24 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



water-ousel, his white breast conspicuous even amongst the 

 white foam. A twisted birch, and a bunch of bright green 

 fern growing out of the rock, constantly watered by the 

 spray of the fall, made as pretty a little scene for a painter 

 as I ever saw. Water-ousels seein to prefer picturesque 

 dwelling-places, or lather, I suppose, they choose such spots 

 as being better suited for placing their curious-shaped nest 

 in than any other. 



While I was examining a kind of simple but most service- 

 able stone-mill, used for grinding the stone of which these 

 excellent roads are made, the carriage came up, and we pro- 

 ceeded. Coming to a road leading off the main one, and 

 going straight up a hill norlhwards, Dunbar assured us that 

 this was our route ; so with rather an envious look ai the 

 straight, level road before us, which \ve were leaving, we 

 turned our faces to the hill. After going about two miles, 

 not quite perpendicularly (the way gradually getting worse), 

 we suddenly came to an abrupt termination of the track. 

 Through the driving mist, which had now become quite thick, 

 we saw a most desolate-looking house some few hundred 

 yards off', and there found that we had .turned off the road 

 too soon, and had to retrace OUB steps. 



The next turning off was the right one, and we laboured 

 again up the hill northwards, but with a better road. The 

 higher we ascended the denser was the mist ; and though we 

 occasionally heard the grouse-cock crow pretty near us, we 

 could see nothing, absolutely nothing, except the road under 

 our feet. 



I was amused by my friend's good-natured philosophy : 

 when I lamented loudly the curtain of mist which was 

 entirely shutting out the magnificent hill under which we 

 were then passing, he comforted me by saying that he pre- 

 ferred almost the scene as it then was (the mist occasionally 

 giving us a momentary peep at some grey rock, and then 

 shutting it out), as it added a kind of mysterious interest to 

 the wild scenery through which we were passing. 



After working our weary way up hill for some time, we 

 crossed the highest ridge of our road, and began to descend 

 towards the ferry of Kylesku, by which we were to pass an 

 arm of the sea that runs a considerable distance inland. As 

 we came lower the mist gradually disappeared, and at last we 

 were fairly out of it, although it remained as dense as ever 

 above us, quite concealing all the higher grounds. I never 



