EXTRACTS FROM DIARIES. 



199 



sheets of water, deluging the whole face of the country ; the road 

 was covered with water, and every rivulet was swollen into a 

 fierce torrent, bearing stones, and earth, and peat along with its 

 turbid, coffee-coloured waters. Add to all this the night soon set 

 in intensely dark. I hurried on, assisted by the storm on my back, 

 till at length I came to the rivers, which, happily, were still 

 fordable, though sufficiently deep and rapid, and every moment 



becoming worse. After this the rain became heavier than I think 

 I ever saw it before (unless in the tropics during the rainy 

 season) ; it was difficult to keep the road in consequence of the 

 darkness, but the hollow rumbling of the water pouring into the 

 bog holes by the roadside gave warning of the danger of a false 

 step. Happily the twinkling light from the window of Kinloch 

 Inn was now glimmering through the darkness and storm across 

 the head of Loch Sciidain, and after a vigorous push for about a 



