STRA TH HALLADALE. 209 



by the finger-post, at the lower end of Strath Halladale k 

 reading the directions to weary travellers ; but the un- 

 grateful Highlanders had so pelted it with stones, that, 

 save the word Trantlebeg, the finger-post gave me no 

 information whatever. 



" It was a lovely night. The scene was most im- 

 pressive. The full moon shone clear on all around me. 

 Not a zephyr was astir. The drowsy sheep slumbered" 

 on the hills. The sea scarcely broke along the shore. 

 The river ran clear and sparkling, but without a mur- 

 mur. The silence that enveloped the granite peaks 

 was sublime and solemn. My heart beat happily. 

 ' My vera een ' were enriched ; for all my musings, all 

 my expectations, were more than realised. 



" There is a good hard road up the strath, and it 

 winds along the river side. The granitic debris lies 

 thick on the hill-sides, and boulders by the million. 

 Above all, the bottom of the valley lies delightfully 

 low. The bed of the river, where it enters the sea, is 

 scarcely, if at all, above high-water level. For many 

 miles up the strath the water scarcely runs. Now, 

 there is a deep pool, hemmed in with rolled pebbles, 

 over which the stream straggles. It runs on a little, 

 and then there is a pool again. 



" A considerable number of black cottages still grace 

 the sides of this valley, of a better cast than the com- 

 mon run of cottages in Caithness. But this strath, by 

 the way, is in Sutherland. 



" About nine miles up, 1 found the full reward of 

 my labours in the fact that there was no impediment, 



