CAVERN SCENE. 271 



country. For the following account of the mode in which 

 it is now practised we are indebted to one of the few sports- 

 men, who have had the good fortune to enjoy (of late years 

 at least) the pleasures of this exciting sport. 



It was on the evening of the llth of August, 1835, that 

 a party, consisting of six sportsmen, a boat's crew of seven 

 men, with piper, deer-stalker, and two deerhounds, set out 

 from Colonsay, and landed on a beach on the north and 

 precipitous coast of Captain M'NeilPs property in the island 

 of Jura, and having clambered up a broken and rocky bank 

 to the foot of a precipice w r hich overhung the sea, they 

 entered by a gradual slope into a spacious and picturesque 

 cave, the mouth of which could not be discovered from 

 below. Their first care was to kindle a fire, the smoke of 

 which rose in a straight column to the roof, and crept along 

 almost imperceptibly to the opening, from which it made 

 its escape. Preparations were then made for a repast, one 

 of the sailors officiating as cook. His knowledge of the 

 science of gastronomy was not great, but with the aid of 

 the King of Oude, etc., etc., he contrived to set before us a 

 dish which would have done honour to a greater artiste, 

 and to which our good appetites enabled us to do ample 

 justice. Our repast concluded with the never-failing 

 accompaniment of whiskey toddy ; after which, all were 

 anxious for repose, that they might be on the alert by break 

 of day. 



By the side of the fire a couch was spread of dried ferns 

 and heather, such as fair Ellen provided for King James ; 

 but though our attendant was neither young nor of the 

 fair sex, we had the advantage over royalty in one respect, 

 being provided with a good stock of blankets, a comfort 

 not at all to be despised in such a situation. 



At a little distance the sails were spread for the boatmen, 

 and further off, in a recess of the cave, the dogs were 

 fastened to a stone large enough to have secured even those 

 of Fingal, where a bed of dry ferns was laid for them. 



The different picturesque groups, and the deep gloom of 

 the cavern, illuminated only by the fitful blaze of the wood 

 fire, presented a subject worthy the study of a Rembrandt, 

 while the sullen . roar of the waves as they dashed against 



