FOCHABERS TO SITTYTON. 143 



Longside, in whose thatched outbuildings on the hill 

 Malachite was once in residence. There was an old 

 " castle" near, but it is a delusion and a snare when 

 you get to it, and it is all converted into stalls. How- 

 ever, if our antiquarian yearnings were quenched, we 

 found solace in the Great Field, where twelve of the 

 prize cattle were undergoing strict quarantine. 

 The road to Udny past Cairnfeckel and Pitrichie 

 was less bleak than the one we had traversed, and 

 crosses of Shorthorn on Aberdeen were grazing on 

 each side of it. Haymakers were seated in a group 

 under the hay, discussing their brose, and three 

 policemen, with their " minds taen up wi' affairs of 

 the state," formed an equally earnest knot hard by. 

 The fortunes of Udny would have formed rather a 

 mournful theme for them, as the old Castle is deso- 

 late, and two owners, father and son, had died within 

 the year. In horse-racing England, the inn-sign 

 would have borne the family arms on one side, and 

 Emilius on the other; but the bay has no root in 

 village memory, as he was never in Scotland, and 

 we even forgot him ourselves on entering the 

 stables, in the contemplation of the jet-black 

 Glasgow collars, with the red tuft, the daintily 

 disposed plough gear, and the well-kept brass on the 

 hames. 



"We've 122 here, calves and all," said our guide; 

 so we first ascended the tower beloved of pic-nickers, 

 and caught a bird's eye view of the objects of our 

 search, as they roamed in the park and fields below. 



