HIS ASTRONOMICAL STUDIES: STAR-GAZING. IOI 



" moon-struck madness," in their eyes. And such annoyances 

 were frequent and trying enough. Hence he was obliged 

 to seek seclusion at a distance, whither their fears of the 

 dark and its denizens effectually prevented their following 

 him, or at an hour when even the restless spirit of fun was 

 conquered by the more potent god of sleep. 



While he stayed at Milldourie, close by Paradise, he had 

 very good sites for stellar observation, on the hills around 

 that beautiful hollow, where the clearness of the sky in a 

 frosty night would be intensified by the dark foliage of the 

 trees. For wider outlook, the hilltop near Cor,nab6, eight 

 hundred feet above Paradise/ wlitfre'he lived for years, 

 was free of trees, and he was often fotmd tfye^ Nvfren most 

 were beneath the cosy blankets; while just 'above this, 

 Cairn William, double the height, without a tree for more 

 than two hundred feet from its summit, was a splendid 

 point of vantage, commanding an uninterrupted view of the 

 whole heavens above, and a wonderfully impressive prospect 

 of the darkened world below, with Benachie in front and 

 the deep Don between. 



It was most certainly no wonder that, in those days, 

 when science was quite unheard of amongst the common 

 people, a man who pursued such unearthly gazing at these 

 uncanny hours should be thought to be more than 

 queer, and to be decidedly affected by the moon to which 

 he paid such absurd devotion. Hunting for weeds was 

 sufficient to rouse suspicion, but this glowering nightly at 

 the stars more than completed the proof. The man was 

 " mad " or " wud "or " next door to it." 



Akin to his astronomical pursuits, was the then common 

 study of Dialling. When clocks and watches were com- 



