UP THE GLEN 159 



a tendency to increase the number of leaflets 

 indefinitely. 



There are ragged glens, which shoot up a 

 majestic peak here, and are comparatively tame 

 there. The strength of this one lies in its cumu- 

 lative impressiveness. Nowhere sensational, it is 

 everywhere calmly majestic. It gains upon the 

 spirit by degrees, until it takes full possession. On 

 entering, one feels that he is constantly passing on 

 to something greater. On returning, one feels that 

 he is being let down, so to speak, to the plain. 



A few scattered houses appear, in a magnificent 

 amphitheatre. One must concentrate his atten- 

 tion before he can see them, so little are they 

 in comparison with their surrounding. There I 

 must stay; if anywhere, under a roof. The first 

 cottage is not promising. The door is shut, the 

 chimney smokeless ; a black-and-white pig is gar- 

 dening in the front plot; the knock yields only 

 the echo of an empty house. Never mind ! the 

 ground is dry, the heather springy, and I can sleep 

 a mile or two farther on, in the solitude of hills. 



A second application is somewhat more success- 

 ful. There is a room, not in this cottage, but in 

 some older structure behind, of whose accommo- 

 dation the woman speaks with perfect plainness 



