HELMSDALE TO MEIKLE FERRY. 65 



fishing-cries ; and the cormorants choose their stones 

 as gravely as if they were Martello towers, and them- 

 selves part and parcel of a regular coast-guard. Even 

 the mild porpoise of the beautiful wave-line is busy 

 chasing the herring- fry; and the seal, which is whelped 

 with a brain as big as Bunsen's, or " plain Jock Camp- 

 bell's," in some rugged Caithness or Iceland cave, 

 glides quick as a shadow through the waters to 

 the Brora mouth for a salmon, and will hardly quit 

 it for small shot. The salmon spawn from the bridge 

 of Brora, and when the water is warm they take the 

 upper fall to Benarruin, at the foot of whose deer- 

 forest the north branch of the Brora comes out of 

 the springs. Strath Brora has not the width nor 

 the same amount of grass as Kildonan, but it has far 

 more for the eye in its richly-tangled copses of 

 mountain birch, with their ground-work of faded, 

 breckan. The stillness of its loch is unbroken, save 

 by the jump of a trout or the ever- widening ripple of 

 the golden-eyed duck. The Carrol Rock stands out 

 boldly like a bastion above the Duchess's drive, dwarf- 

 ing the hut of the watcher into a mere speck at its foot, 

 and throwing its green and purple shadows over the 

 waters ; while behind it, stretching away in the grim, 

 grey distance to the head of Rogart, is the mighty 

 Ben Horn, that very unicorn of deer-forests. The 

 grave of Malcolm near Kilcalmkill is marked by a 

 few flagstones, and beyond, over ford and fell, is the 

 lonely Seibers Cross, so great in wedder history. 

 But we retrace our path once more, and bidding a 



F 



