8 
‘* My lord, I know your noble ear 
Woe ne’er assails in vain ; 
Embolden’d thus, I beg you'll hear 
Your humble slave complain. 
‘* Here, foaming down the shelvy rocks, 
In twisting strength I rin; 
There, high my boiling terrent smokes, 
Wide-roaring o’er a lin: 
'* Enjoying large each spring and well, 
As nature gave them me, 
Tam, altho’ I say ’t mysel, 
Worth gaun a mile to see. 
** Would, then, my noblest master please 
To grant my highest wishes, 
He’ll shade my banks wi’ towering trees, 
And bonny spreading bushes. 
** Let lofty firs, and ashes cool, 
My lowly banks o’erspread, 
And view, deep-blending in the pool, 
Their shadows’ wat’ry bed! 
** Let fragrant birks in woodbines drest 
My craggy eliffs adorn ; 
And, for the little songster’s nest, 
The close-embow’ring thorn. 
‘* Delighted doubly, then, my lord, 
You'll wander on my banks, 
And listen mony a grateful bird 
Return you tuneful thanks.” 
Onwards through Glen Garry the scenery bears a truly alpine 
aspect, and presents the same grandly rugged mountainous character 
through the Pass of Drumochter, at the head of which, on the 
boundary between Perth and Inverness, the railway reaches its 
summit-level, at an altitude of 1484 feet. The run through the 
deer forest of Drumochter,—“ the cold ridge”—down Glentruim, 
was wild and desolate, broken only by a glimpse of civilisation at 
Dalwhinaie, until the upper valley of the Spey was reached near 
Newtonmore. The route now lay down Strathspey, and every 
mile of it became more beautiful and richly clad with woodlands, 
chiefly natural forests of the Scots fir. The capital of Badenoch, 
Kingussie,—‘“‘ the head of the fir wood,’—a small but thriving 
and busy place in summer, was seen on the left as we stopped at 
the station, and on the right, at a short distance away, the 
picturesque ruins of Ruthven Barracks stood out prominently on 
