EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 3 



done througli the long dreary days, now tliat 

 I can no longer live upon the hopes and 

 prospects of my annual migration to my wild 

 home ? I will try and recollect the past, and 

 solace myself with giving some of its remi- 

 niscences, collected from notes, and journals, 

 and game-books kept during some twenty 

 shooting seasons passed there. They will be 

 truthful, for it is a land with too many charms, 

 not only for my perhaps too partial recollection, 

 but for every true sportsman, not to be able 

 to bear criticism and truth; and those only 

 who do not or cannot appreciate its true 

 worth, will feel any soreness at the remarks I 

 may at times make upon its failings. 



My record, I fear will be dull, stale, and 

 unprofitable ; for, my occupation having gone, 

 the heart to write has gone with it. And 

 why is it that I love that far-off land so 

 much ? Certes, not for its beauty ; for of all 

 the dismal, dreary countries that man ventures 

 to traverse, commend me to a great part of the 

 Lews. I do not think that, if I wished to 

 pick a monotonous drive, I could find anything 

 to surpass that from the Butt of Lews through 

 Stornoway, and for some distance on towards 

 Harris. When the difierent hills of the Park, 

 of Uig, and of Harris begin to open, the 



B 2 



