THE BARRACK. 75 



mad friend and returns to Corion-side. He is now, 

 for the first time, introduced to the barrack or bothy 

 life of a squad of masons. A description of the barrack 

 and the scene it presented on his first becoming one of 

 its inmates, occurs in his letter to Baird. ' I followed,' 

 he writes, 'the horde into their barrack. It consisted 

 of one large apartment. Along the wall, and across 

 one of the gables, there was a range of beds rudely con- 

 structed of outside slab deals, and filled with straw, 

 which bristled from beneath the blankets, and from be- 

 tween the crevices of the frames, in a manner much less 

 neat than picturesque. At each bedside there were two 

 chests, which served not only the purpose originally in- 

 tended, but also for chairs and tables. Suspended by 

 ropes from the rafters above, there hung at the height 

 of a man's head from the ground, several bags filled 

 with oatmeal, which by this contrivance was secured 

 from the rats, with which the place was infested. Along 

 the gable furthest removed from the door there was a 

 huge wood fire ; above it there were hung several small 

 pots, enveloped in smoke, which, for lack of proper vent, 

 after filling the whole barrack, escaped by the door. 

 Before the fire there was a row of stones, each of 

 which supported an oaten cake. The inmates, who 

 exceeded twenty, had disposed of themselves in every 

 possible manner. Some were lounging in the beds, 

 others were seated on the chests. Two of them were 

 dancing on the floor to the whistling of a third. There 

 was one employed in baking, another in making ready 

 the bread. The chaos of sounds which reigned among 

 them was much more complete than that which appalled 

 their prototypes, the builders of Babel. There was the 

 gabbling of Saxon, the sputtering of Gaelic, the hum- 

 ming of Church music, the whistling of the musician, 



