreme boundary of Assynt, towards Loch Broom, which has now been continued to Ullapool, sixteen 784 NOTE TO SECTION II. miles distant." We deem it right thus more pointedly to direct attention to this fact : This short road forms a very important link in the means of intercourse on the west coast, as thereby there is a line of communication completed, though by rather tortuous windings, throughout the whole of the west coast, and thus round the whole of Scotland. From Ullapool, southwards, we may either take the Garve road, or that by Loch Greinord, to Poolewe (almost completed), and thence to the Dingwall and Jeantown road, at Auchnasheen while, were the road formed from the head of Loch Torridon to Shieldag, a much more westerly point would be reached direct. For the formation of the road from Ullapool to Ledmore, as well as the repair, or rather reconstruction, of that to Auchnasheen, and also those round by Loch Grei- nord and Loch Maree, and elsewhere, the public and the Highlands are indebted to the co-operation of the Highland Relief Committee with the public spirited landed proprietors in these districts a valuable and enduring memorial of the labours of the Committee. TABLE OF DISTANCES. DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS. A VERY few hints will suffice in the way of suggestions as to equipment and other con- siderations in travelling. The more limited the number of persons in a touring party, it is obvious the less risk there will be of inconvenience in point of accommodation, as there may be in many parts of the Highlands where there is only a single inn of moderate size. Pedestrians should have their wardrobe as light and scanty as pos- sible ; but in every case we would recommend woollen clothing to be used (including worsted stockings, which should be changed every day). Or a light over-coat should be carried. Indeed this will be found indispensable, as there may be frequent occa- sion for boating and coaching. A walking umbrella should always be carried, to pro- tect one from the sun as much as from the rain, together with a compass, and a travelling map had best be wrapped in an oil-skin, which will also serve to carry a few sheets of writing-paper and sketch-book, with pen and ink and drawing materials. In case of deviating out of the usual thoroughfares, a few buttons, pins, thread and needles, and soap, with a piece of linen rag for bruises and sores, may not be amiss ; and all ought to be provided with a little medicine, chiefly laxative and sedative. Blisters on the skin should be opened by running a needle through them, or with a penknife, and the foot and stocking sole well rubbed with brown soap, which hardens the skin. A tea dinner is a good arrangement, with refreshment during the day. But the pedestrian should not leave in the morning without at least a piece of bread or other nourishment, to prevent faintishness by the way. Eat it along with the water you will feel disposed to drink on your journey, but use spirits of all kinds in great moderation, especially during the early parts of the day. Milk and water is a safe and satisfying beverage. If on a botanical or geological excursion of some endur- ance, carry but one pair of strong, large-sized shoes, one pair of browsers, one cloth waistcoat with leather pockets, one square short coat, provided with six large pockets, two out and two inside, and two in the breasts, two pair of coarse worsted socks, two shirts, one black silk neckcloth, and a cap or wide-awake. Geologists should carry a small chipping hammer, and a quadrant for taking the dip of rocks ; and the botanist will find that a few sheets of paper and blot-sheet between stout pasteboards, and tied with a strong cord, or a strap and buckle, will form a useful and convenient press for preserving specimens. Knapsacks are apt to tear and let in the rain where it is not wanted ; so that, if the appearance of a light wicker basket, so woven or pro- tected as to be water tight, is disregarded, it will be found the best general receptacle for all sorts of stores and comforts. But for the most part, the pedestrian should make his wardrobe so portable as to be easily contained in his coat pockets. Water- proof capes will be found of great service by all travellers, and are less burdensome than an over-coat ; but then they do not serve as a sufficient substitute when one is exposed without motion. A pair of slippers will be found a comfort, which well repays the trouble of carrying. 2L'2 786 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 1. DISTANCES IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS. 1. Inverness to Perth, by Banff, Aberdeen, and Dundee. Miles Miles Campbelltown (tolerable inn) 11 11 Aberdeen Nairn . 7 18 Stonehaven Forres 11 29 Inverbervie Elgin 12 41 Johnshaven Fochabers 9 50 Montrose Culleu 13 62 Arbroath Banff 14 76 Dundee Turriff 11 87 Inchture Old Meldrum 16 103 Perth Miles Mile- 16 11!) 15 134 10 144 3* 147* 9 156* 169| 186* 194* 207} 17 13J 2. Inverness to Perth, by Huntly, Aberdeen, and Brechin. Fochabers, (see No. 1) Keith Miles 50 9 Miles 50 59 Esk Bridge Brechin Huntly 10 69 Forfar Pitmachie 13 82 Glamiuis Inverury 9 91 Meigle Aberdeen 16 107 Cupar-Angus Stonehaven 15 122 Perth Lanrencekirk 13 135 Miles Miles 61 14H 146* 169 164* 171J 176? 189* 12* 5* 3. Inverness to Perth, by the Highland Road. Moy, public-house Freeburn, tolerable, Bridge of Carr, a good small inn Aviemore Kingussie Dalwhinnie Miles Miles 11* 11* 3| 15J 9t 24* 32* 44* 58* Dalnacardoch Blair, or Bridge of Tilt Mouliuearn Dunkeld Perth 12j 71J 10} 82 9f 91J 9} 101* 15 116* 4. Perth to Fochabers, by Blair- A thole, Castietown ofBraemar, and Grantoion. Dunkeld ... 15 15 Blair .... 19* 34* Castletown of Braemar 26 60* Rienloan, tolerable . 13 73* Corgarff, thatched public-house 8* 82 Tomantoul, tolerable . 9 91 Grautowu ... 14 105 Grantown to Bridge of Carr, 10 miles. Balliudalloch or Inveravon, small inn 13 118 Aberlour ... 7* 125* Rothes ... 4 129* Fuchaben ... 10 1394 5. Perth to Aberdeen, by Blairgowrie, and Castktown ofBraemar. Cupar-Angus Blairgowne Spittal of Glenshee Castletomi of Braemar Mili-s Mii.-s 12* 12* 4* 17 19 36 15 51 Pannanich Kincardine-O'Neill Park Inn Aberdeen Miles Mile- 16 67 16 83 12 95 13 108 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 787 6. Inverness to Glasgow, by Fort- William and Crinan Canal. General's Hut, near Foyers, Oban .... 13 96 slated public-house . 18 18 Easdale, no inn 15 105 Fort-Augustus, tolerable 14 32 Crinan Canal, north end, Invergarry . . . 7$ 39$ small inn 20 125 Letterfinlay, slatedpublic-house 7$ 47 Spean Bridge, slated public-house 8 55 Lochgilphead Tarbert 9 13 134 147 Fort-William 8 63 Rothesay 27 174 At Bannavie, a large inn. Greenock 19 193 Appin .... 20 83 Glasgow 26 219 7. Inverness to Dmvegan, by Kyle Rhea. Miles Miles Miles Miles Drumnadrochet 14 14 Broadford 12 86f Invermoriston, small inn 13 37 Isle Oronsay, steam- Fort-Augustus, 7=34 miles. Torguil, slated public-house 8$ 35$ Cluany, slated public-house 16 51$ Shielhouse, good public-house 11} 63J Shielhouse to Dornie public-house, 10 ; Kyle Akin, good inn, 10=20 miles. Kyle Rhea, public-house llf 74f boat inn, 9 ~) -. Armadale, no inn, 7 j Sligachan, good Portree Kinloch-Snizort, public-house Coushletter, public-house Dunvegan 13 13 6 6 10 99| lllf 1171 123J 133f 8. Inverness to Dalwhinnie, by Fort-Augwtus. Miles Miles Miles Miles Port-Augustus, (see No. 6). 32 32 Garvamore, no inn . 18 50 Bridge of Laggan Dalwhinnie 8 5 58 63 9. Inverness to Loch Howrnhead. Miles Miles Miles Milei Invermoriston, (see No. 7). 27 27 Loch Hournhead, slated Fort-Augustus 7 34 public-house 20 734 Invergarry Inn . . 7$ 41$ Tomandoun, slated public-house 12 534 Tomandoun to Cluany, 10J miles. 