A HIGHLAND LAIRD 29 



bargain. So there was a good deal to soften the 

 separation to him when emigration came into fashion 

 among his neighbours, and he decided to try the 

 experiment. He was reluctant to part with the 

 Donalds and the Duncans and their families, whose 

 fathers had sat under his, and followed them to the 

 field in clan feuds and civil broils from time im- 

 memorial. But it was clearly for the good of both 

 parties ; and he was bound to consider the prospects 

 of his children as well as the feelings of his clansmen. 

 Sheep-farmers from the south were shifting northwards, 

 and there was a great and growing demand for grazing. 

 Highland shootings were coming into favour with 

 southern millionaires, and lands where leave to shoot 

 used to be had for the asking were fetching rising 

 rents in the market. So droves of the aboriginal 

 Celts were consigned to the good offices of a shipping 

 agent on the Broomielaw, and sent forth from the 

 Clyde to try their fortunes in the Canadas. To this 

 day you may trace the foundations of their houses in 

 valleys, by the sides of the mountain brooks, and 

 along the loch and the salmon-stream that winds 

 through the haughs of the strath. 



Doubtless this emigration to another continent was 

 for the best. At all events, the present laird has no 

 reason to regret it from a pecuniary point of view. 

 He draws 1,500 a year from the sheep-grazings in 

 Strathernan and Strathbran ; and the grouse-shooting 

 over the same ground is worth about as much more to 

 him. He has 1,800 on a long lease for his deer-forest 



