PERTH TO KEIR. 303 



owing to the rain, and in fact many of the cottars are 

 under water a good part of their time. Some of 

 them were on their housetops deep in the mysteries 

 of fern thatching. The best ferns for the purpose 

 are those with a slender feeble stem from eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches, which are hardly able to support 

 their own weight without leaning. From June up to 

 the middle of August they are too soft and spongy for 

 use ; and about " Holyrood Day/' when they have 

 withered under a September sky from red to yellow, 

 they are pulled up by the roots, bound in sheaves, 

 and stacked, and then laid in straight and regular 

 rows on the roofs, and tightly bound with osiers. 

 The layers require renewing every fourth year ; and 

 the fern also does good service as bedding for the 

 cattle and cover for the turnip heaps. 



A belted and booted police sergeant stalked along 

 the valley, presenting rather a suggestive comment 

 on the days when the Queen's writ would have run 

 in vain to the lawless braes of Balquhidder. There 

 are tracks in plenty, not of the " hot trod,'' but of 

 Highland beeves and sheep, along this great North 

 road, which is wakened up summer and autumn by 

 the drover's cry. The Skye and Lewis droves all 

 come this way by Baden och, Lochaber, Glen Dochart, 

 and Tynd Drum, to the Balgair and Falkirk trysts ; 

 but our road turns off at their wonted resting-place, 

 King's House. We still work on by the side of Loch 

 Yoil, among wire fences and Ayrshire dairies ; and 

 when we asked about the cheese, we only heard 



