COUNTIES OF EOSS AND CROMARTY. 199 



green pasture, with a very little heath intermixed. Crossing at 

 the top of Loch Luig, into which falls the river Luig, we enter a 

 very fine grazing strath, in which are situated the fine farms of 

 Killilan and Blackwater occupied by Mr Brown. We are now 

 in the parish of Kintail, and proceeding up the shore of Loch 

 Duich, on either side of which there are some very fine grazing 

 lands, principally green, but steep and rocky and very grand, we 

 come into full view of Inverniate House, the property of Mr 

 Matheson of Ardross, and beautifully situated on the east side 

 of the loch. 



A few miles right inland from this point lies the fine graz- 

 ing farm of Lienassie, occupied by Mr Alexander Maclennan. 

 It extends to about 14,000 acres, is on the estate of Mr Matheson 

 of Ardross, and is rented at L.815. The farm is steep and 

 mountainous, but the pasture is mostly green and of very fine 

 quality. It is stocked wdth very fine Cheviot ew^es and w^ethers. 

 Mr Maclennan winters both his ewe and wether hogs in the low 

 lands of Eoss-shire, Inverness-shire, and sometimes Aberdeen- 

 shire, and also sends away for nearly three months in the winter 

 a considerable number of his " Dinmonts." The remainder of 

 the flock is kept all the year round on Lienassie. In this 

 neighbourhood generally the land is well adapted for Cheviots, 

 but there are now several "hhsels" of Black-faced sheep 

 throughout the district. The large farm of Invershiel, tenanted 

 by Mr Macrae, and stocked principally by Cheviots, lies at the 

 top of Loch Duich, while a little further south is situated Mr 

 Andrew Mitchell's fine farm of Eatagan on the estate of 

 Glenshiel, belonging to Mr Baillie of Dochfour, extending to 

 about 15,000 acres, and rented at L.71o. The pasture is a 

 mixture of heath and grass, affording abundance of food in 

 summer, but rather backward in spring, there being no " moss- 

 ing " or fresli growth till rather late for giving sheep a good 

 start. The hills are very high and rocky, and intersected with 

 rapid running burns, which in wet weather come down very large 

 and are apt to sweep away sheep. The stock is Cheviot sheep, 

 partly ewes and partly wethers, and a few Highland cattle not 

 bred on the farm. Mr iMitchell smears the whole of his sheep, 

 with the exception of a few hogs sent away to lowland winter- 

 ings, and the process of smearing usually continues for about 

 tliree weeks from the 6th or Sth of October. The wethers are 

 dipt about the 18tli of June, and the ewes about ten days later. 

 The older sheep, with the exception of part of the " Dinmonts," 

 are wintered at Eatagan, and all the wether hoggs and about 

 three-fourths of the ewe Iiolt'^s "o to the lowlands for wintering. 

 In very stormy weather the wethers on the high ground have to 

 be taken down to the low ground, which is usually preserved for 

 the ewes, and they are kept there till the snow storm subsides. 