10. Inverness to Arisaig. Miles Miles Mile Miles Letterfinlay, (see No. 6). 47 47 Kinloch-Aylort, slated public- Inverlochy Castle, no inn 14 61 house 10 86 Bannavie ... 2 63 Arisaig, slated public-house 10 96 Glenfinnan, tolerable . 14 76 11. Fort- William to Pitmain, by Loch Laggan. Spean Bridge, small inn Bridge of Roy and Inn, Sinclair's Inn, ' east end of Miles Miles 7 3 10 Miles Mile? Loch Laggan, public- house .... 26 35 Bridge of Laggan Pitmain 788 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 12. Fort- William, to Lochgilphead. Ballachulish Ferry inns, the best on south side 14 14 Durar, small inn . 7 21 Portnacrosh, public-house 4 25 Shian Ferry, public-house 4 29 Connel Ferry, small inn . 5 34 Lorn, tolerable inn . 6 40 Kilininver, small public-house 5 45 Kilmelford do. . 7 52 Barbreck ... 8 60 Kilmartin ... 8 68 Lochgilphead, inn . 8 74 Do. to Inverary 16 13. Oban to Staffa and lona, by Ulva. Kerrera, public-house . 4 Ferry to Achnacraig, slated public-house . . 7 Craiganour, slated public-house 5 Aros, thatched public-house 11 Tobermory, 8$ miles. Lochnakeal, public-house Laggan-Ulva, public-house Staffa, no inn or house of any kind ... lona, uo public-house, but cleanly private lodging 14. Oban to Dumbarton, by Inverary and Loch Lomond. Miles Miles Connel Ferry, small inns . 5 5 Shian Ferry, 5, Fortnacross, 4, Ballachulish, 11, Fort- William, 14=39 miles from Oban. Taynuilt, small inn . . 6 11 Dalmally .... 12 23 Dalmally to Tyndrum, 11 miles. Inverary .... 16 39 Taynuilt to Port-Sonachan, 8f, Inverary, 12=21J. Cairndow . . 9} Arroqnhar . . 14 Tarbert . 1$ Luss . . . 8 Dumbarton . . 12$ 48f 62| 64$ 15. Inverary to Portnahaven in Islay. Miles Miles Miles Miles Goatfield .... 8 8 Feoline .... 17i 67$ Lochgilphead Inn l*i 224 Ferry to Islay, good inn at Port Beallanoch Inn, tolerable 7 29J Askaig .... 1 68J Tayvillich Inn, tolerable . 6 35* Bridgend Inn . 8 761 Kcal, public-house 6 i Bowmore, 3 miles. Ferry to Jura . . B| 50 Portnahaven, tolerable 17 98} 16. Inverary to Campbelltown, and back to East Tarbert. Miles Miles Lochgilphead (see No. 15) 221 22J East Tarbert Inn . . 12J 35 West Tarbert, public-house 1 36 Whitehouse, good inn . 4J 40J Clachan of Sliinikcll, public- house .... 4} 45 Clachan Tayanloan, good public- house .... 6J 5U Clachan Barr, good public-house 6f 681 Bealachantine ... 2J 60J Mackerihanish Bay, small public-bouse . . t^ 65 Campbelltown . . 6| Mull of Cantyre, 10 miles. Sadcll, good public-house 10 Carradell, punlic-house . 4 Grogpprt, public-house . 4 Clunaig, public-house . 10 Skipness castle and village, 2 miles, (do). Clunaig to East Tarbert, across the hills, no road from Skip- ness ... 10 8H 851 994 tow TABLE OF DISTANCES. 789 17. Tarbert to Bowmore. and Portnahaven in Islay. Carrick Point 1 1 Bridgend Inn . 8 42 Ardpatrick 10 11 Portnahaven 17 59 Port Askaig 23 34 Bridgend to Bowmore, 3 miles 18. Stirling to Inverness, by Fort- William. Miles Miles Miles Mil.-i Doune 8 8 Inverouran, public-house 10 62 Callander . . 7} 15f King's House, tolerable . 9 70 Lochearnheac 13| 29| Ballachulish, tolerable 16 86 Lull) Inn . 10J 40 Fort- William 14 100 Crienlarich 7 47 Inverness ('see Nos. 6. and 7 Tyndrum . 5 52 I &c.)> hy Invermoriston 64 164 19. Stirling to Dunkeld, by Lochearnhead mid Loch Tay. Miles Miles Miles Miles Doune 8 8 Killin 7 36* Callander 7f 15| Kenmore 16 52} Callander to Loch Catrine, 9 Aberfeldy 6 58J miles. Grandtully Arms 7 65* Lochearnheac 13| 29$ Dunkeld 9 74* 20. Stirling to Perth, by Lochearnhead and Crieff. Miles Miles Miles Mile* Lochearnheac , (see No. 18) 29J 29J Stirling, 20* miles. St. Milan's . . . 7 36J New Inn 1\ 55} Comrie 42 Perth .... 10 65| Crieff 48* 21. Crieff to Inverness, by Dalnacardoch. Miles Miles Miles Miles Carmuclach, tolerable . 11 11 Cushiville, small inn 5 28 Amulree . - . 1J 11* Turnmel Bridge 7 35 Aberfeldy 10* 22 Dalnacardoch . 10 46 Weems 1 23 Inverness, (see No. 3) Tli 116i 22. Crieff to Inverness, by Tummel Bridge, Bridge of Garry, and Blair. Miles Miles I Miles Mile* Tummel Bridge (see No. 21). 35 35 Blair Athole ... 4 49 Bridge of Garry, no inn . 10 45 | Inverness (see No. 3) . 82 131 23. Inverness to Shielhouse, by Strathglass and Strath Affrick. Miles Miles Miles Miles Shielhouse, by the Beallach and Crowe of Kintail, good public- house .... 17 64 Shielhouse, by Glomak Fall, 3 or 4 miles more. N.B. Struy to Jeantown, by Glenstrathfarar, about 47 miles. Struy, by Glen Cannich, to Shielhouse, about 47 I the like distance. Bogroy, public-house Beauly Bridge . Beauly (inns), 1 mile. Crask of Aigas, public-house Struy Bridge, and small inn Invercannich, public-house Fasnakyle Bridge Loch Benneveian, no inn Annamulloch and Culivie, west end of Loch Affrick, Shepherd's Houses ... 10 7 7 4 11 5 18 1 22 n 29J 4 32 5 37 790 TABLE OP DISTANCES. 24. Inverness to Dunvegan, by Loch CaiTon. Miles Miles Miles Mile* Dingwall, by Kessock Ferry 13 13 Strathpeffer, Spa Hotel and another inn . .5 18 Applecross, 12 miles. Strome Ferry, public-house Dornie, 6 miles. 5 67* Contin, inn . 3 21 Kyle Akin Inn 12 79} Strathgarve . 5} 26} Broadford 8} 88 Auchnanault . . 11 37* Dunvegan (see No. 7) 47 135 Luib, public-house . 8 45} Struan .... 11 Craig, public-house . 8 53} Sligachan 13 Jeantown . . 9 62} Shieldaig on Loch Torridon, 14 miles. 24 25. Inverness to Lochbroom and UUapool. Miles Miles Miles Miles Strathgarve (see No. 24) . 26} 26* Ardcarnich, public-house 7 58} Glascarnock, public-house 12 38} Braemore, public-house . 13 51} UUapool, tolerable inn 5 63* 26. Inverness to Loch Maree, Poolewe, and Gairloch. Miles Miles Miles Miles Auchnanault, (see No. 24) 37} 37* Gairloch, tolerable inn 8 74* Auchnasheen, no inn . 5 42} Poolewe, tolerable inn 5 79} Kinloch-Ewe Inn . 12 54} Poolewe from Slatadale (road Torridon House, 12 miles, no inn. incomplete) 6 85} Slatadale, public-house 12 66} 27. Inverness to Thurso. Miles Mile, Miles Mile, Beauly . .12} 12} Clashmore 10} 70} Dingwall ... 9 21} Ditto, from Tain, by Meikle Dingwall, by Kessock Ferry, 13 miles, difference, 81 . Ferry, 9J miles, differ- ence 15. Evanton . . 6 27} Golspie, 4 miles past the Invergordon . 7 34} Tain . .11} 46J Mound, over Loch Fleet Port Gower 14 84} 14} 99} Bonar Bridge . 13} 60 Berridale 11} 111 From Dingwall, across the hill, to Stittenham Inn, 12} miles, Swiney Wick 12} 123* 15 138* Bonar Bridge 14 Thurso 20} 159} difference 12" 28. Inverness to Tongue, by Kessock and Meikle Ferries, and the Mound. The Mound, (see No. 27) Laire .... By Kessock, Stittenham, and Bonar Bridge 50}. Miles Miles 57 57 14 71 Miles Miles Aultnaharra, public-house 21 92 Tongue ... 18 110 By Kessock, Stittenham, and Bonar Bridge, 89$. TABLE OF DISTANCES. 791 29. Inverness to Tongue and Cape Wrath, by Bonar Bridge. Miles Miles Miles Miles Bonar Bridge, (see No. 25) 60 60 Do. by Kessock, and Stitten- Cape Wrath, no inn . 11 Do. by Kessock, and 154* ham, 39*.. Stittenham 134 Lairg, excellent inn . 11 71 or, Aultnaharra, excellent inn 21 92 Aultnaharra . . 92 92 Tongue, excellent inn . 18 110 Do. by Kessock and Ferry .... 2 112 Stittenham 71i Loch Erriboll at Huelim, public- Cashel Dim, public-house 13 105 house , . . 10 122 Eriboll, public-house 5 110 Ferry .... 2 Portchamel . . 8J 118*. Portchamel, no inn, round the Cape Wrath, no inn . 20J 139 head of Loch Eriboll 12 134 Do. by Kessock and Duirness Bay, good inn 7 141 Stittenham . 118* Ferry .... 2*. 143J 30. Bonar Bridge to Assynt, EddracMllis and Duirness. Miles Miles Miles Mile Shin Bridge, public-house 5 5 Oldiney (no inn) from Loch Cassley Bridge, do. . 8 13 Inver, 14. Oikel Bridge and small inn 7 20 Ullapool . . 20 Kyle Skou, public-house 12 Scourie, good inn . . 11 50 61 Aultnancealgach Burn, public- house ... 10 30 Laxford Bridge, public-house 6 Rhiconich Inn, small inn 6 67 73 Innisindamff, inn . 