12 REMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



would not take £50 per annum to live 

 in it." There was an end of that shooting, 

 though it is of great extent, and a good deal 

 of grouse ground ; five or six good stags were to 

 be got there then, if properly managed. There 

 used to be some very good snipe ground on it, 

 and a nice little river — the Gress — which, when 

 in good water, had plenty of sea-trout and 

 some salmon. So we returned back to 

 Stornoway, and the next day, or the one 

 after, started again to prospect the Soval and 

 Aline shootings. 



Soval is about nine miles from Stornoway — 

 the lodge, I mean. This is most unfortunately 

 situated for the shooting — as, indeed. Highland 

 lodges often are, and the accommodation was 

 then so wretched, so totally inadequate to our 

 wants, that we declined it at once ; though in 

 other respects it might have answered, for 

 there were many things about it we liked. 

 But more of Soval hereafter. 



We proceeded on to Aline, twenty-three 

 miles from Stornoway, at the extremity of the 

 Lews, and on the confines of Harris. Then, 

 indeed, as we advanced farther up, or rather 

 down, the country, and neared Harris, it 

 improved in appearance — extremely so from 

 the time Loch Seaforth opened, and the grand 



