76 



TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. 



CH. V. 



night the sedge-warbler was cheering his mate 

 with his sweet and constant song. 



I saw some seals playing the most extraordinary 

 gambols in the smooth water. The sea was as 

 calm as possible, and like a mirror everywhere, 

 excepting where these animals were swimming 

 after each other in a circle, so rapidly that their 

 track resembled a complete whirlpool. Occasion- 

 ally they lifted themselves perpendicularly up in 

 the water, showing half their bodies, and looking as 

 like the representation of a mermaid as possible. 



I should have liked to prolong my stay had it 

 been in my power to do so, as there is much to 

 interest the visitor, both in the varied and magni- 

 ficent scenery of land and water, and also in the 

 numerous wild animals, common enough here, but 

 rare in the more southern parts of the country. 