8 38 Duirness, good inn . 14 87 Loch Inver, 14, (52), excellent inn. 31. Tongue to Thurso. Miles Miles Bettyhill of Farr, good inn 12 12 Melvich Inn in Glen Hallow- Strathy Village and Inn, toler- able .... 8 20 dale, good ... 8 Reay Kirk, and Inn, tolerable 4 28 32 Thurso .... 12 44 32. Circuit of the Orkney Islands. Miles Miles Miles Miles Thurso to Stromness, about 24 24 Bridesness ... 3 102 Birsay .... 12 36 Start lighthouse, or Taftness, Erie .... 6 42 in Sanday ... 7 109 Rousay, tolerable inn . 2 44 Start to Kettletoft . . 7 116 Across Rousay, say . 3 47 Papa Sound in Stronsay (vil- Egilshay .... 2 49 lage) .... 7 123 Tuquoy in Westray . . 8 57 Lambhead ... 6 129 Pierowall Inn ... 4 61 Ghoe of Shapinshay . 7 136 Papa Westray . . 4 Elwick .... 6 143 Rapness .... 8 69 Carness, on Mainland . 2 145 Cuthesvoe in Eday 3 72 Kirkwall ... 3 148 Calf Sound, comfortable public- Stromness . . 12 house .... 2 74 Holm .... 7 155 Pool, or Hecklabor, in Sanday 3 77 Burray .... 2 157 Scar, or Savil ... 8 85 South Ronaldshay . . 1 158 Castlehill, comfortable inn 4 89 Burwick .... 8 166 North Ronaldshay 7 96 Houna .... 12 178 Remains of lighthouse . 3 99 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 33. The Long Island. Milei Stornoway to Ness, near the Butt, by Barvas Stornoway to CaUernish Inn . Garry nahuie, j unction with Uig Road, near Calleruish, to Uig Church . Stornoway to the Lews and Harris March The Harris Road, from the Lews March to Tarbert (where there is an inn), is nearly completed. There For the other islands, see p. 660. NOTE. There are inns affording good accommodation at all the preceding stations where no qualifying remark is made, unless in the Long Island and the Orkneys. By public-house is to be understood a small inn of moderate pretensions. is an old road from Tarbert to Ro- del. The whole distance from the Lews March to Rodel, is about . 32 Stornoway to Tolsta . . .12 Stornoway to Portnagowan in Eye peninsula 12 Callernish to Barvas . . .18 An inn at Dalbcg, about half-way between these places. II. DISTANCES IN THE LOWLANDS. RAILWAY LINES. 1. Carlisle to Edinburgh, 100 miles. Rockcliffe Gretna Kirkpatrick Kirtlebridge Ecclefechan Lockerbie Nethercleugh Wamphray Beattock Elvanfoot Abingtoo Miles 4 8 Lamingtou .... Symington . 13 Tliankerton . . . . 17 Carstairs . . . . 20 Carnwath .... 26 29 Auchengray . Harburu . . . . 34 Midcalder . 39 53 Slateford . . . . 58 Edinburgh . Milei 63 66 68 73 74 79 85 90 95 98 100 2. Carlisk to Glasgow, (via Caledonian Railway). Rockcliffe Gretna Junction Kirkpatrick Kirtlebridge Ecclefechan Lockerbie Netherclcugh Wamphray Beattock Elvanfoot Abington Lamington Symington Tliankerton Lanark Hardwood Carluke Overtoil Wisliaw Motherwell Holytowu Whftlliit Coatbridge Gartsherrie Gartcosh Garnkirk Steps Road Glasgow 81 85 86 -,!! 91 '.) M) 105 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 793 3. Carlisle to Greenhitt Junction. Miles Milcx Motherwell 89 Cumbernauld 101 Gansherrie 96 Greenhill Junction . 106J 4. Berwick to Edinburgh. Ayton 1 Drem .... 40 Reston 11 Longniddry 44 Grant's House 16 Tranent .... 48 Cockburnspath Dunbar 21 29 Inveresk .... Portobello 51 55 Linton 34 Edinburgh 58 5. Edinburgh to Hawick. Portobello 3 Stow .... 27 Niddry 5 Bowland Bridge 29 Gallowshall or Eskbank 8 Galashiels 34 T)allimmip 9 37 Gorebridge 12 St. Boswell's 41 Tvnehead 16 New Belses 16 iferiot 19 Hawick 53 Fountainhall . 23 6. Edinburgh to Glasgow. Corstorphine Gogar 4 6 Falkirk .... Scottish Central Junction 26 30 Ratho 8 Castlecary 32 AVinchburgh 12 Croy .... 36 Linlithgow . 18 Campsie Junction 41 Pohnont 23 Glasgow 48 7. Glasgow to Ardrossan and Ayr. Paisley 7 Kilraarnock branch 10i Johnstone 10 tfilwinning 26 Cochrane Mill 11 Ardrossan 5$ 31J Lochwinnoch 15 Irvine 29 Beith .... 17 Troon (Fleetwood) 34 Kilbimie . 19 Monkton .... 36 Dairy .... 23 Ayr 40 8. Glasgow to Greenock. Paisley 7 Port-Glasgow 20 Bishopton 13 Greenock .... 23 9. GreenhUl Junction to Perth, Forfar, and Aberdeen. Larbert Stirling 4 12 Luncarty .... DunkeldRoad . 49 50 Bridge of Allan Greenloaning . . 15 23 Stanley .... Cargill .... 51 56 Auchterarder 31 Woodside .... 58 PEBTH . 45 COIIPAR-ANOIIS . 61 2 M 794 TABLE OF DISTANCES. Greenhill Junction to Perth, Forfar, and Aberdeen Continued. Miles Mile!) Ardler 63 Dubton . 961 Meigle 66 Montrose 991 Eassie 69 Man-kirk . 100J Glammis 72 Laurencekirk 104f FORPAE 78 Fordoun . 1081 Clocksbriggs 80J Drumlithie 112J Auldbar . 831 Stonehaven 1191 Guthrie Junction 861 Muchalls . 123J Farnell Koad . 90J Portlethen 127J Bridge of Dunn 93| Cove. . . 130f Brechin . . 971 ABERDEEN 135 10. Edinburgh to Dundee and Coupar- Angus. Granton Ferry . 3 Burntisland . . 8 Cupar-Fife . . .33 Dairsie . .36 Kinghorn . . 11 Leuchars . . .39 Kirkcaldy . . 14 St. Andrews . 7 Dysart ... 16 Thornton Junction 19 Markineh ... 21 Ferry-Port-on-Craig . 44 Broughty Ferry . .45 Dundee, east station . 47 Falkland Road . . 24 Newtyle . .58 Ladvbank Junction . 27 Sprmcrfield 29 Ardler ... .63 11. Edinburgh to Perth, by Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. Burntisland 8 Newburgh 31 Kirkcaldy 15 Abernethy Ladybank Junction ... 27 Bridge of Earn .... Colessie 30 PBRTH 45 12. Perth to Dundee, Arbroath, FriocMeim Junction, and Aberdeen. Kinfauns . 3 Monifieth . .27 Glencarse . 6 Carnonstie Errol . . 10 Easthaven Inchture . 12 Arbroath Longforgan . 14 Friockheim Junction . 44 Invergowrie 17 Farnellroad . .481 Dundee, west station 21 Aberdeen (see No. 9) . . 92| Broughty Ferry . 25 13. Edinburyh to the Tweed, the Border, Ettrick Forest, and Clydesdale. Edinburgh by rail to Melrose, (See No. 6) 37 Selkirk 94 Moffat by Ettrick ... 130 St. Boswells Newton . . 41 Birkhill 141 Kelso . . ... 51 Gordon Arms Inn ... 151 Coldstream . . 9 Selkirk 164 Berwick . 14 Peebles 185 Hawick . ... 71 Do. without the round by Ettrick, Langholm . . 23 Moffat, and Yarrow . 146 Longtown . 9 Biggar 200 Jedburgh, about two miles off Hawick road ... 73 Lanark 221 Hamilton .... 226J Melrose 87 Glasgow .... 237 INDEX. Abbotsford, 762. Aberarder, 314. Aberbrpthwick, Abbey of, 782. Abercairney, 256. Aberdeen, 320-325. Aberdeen, Itin. 320. Aberdeen to Banff, by Old Meldrum mid- road, 333. Aberfeldy, 272. Aberfeldy to Dunkeld, 273 Aberfoil, Pass and Clachan of, 174. Aberfeldy, Birks of, 282. Abenachan, 152. Aberlour, 301. Abernethy Round Tower, 778. Aberuchil Castle, 259. Achany, 484. Achall, Loch, 513. Acharn, Falls of, 264. Achnacarry, 120-180. Aclinacraig to Tobermory, 610. Achray, Loch, 167. Achrisgill River, 532. Ackergill Castle, 420. Affrick, Glen and Loch, 439. Affrick Loch, to, and Strathglass, footnote 199. Aigas, Island of, 427. Ailsa Rock, 546-554. Aird, Castle of, 569. Aird, the, 381. Alexander II.'s expedition and death, 77, 590. Allan, Bridge of, 780. AUangrange, 442. Allness, 393. Alloa, Towers, 780. Alloway Kirk, 772. Almond Glen, 257- Almond, Viaduct over, 769. Alt-a-Mhairlich, conflict of, 420. Altdrui Glen, 288. Altrive, 764. Altyre, 312. Altyre, family records of, 312. Alva, Glen, 779. Alvie, Tor, 242. Alvie, Loch, 242. Amulree and Aberfeldy, route to, 256. Ancrum House, 760. Ancrum Moor, Battle of, 760. Andrews, St., 777. Andrews, St., Cathedral, 778. Anecdote as to the state of the country in 1745, 431. Annamulloch, 438. Annan, the, 775. Appin, 111, 556. Applecross, 481. Approaches to the Highlands, 359. Approach to Inverness, 248. Aray, Glen, 108. Arbiglaud, 773. Arbroath, 782. Ardchattan Priory, 93, 557. Ard, Loch, 173. Ardmeanach, 384-441. Ardmore, 585. Ardnamurchan, 607. Ardoch, Roman camps at, 253. Ardoch to Crieff, 255. Ardross, 393-400. Ardrossan, 770. Ardtornish Castle, 612. Ardvrock Castle, 517. Argyle's expedition in 1685, 73. Ansaig, 178- Arkaig, Kinloch, barracks, 181. Arkaig, Loch, 181. Arkaig, Valley of, 180. Arkle, 531. Armadale Castle, 618. Armada, tradition respecting the ship Florida, one of the Spanish, 608. Arniston, 756. Arcs Castle, 610. Arran, 546. Arran, attractions of, 553. Arran, the Cock of, 550. Arran, west coast of, 550. Ashdale Glen, 553. Ashiestiel, 765. Askaig, Port, 572. Askaig, Port, to Brid<*end, 581. Assembly, educational scheme of General, 34. ' Assynt, clearness of water in, 515. Assynt, Glen of, 515. 