VIOLENT DEATH. 121 



The bothy had been destroyed by the tempest in a very 

 astonishing manner. It had been built partly of stone, 

 and partly of strong wooden uprights driven into the 

 ground ; it was not merely blown down, but quite torn to 

 pieces : large stones, which had formed part of the walls, 

 were found at the distance of one or two hundred yards 

 from the site of the building ; and the wooden uprights 

 appeared to have been rent asunder by a force that had 

 twisted them off, as in breaking a tough stick. From the 

 circumstances in which the bodies were found, it appeared 

 that the men were retiring to rest at the time the calamity 

 came upon them. One of the bodies, indeed, was found 

 at a distance of many yards from the bothy ; another of 

 the men was found upon the place where the bothy had 

 stood, with one stocking off, as if he had been undressing : 

 Captain Macpherson was lying without his clothes upon 

 the wretched bed which the bothy had afforded his 

 face to the ground and his knees drawn up. To all ap- 

 pearance the destruction had been quite sudden ; yet the 

 situation of the building was such as promised security 

 against the utmost violence of the wind : it stood in a 

 narrow recess *, at the foot of a mountain, whose preci- 

 pitous and lofty declivities sheltered it on every side ex- 

 cepting the front, and here, too, a hill rose before it, 

 though with a more gradual slope. This extraordinary 

 wreck of a building so situated led the common people 

 to ascribe it to a supernatural Power. It was recollected, 

 by some who had been out shooting with Captain Macpher- 

 son about a month before, that while they were resting at 



* This situation pretty clearly indicates that the building was de- 

 stroyed by an avalanche. AUTHOR. 



