Cruises in the Princess Royal, the Dasher, and the Lucifer

“‘Tis the land of deep shadow, of sunshine, and shower, Where the hurricane revels in madness on high; For there it has might that can war with its power, In the wild dizzy cliffs that are cleaving the sky.”

—Andrew Park.

“I have told you of the Spaniard who always put on his spectacles when he was about to eat cherries, that they might look the bigger and more tempting. In like manner I make the most of my enjoyments, and though I do not cast my cares away, I pack them in as little compass as I can, carry them as conveniently as I can for myself, and never let them annoy others.” — Robert Southet.

Notwithstanding its nautical title, we shall not be afloat throughout the whole of this chapter, but as the best materials for the present biography are Mr Wilson’s own letters, and as most of the letters in our possession from 1843 to 1850 were written at sea, we have taken the liberty to include the correspondence of the entire interval under this head.

On the 17th of July 1843, he wrote from Woodville to Sir William Jardine: —

“I have promised Sir Thomas Lauder to take a run as far as the Island of Harris, to aid him in some inquiries regarding the fishing capabilities of those insular shores. Lord Dunmore, who purchased the island some time ago, is to meet us in Glasgow towards the end of this month, and proceed in the Princess Royal to his estate, which he scarcely knows. There are a great many lochs in Harris, of which the produce is little known; so when Lauder and his lordship are catching cod, I hope to raise a few trout. I shall be glad to preserve specimens for you, and if there is anything else you wish to direct my attention to, please let me know. I suppose a little jar with whisky will do for the trouts, but if there is any mode of wrapping up in cloth or otherwise, so as to preserve the scales, you can instruct me. I remember our Sutherland specimens were much damaged: but in my intended trip there will he little or no land-carriage. I think that a small collection of specimens, even of the common burn and loch trout, of what may be called (except St Kilda, where there are no trout) the extreme west of all Scottish countries, may form an interesting addition to your collections.”

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“Shooting Lodge (name unknown,

at 13i6t unpronounceable),

North-west of Harris,

6th A ugust ’43.

“You will be pleased to hear that everything has gone on among us most agreeably, in spite of an occasional angry disputatious wind and sullen sky. I believe that we enjoy our bright sunshine all the more for the contrast, like a diamond ‘on the brow of an Ethiopian/

“We arrived at the south-eastern corner of Harris on the evening of Tuesday, 2d August. The approach on such a calm sweet evening was beautiful, or rather it was wild and romantic, with something of an unrelenting sternness in the lofty background which bestowed upon it almost a character of magnificence.

“Bodil lies in a little creek, screened by rocky islands. We made our approach in the long-boat, and just as we neared the shore the cutter fired a salute of six guns, and I never saw a finer marine picture than she presented as the engines of ’ loud-throated war’ threw successively their huge wreaths of pearly smoke over the clear waters, and all the rocky creeks and mountain caverns echoed repeatedly the voice of thunder. ‘Dunmore’ seemed highly pleased with this piece of nautical attention, although on these almost unpeopled shores there were but few to witness or to welcome the arrival of the great man. The factor himself was from home, but we were warmly welcomed by his wife, a handsome woman of excellent manners. She had a fair-haired pretty daughter, of six or seven years old, not unlike what M used to be.

“We explored the old churchyard and the ruins of the cathedral of Koclil, both that evening and during the earlier part of the ensuing day. There are some curious old monuments, with stony knights in armour, and inscriptions which it is difficult to decipher. It appears from a Latin table that the whole building was restored in 1787, and consumed by fire almost immediately thereafter, and then repaired again. For some time after that period it served as the parish church, or at least as the church of that portion of the parish, and then it fell into gradual disrepair, till most of the roof fell down. It is now of no use except to the starlings, of which great numbers were nestling in the main tower or perching on the remains of the rafters. One of the more modern monuments records that a certain Macleod married his third wife in his seventy-fifth year, and was blessed with nine children before his death, which took place in his ninetieth j”ear.

“The mountains in this northern part of Harris are of great height, and with the bold rocky foreground and the placid sea and their own broken gigantic summits, form a noble landscape in the way of sterile grandeur. The island is said to produce good pasture, and I suppose the numerous little vales, or rather hollows, among the sheltered rocks are clothed with grass; but the general aspect of the whole, as seen from the sea, is as barren as anything unscorched by fire. However, on a calm, sweet summer evening, the hills lying in deep shadow, very dark and solemn — above and between them in the western distance a most gorgeous sky of crimson-coloured gold, broad and rich below, and dying away towards the zenith in fleecy specks of fire upon a ground of most transparent blue — the whole reflected on the bosom of still waters — the scene is one of almost unexampled beauty. The pleasure is probably the greater from the contrast presented by these aerial effects of a perfectly fine evening, and those of a cold monotonous or misty morning, such ay I daresay prevails throughout a lengthened portion of the year.

“Saturday the 5 th was wet and blustry. We left the cutter about three o’clock, and met Lord Dunmore and his friend on shore at the head of the loch. We then crossed together the narrow neck of land which separates East from West Tarbet. On the shore of the latter we found his lordship’s gig, and a crew of six picked men, all in uniform, with scarlet caps. In an hour and a half they rowed us eight miles westward to where we now are, a snug little sheltered mansion in a creek called Loch Losevagh, with all comforts at command. I have got a wee room, not much bigger than a state-room in a steamer, and a larger one would have been too sudden a transition from my crib on board the cutter,”

TO SIE WILLIAM JARDINE, BAET.

“Woodtille, 6th Nov. ’43.” I had a pleasant trip to the Western Isles, where, that is in Harris, I found the best sea-trout nshino- I had ever anywhere experienced. Sir Thomas Lauder and myself killed 223 pound weight in a very few days, almost all fine fish for sport, There was only one of seven pounds, another of five, but a vast number of two and three pounds. One party killed twelve deer, with a quantum suff. of grouse and ptarmigan.

“I left them soon, having to return home and take my people to Killiecrankie, where the weather was too fine and the water too low for fishing; but where we enjoyed the finest river scenery in the world, so far, at least, as I am acquainted with this terraqueous globe.

“I wish you would turn in your mind something for the Royal Society this season. Owing to poor Forbes’s illness and detention in Italy, I anticipate that that learned body will be ill off for scientific business.”

Of his six weeks’ sojourn in the romantic regions of the Tummel and Garry, he wrote a full account to an old and much-esteemed friend. But even the pen of James Wilson leaves the sylvan wealth of Killiecrankie undescribed. We transcribe the less pictorial portion of his letter: —

TO MES FLETCHER, LANCRIGG, AMBLESIDE.