796 INDEX. Assynt, Loch, 516-519. Assynt, Loch, to Kyle Skou, 524. Athole, 232. Athole House, 233. Auchindown Castle, 111, 614. Auchmore Spring, 518. Auchnasheen, 466. Auchtergaven, 226. Auchterneed, enlistment at, 458. Augustus, Fort, 125. Auldearn, 356. Auldearn, battle of, 357. Auldearn burying ground, 357. Aultghuis, 150. Aultgraat, 396. Aultnaharrow, 491. Aultsigh, 148. Avean, Loch, 277- Aviemore, 243. Avoch, 444. Avon, Glen, 284. Avon, Loch, 277, 287. Awe, Loch, 90, 109, 515. Awe, Pass of, 92. Aylort, Kinloch, 177. Ayr, 770. Ayr, Burns' monument and birthplace, &c., 770. Ayrshire coast, 70, 770, 772. B Badcaul, 527. Badenoch, history of ancient Lordship, 239. Balblair, Puke of Cumberland's encampt. at, 359. Balblair peat mosses, 359. Balcarry Point, 773. Balcony, 391. Ballachernoch road, 316. Ballachulish, 102. Ballater, 282. Ballindalloch House, 300. Balmacaau, 151. Balmoral, 281. Balnakiel House, 504. Balnagown Castle, 395. Banditti, 2-15. Banff, 329. Bannavie, 117. Bannockburn, Field of, 159. Barony, powers of, 240. Bass Hock, the, 776. Battle, clan, at Clachnaharry, 381. Beallach, 480. Beaufort, 429. Beauly, Loch or Firth of, 384. Beauly, Valley of the, 385. Beauly by Strathglass to Kiutail, 424. Beauly Ferries, 430. Beauly, village and priory, 386. Belladrum, 429. Belleville House, 241. Ben Ledi, 164. Ben Cruachan, 90. Benger, Mount, 763. Ben-na-Main, 289. Benneveian, Loch, 437. Ben Muick Dhui, 290. Ben Nevis, 112. Ben-y-Gloe, 233. Bercaldine Castle, 93, 557- Berigonium, 96, 557 BeiTidale, 414. Berwick, footnote, 759, 775. Berwick, general features of country, 775. Berwick to Edinburgh, 775. Berwick, North, 776. Biggar, 765. Birkhfll, 762. Birnam Hill, 226. Birsay Palace, 710. Bishops, violent death of two, 536. Bissets, 429. Black Isle, the, 440. Black Mount, 97. Black Bocks, the, of Strathconon, 462. Blackhouse Tower, 764. Blairgowrie to Dunkeld, 782. Blar-na-Parc, battle of, 459. Blasted Heath, Shakespeare's, 356. Blath Bhein, 640. Boarlan, Loch, 514. Boleskine, 127. Bona, and Roman station, 131. Bonar Bridge to Tongue, 482. Bonar Bridge, 401. Bonjedward, 760. Border Country, the, 756. Borlum, Mackintosh of, 245. Borradale, 177. Boswells, St., 758. Borthwick Castle, 756. Bnthwell Bridge iind Castle, 768. Bothwell Bridge, battle of, 768. Bowhill, Sweet, 764. Bowmore, 583. Boyne Castle, 333. Braal Castle, 416. Braan, hermitage on the, 228. Bracadale, 630. Braemar, Castletown, and Castle of 279- 280. Braemar to Aberdeen, 282. Braeriach, 289. Brahan, 388. Branxholm, 761. Brechin, 782. Brechin church and round tower, 782. Bressay Sound, 741. Bridgcnd, 757. Broadford, 619. Broadford to Brochel Castle in Rasay, 647. Broadford, to Sconser and Portree, 620. Brochel Castle, 648. Brochel Castle, tradition respecting it, 649. Brodick, village and castle, 547. Brodick to Loch Ransa, 550. INDEX. 797 Brodie, 355. Broom, Loch, 468, 472. Brora, and minerals, 412. Brora, coalfield, Strath, and Loch of, 512. Bruar, Falls of, 232. Bruce's Encounters, 89, 639. Buchan, Bullers of, 326. Buchan, Route through, to Peterhead and Banff, 325. Bunaw ferry and furnace, 92. Bunchrew, 384. Burgh-head, 346. Burgh, Barons of, 740. Burns, birthplace, 771. Burns, Land of, 771. Burns' Mausoleum at Dumfries, 775. Burns, monument to, at Boon, 771. Bute, Kyles of, 73. Bute, Island of, 72. Cadzow Castle, 767. Caerlaverock Castle, 774. Cairnbulg Castle, 327. Cairngorm, 287. Cairngorm, botany of, 287. Cairngorm, rock crystals, and geological character of, 287-293. Cairntoul, 289. Caithness, general features of, 415. Caithness, history of, 419. Caithness improvements, 415. Caithness, Ord of, 414. Calder Water, south, 768. Calders of Cawdor, history of, 375. Caldron Linn, 779. Caledonian Canal and its history, 132. Callander, 166. Calrossie, 396. Camusinduiu Bay, 500. Campbell, Castle, 779. Campbelltown, 567- Campbelltown (Inverness-shire), 359. Camusunary, 640. Canobie, 761. Cantray, 373. Cantyre, Mull of, 554, 563-8. Cantyre, religious edifices, 564. Carberry Hill, conference of, 775. Carnwath, 765. Carr, Inn and Bridge of, 244. Carrick Castle, 107. Carrick, the shore, 772. Carron, Loch, 466. Carron Iron Works, 769. Carterhaugh, 764. Cartland Crags, 766. Caschrome, the, 643. Cassley, river and waterfall, 510. Castle Douglas, 773. Castle-na-Coir, 510. Catrine, Loch, 170. Catrine, Loch, route from to Loch Lomond, 172. 2 Catti, the, 409. Cattle, black, 13. Cattle lifting incident, 305. Caussie, cliffs and caves of, 351. Cawdor Castle, 373. Cawdor, scenery and oak-wood at, 378. Cawdor, skirmish for heiress of, 376. Cawdor, thaneage of, 375. Cawdor, traditionary anecdote, 377. Chapelhope, 763. Charles, mementos of Prince, 180. Charles', Prince, Monument, 177. Charles', Prince, wanderings, 181, 633, 663. Charles', Prince, cave, 623. Charles', Prince, erection of standard, 177 Charles', Prince, landing place of, 178. Charlotte, Fort, 738. Cheviot Hills, the, 761. Chisholm, The, 428. Chisholm's Pass, 437. Chisholm, Clan, 428. Chou, Loch, 173. Chromate of iron in Unst, 741. Church, dissensions in, 28. Churches, parliamentary or government, 27. Cillie-christ, Raid of, 149. Clach Chonabhachan, 269. Clach Sgoilte, 303. Clachnaharry, 381. Clachnaharry, geological note, 382. Clackmannan Tower, 780. Clans, strength and distribution of the, 8. Clans, political relations of the, 10. Clashmore, 402. Clava, ancient stone monuments at, 369. Clett, the, 423. Clibrick, Ben, 491. Cliff Hills in Zetland, 735. Cluany, Loch, 193. Cluany Inn, 193. Chmie Hills, 354. Cluny, anecdote of Macpherson of, 186. Clyde, Firth and River, 66-68. Clyde, Falls of, 766. Coaches, public, 48. Coal-fish, 725. Coignafearn, 303. Cobbler, the, 86. Cole's Castle, 414. Coldingham Priory, 776. Colonsay, 570-587. Columba's, St., tomb, 600. Colvend, 773. Colzean Castle, 773. I Comrie, 258, 461. Comrie Castle, 268. Comrie, Melville's monument at, 258. Comrie to Loch Earn, 259. Connel Ferry, 94. Connel Ferry to Loch Fyne and Loch- Gilphead, 558. Conon, Strath, 462. Conon, Falls of the, 462. Conon House, 389. M 2 798 INDEX. Contin, 460. Corgarff Castle, 283. Corpach, monument at, 118. Corrie an Lachan, 551. Corriemulzie and Quoich, Falls of, 279. Corryarick road, 182. Corryvreckan whirlpool, 76, 585. Coruishk Loch, 639. Coulbeg, 522. Coubin, sands of, 353. Coul, 460, 525. Conl Glen, 525. Conlmore, 522. Covenanters, the, 763. Cowdaily Castle, 766. Cowdenknowes, the, 758. Craggy and Slam Lochs, 497. Craggy Loch, 514. Craigelachie, 243. Craigelachie Bridge, 301. Craighall, 782. ' Craignethan Castle, 767. Craignish, Isles and Loch, 76. Crask, the, 486. Creich, 401. Creran, Loch, 93, 557. Crieff, 249. Crieff to Comrie, 257. Crieff to Lochearnhead, 257. Crieff to Strath Tay, 256. Crichton Castle, 757. Criffet, 773. Crinan Canal, 66, 75. Croe, Glen, 104. Croft system, 468. Cromarty, trade of, 449. Cromarty, 448. Cromarty, traditions of, 450. Cromdale, battle of, 297. Crookston Castle, 770. Cuchullins, the, 641. Cullachy, 304. Cullen and Cullen House, 332. CuUoden House, 361. Culloden moor and battle, 365. CuhVie and Annamulloch, 438. Cumberland, disgraceful conduct of Duke of, 369. Cuming, clan, 241. Cumings, castle of the, 241, 295. Cunaig, 519, 525. Cushiville, 269. D Dalchonzie, 259. Dalcross Castle, 360, 371. Dalgetty Castle, 335. Dalhousie, 766. Dalkeith, 756. Dalnacardoch, 234, 271. Dalnacardoch, Cairns, &c., 234. Dalmally, 90. Dalmigivie, Dell of, 304. Dalnispidal, 234. Dalniapidal, military operations at, 234. Dalvey, 355. Dalwhinnie, inn of, 236. Damph Loch, 518. Dark Mile, the, 180. Darnwick, 757. Darnwick, skirmish between Buccleuch and Angus, 757. Daviot House, 247. Dearn, Strath, upper part of, 302. Dee, Linn of, 278, 291. Dee, Strath, 277. Dee, sources of the, 289. Dee Strath to Aberdeen, footnote, 282. Deer Herds, 181, 233, 530. Denholm, 760. Devil's Cauldron, 258. Devil's Mill, 779. Devon, scenery of the, 779. Dim, Craig, 238. Dhu Glen, 525. Dingwall, 389. Dippin Rocks, the, 553. Dine, Strath, and Dirie More, 467. Distances, Table of, 785. Divie, the, 309. Doehart, Glen, 166. Dochart Glen, Robert Brace's encounter in, 88. Dochfour, Loch, 131. Doclifour to Inverness, 132. Dollar, 779. Don, the, 336. Don, Strath, 283. Donn, Rob, the poet, 492. Donn, Rob, the poet, his grave, 505. Dores, 155. Dornie, village of, 196. Dornoch, 402, 545. Dornoch Palace and Cathedral. 