CHAPTER ONE HIGHLAND LAKES 



of numberless visitors, that it is difficult to single out any 

 one as pre-eminent. In Inverness-shire there are many 

 lovely lakes, and many an hour and day have I passed in 

 fishine on some of these. There was one beautiful lake to 

 which I used sometimes to take net and boat, as well as 

 rod. It was a piece of water about four miles long, and one 

 or two broad; at one end were two sandy bays, forming reg- 

 ular semicircles, with their beaches covered to a width of a 

 few feet with small pebbles. Between these two bays was 

 a bold rocky promontory running into the lake, and cover- 

 ed with fine old pine trees. Along one side was a stretch 

 of perhaps three miles of grey precipitous rocks nearly 

 covered with birch and hazel, which hung over the water, 

 casting a dark shade on it. The other end of the lake was 

 contracted between the rocks till it was lost to the view, 

 while on the remaining side was flat moorland. The whole 

 country round and within view of the lake was pictur- 

 esque and bold. In the rocks near the water were a colony 

 of wild cats, whose cries during the night deterred the 

 shepherd from passing that way; while on the highest 

 part of the grey precipice was a raven's nest, the owners 

 of which always kept up a concert with their voices of 

 ill omen whenever they saw a human being near their do- 

 minions — there they would sit on a withered branch of a 

 tree or a pointed rock, croaking, and playing their quaint 

 antics for hours together. Their nest was so protected 

 by a shelf of rock which projected below it, that I never 

 could get a rifle-ball into it, often as I have tried, though I 

 must have frequently half filled it with the splinters of the 

 rock. 

 5 



