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CHAPTER VII. 



SOYAL SHOOTING AND OLD TOM's PEDIGREE. 



IN" 1853 I removed to Soval, where I re- 

 mained till the Lews and I parted in 1869. 

 I was monarch of all I surveyed, and my survey 

 consisted, as far as my recollection goes, of 

 some 75,000 acres, according to the Ordnance 

 survey. A great deal of the ground was of 

 little use for game, as there were several large 

 villages or towns, as they are called, well 

 populated, and a great number of minor 

 hamlets. All along the west coast the towns 

 came very thick, and in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of those townships game could not 

 be expected to abound. For several years I 

 had no comrade, and I had my little prin- 

 cipality, very like Robinson Crusoe, entirely to 

 myself. By road, from Balallan Bridge to 

 Sharbost, the extreme bounds of the shooting 

 was over thirty miles — very grand, indeed; 

 but how were you to get at the ground to 

 shoot it ? True, at that time there was very 



