284 FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



time, and the deer were attacked with such weapons as 

 were then in use, for I speak of a period previous to the 

 introduction of fire-arms. In this defenceless position of 

 the deer, the slaughter must have been considerable, as it is 

 probable that spearmen and bowmen occasionally leaped 

 from their boats into the waters ; the commotion of the 

 waves, the shouting, and the rude mele'e must have exhibited 

 a scene little inferior, in wildness of character, to the Indian 

 mode of hunting on the Red Lake. 



Sir Robert Gordon states that this mode of hunting was 

 practised at the Pharo Head (the present Cape Wrath) and 

 adds, " There is another part in Sutherland, in the parish 

 of Loth, called Shletadell (Sledale), where there are red 

 deer ; a pleasant place for hunting with grew hounds : here 

 also, sometymes, they drive the deer into the South Sea, 

 and so do kill them." The second place thus alluded to 

 must have been the Ord of Caithness, as it is the only part 

 of Sledale forest where such singular means could be put in 

 execution. 



Besides sports of this animating description, the chase of 

 the wolf was followed, in former times, with considerable 

 ardour. Some traditionary notices there are of the destruc- 

 tion of the last wolves seen in Sutherland, consisting of four 

 old ones and some whelps, which were killed about the 

 same time, at three different places, widely distant from 

 each other, and as late as between the years of 1690 and 

 1700. Indeed, some of these detested prowlers continued 

 to ravage the Northern Highlands, till the disappearance of 

 the pine forests deprived them of retreat and shelter. The 

 last survivors of this rabid race were destroyed at Auchmore, 

 in Assynt, in Halladale, and in Glen-Loth. 



The death of the last wolf and her cubs, on the eastern 

 coast of Sutherland, was attended with remarkable circum- 

 stances. Some ravages had been committed among the 

 flocks, and the howl had been heard in the dead of night, 

 at a time when it was supposed the villainous race was 

 extinct. The inhabitants turned out in a body, and very 

 carefully scoured the whole country; carefully, but not 

 successfully, for, after a very laborious search, no wolf could 

 be found, and the party broke up. 



