IN ASSYNT. 155 



the old birds, as they alight to feed the little ones ; but their 

 screams are so harsh that he will soon be glad to leave them 

 and row elsewhere to throw his flies in peace. Rocky points, 

 plumed with heather, jut into deep water ; shelves of nature's 

 cyclopean masonry crop out unexpectedly ; blocks, grey with 

 lichen or warm with velvety moss, show themselves here and 

 there above the surface ; lilies and water-plaintains float in the 

 mimic bays. Forests of tall green reeds, like the papyrus, bow 

 before the evening breeze at one end, where the scenery is 

 almost tropical from the luxuriance of these water-weeds, and 

 the angler momentarily expects to see the dark snout of a 

 crocodile peering at him, or a flock of rice-birds fluttering over 

 the reeds, until he raises his eyes to the barren background of 

 mountains. Stern and impressive are they, with no clumps of 

 palm seen against a deep blue sky, no impervious greenery 

 clothing their sides ; mists shroud the farther giants, and a few 

 wreaths of vapour soften the faces of the nearer brotherhood. 

 A corbie utters his ill-omened cry over a dying sheep, or an 

 eagle sails overhead to its eyrie. Reassured that he is in 

 " Caledonia stern and wild," the poetic child resumes his fish- 

 ing. 



It may be that the wind rises and the mists descend in alarm- 

 ing showers at first, but towards evening in decided dogged 

 rain. With old Roderick (well known at Loch Inver village) 

 as his gilly, the tramp home across the spongy heather may be 

 much shortened if the angler judiciously leads him on to speak 

 of witchcraft and second-sight. Think not, O tourist ! self- 

 confident in the abundance of thy gold and thy powers of 

 banter, to unlock his " buke full of brownyis and bogilis " by a 

 few scoffing inquiries. The Scotch peasantry distrust all 

 searchers into their tales of the dark art. The belief in these 

 lies deep in their own hearts, under their strong sense of re- 

 ligious awe, and unless they meet with a sympathetic nature 

 they are very chary of so much as naming any northern super- 