403. Doune Castle, 162. Dress, 19, 644. Drhuim, the, 427. Druidical Circles, 362. Drumclog, 767. Drumdernt, 443. Drumfin, 609. Drumodhnin, obelisks, circles, and caves, 551. Drummclzier, 766. Drummond Castle, 251. Drummond Hill, 264. Dramnadrochet inn, 152. Drumouchter, Pass of, 234. Dryburgb, 758. Dryhope Tower, 764. Duart Castle, 613. Duff House, 329. Duich, Loch, 195. Duirness, 504, 533. Dulnain, Pine Forests, 244. Dulsie, 308. Dumbarton, 81. Dumbarton Castle, 68. Dumbarton Castle, its seizure by Craw- ford of Jordanhill, 68. IXDEX. 799 Dumfries, 773. Dumfriesshire, 775. Dunaverty Castle, and massacre, 568. Dunbar and Castle, 775. Dunbeath, 415. Dunblane, 780. Dunblane Cathedral, 780. Dunblane, Archbishop Leighton's Walk! and Library, 780. Duncansbay, 420. Dun Creich, 401. Dundarduil, 316. Dundonald, 469. Dun Dornadilla, 496. Dundrennan Abbey, 773. Dunedera Castle, 105. Dunes or Burghs, 201, 531, 624, 735. Dunfermline, 780. Dunfennline, Abbey Church, 780. Dunfermline, Malcolm's Tower, 780. Dunfermline Palace, 780. Dunglaas Viaduct, 776. Dunira, 259. Dunkeld, 226. Dunkeld, Bishoprick of, 228. Dunkeld, Cathedral, 227. Dunkeld, grounds of, 228. Dunkeld, King's Pass, and Upper Valley of the Tay, 229. Dun Mac Snichan, 96. Dunnet Head, 423. Dunolly Castle, 77. Dunnottar Castle, 782. Dunoon Castle, 70. Dunphail, 310. Dunriachy, 316. Dunrohin, 409, 536. Dunstaffnage Castle, 94. Chapel, 95. Duntulm Castle, 631. Dunvegan, Antique Keh'cs at, 626. Dunvegan Castle, 625. Dunvegau to Sligaehan, 629. Dupplin Castle, 781. Duthil, 294. Dwarfie Stone, the, 708. E Earn, Tmdge of, 778. Earn, Loch, 260. Earn, Strath, 219. Echiltie, Tor, and Loch, 461 . Eck Loch, 108. Eddrachiilis, 526. Edinample, Castle and Falls of, 261. Ednam, 759. Education and religious instruction, history of, 30. Education and religion, present state of, 35. Educational scheme, General Assem- bly's, 34. Eglinton Castle, 770. Eig, Island of, 617- Eig, Scuir of, 617. Eil, Loch, 176. Eilan, Loch-an, 288. Eilan, Loch-an, Castle, 288. Eilanmore, 561. Elachie Craig, 243. Elachie Craig Bridge, 301. Elderslie, 770. Elgin, 339. Elgin cathedral, 341. Elgin cathedral, its history, 342. Elgin church, 340. Elgin, history of, 343. Elginshire, freestones in, 351. Elibank Tower, 765. Ellandonan Castle, 196. Ellinor, Port, 585. Enick Glen, 512. Episcopacy in Scotland, 28. Erchless, 428. Ercildoun, 758. Eriboll, Loch, 500. Errick, Strath, 153, 315. Errocht Loch, 236. Ericht River, 782. Esk, the, 756. Eskadale, 428. Esses, the, 311. Essiemore, Falls of, 553. Etive, Loch, 93. Ettrick churchyard and village, 763. Ettrick Forest and Clydesdale, outline of routes to, 762. Evantown, 390. Excursions, interesting walking, 176, 303. Exmouth, "Wreck of, 583. Expense of travelling, 61. Ewe, Kinloch, 473. Ewe, loch and river, 478. Fair Isle, 723. Falkirk, 769. Falkirk, battles of, 769. Falkland Palace, 777- Falloch, Glen, 85. Fannich, Loch, 468. Farness, 309. Farout Head, 504. Farquharsons, 280. Farquharsons, children of the trough, 280. Farr, 314. Farr, Bettyhill of, 534. Farr Church, 534. Farraline, Loch, 315. Farrar, Glen Strath, 434. Fascally House, 230. Fasnakyle, 431. Fassifem, 176. Fast Castle, 776. Fearn, Abbey of, 400. Feideland, 746. Vender, Falls of, 233. 800 INDEX. Fentons, 429. Fernehurst, 760. Fern Tower house, 252. Ferrindonald, 392. Ferrintosh, 442. Fetlar, 741. Fillan's, St., 259. Fillan's, Pool of St., 89. Findhorn great flood of 1829, 313. Findhorn Findhorn Findhorn Findhorn Findhorn Findhorn rapidity of, 304. river, 246. river, sources of the, 302. river, floods of the, 312. seaport of, 353. village, 353. Finlarig Castle, 202. Finlarig Castle, skirmish near, 262. Finlas, Glen, 172. Fish, 14, 16. Fisheries, British, 14, 541. Fishery, herring and salmon, 16, 5H. Fitfiel Head, 723. Fleet, Loch, Mound at, 406. Flenrs Castle, 759. Flodden, 759. Floods of 1829, 312 ; 1849, 208-209. Florida, The Ship, 608. Flowerdale, 477- Fochabers, 338. Foinne Bhein, 531. Forest of Ballochbuie, 280. Forres, 353. Forss, 535. Forteviot, 781. Forth, River, 157. Forth, Valley of the, 161, 779. Fortingal, 267. Fortingal, remarkable yew true at, 267- Fortrose, 444. Foudland Hills, 336. Foula, 748. Fowling on Handa, 529. Fowhng on St. Kilda, 668. Foyers, Falls of, 127. Fraoch, Eilan, 91. Fraserburgh, 328. Fraser Castle, 337- Freeburn, 246. Fruin, Glen, battle of, 86. Fyne, Loch, 104. Fyne, Loch, herring, 74, 106. Fyvie Castle, 334. Gaelic literature, 38. Gaelic poetry, 493. Gaelic School Society, 33. Gaick, Pass of, 291. Gaick, Pass, catastrophe there in 1799, 292, Gairloch, 177. Gala Water, : Galashiels, 757. Galloway, coasts of, and Dumfries, 773. Galloway. New, 773. Game, 17. Ganirie, minerals and fossil fish of, 331. Garachary, the, 289. Gareloch, the, 106. Garrawalt, the, 281. Garry, river and loch, 189. Garth Castle, 269. Gartney, Strath, to Locheamhead, 172. Garve, Strath and Loch, 465. Gems, Scottish, 293. Geological sketch of Highlands, 4. Geology of Ben Nevis, 114. Geology of the Grampians and Cairn- gorm, 293. Geology of Ben Wyvis, 459. Geology of Brora, 412. Geology of Loch Broom, 472. Geology of Loch Maree, 474, 476. Geology of coasts of Moray Firth, 344, 32 Geology of Portsoy and Banffshire, 331. Geology of the Black Isle and Cro- marty, 453. Geology of Arran, 546. George, Fort, 359. George, old Fort, at Inverness, 216. Geusachan, 431. Geyzen Briggs, 402. Glilvach, Falls of, 152. Gilnockie Tower, 761. Gilphead, Loch, to Tarbet, 559. Girnigo Castle, 419. Glammis Castle, 781. Glascaniock, 467- Glasgow to Oban, by Loch Lomond, SO. Do. to Fort- William, by Loch Lomond, 97. Do. to Oban, by Inverary, 103. Glass, Falls of the, 437. Glass, Loch, 394. Glass, Strath, 430. Glenalmond, 225. Glen Cannich, 436. Glencoe, 97. Glencoe, Massacre of, 99. Glencominth, 429. Glen Dearg, 277- Glenelg, 200. Glenelg, dunes or burghs in, 201. Glenfernisdale, 237. Glen Feshie, 291. Glenfinnan, Prince Charles's monu- ment, 177. Glen Fruin, battle of, 86. Glcngairn, 283. Glengarry, 189 Glengarry, the late, 122. Glemffer, braes of, 770. Glen Lui-beg, 291. Glenmore, 286, 299. Glenmore forest, 286. Glenmore-nan-Albin, the Great Glen of Scotland, 132, 147. (ili -M Moriston, 147. Glen Roy, Parallel Roads of. isi; Glen Shiel, 194. INDEX. 