JULY, 1881. 15 



quarter, and "herded" the clouds between Ben Breck 

 and Ben Lora, until we had got the full benefit of the 

 storm. The very fields were in streams, and many a 

 grey mare's tail hung from the faces of the hills, until the 

 enormous rainfall had got somewhat away. What a 

 funny figure you cut, my young friend, with your best 

 bonnet as a bustle under your ulster, and a Tarn o' 

 Shanter replacing it above your black eyes, as Dugald 

 good-naturedly carried you on his sturdy shoulders 

 across the pond made by the flooded stream, whose 

 waters were racing across his potato field and through his 

 growing oats in a dozen abounding streams ! We had 

 our laugh notwithstanding, and you were not so wholly 

 taken up with your soaking feet and bedraggled petti- 

 coats that you could not enjoy the gay sides of Ben Lora, 

 with the white spirits of Ossian fleeting through the 

 green. How could any one anticipate or make prepara- 

 tion for such a six hours' visitation, unless he had seen 

 the genius of the rain working under pressure? ,.We 

 sympathised with the stranger who came to a hilly region 

 in the north and commenced bridging the streams across 

 the road on his new lands. An old native passing by 

 remarked quietly, " Wait till the inspector comes roond," 

 and, shaking his head doubtfully, passed on. No 

 inspector came, however, and month after month passed 

 away, and all seemed well. At last a night of rain, such 

 as yestereven, came upon them, and in the early morning 

 a knock at the door, when answered, revealed the old 

 man, who simply said, " The inspector's been roond," 

 and passed on once more. On proceeding along the 

 road, across which the streams were running little beyond 

 their normal volume, the new proprietor found*that the 

 inspector from the hills had strewn his bridges among 



