16 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



Eleven miles farther on we came to a small inn, at a place 

 call. -.1 Altan-nun-cealgach, a most difficult and unpronounce- 

 able Gsu'lic iiiiuie, and one which I cannot be sure of spelling 

 right. The meaning of it is the " Burn of the Deceiver." 

 The origin of the name, as it was told me, is amusing and 

 characteristic enough. The place is situated in a part of 

 Ross-shire which intrudes into the adjoining county of 

 Sutherland in a very unceremonious manner, the cause of 

 which was as follows : In a dispute between the respective 

 proprietors of that part of Koss-shire and Sutherlandshire, 

 the marches were to be determined by reference to an old 

 inhabitant, who, being either by clanship or bribery in the 

 interest of the Ross-shire laird, came to this spot to decide 

 the question with the soles of his shoes filled with earth 

 from the interior of Ross-shire, the wily old fellow by this 

 means saving himself all scruples of conscience when he 

 swore most positively that he stood on Ross-shire ground. 

 Standing on Ross-shire ground in this manner, he pointed 

 out a boundary most convenient to his employer, the Ross- 

 shire laird. So ran the tale as it was told me ; and unde 

 derivatur the name of Altan-nan-cealgach, which it still holds. 

 Close to the door of the, inn is a fine loch, in which are 

 great numbers of small trout and char, and also plenty of 

 the large lake-trout, or Salmo ferox. We fished for an hour 

 or two, and caught a good dish of trout, and one char ; a 

 very unusual occurrence, as the char rarely rises to the fly, 

 except in one or two favoured localities. Indeed I have 

 caught hundreds of trout with the fly in lochs swarming 

 with char, without ever catching one of the latter. Though 

 not much accustomed to travellers, the good wife of the inn 

 put us up comfortably enough. We had clean beds, and 

 good tea, eggs, and cream, which, with the excellent trout 

 that we had taken, made us quite comfortable. The only 

 thing wanting was hay (corn they had in plenty); but I soon 

 remedied that want by shackling the horse's fore legs with a 

 couple of dog-straps, and turning him loose in the short 

 sweet grass by the edge of the lake. 



On the following morning, at the instigation of one of our 

 party, who was very anxious to procure some eggs of the 

 black-throated diver (Colymbus ardicus), we started for Loch 

 Urigil, a lake about two miles from the inn. Our first step 

 was to launch our boat in the lake, close to the door ; and 

 having crossed this piece of water, we dragged the boat out 



