246 ENGLISH VAGABONDS. 



useless. The yeld hinds, however, come in at that period, 

 and are very fine venison ; and all the other hinds make 

 the best possible soup, and are very good hillman's eating, 

 though they are totally devoid of fat. 



Such poachers as go about in gangs, are rough pictu- 

 resque-looking fellows, able to face any weather; and 

 they act, as I have said, in concert. Being a strong force, 

 they can remove the deer which they kill, without much 

 inconvenience, and can readily dispose of it in the country. 

 During the time of their depredations, they subsist upon 

 what is not saleable ; and with this, and their whiskey and 

 tobacco, they must pass a very pleasant wandering life. 

 It is extremely difficult for keepers to apprehend these 

 foragers, as all of them have glasses, and cannot easily be 

 surprised in the open country. The best way is to attack 

 the bothy by night ; and a fine animating scene it would 

 be. I do not think that the men would endeavour to save 

 themselves by the commission of murder. They have still 

 a high reverence for their chieftains, which would restrain 

 them from committing bloody excesses upon their lawful 

 agents. In the Highlands one never hears of such ruffians 

 as infest the preserves in England; men who screw up 

 their courage at the beer-houses, asserting with impre- 

 cations that they will shoot any keeper rather than be 

 taken. A vicious set they are, bringing up their families 

 in idleness and profligacy ; proceeding from crime to crime, 

 till at last, their career ends either on the gallows, or in 

 transportation. I have fined and imprisoned scores of 

 these vagabonds, some of them two or three times over, 

 and I never yet heard of one that was reclaimed. They 

 are absolute thieves : for there can be no sport in taking 



