TAIN TO INVERNESS. 79 



first pair returned to Koss-shire, and averaged the 

 next Christmas about 6 more, and 156st. of 81bs. 

 Mr. Tew does not depend on very high feeding for 

 his success, but he begins with them early, makes 

 an especial point of keeping them well housed, and 

 always takes them up in the autumn, before they 

 have time to lose condition. So much for the roans 

 of Coul Cottage ! 



Then we tie our mare to the gate of Allness 

 Church, while we search for the grave of the re- 

 nowned Sir Hector Monro; and on once more through 

 the snugly-belted garths, past the hill of Novar, 

 whose crest looks like nature's gun-battery, with all 

 the varied fretwork of light and shade, from pine and 

 blooming heather playing rapidly over it. Across 

 the Cromarty Firth is the crofter's side of the Black 

 Isle, and quite a curious mosaic of rotations ; and we 

 are at the iron-braced monument of Dingwall at last. 

 We do not envy Mr. Arthur Kinnaird his ride, as at 

 10 p.m. he takes his seat beside the driver of the 

 Skye "mail" for the night. Our own evening 

 would have been dull enough but for a book- 

 auction, where two rival orators were pitched 

 against each other, turn about, for a quarter of 

 an hour each. Still, we did not carry away a 

 single cattle note, except that the Prelacy of the 

 town, just two hundred and nine years ago, reported 

 the people of Apple Cross for sacrificing a bull 

 to St. Maurie ; and we thought that it would be a 

 great ultimate saving of beef if some professed bull 