801 Glen Shiel, battle of, 194. Glen Shiel, subterranean structure in, 194. Glen Shirra, 185. Glenstrathfarar, 434 Glen Urquhart, 151. Glomak, Falls of, 197, 439. Goatfell, 548. Goil, Loch, 107. Goldielands Tower, 761. Golspie, 409. Gordon Castle, 338. Gordonstown, 351. Gower, Port, 414. Gowrie, Carse of, 224, 780. Grahams, 429. Grampians, the, 242. Grampians, grandeur of, 284. Grampians, geology and plants of, 243, 287; 293. Grampians, Routes across to Braemar and Athole, 284. Grampians, passage through by Drum- ochter, 234. Grandtully Castle, 274. Grange House, 777. Grange, Lady, 629. Grant Castle, 297. Grant Castle, view from tower, 297. Grantown, 296. Grantown, Orphan Asylum at, 296. Great Glen, adaptation of, for a canal, 133. I)o. for roads along, 147. Great glen, general character of, 118. Greenoek, 69. Greenhill Junction, 769. Gregor, Clan, 86. Gregor, historical notice of the clan, 86. Gremord, Loch, 473. Gretna Green, 761, 777. Grey Mare's Tail, the, 762. Gruinart, Loch, 583. Gualin, the, 533. Gun, clan, 419. Gunn, the freebooter, 245. H Haco's Invasion, 591. Haddington, 776. Haddington Abbey, 776. Haddo House, 334. Haaf, deep-sea fishing of the, 745. Halidon Hill, 759. Hallowdale, Glen, 535. Hamilton Palace, 767. Hamilton to Glasgow, 768. Handa, 527. Harden Castle, 761. Harold Harfager, 689, 727. Hartie Corrie, Pass of, 642. Hawick, 761. Hawick and Melrose, 761. Hawthornden and Roslin, footnote, 756. Heads, Well of the, 124. Hebredian Castles, Gil. Hee Ben, 486. Helmsdale, 414. Henderland Tower, 763. Hermitage Castle, 761. Heronry on the Findhorn, 311. Herring, cod, and ling fisheries, 541. Herring fishery, 16, 417. Highbridge, slcirmish at, in 1745, 119. Highland counties, valued rent of, 6. Higlilanders, characteristics of the an- cient, 6. Highlanders, their political relations, 10. Highland music, 39. Highland population, general character of, 5, 40. Highlands, ancient encampments, 360. Highlands, approach to, 359. Higlilands, causes of change and career of improvement in the, 11, 646. Highlands, commercial resources of, 12. Higlilands, ecclesiastical history of the, 20. Highlands, ecclesiastical statistics of, 28. Highlands, general features and early history of the, 1. Highlands, geological sketch of, 4. Highlands, history and state of educa- tion and religious instruction, &c., 31 . Hogg, James, birthplace, 763. Hogg, residences, 764. Holborn Head, 423. Holme, 373. Holy Island, 549. Holy Loch, 107. Holywell Haugh, 759. Home Castle, 759. Hope, Ben, 492, 499. Hope, Loch, 499. Horsburgh Castle, 764. Horses, 13. Houna Inn, 420. Houna to Thurso, 422. Hourn, Loch, 190. Hourn, Loch, head, to Shielhouse, 190. Hoy, botany of, 707. Hoy, excursion to, 705. Hoy, Island of, 705. Hoy, Old Man of, 706. Hoy, Wardhill of, 707- Humrnir House of, 629. Huntly, 337. Huntly to Inverness, 336. Hut, General's, the, 154. Inchard, Loch and river, 532. Inchmahome Priory, ruins of, 175. Inchok, 356. Innisindarnff, 516. Innis Kenneth, 602. Inns, Highland, 53. Inns, Highland, Sutherliiudshire, 488. Insh, Loch, 240. Inver, Loch, 519. Inverallochy Castle, 327. 802 IXDEX. luverary, 106. Inverary by the Garcloch, Loch Goyle, and Loch Eck, 106. Inverary Castle, 105. Invercannich, 431. Invercauld Brrlge, view from, 280. Inverdruie, 286. Inverfarikaig, Pass of, 129, 155, 315. Invergarry Castle, 123. Invergordon, 394. Invergordon Castle, 394. tnverleithen, 764. Inverlochy, battles at, 115, 117- Inverlochy Castle, 115. Invermoriaton house and waterfall, 127. Invermoriston to Drmunadroc.het, 148. Invennoriston to Kyle Rliea and Kyle Akin, 192. Invernahavon, battle of, 238. Inverness Academy, 212. Inverness, ancient commerce, 217. Inverness, ancient politics, manners, 219. Invernesss and northern counties, ap- proach to along Moray Firth, 318. Inverness, antiquity of, 214. Inverness, beauty of scenery about, 206. Inverness by Culloden, &c., to Findhorn, 363. Inverness, character of the surrounding country, 206. Inverness churches, 212. Inverness coaches and steamers, 202. Inverness country seats, 214. Inverness, Cromwell's Fort at, 218. Inverness, expense of housekeeping, 204. Inverness, form of architecture in, 219. Inverness, improvements, 211. Inverness infirmary, 213. Inverness inns, 202. Inverness jail, 209. Inverness, King Duncan, murder of, 214. Inverness magistracy, 219. Inverness manufactures, 210, 211. Inverness, objects and scenes about, 205. Inverness, Old Fort George, 216. Inverness, origin of the name, 207. Inverness population, 210. Inverness, public charities, 213. Inverness, royal visits, 217. Inverness schools, 213. Inverness, situation of, 208. Inverness stone bridge, 208. Inverness streets, 2U9. Inverness, spirit of improvement, 220. Inverness, splendid view, 362. Inverness, the burgh charters of, 216. Inverness, the castles of, 214. Inverness, the castles of, heritable keeper of, 215. Inverness, the castles of, history of, 215. Inverness, the early disturbed state of, 217- Inverness to John o' Groat's, 380. Inverness town-house, 210. Inverness, trade, 210. Inverness, visits of Queen Mary to, 217. Inverness walks, 213. Inversnaid, 85, 172. Inverury, 336. lona, 592. lona cathedral, 597- lona, Dr. Johnson, 592. Irvine, 770. Island, More, 561. Islay antiquities, 578. Islay castles and forts, 578. Islay chapels and crosses, 580. Islay dunes or burghs, 579. Islay, general description of, 573. Islay hiding-places, 579. Islay House, 581. Islay, inhabitants of, their circumstances and character, 574. Islay lead mines, 574. Islay, Macdonalds of, 577. Islay, M'Donald's guard and destruction of, 578. Islay monumental stones and cairns, 580. Islay, productions, fertility, cattle, fish. &c., 573. Islay relics, 580. Islay, Sound of, 572. Islay tombstones, 580. Islay, tynewald, 580. Islay, villages and coasts, 575. Isles, Lords of the, 575, 590. Isles. Lords of the, historical sketch of, 576. Islesmen, dress and manners of, 644. James V., anecdote of expedition Borders, 567. Jeantown, 466. Jedbnrgh Abbey, 760. Jed, Vale of the, 760. Jedburgh to Hawick, 760. Jock o' the Stile's Castle, 761. John d'lle's treaty, 612. John-o'-Groat's BOOM, 420. John, Mead of St., 312. Jura, 570, 585. Jura to Lochgilphead, 560. Kame, echo at the Meadow of the, in Hoy, 706. Keiss Castle, 419. Keith, 337. Keiths, 419. Kelp, 14, 643. Kelp, process of making, 642. Kelso and abbey, "">!>. Kelso to Berwick, 759. Kelso to Jedburgh, 759. Krmnny, :7. Ken Loch, 773. Kenmore, 2G4. Kennedy s, 122. INDEX. 803 Keppoch, Macdonalds of, 183. Ken-era Island, 77, 590. Kerrisdale, 477. Ken-ngarbh, 532. Kessock Terry, 440. Kessock, Ord of, 443. Kilbirnie Locli, 769. Kilcalmkill in Sutherland, 413. Kilchurn Castle, 91. Kilcoy Castle, 442. Kilda, St., inhabitants, 667- Kilda, St., fowling, 669. Kilda, St., 666. KOdonan Castle, 553. Kildnimmie, 336. Kilkerran Cemetery and Castle, 567. Killiecrankie, Pass and Battle of, 230. Killin, 262. Killin, Vale of, 153. Kilmarnock, 770. Kilmorack, Falls of, 426. Kilmorack old church and manse, 426. Kilmoraek, singular mode of ftshing at, 426 Kilrnun, 108. Kilravock Castle, 372. Kiltarlity, 428. Kilwinmng, 770. Kippenrpss, sycamore tree, 780. Kincardine Moss, 161. Kinglass, Glen, 104. Kingussie, village of, 239. Kinloch, Aylort, 177. Kinloch Bervie, 532. Kinloch, Eannoch, 270. Kinlochmore, Falls of, 102. Kinloss Abbey, 352. Kinnaird's Head, 328. Kinrara, 242. Kinrara, scenery of, 243. Kintail, crowe of, 439. Kintyre, general character of, 559. Kintyre, Mull of, 568. Kirkcaldy, 777. Kirkhill, 385. Kirkhill burving-place, 385. KirkiboU village, 498. Kirkwall, 693. Kirkwall Cathedral, 694. Kirkwall, Earls' and Bishops' Palaces, 696. Kishorn Loch, 479. Knapdale, 554-559. Knockfarrel, 458. Kuockfin, 437. Kyle Akin, 619. Kyle Rhea, 619. Kyle Skou, 523-4. Ladykirk Ford, 759. Lady Rock, 613. Laggan, promontory and bay of, 584. Laggan, Loch, 122-184. Laggavoulin, 585. Lamlash Bay, 549. Lanark, 7C6. Lanark to Hamilton, 767. Langside, battle of, 768. Langholm, 761. Language, 19. Largs, battle of, 71- Lasswade, 756. Latheron, 415. Launa, Locli, of Ossian, 559. Lawers, 258. Lawers, Ben, 261. Laxford, 531. Ledbeg, 515. Ledmore, 515. Ledi, Ben, 164. Leni, Pass of, 164. Leod Castle, 457. Lerwick, 737. Letterfinlay, 121. Leven, Loch, 101. Leven, Valley of the, 81. Lews, 650, 664. Lews, cave in, 656. Liddesdale, 761. Lincluden Abbey, 774. Lindores Abbey, 769. Ling fishery, 541, 744. Linnhe, Loch, 110. Linlithgow Palace and Church, 769. Lismore, Island of, 111, 613. Literature, Gaelic, 38. Littledean Tower, 758. Livelihood, sources of, 18. Lobster fishery, 684. Loch Aber, 114. Loch Affrick, 438. Loch Alsh, 197. Loch Benneveian, 437. Lochindorbh, Castle of, 295. Lochindorbh Castle, siege of, 295. Lochan-an-Corp, 164. Loch-an-Eilan, 288. Loch Eil, 176. Lochy, Falls of the, 263. Loch Fleet and Mound, 406. Lochgilphead, 559. Lochan, Glen, 104. Loch Goil, 107. Loch Laggan, 184. Loch Laggau road, 182. Lochlea, 770. Loch Lochy, 120. Loch Lochy, battle of, 121. Lochmabeu and castle, 774- Loch Oich, 123. Locliiel, Sir Ewen Cameron of, 120, 176. Lochwinnoch, 770. Logan, origin of the name, 444. Lomond, Ben, 85. Lomond, Loch, 82. Lomond, Loch, route to from Loch Ca- trine, 172 Long Island, 649. Long Island antiquities, 656. Long Island, aspect of the islands of, 655. 