IN THE HIGHLANDS 103 



who died when out of water, got rather a start when one 

 of them, which I poked, opened his mouth and gave an 

 alarming roar, making me feel quite sorry for him and 

 his . They were of all sizes, most of them about twenty to 

 twenty-four feet long, but some were down to four feet, 

 and in several places in the mud I could have taken 

 up bowls of milk that had run out of the mother whales. 

 One of them opened its mouth and spat out an eight 

 or nine pound salmon as fresh as if taken out of a net, 

 and I doubt not it made a dinner for some people that 

 day, after having itself dined with a whale. It was 

 evidently a salmon that intended to go up the River 

 Creed, but had fallen in with the school of whales as 

 they passed along, and had very naturally been gobbled 

 up. The whole of the townsfolk were busy as bees 

 making sure that there was no risk of any of the whales 

 swimming out to sea again at the next high tide, and in 

 due time slices of whale were being boiled for oil in every 

 hole and corner of the town. For many a day every- 

 thing smelt, if it did not taste, of whale oil ! It was a 

 wild mess, ending most childishly in each whale being 

 towed out to sea after its blubber was pared off 

 and cast adrift, whereas if made into manure it 

 would have made a great piece of land grateful for 

 years." 



When I was ten years old I paid my first visit to Lews 

 Castle with my mother, accompanied by our keeper, 

 and I brought my new little rifle. We were sent to 

 Morsgail, the deer-forest on the west side of the island, 

 about thirty miles away, and were to remain there some 



