56 DAYS OF DEEE-STALKING. 



stalker. But, after all, what is the use of preaching up 

 abstinence to a craving, ravenous mortal ? Eat he inevit- 

 ably will, and that to the last possible extremity, notwith- 

 standing we tell him he may as well swallow coals of fire 

 like Portia. 



About eight reputed miles north of Blair Atholl, which 

 distance would be numbered ten in a country of mile- 

 stones, you descend into a glen, which is of a wild and 

 desolate character. The heather being old, is rather of a 

 brown than a purple colour ; but there is some relief of 

 green sward near the lodge, and more in various patches 

 near the winding course of the Bruar. Huge, lofty, and 

 in the district of Atholl, second only in magnitude to 

 Ben-y-gloe, Ben Dairg, or the red mountain, stands 

 dominant. At the right entrance of the pass, the little 

 white and lonely dwelling, called Bruar Lodge, lies a mere 

 speck beneath it. It consists of two small tenements 

 facing each other, encompassed by a wall, so as to form a 

 small court between them : one of these buildings serves 

 for the master and the other for his servants ; there is, 

 besides, a lodging-place for the hill men, rather frail in 

 structure, and a dog kennel of the same picturesque 

 character. Close by stands a black stack of peats. Down 

 winds the river Bruar through the glen, sometimes creeping 

 silently through the mossy stones, and at others raving, 

 maddening and bearing all before it, so that neither man 

 nor beast may withstand its violence. Nearly in front of 

 the little lodge is a wooden foot bridge, raised high above 

 the water, so as to give it a free passage. When Tortoise 

 flourished, this bridge, shot away by the floods, used to 

 make an annual excursion of some miles towards the 

 Garry, and was as regularly brought back again piecemeal, 

 by a train of carts every summer. Like the boat-bridge on 

 the Rhine, it might be termed a pout volant. Some dis- 

 tance up the glen, towards the east, a lofty cataract falls 

 from the mountain side, whose waters find their way into 

 the Bruar ; and the head of the pass is obstructed by a chain 

 of mountains, so that it forms a sort of cul-de-sac. 



On these hills grouse are most abundant ; and when they 

 are not shrouded in mist, there cannot be a more delightful 



