66 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V. 



me that we should not succeed in reaching the 

 summit, owing to the state of the weather ; and 

 he was correct ; for, although there was an occa- 

 sional clearing away of the clouds, when we were 

 about half-way up there commenced such a deter- 

 mined and heavy torrent of rain that we had to 

 give in ; the whole mountain, too, was enveloped 

 in a cloud like a wet blanket, impenetrable to the 

 sight. For a long time we sat down under my 

 plaid, which kept us tolerably dry (Dunbar, myself, 

 and the dog) ; with nothing else to enliven us except 

 watching the curious antics of two ravens on a great 

 lump of rock in front of us. At last, in despair, 

 we made our way home as quickly as we could, 

 splashing through the rain-water which had con- 

 verted the whole hill-side into pools. Near the 

 loch-side, amongst the birch-trees, I saw a great 

 many red-poles and other small birds. 



From Aultnaharrow we drove again to Loch 

 Maddie, where I caught some fine trout. We 

 saw a few Gray lag geese, and found the gray 

 crows again tenanting the nests which we had 

 attacked three or four weeks ago. Of course I 

 smashed every egg and killed every crow that 

 came within my reach. 



On the 10th of June the frost was so severe 

 in Strath Naver that it cut down all the potatoes 



