98 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHJRE. 



cleanly and comfortably kept as any inn in Britain. I never 

 knew an angler on the Shin river who did not say the same 

 of the inn at Inveran ; the landlady, in her homely, 

 " motherly " way, makes her guests so comfortable that they 

 always leave her with regret. 



All the inns on the Duke of Sutherland's property (almost 

 without exception) are well kept, cleanly, and moderate in 

 their charges, to a degree that the most suspicious and 

 fastidious cockney traveller can find no fault with ; and there 

 is none of that paltry imposition which one meets with so 

 frequently in remote places in other parts of the Highlands, 

 where a stranger is looked upon as fair game for plunder. 



My tastes have generally led me to the north and north- 

 west of Sutherland, but there is also much to interest and 

 much to see in the eastern parts of the county. Going by 

 Dornoch and Golspie, both excellent inns, thence along the 

 coast to Brora and Helmsdale, two fishing colonies, and 

 turning northwards to Bighouse, the traveller can either 

 return by Tongue or by Strathnaver, a beautiful green strath 

 which takes him to Aultnaharrow. 



My description of the different routes is short and im- 

 perfect, as I do not pretend to write a " road " or " guide " 

 book ; but I simply give this sketch as the result of my own 

 note-book, hoping that it may be of use to anyone wishing to 

 see the most interesting county in Britain, and one of the 

 least visited. Ross-shire, Inverness-shire, &c., lie more in 

 the way of grouse-shooters and sportsmen, and are conse- 

 quently more known and written about than Sutherland, 

 although the latter can be travelled through with more ease, 

 comfort, and economy than either of the other named 

 counties. 



I must conclude my rambles in Sutherland, but hope that 

 some more able and scientific pen than mine will be found to 

 describe the objects of natural history and of interest in the 

 county, which I have merely glanced at. These notes I now 

 commit to the public with all their errors and imperfections, 

 hoping that the fact of the incidents and remarks contained 

 in them, being the result of the personal and unprejudiced 

 observation of one more skilled in using the rifle than the 

 pen, will induce the reader to excuse their faults, and to look 

 more favourably on my scribbling than any merit of the 

 notes themselves may deserve. 