“Woodville, 24th Jan. 1844.

“Our cottage was placed upon a sloping hill-side, close

to the southern entrance to the pass of Killiecrankie, and

commanded from its latticed windows a fine sweeping

view down the valley of the Tay, towards Dunkeld. We sat there with devouring eyes almost for a week, without going further. My first walk into the Pass was alone, on a sweet, calm, dewy morning. I was thinking of other days, of the wild cries which had once echoed along that rocky river, and of the bloody Clavers, whose bones lay buried almost beneath my feet; when, on approaching a very solemn pine- shadowed portion of the Pass, I neared. a peculiar kind of carriage with an iron grating, and advancing upon it for a close inspection, an enormous Bengal tiger with its burning breath sprung up to meet me. Though fond of natural history, I was somewhat startled by the suddenness of this unexpected salutation. But I had scarcely time to wonder where I was, before a gorgeous group of eight richly harnessed horses, drawing an open carriage, passed before me. Then came a vehicle nearly as high as a steeple — at least so high that I cannot yet conceive how the old umbrageous branches of the overhanging forest permitted it to pass below. Various other carriages, with two, three, or four horses, followed in the wake, till at last the mystery was solved by the fact flashing on me, that Van Amburg and his beasts had been at Inverness, and were now travelling southwards to a more genial clime. But the effect of meeting such a miscellaneous and incongruous group, in the solemn and otherwise silent Pass of Killiecraukie, was singular and rather striking in its way. I doubt not, no other cameleopard had ever been seen there from the beginning of creation, and, it may be, will never be seen there again, till the end of time.

“We led a secluded, if not a savage life, and had little intercourse with our neighbours, saving the humbler class. Indeed, owing to the great extent of their Highland estates, neighbours, in the ordinary sense, were few and far between. As members of the Free Church, we passed our Sabbath-days almost in a fairy palace; an open, yet sheltered circular space, clothed with the softest turf, and encircled by the slender spray and silver stems of aromatic birches —

‘Most beautiful of forest trees,
The lady of the wooda.’

The people were attentive, and much impressed — an additional feeling of devotion seeming to have come upon them since the disruption of the old Establishment. The gentry, however, and all the higher classes there, as elsewhere, are hostile to the movement, and shew their hostility by every means, whether active or passive, within their power. It has always appeared to myself, that, even setting aside the awful importance of the subject, it is a strange return for chieftains and heads of families to make, in these days of peace, to the descendants of those faithful followers, who, in the rude contending of other times, shrunk not from shedding their blood like water

RIGHTS OV PROPERTY. 2o3

for the glory of the clan. If the sacrifice of life is the duty of the serf in time of war, there is surely a corresponding duty on the part of the chieftain in times of peace, involving a kindly consideration of the wants and wishes of their descendants. I am not much of a Radical, possibly not so much of a Whig as yourself; but I think it is a very grave matter of consideration how far rights of property, as they are called, actually extend, when their strict and tenacious exercise interferes with the wellbeing and the welldoing of a whole community over an extensive district. No doubt, people who feel themselves aggrieved in one country may make their way into another; but suppose that all the landed proprietors in Great Britain were to make up their minds among themselves to some restrictive system, what would happen? Of course, the present constitution of society would be rent asunder in consequence of that injustice; and it is but a poor palliation of those who now commit it, that there are some who act in a more Christian spirit.

“We returned here about the second week in October, and have been carrying on much in our usual quiet way. Edinburgh and its society, so far as we happen to be conversant with it, is pretty much as when you left it. My old friend Patrick Robertson is raised to the bench, and looks well and portly in his judicial garments. I dined with him a few weeks ago at Sir William Allan’s, the artist, and found him very cheerful and social, but yet with something of a dignified subduedness of manner, more amusing to myself than his most burlesque humours. Miss Strickland, a literary lady, I believe, of some name, was down in the autumn, and left a favourable impression;

and Mrs R and her fair daughters are still anions; us,

in great force and high favour.”

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“Loch Inveb, Friday evening,
0th July 1846.

“We have been fishing a little since we came here. Both John Lauder and I hooked a good grilse yesterday; but each of us, with our usual humanity, allowed him to escape after a few minutes’ play. To-day I killed eighteen fine river trout — that is, fresh-water ones found in the river, but more like lakers. There are a great many salmon in the bay, and in the lower parts of the river, where the pools are too rocky and uproarious to fish with any security. There is also constant netting at the mouth of the river; and, a short way up. there is a cruive which allows nothing to pass through it except when it is opened, from Saturday night to Monday morning.

“We started early this morning. I went up the river two or three miles, leaving John Lauder and Simson Tnnes at the cruives, below which there is a good salmon pool. I then fished downwards from the highest point to which I had walked. I wanted to be home early, both to rest myself, and to write by the post which goes to-night; but it is slow walking by a river side. When I was about a mile and a half from Loch In ver, my progress was stopped by a projecting rock, and I had to climb upwards. Instead of a small rocky bank above me, I soon found that there was a great crag; and after getting up a certain way, with my fishing-rod poked and poised before me as best I could, I found myself in a regular fix, being unable to get either up or down. However, I contrived to get to the top at last, without the loss of life or line, although it detained me above an hour, and was very disagreeable. While pursuing my downward way, I saw two snakes* in friendly confabulation, and looking very sweet both at themselves and me. I immediately took off my hat, dashed one of my hands among the grass beneath them, and tossed them both into the air. However, only one fell into my hat, the other making his escape. I immediately put my hat upon my head, and walked home with the serpent on the top of the latter. It did not hotch-f- so much as you might have expected, but lay very resigned and peaceable.” On gaining the bay, I found, to my surprise, that there was no Princess Royal to be seen. Supposing she had

* They would be slow-worms.

f That is, wriggle about or m»ve uneasily.

been taken outwards to give some stranger a short cruise, I sat down upon a rock by the shore. In about an hour I saw what I thought the cutter coming in, and in good time for dinner; but I soon saw it was another vessel of the same size and rig; and so I sat for nearly another hour. Getting very cold after the previous wading, I made my way towards the bit inn. where I immediately found a letter from Sir Thomas, saving that he had been requested to run the cutter up to Scourie, to bring the Duke and his two sons to Loch In ver to-morrow. He had sent a messenger up the river to bring me down, but he had missed me, probably while I was on the crags. His note was an apology for being obliged to run off for a night, and leave me at the inn. Luckily he sent a small supply of clothing — not quite the things I wanted, but they must suffice. John Lauder and S. Innes had been caught at the cruives in time. So I am alone in an extremely cold house, with no fire at this moment even in the kitchen, as they seem to be giving everything a thorough redd* for to-morrow. However, I am promised some broiled salmon and cold mutton speedily. All my papers are on board, and my only book — luckily, one of my best — is Clarke’s ‘Promises, ’ which I carry in my breast-pocket, and n-e when I rest myself, by murmuring river or on mountain side.”

