I A Gossip on a Sutherland Hill-side 245 



the hole in the roof, through which some of the 

 smoke makes its exit when the fire is lighted, does 

 double duty ; and as we become accustomed to the 

 twilight which fringes the perpendicular ray passing 

 down it, we become aware of a few cast antlers, 

 well gnawed by the hinds, a brown pan filled with 

 water, in which lie soaking a couple of dozen split 

 trout, red as salmon, twice as large as I can ever 

 catch — confound that otter ! — and in a particularly 

 dark corner a couple of black bottles, which oiigJit to 

 contain whisky of the smallest still, but which on 

 examination hold nothing but in the one case a 

 dribblet of sour milk, and in the other, some tarry 

 abomination used for doctoring the sheep. That 

 little parcel wrapped up in a pocket -napkin is 

 Donald's well-thumbed Bible; and many a tough 

 bit of grace and free-will does Donald puzzle over 

 when his work is done, lighted by those splinters of 

 bogwood in the corner, which burn more brightly 

 than wax — by-the-bye, the best-thumbed side of 

 Donald's Bible is the Old Testament. If you have 

 imagination enough to double the length of Donald's 

 bothy without increasing its breadth or height, to 

 turn the addition into a cow-house of the foulest 

 description, to carefully avoid putting up any partition, 

 as that would diminish the warmth both of yourself 

 and the cow, and to make the whole affair ten times 

 more filthy and uncomfortable than it is, placing 

 a sea of liquid manure before the door, just high 

 enough to permit every shower to wash a fair amount 



