90 DUNNET SANDS. CHAP. vm. 



occasion, Dr. Smith and a party who had just landed 

 from their boat, found to their amazement that Dick was 

 there before them. He seemed to have got there by 

 miracle. But no ; he had merely come down the 

 rocks by a path known only to himself, for assuredly 

 nobody else would have risked his life in so perilous 

 a descent. 



Dr. Smith asked him to return with his party in 

 the boat. No ! he would ascend the rocks by the path 

 down which he had come. Besides, he never accepted 

 any accommodation of this sort while on his journeys. 

 His skin was in a state of perspiration, which he desired 

 to maintain. If he took a seat in a boat or in a road 

 conveyance, with his wet feet, he was sure to get chilled, 

 and the result was a severe cold. Hence he strode back 

 to Thurso by the heather, the sands, and the road, as he 

 had come. 



On one occasion Dick describes the geology of 

 Dunnet Head. It is during the month of June that 

 he undertakes his journey. He has already reached 

 Dunnet sands, which are about seven miles by road from 

 Thurso. The description is best given in Dick's own 

 words : 



"Dunnet sands are a long and a weary trail in a 

 warm day in June, when the dark thunder-clouds creep 

 overhsad, when not a breath of air stirs, and all is still 

 and motionless, save the dull, sluggish fall, at solemn 

 pauses, of the incoming and retreating waves on the 

 burning sands, or the humming of the overjoyed flies 

 feeding on the dead fish cast up by the tide ; when the 