* Putting in order.

CLARKE “ON THE PROMISES.” 237

The copy of Clarke “On the Promises” was a miniature edition given to him by Mrs Wilson. It was the vade-mecum of all his journeys, and although it was not his custom to pencil his books, some of its texts were marked, such as the following: —

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John iii. 16).

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. xi. 28).

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John iii. 1 5).

“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. viii. 18).

“Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. iv. 17).

“As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Ps. xvii. 15).

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. vii. 25).

‘’They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and Gcd shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. vii. 1/5-17).

TO SIK WILLIAM JAEDINE, BAET.

“Woodville, Nov. 3, 1848. “I am not quite sure but that there may be a meeting of the Board of Fisheries on Wednesday, which I will require to attend. Lord Berriedale and myself were lately appointed a committee to draw up a memorial to Government regarding the recent disasters among the fishing population. The view I took of it was, that we should make out as strong a case as possible as to the necessity of a harbour of refuge, or great breakwater, being erected at the public expense, somewhere on the north-east coast beyond the Cromarty Frith, and nearer the centre of the great fishing rendezvous — the nature of the structure, and its particular locality, to be determined by a marine surveyor or engineer whom the Government should commission to inspect, inquire, and rep rt. I was busy with the documents transmitted to the Board, regarding the disastrous loss of fife and property which occurred in August, when I learned that Government, without solicitation (at least from the Board of Fisheries), had agreed to send down Captain Washington, the Admiralty surveyor, for the very purpose. I therefore made short work with the intended report, and got Lord Berriedale to sign a paragraph or two stating to the Board, that, in Captain Washington’s appointment, our object had been attained. Now, if there is to be a meeting of the Board on Wednesday (it is their usual day), I should like to be present, in the event of any report by Captain Washington being to be laid before us.”

TO THE REV. JOHN SYM.
” Thorny How, Grasmere, lltk August 1849.

“My dear Pastor, — .... I was greatly pleased with my trip. I stayed with my entomological friend, Mr Melly, for a week, and received from him and his family every kindness, including a box of beetles of the most recherche character, quite new to me, and therefore great acquisitions to my collection. His own is the finest and most orderly I have ever seen. Although I was at it every morning by seven, I could only after all take what I consider as a most cursory glance, leaving innumerable extraordinary forms of insect life altogether unexamined. He supposes himseh to have about twenty-nine thousand species of beetles, and as he has both sexes, and occasionally varieties of each kind, you may suppose the amoun t of the sum tottal of the whole I went down for a day

to Lord Derby’s, and was ’ awed, delighted, and amazed’ by the magnificence of his aviaries, and other natural history collections. Many kinds of birls. such as the sacred ibis of the ancient Egyptians, of which I had before seen only single specimens preserved as great rarities in museums, were running about my feet in half dozens like common poultry, and the Japan peacock, which I was the first to describe and figure some years ago from a stuffed skin in Edinburgh Museum, was moving about in the bright sunshine like a constellation almost too dazzling to look upon. There are twenty men employed in taking care of these creatures, and many travellers are engaged in various quarters of the globe collecting them, so that the

expense must be enormous He wrote me a very

civil letter, and requested me to come to the house to see the collection of stuffed birds, which is also one of the finest in the kingdom. The halls, lobbies, corridors, rooms, furniture, paintings, &c, seemed all as they ought to be for an old chap who is said to have about ,£160,000 a year. I believe Lord Stanley has no particular turn for these sort of things, and so, when he comes to his kingdom, the chances are the aviary, &e., will be dispersed.” *

* The magnificent collection of stuffed birds has been presented to the town of Liverpool, and of itself forms a noble museum.

TO THE EEV. JOHN SYM.

“Thorny How, Oct. 2, 1849.” My deae Pastoe, — I am standing, or trying to stand, ,n a room with a score of trunks, parcels, packing boxes, and portmanteaus, and have scarcely a place for the sole f my foot. We leave this to-morrow morning. I have almost more to do (as usual with me of little things) than I can overtake, and yet I cannot help, ever and anon, going to door or window, and what pictures are all around us! A gorgeous autumn day, cool, clear, and tranquil, is brightening the ’ pastoral melancholy ’ of the green mountains, while crags, and corries, and the gorgeous woodlands, in light or shade, are — it does not matter what, for you have seen them. I passed a farewell hour yesterday with the great poet of Eydal Mount, certainly the most remarkable man, intellectually considered, alive in Britain. He is now in his eightieth year, and his wife and beloved sister are almost as advanced in years. They have no youthful scions growing up around them to support their feeble steps. It was to me a very affecting thing. to witness the great love of these three most aged people for each other — how fresh their feelings of affection, as if only now for the first time gushing forth, and unimpaired by what are so often the chilling influences of so long a life. To me this great love seemed beautiful exceedingly,

tt and is surely among the highest and holiest gilts oi God to man.”

TO HIS DAUGHTER.

“Woodville, VMh Jan. 1859.

“There is nothing going on here but frost and snow. The window soul is covered by the bodies of birds, and our outlay in moolins* is enormous. This morning I sallied forth to feed the canaries, with a hatchet in one hand, and a red-hot poker in the other. These weapons were to enable me to break up or peiforate the ice. Sometimes it came out en masse, in other casei. i required to bore a hole, having previously neated a wimole. The canaries usually bathe in the fresh cold water, the first thing they do after the frozen saucer has been melted and re-filled; and this shews surely that tneir feet are warmer than could have been expected

“Poor Mrs Chalmers died last night about half-past nine, in peace. I believe that they are an attached family, will dwell together in unity, and derive great comfort and consolation from many sources. Wlieu 1 heard of the death, I could not help turning back to page 291 of the life of her great and good husband, where, m his thirty-second year, and a few weeks before his marriage, he prays, ’ 0 God, pour Thy best blessings on. Give her ardent

* Crumbs.

MRS CHALMERS. Zi5

and decided Christianity. May she be the blessing and the joy of all around her! May her light shine while she lives, and when she dies may it prove to be a mere step, a transition in her march to a joyful eternity !; And now (alas for us that it should be so!) their place knows them no longer. If we require to write again, I will let you know how the family continue; but I suppose you will be bending your steps homewards soon.”

