I A Gossip on a Sutherland Hill-side 285 



of him, taken from the Taylor MSS., in Mr. Scrope's 

 book on Deerstalking. He died in 1623, and was 

 as brutal a ruffian as ever disgraced humanity. He 

 degraded murder from its position among the fine 

 arts to the level of butchery, and murdered from 

 pure thirst for blood ; and yet was permitted to 

 hold his own unchallenged, probably being useful 

 to his ' Maister,' who was either the Lord Reay of 

 the time, or the devil. After reading his own epitaph 

 on himself, one has a right to believe anything of 

 him, and so I give willing ear to the legend that 

 he built a house without a door or window, which 

 he entered through a hole in the roof Certain 

 curious persons who visited this strange den, and 

 asked the reason of its peculiar style of architecture, 

 received a pointed reply in the shape of an arrow ; 

 notwithstanding this pretty strong hint, others 

 ventured on a similar visit, and one got killed. 

 ' Sarve him right 1 ' should certainly have been the 

 verdict. This chapel at Durness is a most curious 

 old-world place : so old, that the earth has grown 

 high up against the walls from the addition of 

 generations of Highlanders, and you go down steps 

 into it. When I saw it a few years ago it was 

 only partially dismantled ; part of the roof and 

 the pews were still standing, and knocking about 

 on the floor was a particularly thick and ill-favoured 

 skull, with a tremendous ' blash ' across it, from 

 which, however, the recipient had probably recovered, 

 as there was a quantity of new bone thrown out 



