built in glens and straths, or upon the side of a lake, or near a river or stream, adjoining to which there is a little arable land. This near Letter Findley is close to the shores of the lake, all the huts of which appear to be constructed after the same style of rude architecture. The walls are built of turf or stones, according to the nature of the adjoining soil, and raised about six feet high, on the top of which a roof of branches of trees is constructed; this is covered with squares of turf, of about six inches thick, closely pressed together, and put on fresh from its parent moor, with the grass or heath upon it, which afterwards continues to grow, and renders it difficult for a traveller unless he be very sharp-sighted, to distinguish at a little distance the hut from the moor. I have seen many of these buildings in high vegetation, and in that respect they remind me of the same description of buildings in Sweden.

I was obliged to stoop on entering the door of these sylvan abodes, and within saw a cabin which brought to my recollection that of Robinson Crusoe : upon the ground, about the centre, was the fire, the smoke of which escaped through a hole in the top of the roof but not without having first blackened every part of it within, till the rafters looked like charcoal; and, unless the covering should be weather-proof, the rain must fall within as black as ink-drops. In others there was a little fireplace of iron bars, with a hob on either side, and above a crank, for holding the meikle pot. The only furniture I saw were some boxes, stools, pails, an iron pot, some bowls and spoons of wood, and also a cupboard, or shelves, for holding provi

sions.

A tolerable hut is divided into three parts: a butt, which is the kitchen; a benn, an inner-room; and a byar, where the cattle are housed. Frequently the partition of the chambers is effected by an old blanket, or a piece of sail-cloth. In the kitchen, and frequently in the inner room, there are cupboardbeds for the family: or, what is more frequent, when the fire on the ground is extinguished, they put their bed of heath and blankets upon the spot where it has burned, on account of the ground being dry. A true farmer loves to sleep near the byar, that he may hear his cattle eat. These patriarchal dwellings frequently tremble, and sometimes fall, before the fury of the tempest. I was told that very far north, when a Highland peasant entertains his friends with a cheerful glass of whiskey, it is usual, as a compliment to the host, to drink to his roof-tree, alluding to the principal beam, which by its weight enables the

Hh

roof to resist the pressure of a mountain squall, and which forms the great protection of the family within from its fury.

A house with an upper story is called, by way of pre-eminence, a lofted hut. I was informed by some gentlemen, who had long resided in the Highlands, that in some of these miserable habitations, upon their return from grouse-shooting, they have been frequently offered a glass of excellent white or red wine, as well as whisky. Another Highland gentleman informed me that these mountaineers are so attached to their peat or mud hovels, that, although he had erected for some of his tenants neat stone cottages, they continued to prefer their former dwellings, the workmanship of their own hands.

The Highland peasants, like the Irish, are very much attached to their dunghills, which are constructed close to their doors. To such a pitch of fondness is this carried, that upon an order being issued that no one should raise their dunghill in the streets of Callendar, one old lady is said to have expressed her joy that she was not deprived of hers by this clean and cruel decree, for she had made it in a back room.

The peat-stack is generally the near neighbour of the dunghill; by this arrangement the most disgusting objects are strangely kept in full view. Here, as in Ireland, the dog forms a part of the family. The children romp with him; and in general, he is a great favourite.

The mode of living amongst the Highland peasantry corresponds with the simplicity of their abodes. Their principal food is oaten or barley cakes. Oatmeal is used in various shapes, under the names of brochan, stirabout, sowins, &c. Sometimes the oaten cake is made of grannaded meal, that is, of meal separated from the husks, and roasted by the fire, instead of being threshed and kiln-dried.

Milk also yields a principal source of subsistence. They milk not only cows, but goats and ewes. It has been said, but I doubt the fact, that oatmeal is sometimes supped dry, undressed, or baked, by putting a handful in the mouth, and washing it down with water. I was told that the very poor Highlanders boil the blood of their cattle, when killed, with a quantity of salt, and that, when it becomes cold and solid, they cut it in pieces, and use it for food. At Inverness I saw some poor people in the act of carrying blood in bowls, and, upon my asking what they intended to do with it, they said, "To make puddings with it." The Highlanders have had wisdom sufficient to see and feel the value of cultivating the potato, a vegetable

which Nature seems to offer as the bread-fruit of every country. The memory of Sir Walter Raleigh deserves more from his country by having brought the potato from America than if he had conquered Guiana. I saw few Highland huts which had not an adjoining little potato-plot, and I think the Highland potato little inferior to the Irish. A very favourite Highland dish, of the higher class, is composed of sour cream, sugar, whisky, curds, fresh milk, and flummery, a paste produced from a preparation of oats steeped in water. The affections of the peasant are easily engaged by humouring his prejudices and conforming to his habits. It is recorded, in the romantic accounts of the escapes of Prince Charles Edward, that when he effected his retreat to the Hebridean Island of Rasay, in consequence of almost all the houses having been burnt by the soldiers under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, he was obliged to repair to a little hut, recently built by some shepherds, where a fire was kindled, and a bed of heath prepared. When the provisions which had been brought with him from Kingsburgh were opened, he was presented with wheat-bread and brandy, which he declined, declaring that he would not taste them whilst oat-bread and whisky lasted, “for these," said he, "are my own country's bread and drink."-These expressions greatly increased the affection of the Highlanders for

him.