TO HIS DAUGHTER.

“Lairg, Sutherlandshire,
26th Mar, 1850.

“1 presume this is likely to find you at “Woodville, after vour wanderings over many lands.

‘• On Thursday morning we started from this on an exploratory voyage to the head of Loch Shin, about twenty miles from Lairg, and all the way by water. We took only one man, known to — — as ‘The Professor.’ He was for some years a gentleman’s servant in the south, and speaks the highest English in the world. Gaelic is nis mother tongue, but he won’t speak it before us if he can help it; and even then I think he speaks broke1.! Gaelic, as if he had only picked up a few words during a casual ‘tower’ in the Highlands. But we find him a most handy, obliging person, for he not only rows us all day, but sorts our things in the evening, waits upon

•it* isEa

’ -time, and never tires in his attempta
to do as On the way op we each of us lent a h

w and then with :-s, and I k

I the 1 .-trouts.

s les oi

I fowl, •: - - ’ [

. and forks
ax in
lay u; r-;. and sent up the Pro-He

irith a 1 •: a boy. whom

- - He that

pherd himself was froE Mrs ->uep-

- must ‘•

had, if tdd sul

y all h-

- - d the i irry-Tlie hut

I on the tuou: not many hundred yards

j edg s a Little form below it —

that is. a few acres me measure from the

-’ands in

—• .TV proud and in: - jing

our lofty

ben kind of place en the left
lid, an’l a 1 Om with a bed in it 01

at fire b -, and tl pke going up

a &t*t& cbimn mmon in such dwellings, i went

into the k pok hai I I

ee her looking so well, and patted the child;
f>;i the head. Til’.- children v. aougb,

an I although seven in number, none of thei
youthful v red to me to be much ab

old. Two, if not three, w as, and lay in a

of the kitchen, in the shape of ii bine

.; pair of pale washy-1 round

things, which I m told were thi canly believe ii to be impo in this

l£ 1’ to

I of the - 1 found the butler em] bis

laying hi tting out his cold fowl and

f — in short making a regular spread. We had pic

of trouts to fry, and and made, you will be

.1. Af’- r ing for

an nour Died forth to take a

iclic, 1- ‘he butler

and shepbei for the nighround a -down upon the floor,

mpoeed oi sacking rilled with good dry hay, and with both blankets and sheets, and a handsome gray plaid as a coverlet. I was voted into the single bed, while the two younger members sank deliciously into the broad shake-down, and slept, as I also did, very soundly till the morning.

“Next day I killed two f eroxes at the head of the loch,

the largest not more than five or six pounds. F had

on a much larger fish for a considerable time; but although he played well and carefully, and had him on the surface several times, where he shewed a tail-fin like a salmon’s, only bigger, the bait came out of his mouth, hooks and all, and he sank with a sullen plunge into the dark profound. This was a great disappointment to every one but himself. I think he must have been a fish from ten to twelve pounds.

“That night we returned to Creanach, ate, drank, shookdowned, and slept soundly as before. We arrived here wet and weary on Saturday night. Colonel Hunter Blair and Mr Little Gilmour were kindly waiting dinner for us, which we took at a quarter to nine.”

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“Woodville, 2ith July 18.50.

“Here we are all in our frail ordinar’, and not murh

stirring. The shilfas appeared with some young ons a

while ago; and fly off with bread and butter to them somewh.< ire among the trees, where we hear thni chirping.

“m:;;s ANrrp *%owkk3. 247

Once or twice I nave seen them with little tufts of tow upon their heads, but they generally keep themselves pretty cunningly concealed. Jackie is well, and impudent, an 1 being much drenched with to-day’s wet foliage, has, come often into the house, and has once or twice made his way to myself and table, where he arranges my notes, and turns over all the new publications. The young pigeon is get. ting large and fully fledged, and is spreading out its tail like a peacock. I have ordered out pease instead of corn, and this makes the sparrows very sulky, but is otherwise a saving. The said pigeons all eat out of my bane/, and battle with each other between my feet. Jonathan has bedded out a variety of half -grown fuschias ana pelargoniums, just coming into flower, in the vacant space on each side of the greenhouse door, which is a great improvement. One likes to see him taking up such little jobs of his own accord.

“On your return you must go in to Millbank,* and see the Crassula coccin eas, which are each as large as umbrellas, and covered with flower from top to bottom. The garden there is in excellent order throughout, but, like the (iranton-f* one, it is not in pulling order, from the want of a large supply of common things. Everything stands by itseif, and is a separate thing, as if tnere was owy one of

* The residence of Professor Si”.

+ The abode of his brother-in-law. Sir John M’Neill it ir the world, so t>*ai ». uusegay is quite out of the question. Our own useful blow of roses, honeysuckle, See., is coming to an end, although the Chinese and damasks will give us an autumnal show. The gooseberries are ripening fast, and are a larger crop than we have had for several seasons. I shall retard them on your account as much as I can; but they will not keep for ever.

“Jane Wordsworth* pays us a farewell visit to-day.

M has gone in for her, in spite of showery weather.

They will probably take the omnibus homewards at half- *>at three”

The last of Mr Wilson’s fishery voyages was in the autumn of this same 1850. With a constitution not altogether nautical, and with a liability to rheumatic and pulmonary affections which the progress of the years did not dimmish, there was considerable self-denial in these expeditions; but his kind and patriotic motive enabled him to set about them cheerily, and with but a slight degree of self-deception he persuaded himself that they were pleasure tours. As usual, he sought to enliven the home he had left behind him by minute descriptive letters, and the copiousness of such logs, often written in weariness and amidst many difficulties, is very characteristic of his tender and considerate nature. His old friend. Sir T. J). Lauder, was

* X*ie poet’s grand-daughter.

gone; but in the new Secretary of the Board, the Hon. Bouverie F. Primrose, he had still an agreeable and intelligent fellow-voyager.

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“Fraserburgh Bat, lith Sept. 1850.

“We consumed some hours at Peterhead, examining the harbour, and visiting a fishing-station of Lord Aberdeen’s, called Boddam. Some of the stations we had seen the day before’ were very curious. At one of them, called Dunies, I had climbed up the cliff to the little village above, where the people were assembled to look down ujjon us, probably expecting we should be wrecked in the boat while entering their craggy creek. After gaining the high land I made my way by a narrow ledge towards a cliff commanding a good sea view. In going along, I noticed a bundle of rags and a bonnet near it, lying a foot or two down the ledge, and just about to hang over the precipice. As the rags moved a little, I stepped down a bit, stretched out my arm, and found myself the parent of a living child. Clapping the bonnet on its head, I hauled it back towards the houses, where it was soon seized and shaken by its grandmother, who never knew it had been out, but who, I think, would never have seen it alive again if I had not chanced to pass along the ledge from which it had rolled.

