EEMINISOENCES OP THE LEWS. 193 



I can go back to my own country with plea- 

 sure, since, bad as the climate is, it is Elysium 

 to this." It is a thoroughly provoking climate 

 too ; for, as a friend of mine, who was with me 

 for a season or two truly said, '' The only dry 

 weather in the year sets in with the fishing, 

 and the wet invariably comes in with the 

 shooting season." The late spring and early 

 summer months are generally so dry that the 

 fish often can't get up till the middle of August 

 for want of water ; and, as the grouse are not 

 fit to shoot before the beginning, often not 

 before the middle, of September, when the wet 

 season sets in, the force of my friend's remark 

 will be at once seen. It is not that the weather 

 is rainy only, but there are hurricanes of wind, 

 hailstorms with avalanches of hailstones. No 

 two days are alike. Catch a fine day, it is 

 sure to be a weather-breeder of three days' 

 storm. The rapidity with which the changes 

 come on is really wonderful. I have often 

 been sitting at Aline of a quiet night, when a 

 slight moan and whu-u-ush was heard, and in 

 five minutes it was blowing such a gale of wind 

 over Loch Seaforth that you couldn't hear 

 yourself speak. I have seen the air so thick 

 with rain and squall that you could not tell 

 what the loch was, land or water, except that 