804 INDEX. Long Island climate, 661. Long Island, emigration, 653. Long Island, general features of, 651. Long Island implements, 659. Long Island, occurrences in during the Rebellion of 1745, 663. Long Island packets, 660. Long Island produce, 655. Long Island storms, 662. Long Island, want of inns in, 655. Long, Loch, 103. Longtown, 761. Loth", 414. Lovat, Fort, accommodations of in the eighteenth century, 429. Lovat, Fort, sieges of under Edward I. and Cromwell, 429. Lovat, Lord, 377, 427. Lowlands, Guide-hook for, footnote , 754. Lowlands and Highlands, ancient inhabi- tants. 363. Loval, Ben and Loch, 497- Lubcroy, 513. Lulmaig, Loch, 165. Luichart, Loch, 461, 465. Luine, Glen, 191. Luncarty, 225. Luss, 85. Lyon, Glen, 268. M Maben, four towers of, 774. Maben, loch and castle, 77 t. Macbeth, 364, 374. Macbeth's witches, 356. Macdonalds of Islay, 578. Macintyre, Duncan Ban, the poet, 492. Mackay, General Hugh, 531. Mackenzies and Macdonells, rencontre between, 149. Mackerihanish Bay, 563. Mackintosh's prison, 247. Macneish, sept, 260. Macpherson, the Outlaw, 331. Macraas, the, 436. Magnus', Saint, Bay, in Zetland, 747. Magnus', Saint, Cathedral at Kirkwall,694. Magus Moor, the. 777 MaS, black, 245. Mam Clach Ard, route by, 176. Mam Soul, 439. Mam Soul glaciers, 439. Mangston Tower, 7G1. Manners Stone, the, 628. Maoil Castle, 620. Maormors of Moray, 363. Marble quarries, Skye, G37- Marble quarries, Sutherlandshire, 515. Mar, Earls of, 279. Maree, Loch, 474. Maree, Loch, road to, 473. Mar Lodge, 278. Mary's, St., Loch, 702. Mirxy Scuir, 462. Mary's, St, Well and Chapel, 608. Mauchline, 772. Maybole Parish, 773. Meegerney Castle, 268. Meig, river, 462. Meikle Ferry, 400, 545. Melrose Abbey, 757. Melrose, Old, 758. Melvich, 535. Menzies Castle, 272. Merkland Loch, 486. Mingarry Castle, 607. Minikaig, Pass of, 291. Minto Crags, 760. Minto House, 760. Miulie, Loch, 434. Moffat to Selkirk by Yarrow, 762. Moffat Wells, 762.' Moidart, Loch, 179. Moin, the, 498. Moir, Loch, 394. Monaliagh mountains, 302. Monar, great deer hunt, 435. Monar, Loch, 434. Moncrieff Hill, 778. Moncrieff, tunnel at, 781. Moness, Falls of, 273. Moniack, 385. Monteith, Loch, 173. Monteviot, 760. Montrose, 782. Montrose, defeat and capture of, 517. Monymusk, 337. Monzie, 256. Moor, the hard, 356. Moray, 339. Moray, diocese of, 342. Moray, geology of, 3-14. Moray, plain of, 351. More, Strath, 491. Moriston, Glen, 192. Morven, tombs in, 612. Moulinearn, 229. Mousa, Burgh of, 735. Moy church and manse, 2 47- Moy, Loch, islets and castle, 247. Muckerach, Tower of, 294. Muik, island of, 617. Muirtown, 381. Mull, general features of, 591. Mull, geology of, 591. Mull, lona, and Staffa, different routes. 589. Mull, Sound of, 609. Mull, Sound of, old castles along, 609. Munlochy, 444. Muiiro, clan, 391. Murshov's, Donald Mack, tomb, 505. Music, Highland, 39. Muthil, 256. N Nairn, 358. Nairnshire, 351. Nairn, Strath, and river, 314, 364. INDEX. 80f> Naut Glen, 109. Naver, Strath, and loch, 496. Neptune's Staircase, 119. Ness, islands in the, 208. Ness, Loch, 126. Ness, Loch, N. side, 147- Ness, Loch, S. side, 153. Netherby Hall, 761. Nevis, Ben, 112. Nevis, Ben, structure of, 114. Newark Castle, 764. Newbattle Abbey, 756. Newton Wuds, 770. Niddry Castle, 769. Nidpath Castle, 765. Nigg, 453. Nith, the, 775. Norham Castle, 759. North Mavine, 745. Noss Island and Cradle, 739. Novar, 390. O Oakwood Tower, 762. Oban, district around, 79. Oban to Crinan Canal, 75. Ohan to Inverness, 110. Oban, village of, 77, 97. Ochtertyre, 258. Oe, MuU of, 585. Ogle, Glen, 166. Oich, Loch, 123. Oich, Loch, to Fort Augustus, 125. Oikel, cascades, 512. Oikel, Strath and Bridge, 509, 512. Old Deer, Abbey of, 326. Oldwick Castle, 416. Olney and Kyle Skou, 525. Olrig, 422. Ord, Muir of, stone pillars, 388. Ord of Caithness, the, 414. Ord of Kessock, 362, 443. Ord, Muir of, 388. Orkney, agriculture, 677. Orkney, botauy of, 698, 707, 718. Orkney, climate, 672. Orkney, education in, &c, 681. Orkney, exports, 687. Orkney, ferries and freights, 714. Orkney fisheries, 683. Orkney, food, 681. Orkney, general aspect of, 673. Orkney, general features of north isles of, 711, 715. Orkney, geology of, 718. Orkney, history of, 688. Orkney houses, 680. Orkney, inhabitants, manners, See., 679. Orkney, manufactures, 683. Orkney, natural history of, 717. Orkney, natural history of, writers upon, 715. Orkney, population of, 671. Orkney, sea insurance, 686. Orkney, single-stilted plough, 677. Orkney, shipping, 686. Orkney, storms, 675. Orkney, superstition in, 682. Orkney, table of produce, 687- Orkney, trade, 683. Oronsay, Island of, 587- Oronsay Isle, 619. Oronsay, monastic remains, 588. Ospisdale, 402. Outskerries, 741. Paisley, 770. Papa Stour, 748. Paps of Caithness, 416. Peebles, 765. Peffer, Strath, mineral wells, 456. Peffer, Strath, note to, 544. Penielheugh, 760. Pentland Firth, 421. Pentland Firth, dangers of, &c., 421. Perth, 221. Perth to Inverness, across the Grampians, 221. Peterhead, 326. Petty church, 362. Petty moat hills, 362. Petty, moss of, 359. Phadrick, Craig, 132, 203. Philiphaugh, 762, 764. Phopachy, 384. Pipers' College in Skye, 627. Pitcaithley Wells, 778. Pitlochrie, 229. Pladda, 553. Pluscardine Abbey, 345. Polignac's, Princess, birthplace, 583. Pomona, 693. Ponies, 13. Poolewe, 478. Population of the Highlands, and landed property, 5-6. Port Gower, 414. Portnahaven, 582. Portree, 621. Portree, coast section near, 622. Portree to Dunvegan, 624. Port Sonachan, 109. Portsoy, 331. Posting, &c., 66. Poul-a-ghloup, cave of, 505. Prestonpans and Pinkie, battles of, 775. Pulteneytown, 418. Qnendal, 723. Quern, the, 643. Quiraing, 632. Quoich, Loch, 190. Raid of Cillie-christ, 149. Railway, Aberdeen, 782. Railway, Arbroath and Forfar, 781. 806 INDEX. Railway, Caledonian, 777- Railway, Edinburgh and Hawick, 756. Railway, Edinburgh and Berwick, 775. Railway, Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, 777. Railway, Glasgow and Ayr, 770. Railway, Newtyle, 781. Railway, Perth and Dundee, 781. Railway, Scottish Central, 778. Railway, Scottish Midland, 781. Raits Castle, 241, 379. Raits Castle, incident at, 241. Rannoch, Bridge of, 310. Rannoch, Kinloch, 270. Rannoch, Moor of, 97. Kansa, Castle of, 550. Ransa, Loch, 550. Rasay, Dr. Johnson's remarks on, 649. Rasay, Island of, 647. Reay, deer forest, 530. Reay village, 535. Redcastle, 441. Redgorton, 225. Regulus, St., Tower of, 778. Relugas, 310. Rhaebuie road, 191. Rhiconich, 532. Rispond, 501. Roads, construction of, 44. Roads, district, 44. Roads, military, 45. Roads, parliamentary, 46. Roads, repair of public, 47. Rob Bonn, character of his productions, 493. Rob Bonn, his grave, 505. Rob Donn, the Gaelic poet, 492. Rob Roy's grave, 165. Roeness, 747. Rogie, Falls of, 464. Roman station and well at Burghhead, 346 Ronaldshay, North, 713. Ronaldshay, South, 715. Rosehall, 510. Rosehaugh, 444. Rosemarkie, 448. Roslin Chapel and Castle, 756 Ross and