“We passed most of yesterday (Friday) on shore at

Fraserburgh, calling on the curers, and afterwards got a land conveyance to take us to St Colm, Cairnburg, and Inverallochy, all stations much in need of piers or little harbours, there being frequent loss of life from want of such convenience. We have taken careful notes of the number of boats and men, and of the general character of the coast, that we may afterwards report to the powers that be, if any public grants of money are made, and their distribution left to the Board, as was recently the case with the ^6000 given to Lybster. I wish ray ‘public duties ’ had admitted of my using my rod, as there is a good stream for sea-trout close to Fraserburgh, to fish which I chanced to obtain leave some years ago from Mr Gordon of Cairnburg.

“We lie very snug in the bay here. I am writing you a line before breakfast, Mr Primrose having gone ashore this morning (Saturday) for an hour or two to see some people whom we missed yesterday. He is very active. We get sooner to bed than in Sir Thomas Lauder’s time, and this is better for us in the morning. After breakfasting, we shall explore the stations on the south side of the Moray Frith, probably taking the boat along shore, and, when the day is down, cut across to Cromarty, where we shall rest during the Sabbath.”

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“H.M.S. ‘Dasher,’ Bat of Cromarty,
Thursday Morning, 9th Sept. 1850.

.,..” Getting on board to dinner by half-past six on

Saturday, we made such way as we could to Cromarty

Bay for the night; but were overtaken by so thick a mist

that we could not see the light-houses for our guidance,

and so had to slow our engines and proceed by soundings.

When proceeding rather fast at one time, those on the

look-out heard fearful howlings in the mist, and soon

after a boat was seen just under our bows. A few seconds

more would have run her down; but the engine was

stopped in time, and the boat was picked up. There

were a couple of hands on board, and a passenger, whom

they had been trying to take across the Moray Frith from

Cromarty to Nairn, when the mist came on and they lost

their reckoning, and they were going with wind and waves

they knew not where. They had left the northern shore

about seven in the evening, and it was about one in the

morning when we picked them up. The passenger was

half dead with cold and mist; but rallied rapidly on being

regaled in the gun-room. We did not see him ourselves,

as it was dark when they were lugged on deck, and they

were dropped again off shore by day-light. We got into

Cromarty Bay in the course of the night — at least, I found myself there when I rose and looked around me on the Sabbath morning.

“I have here a curious kind of association with Thorny-How, which I find arises from my having written a chapter of some kind or other about Cromarty, while there in 1 842, for ‘The Voyage.’ We went ashore on Sunday soon after breakfast, Mr Primrose volunteering to go with me to the Free Church. But, on making inquiry, we found there was Gaelic only in the mornings; so we went, in the first place, to the Established Church, and to the Free in the afternoon. The latter has a very large conoreo-ation; in which, however, I was sorry to find there had recently been a split — a minority, who were not ’ edified ’ by the person called, having swarmed off and built a churchlet of their own.

“On making my way from the church to the Dasher, who should I meet but Hugh Miller, who sidled up, and stood talking on one leg till I was obliged to go on board. He has discovered some peculiar fossil beast among the crags lately, and was looking wonderfully fresh and hearty. I should have liked a few hours’ stroll with him hereabouts very much; but we have too many things on hand at this advanced season, and — duty before pleasure.

“On Monday morning, the 16th, we had to retrace our course almost as far as Banff, where we had left off our explorations on Saturday evening. (I may mention that

MR SHANKS OF BUCKIE. ^53

the Dasher is again under weigh, and her engines thumping the table like a bull. This is the chief disadvantage of a steamer compared with the Princess Royal; the tremulous motion makes it very difficult to write.) We carefully inspected Wliitehills, Portsoy, Sandend, Port Knockie, Findochtie, Port Essie, Buckie, Port Gordon, Speymouth, Lossiemouth, Hopman, and Burghead. This took us two days. On the Tuesday morning we went ashore at Buckie, chiefly to see the Free Church clergyman, Mr Shanks, who takes a great interest in the fishing population, and has been extremely useful to them in every way. Unfortunately, he was from home, and a good many miles oft’; so we could only leave our cards. His old housekeeper was like to cry, and implored us to come back in the afternoon, as Mr Shanks would be so much disappointed at missing ’ the Government.’ I suppose she took us for Lord John Russell and Sir George Grey at the very least. We find the man-of-war in the offing, and the cut of the boat’s crew when we land, have a great and beneficial effect. The coast-guard men are always on the look-out when we go ashore, and aid us in every way,

“We were about ten hours each of these days in an open boat, without meat or drink, under a broiling sun, ever and anon jumping on jetties, jabbering to men, women, and children, who gather and gape around us, evidently thinking that we are the wonderful wild beasts, and not themselves. Then we have to climb up sand-banks and rocky steeps, to visit the villages perched upon their tops, and from which we obtain a good bird’s-eye view of the rocky creeks below. The ’ pursuit of herrings under difficulties ’ is really wonderful; and I feel every day more and more convinced that a few thousand pounds of public money could not be better bestowed than in aiding these poor and industrious, though occasionally wild and wayward people to overcome the natural disadvantages of their situation.

“On Wednesday we examined the breakwater at Nairn — a work of the Board’s. To get on it was by no means easy. It consists of a lengthened pile of stones projecting into the sea, and cased or boarded over with wood. We thought there would be steps up it of some kind, but there were not; so, after reaching it in the boat, we had to climb up by putting our claws and the points of our toes into any little openings we could find here and there between the timbers. It was rather difficult, but we got up at last; and had we fallen backwards into the sea, the boat, which was hanging on as well as ourselves, could easily have picked us up. Talking of picking up — I am glad we were of some use to a fellow-creature about this time. Just as we were leaving the Dasher, and our gig was alongside, we saw a pilot boat, with three hands in it approaching a schooner which was making for Nairn harbour, off which the Dasher had heaved-to. By some accident the main-boom of the schooner struck the mast of the pilot-boat, and upset her, throwing the three men into the water. Two of them caught a rope thrown from the schooner, and got into her; but the third drifted away with the boat, of the keel of which he contrived to get hold. But his position was most precarious; and had our gig not instantly shot out like an arrow, there is no doubt he would have been drowned. They were just in time to get hold of him. They were unable to right the boat, but took the exhausted man to the schooner, and then carried us to our- breakwater.” ....

TO MISS H. WILSON.