Although society is so widely scattered in the Highlands that the natives have not frequent opportunities of assembling on convivial occasions, yet with social improvement the use of whisky has increased amazingly, although the duty upon it has increased too. It appears that the duty on spirits distilled in Scotland, exclusive of the duty on malt and malt liquor, imported spirits and wine, did not produce in the year 1777 the sum of 8,00.., whereas in 1806 it produced 250,000/

In some of the remote parts of the Highlands, a candle would produce as much sensation as a Chinese lantern. On account of the difficulty and expense of procuring tallow, they substitute dried slips of the birch and fir tree, the stumps of which they find in the peat-bogs when they cut for fuel. The care of attending to these rude tapers, which burn quickly and brightly, is confided to those of a family who are too aged or too young to perform any very serviceable labour. This substitute was not unknown to me. In the course of my rambles in other countries I have met with the fir-slip candle. It is frequently used in mountainous regions. On the borders of Wetteravia, a coun

try not far from Franckfort on the Maine, rises a chain of mountains called Der. Vogelsberg, the produce of which is chiefly potatoes. On the summit of this mountain the snow defies the summer sun. In this elevated region also the lower class of peasantry, in their long winter evenings, use, instead of candle, slips of fir, a tree which, as well as the oak, flourishes there in great abundance. These slips are put in the middle of the room, round which the girls of the family assemble to spin, whilst their lovers stand behind, to claim the privilege of a kiss, if their mistresses make an error in slipping the knot.

CHAPTER XXII.

Extent of Highlands-farming improvements-rural arrangements-rude gear-Fort William-A Highland shower, what-fine weather unwholesome-Ben Nevis-Cattle fairs—a church-inn-the Cona of Ośsian-horrible massacre-Macdonald of Glencoe-Appin house-Oban.

IN my progress thus far amongst the Western Highlands, I had sufficient opportunity of observing their eminent pretensions to be ranked amongst the sublime and beautiful of nature. The Highlands may be said to commence from Dumbarton, near the mouth of the Clyde, and comprise the mountainous parts of Scotland from thence to the north and north-west, including the Hebrides. Their length is about two hundred miles, and their breadth varies from fifty to one hundred, yet they have no ascertained boundary coinciding with the limits of any civil jurisdiction. It is worthy of observation that the ridges of the mountains which characterise this part of the country run nearly west and east, and that they exhibit evidences highly corroborative of the deluge, which, it is fair to suppose, poured in from the south-west to the north-east, and produced those vast and astonishing inequalities which are visible in this direction upon the summits of these and of every other known mountain of the earth. The shepherds in the Highlands constantly observe, that, whilst the south-west side of the hill is sterile, the north

east side is rich in soil and pasture, and exhibits traces of alluvial earth.

The summits of the mountains have seldom any other covering than moss, upon a bed of stones and gravel; and where these have been washed away by storms, the bare rock appears. The sides of these mountains, which are generally clad with heath, and other hardy northern plants, can never become arable land: it is only in vales and sheltered situations that tillage can be tried with success; in these spots barley, oats, potatoes, flax, pease, rye, turnips, and some foreign grasses, are cultivated, but not in a sufficient degree to render the importation of grain and meal unnecessary.

The butter in the Highlands is much improved: it used to be full of hairs, and it was a common saying, that, if the butter had no hairs in it, the cow that gave the milk would not thrive. The butter of Scotland is in general, I think, inferior to that of England, and perhaps a consciousness of this circumstance led to the introduction of honey, marmalades, and preserves, upon the Scottish breakfast-tables. The Highland honey is in high estimation, and is indebted for its peculiarly delicious flavour to the bloom of the heath. The Lowlanders call themselves the Land of Cakes, whilst the Highlanders proudly boast of inhabiting a land of milk and honey.

The domestic distribution of labour in the little Highland farms is singularly interesting. The lesser boys take charge of the weaned lambs; the stronger attend the goats to the rocks and perilous precipices, upon which they love to browse: the young girls are employed at the distaff; the young men attend the cattle upon the mountains, whilst their father cultivates his little patch of ground, repairs his hut, of which he is the designer and builder, and upon which occasion the knife, the axe, and the augur, are his simple materials; in this respect, however, he is better provided than the Russian boor, who works with more skill, neatness, and ingenuity, with only his axe. At evening fall the children return home, the bearers of fish which they have caught in some neighbouring stream, and of alder-bark, and buds of heath and moss, with which their mother may stain her home-spun plaid. Amongst the Highlanders, both young and old, the season of "summer-flitting, when they remove for the summer to the mountains with their flocks, is always hailed with a rapturous welcome. At this time they live in the mountains in shealings, or little huts constructed for the purpose, and sleep upon beds of heath, lead