Sutherland, boundary of, 514. Ross and Sutherland, steam communica tion to, 545. Ross, cathedral of, 446. Ross, Easter, 392. Ross, Easter, seats, 394. Rothesay Castle, 72. Rothes, village of, 301. Rothiemurchus, 242, 286. Rothiemurchus, Shaws of, 240. Rousay, 712. Routes, outline of the more interesting, 56 Roxburgh Castle, 759. Roy, Castle, 299. Ruisky, 150. Rumbling Bridge at Dunkeld, 229. Rumbling Bridge, 779. Rum, Island of, 617- Rutherglen, 708. Ruthven Barracks, 241 . Ruthven Castle, 257. S Saddle, the, in Skye, 641. Sadell, Abbey of, 569. Salmon, 16. Sanda, Island of, 568. Sandav in Orkney, 713. Sandside, 535. Sandwick, sculptured stone at, 453. Sannox, Glen, 549. Scalloway, 736. Scandinavian inroads, 351. Scandinavian names, 389, 419, 531. Scatwell, 462. Scavaig, Bay of, 638. Scaven, Loch, 466. Scone, 225. Scone Palace, 225. Scott, Sir Walter, his burial-place, 758. Scottish monarchy, early history and original seat of, 6, 567, 576. Scourie, 527. Scrabster roadstead, 535. Scriden, 549. Scriptures, Gaelic, 31. Scuirvullin, 463. Scuir-na-Lapich, 435. Scuir Marxy, 462. Sculptured stones, 453. Selkirk, 762. Selkirk to Peebles, 762. Serpent river, the, 191. Shanter, Tarn o', 772. Sheep and wool, 12. Sheriff Fraser, exertions of, 245. Sheriffmuir, battle of, 780. Shetland Isles. See Zetland. Shetland Islanders, dress, habits, See., 72f>. Shiel, Glen, 194. Shiel, Glen, battle of, 194. Shiel House to Kyle Akin, 195. Shiel, Loch, 177. Shieldaig, 474. Shieldaig and Applecross, Roads to, 479. Shin, Loch, 485. Shin, Strath, 485 Shin, Linn of, 485. Shipwreck, miraculous deliverance from, 629. Sinclair Castle, 519. Sinclairs, 419. Skelbo Castle, 406. Skene, Loch, 763. Skerry, Port, 535. Skibo, 402. Skipness Castle, 567- Skou, Kyle, 623. Skua gull, 742. Skye, population, 646. Skye, croft system, 646. Skye, ferry to, 178. INDEX. 807 Skye, Islaud of, 616. Skye and Rasay, 615. Skye Farming, 643. Skye, Island of, marble in, 637. Skye, general remarks on, 615, 642. Skye Islanders, dress of the, 645. Skye Islanders, dwellings of, 644. Skye Islanders, kindly feelings and hos- pitality of, 646. Skye Islanders, women's apparel, 645. Skye Islanders, ornaments, 646. Skye Islanders, poverty, 646. Skye Islanders, changes in conditions of, 646. Skins Castle, 327- Slate Islands, 77- Sligachan, Glen, 641. Slochmuichk, Pass of, 244. Smailholm Tower, 758. Small Lakes, 526. Smoo, Cave of, or Uaigh Mhore, 501. Snizort, 624. Snizort, Loch, 626. Societies, Edinburgh and Glasgow Gaelic School, 36. Society, Inverness Education, 33. Society, Gaelic Episcopal, 35. Society for propagating Christian know- ledge, 31. Societies, London and Scotland, 12. Spean, Glen and River, 183. Spey, the, 339. Spey, Bridge of, 339. Spey, Loch, 189. Spey, River, embankments on, 240. Spey, Strath, 243, 294. Spiounadh, Ben, 533. Spinningdale, 401. Spittal of Glenshee, 782. Spynie Castle, 345. Stack, Ben, 527. Staffa, 603. Staffa, Fingal's cave, 605. Staffa, Mackinnon's cave, 605. Stalker Castle, 110. Statistics, moral, 33. Statistics, educational, 30. Statistics, ecclesiastical, 20. Steam navigation, 54, 203. Stennis, Zetland, 745, 768. Stennis, in Orkney, stone monuments at, 699. Stewart, George, of Massetter, true his- tory of, 705. Stewart, Castle, 360. Stewart, Lord Robert, 711, 731. Stein, Village of, 625. Stirling rock, castle, and town, 157. Stoc Mhaol Doraidh, 585. Stornoway, 657. Stornoway Castle, 659. Strathaird's Cave, 637. Strathbogie, 332. Strathbran, 464. Strathconon, 463. Struthdearn, 246, 302. Strathearn, 249. Stratherrick, 154, 315. Strathfleet, 485. Strathgartney, 172. Strathglass, approach to, 428. Strathglass, ancient pine forests, 430. Stratlure, 172. Strathmore, 491. Strathnairn, 247, 314. Strathnaver, 496, 534. Strathpeffer, 459, 544. Strathspey, 243. Strathspey below Grantown, 300. Strathy, 524. Strathy head, 524. Straw-plaiting in Orkney, 685. Streens, the, 305. Strome Ferry, 466. Stromness, 701. Stromness, road to, from Kirkwall, 696. Stromness Bay, 701. Stronsay, 714. Strowan, 234. Stray, 434. Suil Veinn, 520. Sumburgh Head, 723. Sumburgh Roust, 724. Sunart, Loch, 612. Storr, 622. Struan, Loch, 630. Sunderland House, 582. Sutherland, agriculture of, 489. Sutherland, improvements in, 401. Sutherland mail phaetons, 401. Sutherland, Kyle of, cattle trysts, 508. Sutherland, line of policy observed in, 487. Sutherland peasantry, 489. Sutherland, general character of, 483. Sutherland, western coast of, 522. Sutherland, condition of peasantry, 530. Sutherland, Earls of, History of, 419. Sutherlandshire roads, 498. Sutherlandshire, depopulation of, 487. Sweetheart Abbey, 773. Sweno's stone, 352. Swin, Loch,i.,r<6O Swiney, 465. T Tain, St. Duthus' Church, 397. Tain, upper road to, 394. Tain, 396. Tain Academy, 399. Tain poorbouse, 394. Talisker, 630. Tantallan Castle, 776. Tarbat House, 395. Tarbat Ness, and Fearn, excursion to, 399. Tarbert, East, 74, 571. Tarbert, Isthmus of, 511. Tarbert Isthmus, West Loch, 571. Tarbolton, 770. Tarff Water, 125. Tarnaway Cnstle and forest, 355. 808 1NDKX. Tay, Strath, to Strati. Tuimm-l, 269. Tay, Loch, 261. Tay, Strath, 224, 27:!. Taymouth, 264. Teanassie Burn, 427. Teith, valley of the, 162. Thanedoms, 356. Thirlstane Castle, 763. Thomson, poet, monument to, 759. Threld, village of, 593. Thurso, 416, 422. Till, bridge of the, 759. Tilt, deer forest, pass between and Bnie- mar, 277. Tilt, Glen, 233. Tilt, Glen, deer forest, 27:.. Timber, 14. Tin-wall, 736. Tinto, 760. Tirim Castle, 179. Tobennory, 609. Tollie, Loch, 97- Toinantoul, 283. Tomuahurich, 132. Tongue, 534. Tongue, mail-gigs to, 401. Tongue, Kyle and House of, 497. Tongue, Strath, 534. Tongue to Thurso, 533. Tor Castle, 119. Torridou, Loch, 473. Torthorwald Castle, 774. Torvain, 132. Tourists, directions to, 785. Toward, Castle, 71. Tower Dean embankment, 776. Traquair, 764. Trinity College, 225, 257. Trosachs, the, 171. Trotternish, 622, 631. Trotternish, east coast of, 622. Troup Head, 328. Truim, Glen, 237. Tulloch, Muir of, 483. Tulloehgorum, 299. Tummel, Falls of, 271. Tummel, Strath, 271. Tumuli, 3fi2. Turriff, 335. Turrit, Glen, 189, 258. Turnberry Castle, 773. Turning Stone, the, 460. Tushielaw, 762. Tutumtarvach, clan conflict at, and burial- ground, 511. Tweed, Border peels along the, 765. Tweed, general character of, 757- Tweed, the, 757- Tyningham, holly hedges at, 776. U Udalism, succession and laws of, 729. Udallers, 739. Uig, Bay of, 631. Ullapool, 471. Ullapool, road to, 466. Ullapool, routes from, 4(i8. Unst, 741. Urquhart, Glen, 151. Urquhart Castle, 130. Urquhart to Invennoriston, 23',). Urquharts of Cromarty, 453. Uyea Island, 747. Vaterstein, 629. Venachar, Loch, 167. Via in Orkney, unique structure at, 710. 1 Voil, Loch, 172. : Vullin Scuir, 463. W Walking excursion, interesting;, 303. Wardhill and Hill of Hoy, 707". Wark Castle, 759. Waterloo, stones of memorial to heroes, 242 . Weavis, Ben, 458. Well of the Heads, 124. West Coast, short route to, 464. Westray, 712. Westray, Papa, 712. Whalsey Island, 740. Whitebridge, 153, 315. Wick, 416. Wick (Old) Castle, 419. WilkieVlHrth-place, 777- William, Fori^d Maryburgh, 111. William, Fort, to ' Glenmoriston, 17. Wilsontown Iron-works, 66. Wool, 13. Wrath, Cape, 506. Wrath, Cape, View from, 507. Yarrow, the, 764. Yarrow, upright stones near manse of, 764. Yell, Island of, 742. Z Zetland, Ecclesiastical buildings, 713. Zetland, Geology of, 7-"><>. Zetland, History of, 7:.'7. Zetland Islands, 720. Zetland Islanders, dress, habits, &o., of, 7-'> Zetland, Mainland of, 735. Zetland, Natural history of, 749. KUIMU'RHII: PRINTED BY KOBEBT CI.ARC. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. NOV 1 6 1961 REMINGTON RAND INC. 20 (533) DA Anderson - 880 Highlands and H7A$U islands of Scot- 1850 land UC SOUTHEflw DC A 001016/4 i DA 880 H7A5U 1850