“H.MS. Dasher, Scrabster Roads, Thurso,
Thursday Morning, 2§th Sept. 1850.

“On Monday we made a good run to Wick. Foreseeing that business might detain us there possibly for more than a day, we started off a man to Thurso to pick up our letters and papers there. With these he returned to us at Wick early on Tuesday morning, after walking to

and fro his forty miles and upwards. M ’s notes are a

great treat, and last an enormous time. I take them out constantly when I have nothing else to do, and find a new

±56 :lruises.

meaning in almost every word. Several little enigmas remain, and not a few delicious little bits that I would not decipher for the world. They read just as distinctly when turned upside down as any other way, and this is a great advantage at sea in stormy weather. Indeed, I am convinced we could never have got through the Pentland Frith without them. I shall have a spell at them again as soon as I can, and am determined never to give up the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.

“On Tuesday the 24th we took the Dasher out of Wick Bay, ami, running southwards a bit, landed and inspected various stations, such as Dunbeath, Lybster, and Latheronwheel. Lybster is the place for which we got a government grant of dCu’OOO, for deepening the harbour and extending the pier, so that boats may run in even at low water. They are getting on with their excavations, and all concerned seem to regard the grant as an immense boon. Nobody who has not examined the dreadful barrier of rocky precipice which forms almost the entire coast along this eastern shore, can conceive the danger which boats run when seeking their little creeks with the wind on shore. On the J 9th of August two years ago, more than a hundred men were drowned, and many thousand pounds of property in nets and boats destroyed, in consequence of a sudden storm along the Caithness shore. Such disasters can never be altogether prevented, but there is no doubt that a low- water pier and place of shelter in some central place will be the means of saving life.

“Yesterday the secretary had a good deal to do on shore, and the wind not suiting for an exploration of the creeks by boating, I made up my mind to trust myself to a land gig, under the guidance of a fishing officer, and drive ten or twelve miles along the southern coast, so as to complete the exploration of the previous day. In this way I carefully examined Occumster, Clyth, and Whallingoe. The latter is the most extraordinary little harbour of refuge I ever saw. It is nothing more than a horrible chasm bit ween two dreadful precipices, ending in-shore in another precipice. But on one side a sort of zig-zag pathway has been cut out of the rock, and leads down to a natural ledge supporting a kind of rough causeway, which they call a pier. Who they are I can scarcely say, for, on looking down into the dark abyss, all I saw was the heaving water and a few sea-gulls gliding over it far below me. They were silvery bright in the sunshine, but seemed to suffer a ghostly eclipse when they circled within the shadow of the jaws of death. Leaving the fishino- officer in his ffi° and perched quite as near the edge of the precipice as suited either him or his horse, I made my own way downwards by the zig-zag staircase. The whole thing is very curious and striking, both as a work of art and a piece of natural grandeur. There were no boats in, but, on descending to the lowest ledge, I found a forlorn old gray-headed man, of a very wizard-like aspect, sitting among a few herring barrels. A sort of twilight gloom pervades the place even at noon-day. You look upwards between two enormous precipices to a strip of sky, the contrast of colours being marked and peculiar. The deep green sea is at your feet, then upwards a depth of darkness, till the eye catches the sunshine on the overhanging crags of one side, the other being as black as pitch, and then above all the bright blue sky seen as if from the bottom of a dungeon from whence there could be no escape. However, I did escape, though with a heaving chest, as I toiled my upward way, lying down sometimes on my hands and knees, both to rest exhausted nature and to enjoy a peep over the rocky ledges at those extraordinary prison walls.”

TO HIS DAUGHTER

“Kyle Sku, in Sutherland,
Saturday, 2&th Sept. 1850.

“I shall take it for granted that you have by this time returned from Billholm, and are now once more at Woodville. You have no idea what trouble my friends and I have had with your letters — how we have turned them upside down, and read them from the other side, holding them up to the candle. In the latter way your sentiments really became quite transparent. However, there are some little tid-bits of which the rueaniug is more than doubtful still, though I am very sure that they have a meaning both broad and deep.

“On Thursday afternoon we went ashore at Thurso, and passed the evening with Sir George Sinclair and his family at Thurso Castle. It is a nice, rather peculiar, oddish-fashioned place, close upon the sea-beach, quite treeless and unadorned, but pleasant though not picturesque in fine weather, the Bay of Thurso looking like a lake when the tide is in, and bringing the great sea-waters close up under the windows. Sir George is extremely kind and devoted to the poor and sick of the neighbourhood. A carriage came for us from the inn at a pretty early hour, as we had to drive round the bay to what is called Scrabster Roads, where the steamers lay at anchor. We had previously packed up all our traps, and shipped them to the Lucifer, having taken leave of Captain Parks. This we did with regret, for he has been in every way most kind, obliging, and attentive. He is a very pleasant-looking person, quick and active.

“The Lucifer is a much larger and more commodious vessel, with a beautiful cabin as big as a small drawing-room, finished off with solid mahogany doors, and excellent state-rooms. She is commanded by a very gentlemanly young officer of the name of Jackson, a nephew of Mr White Melville.

‘•We left Scrabster Roads yesterday morning at an early hour, steamed all along the southern coast of Sutherland with a fresh wind and a favourable tide, both sea and sky in great spirits, everything being so bright and beautiful, from the sparkling spray below to the embattled clouds above. So on we drove at a great rate, myself standing chiefly on the paddle-box, and shewing off greatly by naming all the headlands as we passed along, to the great astonishment of the southern sailors, all of whom, except a pilot, were new to the northern regions.

I dared not enter Loch Eribol to call on C M

who has shooting quarters and may still be there; but after rounding Cape Wrath we hugged the land for the sake of smooth water, slipt along sweetly, and in good time ran up to Kyle Sku, where we cast anchor, dined, lay all night, and are now as snug as junipers.

“It was at this place that the Princess Royal ran her no.ie against the side of a hill in 1841, as duly recorded in Wilson’s ‘Voyage.’ Having been beat in my upward passage on that occasion, I was the more anxious to complete my exploration now, so to-day (Saturday) we took a four- oared gig and started immediately after breakfast. This narrow land-locked water where we now he branches off at it3 upper extremity into two distinct lochs, called

Glen Coul and Glen Dim. We ascended the former, which at its upper end is called Loch Beg. The scenery is savage, — hard, sterile, rocky mountains all around, with deep valleys between filled wp by the waters of a somewhat sullen sea. We landed at the far-inland head of Loch Beg. and after walking about a mile among craggy mounds, peat hags, mosses, and monstrous stones lying in most admired disorder here and there, we came to a greener flat, a kind of ‘blind tarn, encompassed on all sides by barren mountains. But from a great, gray, broken, precipitous front of one of these, without either bank or birch-tree, but sheer over the mountain side, there rolls a fine far-sounding cataract, which breaks among projecting ledges into a thousand silvery streams. It is one of the loftiest falls I ever saw, and gives a grand finish to that rock-surrounded vale. By the by, while sitting on a stone and pretending to be one, while ashore this morning, a fine golden eagle flew over my head. He never saw me, but soon perceiving Mr Primrose and Captain Jackson somewhat in advance, he soared suddenly upwards, took two or three grand wheels just over the cataract, and then disappeared.

