2 1 8 Notes on Sport and Travel i 



na come ben the hoose, and tak a drink o' milk or 

 ye tak the hill ? ' 



* Ay, 'deed will I ; for though I cannot say that 

 it is a potation I am much addicted to, I know that 

 you will be hurt if I refuse your hospitality, and I 

 also know that the sma' still whisky days have 

 departed from Sutherland, thank Heaven ! ' 



The pony is unharnessed, the dog-cart drawn to 

 the side of the road, and Donald disappears with 

 Rory to hold a solemn confabulation on things in 

 general, and deer in particular ; and escaping from 

 Mrs. Rory's hot room, that makes one steam like a 

 geyser, I will go and sit on the parapet of the bridge 

 and moralise. 



The hills I am going to stalk are under sheep, 

 like the greatest part of Sutherland, and the shepherds 

 wandering about the hills see a good deal of deer 

 life, and can give most valuable information concern- 

 ing them. More, indeed, than one desires, as if he 

 has seen the deer, the chances are that the deer 

 have seen him. Oh, happy black cattle times, 

 when the forester had the right and the power of 

 impounding every beast that strayed beyond its 

 appointed limits, and when two-thirds of Sutherland 

 was one wild unmolested deer-forest, well watched 

 and well tenanted ! Only sixty years ago ! Blessed 

 times, when the foresters had a legal amount of 

 judicial and executive power which would make the 

 Anti-preservation-of-anything Society of our own 

 days open their eyes very wide indeed ! All swept 



