DEC. GRANTOWN TO TORRES. 69 



from the woods of Castle Grant, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the Spey, and that curiously-built place 

 Grantown, with its wide street of houses, almost 

 wholly inhabited by Grants, which appellation with 

 every variety of Christian name is written at least 

 on nine houses out of every ten, the traveller comes 

 out on the extended flats and moors of the district 

 round Brae Moray, where there is scarcely a sign 

 of life, animal or human ; excepting when a grouse 

 rises from the edge of the road, or runs with comb 

 and head erect a few yards into the heather, and 

 then crouches till the intruder has passed by. 

 There is, I admit, a turnpike house here, but it is 

 a wretched-looking affair, and its tenant must live 

 a life as solitary as a lighthouse -keeper. After 

 several miles of this most dreary though not very 

 elevated range, the road enters the woods and for 

 a long distance passes through a succession or 

 rather one continued tract of fine fir-trees. It goes 

 through the beautiful grounds of Altyre, and along 

 the banks of the most picturesque part of the 

 Findhorn; and gradually descending it opens upon 

 the rich fields and firth of Moray, with the moun- 

 tains of Ross, Caithness, and Sutherland a glori- 

 ous range in the background : a great and most 

 pleasing change from the dreary brown moorland 

 near Brae Moray. Having passed through this 