“I have already mentioned that the Lucifer is a much finer and more commodious vessel than the Dasher. She has fifty-three hands on board, besides the commander and his officers, surgeon, &c. The only thing I miss here, compared with the Dasher, is the trumpeter, who played ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Rule Britannia’ every morning at eight and every evening at six. This sounded sweet upon the wild and lonesome waters. I have nearly worn the front of my hat off with returning salutes. I can’t go ashore for a minute to look at the smallest piece of fishguts and return again without the marines on deck grounding arms, and sundry other salutations being gone through. If some little barefoot opens the door to me when I get back, I shall see a difference. Stili home is home, though not upon the deep.”

“Kyle Sku, Sunday. “By way of a variety, we had a good deal of thunder and lightning during the night, some very heavy showers both of rain and hail, with the wind howling so loud that I am sure it must have a sore throat by this time. The weather is still very gusty, and we shall probably not leave the ship, both because it is windy and the day is Sunday. We have just had morning prayers read by the captain, the whole ship’s company being assembled between decks, the men in very trim attire, having been previously mustered in divisions, and inspected on deck, the officers all in full fig, with their gold-laced caps and epaulettes. The service was very interesting, and the Liturgy puts it in the power of a commander to keep holy the Sabbath-day more effectively than could be done in our way, without an officiating minister. We are now settled again in the cabin quietly at our books, of which there are several very good ones on board, and so I shall not set a bad example by any longer continuing my Sunday log. I hope we may be able to cut across to Stornoway to-morrow; but the strong south-west wind which still prevails, and the consequent sea upon the Minch, may very possibly debar our running out.”

TO HIS DAUGHTER.

“Oban, Friday, Oct. 4, 1850.

“We lay very snugly at Kyle Sku for a couple of days. While writing there in the cabin we had a heavy fall of rain and hail, which almost darkened our daylights; and it was a curious coincidence that, in turning-over some papers in my desk during that portentous interval, I fell upon an unanswered note from Professor Airy, the Astronomer Royal, in which, respecting his progress through Sutherland, he says, ‘In crossing from Kyle Sku to Loch In ver we had a storm of wind and rain far surpassing in its kind anything that I had ever seen.’

“After a quiet Sunday night we left Kyle Sku early on Monday, and made a successful run to Stornoway. Amongst other estates, Mr Matheson, who lately returned from the east, has bought this great island of Lews, about sixty miles long, and containing seventeen thousand tenants, great and small. The kindness and hospitality of both Mr and Mrs Matheson are overflowing, if not unexampled. When we called, they would not hear of our not dining and spending the remainder of the day with them; and when they heard that Mr Primrose and I had to visit a fishing station near the Butt, or north end of the island, they insisted on our bringing our things ashore with us at dinner-time, that we might sleep all night at the castle, and start more comfortably next morning. Meanwhile, Mr Matheson arranged that the factor should accompany us to the station in question, which we afterwards found to be an immense advantage, as he knew all the places, and could speak all the languages of the Lews.

“The castle is a very imposing pile, built just above the village or town of Stornoway, and, when viewed from the sea, seeming to overrule it in a very lordly way. It occupies the exact site of Seaforth Lodge, the more humble dwelling of the now extinct chiefs of the clan Mackenzie, who bore the title of Lord Seaforth. You walk under an arched portico, leading into a handsome entrancehall, and this hall is continued almost all through the interior of the castle, from end to end, in the form of a lengthened and lofty corridor, from one side of which branch off the various public rooms. We were led from one middle-sized drawing-room, very handsomely furnished, into another smaller one, a kind of snuggery or parlour, where we found Mr Matheson at a desk-table writing, and his wife not far off with a book in her hand.

“We got back to the castle at half-past seven, the dinner hour, and found that a number of people had been assembled to meet us. Most of them must have

been summoned since two o’clock of that same day

Then we had Lord Campbell, the Chief -Justice of England, and his daughter, and Mr Scarlett, a son of Lord Abinger. These were staying at the castle. I was next Lord Campbell when the ladies retired, and found him very pleasant and courteous. He was so obliging as to praise the ‘. Voyage, and said he had just been reading, with great interest, the account of St Kilda. Meanwhile, the piper in full array was blowing his very life out in the corridor. He was asked ere long into the room, and entered in tremendous puff playing ‘The Campbells are coming,’ which was thought very clever and appropriate, cbiefly, I suppose, because the said Campbells were just going away.

“On the morning of Tuesday the 1st of October, we were down stairs soon after six, found all kinds of tea and coffee, breads and venison chops, ready for us hot and hot; and in a very few minutes after we had set to, under the auspices of the factor, Mr Matheson appeared to see that all was right. He accompanied us to the portico, where we embarked in a handsome double-seated dog-cart with a couple of gallant grays, driven by the factor, a little groom accompanying us to take care of the beasts during our inspections. I heard Mr Matheson at breakfast time desiring the butler to fill the sandwich box, and put it with some old .sherry in the dog-cart. This was very right!

