WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



stant chattering is keptupby thenumberless jackdawswho 

 breed in the holes of the rock on the Altyre side, and keep 

 flyinginandout from far below the spot where you are stand- 

 ing. Faras you can see.and indeedstill farther.are stretched 

 the forests of Darnaway and Altyre. Following the river, 

 or rather keeping the top of the bank above it, a new and 

 most striking view meetsyoureye.Lookingdownthecourse 

 of the water, you suddenly see beyond the woodland a wide 

 extent of corn-land, interspersed withgroves of timber and 

 houses; beyond this the golden line of the sand-hills of Cul- 

 bin,dividingtheplainsof Morayshire from the Moray Firth, 

 while beyond the line of blue sea-waterare the splendid and 

 lofty rocksoneach sideof the entrance of the Bay of Crom- 

 arty,backed by a succession of various-shaped peaks of the 

 Sutherland and Caithness, the Ross-shire and the Inver- 

 ness-shire mountains. Opposite you is the massive and 

 square mountain of Ben Nevis: to the west, on a clear day, 

 you can see far into thepeaked and sugar-loaf shaped moun- 

 tains of Strath Glassand Glen Strathfarrer,cutting the hor- 

 izon with their curious outlines. The inland mountains of 

 Sutherland on a clear day are also visible, and Morven, 

 in Caithness, in its solitary grandeur, always forms a con- 

 spicuous object; while the Moray Firth gradually widen- 

 ingtillitjoinstheGerman Ocean, and dotted hereand there 

 with the white sails ofthe passing ships.completes the scene. 

 It is worth all the trouble of a voyage from London to see 

 this view alone. Far and wide may you travel without find- 

 ino- such another combination of all that is lovely and grand 

 in landscape scenery; wood and water, mountain and cult- 

 ivated ground, all in their most beautiful forms, combine to- 



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