1886-87.] Jottings on a Ramble in Wester Ross. 27 



almost to a man Free Churchmen, the local F.C. minister exer- 

 cising a very great influence over them. The whole popula- 

 tion, especially the young women and children, have very sal- 

 low complexions, caused, I suppose, by a want of iron in the 

 blood, their diet being too exclusively fish, without the addition 

 of butcher's-meat. Exposure to the weather gradually causes 

 this sallow hue to disappear. The Gaelic language is univer- 

 sally spoken, the bulk of the women and the older men being 

 unable to speak English : the children are taught only English 

 at school, but use the Gaelic almost exclusively as soon as they 

 are outside the school. They go about without any head-cover- 

 ing, and are very scantily clothed, the boys' dress consisting 

 generally only of a shirt, jacket, and short ragged kilt. Those 

 children we conversed with were very intelligent, and their 

 manners were very much superior to those of the children ot 

 a corresponding age and class in the Lowlands. One very 

 pleasing feature of their character was their non-molestation of 

 the birds ; and I was much struck with the utter want of fear 

 in many of the smaller birds, such as the yellow-hammer, which 

 hopped about almost among our feet. 



The inland lochs, before referred to, are nearly all full of 

 trout, and in most of them the white water-lily (Nyviphcca alba) 

 grows in great beauty and profusion. Lobelia Dortmannii is 

 another plant found very plentifully in them ; while round 

 their banks Drosera anglica and D. rotundifolia grow in great 

 luxuriance. On a warm sunny day large numbers of dragon- 

 flies skim along their surface. In the small streams issuing 

 from these lochs Chara and Myriophyllum grow plentifully ; 

 while Batrachospermum and fresh-water sponges are less com- 

 monly found. In the wood, before referred to, in front of the 

 village, we found Hymenophyllum uuilaterale growing plenti- 

 fully on the northern sides of large stones and on the trunks 

 of decayed trees. Mosses and lichens were plentiful everywhere. 

 I searched in Loch-na-Creige one afternoon for diatoms, and 

 on going over them carefully after getting back to town, I 

 found I had collected specimens of the following : Tabellaria, 

 Epithemia, Nitzschia, Navicula, Cocconema, and Gomphonema. 

 I also found a good many Desmids, chiefly forms of Closterium 

 and Cosmarium. 



There was a small island, just beyond the corner of the bay. 



