138 EDWARD'S ROUNDS. CHAP. vm. 



michael, in which this scenery occurs, is almost un- 

 peopled. It has only one village Tomintoul the 

 highest in Scotland. The people who inhabit it and 

 the other hamlets of the parish, are for the most part 

 of a different race and religion, and speak a different 

 language, from those who inhabit the middle and 

 lower parts of the county.* 



To return to the labours of our Naturalist. For 

 about fifteen years Edward made the greater part of 

 his researches at night. He made them in the late 

 evening and in the early morning, snatching his sleep 

 at intervals between the departing night and the 

 returning day. 



His rounds, we have said, extended coastwise along 

 the shore of the Moray Firth, for about seven miles in 

 one direction, and about six in another. His excur- 

 sions also extended inland for about five or six miles. 

 He had thus three distinct circuits. Although he 

 only took one of them at a time, he usually managed 

 to visit each district twice a week. 



Having sometimes wandered too far, as he fre- 

 quently did, he divested himself of his hunting para- 

 phernalia, rolled them up together, hid them in a hole 



* Their race is Celtic, whereas the inhabitants of the sea-shore 

 are for the most part Scandinavian. Their language is Gaelic, 

 whereas that of the rest of the county is Scoto-English. Their reli- 

 gion is partly Roman Catholic, whereas that of the lower part of the 

 county is Protestant. There are many districts in Scotland where, 

 in consequence of the inaccessibility of the roads, the Reformation 

 never reached. 