“We started, and drove for several hours over, it must be confessed, a most bleak and barren country, not a tree to be seen, neither rock nor mountain — nothing but black moorland, with here and there some long thin grass whistling in the wind, or a forlorn patch of oats or barley seeking a precarious existence from the spongy soil. Even the blooming heather, which elsewhere so often throws its purple splendour over the mountain wilderness, seems dry and shrivelled. But on nearing the northern extremity of the island, we came upon a good deal of improved land, and there is no doubt Mr M. will ere long effect a considerable change. Most of the huts are like the ancient St Kilda ones, or worse; but he is rebuilding many of them, and forcing the people to be comfortable. After driving about twenty miles over the wilderness, we came to a snug farm-house with stacks of hay and corn, enclosures of turnips and potatoes, and fields of grass and clover. We here took the farmer’s ponies, leaving our own couple to recover from the process of perspiration, and drove seven or eight miles further on, crossing the base of the Butt, and visiting Calligol and other fishing creeks and stations. The people scarcely speak English, so without the factor we should have made little and unproductive progress. I may mention, as a proof of the rarity of shrubs here, that the people never cut the dockens, but let them grow as tall as possible. You see them everywhere, like little brown poplars among the stubble, after the plots of barley have been shorn. At a certain time they pull them up, twist them about in some way, and eventually make them into baskets to carry bait, &c, to the fishing. It was when we were lunching on venison sandwiches, and taking them out of a beautiful basket with a flap over it, all made of beautifully plaited cane- work, that the factor overheard one of the lookers-on say in Gaelic, ‘Eh, what grand dockens they mun hae in their country! ‘We got back to the farm-house about four. There we found our horses at their hay and corn, and we had not sat two minutes in a neat parlour, with a table-cloth ready laid, and white as snow, when in came a large tureen of sumptuous barley-broth, two large dishes of potatoes, a beautiful little leg of roasted mutton, a neat plate of sliced cold beef, and two fowls nicely roasted. These we immediately consumed, took one turn of whiskytoddy, ordered our gallant grays, shook hands with the farmer and his wife, and departed, having still some rocky havens to explore before dark. In fact, the sun had actually set before we reached the last one, and it was rather disagreeable, and not a little dangerous, to be crawling over slimy dulse and tangle, among tremendous bigstones, with pools of clear sea-water between them, pretending in the twilight to be only sand. The most ’ disgusting’ part of it, as you would say, was passing from one rock to another over a fresh- water run, by means of a narrow plank not quite firm at one end, and really not broader than this note paper. I had to put my feet across it, walk sideways inch by inch, and was very nearly down once or twice before I was over. However, we all did it at last, both going and returning. It was nearly pitch dark, as it had become very cloudy, before we got back to the highway, where we had left the carriage, and where a couple of nice bright lamps had in the meantime been lighted. There was a large village at this place, the houses being much fuller thai usual in consequence of groups of people returning from the communion and the after preaching. We looked into one or two of the houses, which were filled with smoke and wild precarious-looking people, with dingy complexions and tangled locks. We could scarcely see them, except that now and

then an arm and shoulder were protruded through the dim atmosphere, and plunged into a large trough full of potatoes standing near the fire, a large, deep, red, flaraeless peat one, placed in the middle of the floor. The room was rather spacious, and by degrees you could make out various forms of men, women, and children in the dingy distance. They are said to be very kind to each other, and certainly on this occasion the supply of potatoes seemed ample. They had been emptied from the boiler into a large trough, into which the children of the mist ever and anon extended their tarry paws. At one time, I found somebody poking me between the side and arm, and on turning round I found it was only a cow wanting its accustomed share of the peat-fire, and to attain this object it was very gently boring me with its left horn. Several other cows, I afterwards found, by treading on their tails and toes, were lying about the room, there being here no invidious distinction between the housing of man and beast.

“About nine at night we came to a kind of farm-house, near a lonely creek by the sea-shore, called Dalbeg, and there we turned in. The gudewife made a thousand apologies for want of preparation, but she soon produced tea, trouts, honey, biscuits, scones, and oat-cakes. These we despatched. On looking out, the sky seemed on fire, as if the sun had come back again with a blue eye, after kicking up a row in the west country. It was the aurora in great magnificence. I went out for half an hour to enjoy it and a cigar, and then returning, Mr P and I mounted a little staircase, entered a little bed-room with a large fire, and two neat little box beds, very white and clean. Into them we turned and fell asleep. In the middle of the night I gave the board between me and Mr

P ’s head a violent kick, making him roar out, ‘Halloo!

what’s that? ‘I said nothing, as it could not be me, though it might have been my heels; and next morning, when I asked him if he had heard a very curious noise in the night-time, he said, No, and that he had never slept sounder in his life.

“We left Dalbeg at six in the morning of Wednesday (Oct 2d), and took a stage to Loch Roag before breakfast. We. there fared sumptuously, and starting again over a v. lid country full of lochs, reached Stornoway at noon. As had been agreed, a four-oared boat was waiting for us; the commander was on the look-out; and Mr Matheson came down to the quay to bid us good-bye. We had posted nearly eighty miles since the preceding morning, had been fed and housed, and had nothing to pay for anything. It is a good country yon to travel in. Just as we were taking our departure, Mrs Matheson sent us a haunch of venison, four brace of grouse, and as many vegetables as will serve ourselves and the ship’s company, about fifty in number, for several days.”

Of this year the record may be fitly closed by the following letter to his young friend, Miss Taylor: —

“Woodtille, 22d October 1850.” I am glad now that you did not pay us a visit last summer, because by this time it would have been over, and you might have found it so tiresome as to have never renewed it, and so we would have parted perhaps for ever — a thought too mournful to be indulged in during a melancholy autumn-day, when all I see before me is a jackdaw moping over some withered leaves. But next summer is still to come. I shall be another year down hill, you another year up. The woods of Killiecrankie will probably be much the same as they have been for several seasons, nature being rather a renewable kind of thing, in spite of floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes. By the by, a friend of mine was passing through Killiecrankie several months ago, on the top of Her Majesty’s mail, when an enormous beech-tree, which had been long declining from the hillside, gave way in a moment, and came down upon the road head-foremost with such a crash as had not been heard in that country for a thousand years. It took several woodmen several hours to clear a path for man and beast; and there is now a piece of bright blue sky looking down upon the brightened verdure of a mossy glade, where formerly the roe- deer might have screened themselves alike from summer’s heat and winter’s snow. Now, suppose you had actually come to Scotland last summer, and that your mother had been sketching that very tree at that very moment, the consequences are more easily imagined than described. So let us be thankful for the past, and look forward hopefully to the future.

“The meeting of the British Association came on and went off as usual, and occupied our time and thoughts so far. I believe it was a good meeting. At all events the weather was splendid, and kept the philosophers, who sometimes lose their tempers like weaker people, in great good humour; and there were lots of dinners going, good and bad. I was delighted to see my old friend Sir John Richardson looking so welL Professor Airy was going to Sutherland; so I gave him an unpublished map for his guidance, and such personal directions as I considered useful. When his tour was ended, he wrote to me from Inverness, with thanks for my map and information — adding, that three things had greatly struck him in that northern country: 1st, the extraordinary kindness of the people; 2dly, the wildness and majesty of the scenery, 1 elsewhere unequalled;’ 3dly, ’ the ferocity of the weather;’ and then he describes the water-spouts and storms of hail which beset him and his wife as they proceeded in their dog-cart over the wilderness.”