HEATHER BURNING. 



is merging into the darkness of night. The mountain 

 tops appear to be studded with miniature volcanoes, 

 each one emitting its volume of flame, shooting 

 heavenward and seeming to pierce the horizon with 

 their fiery fangs, the luridness becoming intensified 

 as the blackness of night increases. A closer view of 

 the conflagration would reveal the picture charmingly 

 portrayed by Macmillan: "Hares and deer careering 

 before the flames; grouse whirring past, blinded and 

 scorched; lizards and snakes running hither and 

 thither in an agony of terror; volumes of dense smoke 

 darken the air, and the dull red embers light up the 

 darkness of the night, and reflect a volcanic glare 

 upon the surrounding hills. It is one of the grandest 

 sights to be seen in the Highlands." Or as Mr. Black 

 puts it: "The gloom of the evening, by the way, was 

 not decreased by a vast mass of smoke that came 

 slowly rolling along between the black sky and the 

 black lake; though this portentous thing that looked 

 as if the whole world was on fire meant nothing 

 further than the burning of the Heather down Strath- 

 Ferry way." 



A most delightful pen picture of Heather burning 

 is given us in "The Tales of the Borders," by the 

 ever-readable Christopher North, bringing back 

 memories of boyhood and of the dare-devil spirit which 

 is its accompaniment. The description is as follows : 

 "That was a terrible conflagration at Mirawecbie. I 

 think I hear it crashing, thundering, crackling on ; 

 before it the wild beasts, the serpents, the cattle man, 

 poor, houseless, helpless, smoke-enveloped, and perish- 

 ing man. The reason why I can conceive so vividly 

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