Colonel ZEbomae ttbornton 61 



and I shall select some notable illustrations thereof 

 from his famous sporting tour in the Highlands. 



The most elaborate preparations were made for this 

 great expedition. A sloop of considerable size was 

 laden with stores and ammunition ; and carrying, besides 

 the skipper, two mariners and a boy, two keepers to 

 take charge of the dogs (a dozen in number), the 

 falconer with as many hawks, and " a female house- 

 keeper and cook," sailed from Hull to Forres, the 

 nearest port to Raits, in Strathspey, where the Colonel 

 had taken a shooting-box. Some idea of the extent 

 of the stores carried by the Falcon may be gathered 

 from the fact that forty-nine carts were required to 

 convey them from Forres to Raits, besides the sledges, 

 each drawn by four horses, by which the boats to be 

 used on the lochs were transported. But then the 

 Colonel did everything en grand seigneur. He had 

 not only a perfect armoury of guns and rifles, with 

 fishing-tackle and hawking-apparatus on a scale to 

 match, but he had provided himself with a great stock 

 of wines, spirits, and comestibles. For he had no 

 mind to rough it so far as eating and drinking were 

 concerned, and the frequent bills of fare he gives show 

 how, even in the wild Highlands, this jovial sportsman 

 and his comrades lived like fighting-cocks, washing 

 down their trout and char, their roast mutton and 

 brandered chickens, their game and sweets, with ex- 

 cellent port and claret, the finest Jamaica rum in 

 the form of punch, and " incomparable porter from 

 Calvert's," then the leading brewer in London. 



Whilst the Falcon was slowly making her way by sea 



