THE FORLST OF ACHNACARRY. 351 



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fallen when the tide of war broke his ranks, and pre- 

 vented the clan from standing shoulder to shoulder ; 

 so do these primeval trees, when thinned, sink before 

 the blast that, jointly, they had defied for centuries. 

 In the indiscriminate and too extensive burning of the 

 heather the interests of the tenant of the mansion are 

 not fairly considered ; and I have observed such wide 

 tracts of heath consumed, that I am perfectly sure 

 that not only has it been done to an extent inimical 

 to deer and game, but even to the flocks of sheep. 

 I presume that the heather on these mountains, after 

 being burnt, does not reach perfection again for a 

 period of full fifteen years ; and if I am right in that 

 assumption, the conflagrations having been so widely 

 extended, although more food is produced, the benefit 

 of that food is considerably lessened by the absence of 

 all shelter ; shelter, and a certain amount of warmth 

 being necessary, as we all know, to the increase 

 and condition of sheep as well as cattle. There is, 

 also, another nuisance to the preserver of deer and 

 game on these mountains permitted to exist, that 

 with great advantage miglit be got rid of. This 

 nuisance arises from an unlimited permission being 

 given to a man known as a fox, or " tod-hunter," 

 who keeps from twenty to thirty curs and dogs of all 

 sorts — a dog for everything, in fact — who roams these 

 hills, deer forest and all, gun in hand, for the alleged 

 purpose of destroying vermin, under the influence of 

 whiskey, and ripe, in conjunction with some of the 

 shepherds, for a shot or a run at anything that may 

 start before him. Now, were I Lochiel, I would 

 order my gamekeepers sedulously to destroy the 

 foxes, quietly and most efliciently by trap and poison 

 (dear reader, remember there are no hounds here), 



