184 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



When May 1848 set him once mcfre free from College 

 duties, Forbes returned on his track of last autumn, to 

 conclude his survey of Ben Nevis before writing his 

 geological notes on it. The following are some records 

 of his whereabouts : 



TORT WILLIAM, Wednesday morning, May 2th, 1848. 

 ' . . . I am about to start, Swiss fashion, with a 

 hot roast leg of mutton in my knapsack, a guide, and 

 some letters to some charitable folks by the way for, as 

 to inns, there are none to circumvent Ben Nevis. 

 There will be two days without a letter ; I am very, 

 very sorry/ 



1 SHOOTING LODGE ON LOCH EILT, May 24^, 1848. 



' Here I am in as wild and remote a spot as you 

 need wish to see. There is hardly a village nearer 

 than Fort William, which is at least seventeen miles off 

 which I have just walked over by the most execrable 

 sharp-stoned footpath you ever trod. A most kind 

 welcome, but nothing else, met me here. There is 

 only a gamekeeper living here, and the stock of pro- 

 visions not extensive no milk, no butter, no bread, no 

 eggs, no cheese, no meat, no fish, no fowls, no ham, no 

 anything except oat-cakes, and, strange to say, tea and 

 sugar; so I supped on tea, and dry bread, which I had 

 brought with me, sopped in it, and I am now getting 

 into a bed with no sheets. Good night, my darling ! 

 all blessings attend you ! ' 



' SHOOTING LODGE IN GLEN SPEAN, May 

 ' To you, my darling, a shooting-lodge on Loch Eilt 

 and a shooting-lodge in Glen Spean may seem to be very 

 much alike at present ; to me they are very unlike. 

 To-night the richest cream, the freshest butter, the 

 best eggs, crimp toast, a block-tin teapot, cocoa-nut 

 candles, and everything corresponding such is the luck 

 of travelling. You will really require a guide to my 

 w;anderings, so I an> making you, on the other side, 

 a map of my route. . . . 



