SHIPWRECKS. 83 



the land along our shores had once a very different 

 appearance." 



On another occasion he says "The wind to-day 

 blows fearfully hard. A large ship, with seventeen men 

 on board, is ashore at Ham, thirteen miles off. About 

 mid-day we expected a ship ashore here. Unless the 

 wind abates, I should not be surprised if others came 

 ashore to-morrow. The wind is howling like mad, and 

 roaring like thunder over the town." 



Dunnet Head, north-east of Thurso, was one of Dick's 

 favourite haunts. It was a long walk to the lighthouse, 

 which fronts the Pentland Firth. But he often wan- 

 dered to it, and descended the headland to the sea by 

 paths known only to himself. The perpendicular rocks 

 which surround the head, average about two hundred 

 feet high; but at the northern end, which forms the 

 northernmost point of Scotland, the rock rises three 

 hundred feet above sea level ; and from the summit of 

 the contiguous eminence, the height above the sea is 

 more than four hundred feet. 



Dunnet Head forms a peninsula, extending from the 

 village of Dunnet on the south to the village of Brough 

 on the north. From these points it extends northward. 

 The peninsula contains about three thousand acres of 

 uncultivated moor, with no fewer than ten small lochs 

 or tarns on its summit. In winter time the lochs are 

 crowded with swans, geese, ducks, and northern seafowl. 

 Most of the birds summer in Greenland, and winter on 

 Dunnet Head. 



This immense rampart of rocky headland runs along 



