JULY. FLOODS IN THE FINDHORN. 259 



trees, rolling over and over, and uprooting every 

 bush which opposed it. Several of the trees must 

 have come some miles down the river, being large 

 Scotch firs, with their branches, stem, and roots, 

 the latter frequently still carrying in their twisted 

 fibres great masses of the rocks on which they had 

 grown. The water was coming down like a wall 

 of several feet high, sweeping everything before it ; 

 and in far less time than I have taken to describe 

 it, we were surrounded on all sides with its muddy 

 torrent. Independently of the risk of being 

 crushed to death by the floating and rolling trees, 

 its rapidity was so great that the strongest 

 swimmer could not have crossed it. 



On came the flood, narrowing our little island 

 every instant, by undermining and washing away 

 the bank on which the cottage stood. Nevertheless 

 I anticipated no more inconvenience than perhaps 

 having to pass the night where we were : for the 

 building had stood all the torrents of the Findhorn 

 since the great flood of 1829, although its inhabit- 

 ants had more than once been cut off from any 

 communication with the mainland for several days 

 together. But the water was already higher than 

 it had ever been since that flood, and the women 

 of the house were weeping in despair, their terrors 

 being augmented by a prophecy which had lately 



