'FREEBOOTER'S LIFE. 257 



the inhabited parts of Strathnaver, and, on such occa- 

 sions, to carry off to his caverns, corn, and such other ne- 

 cessaries as were not to be procured around his desolate 

 abode. 



The large cave, which bears his name, is an extensive 

 winding cavity, or rather a succession of open spaces or 

 holes of unusual size, such as Brobdignag rabbits might be 

 supposed to haunt. In this dismal labyrinth, Chisholm 

 lived many years; it is said he kept two cows under- 

 ground, and left venison in lieu of the hay and. grain 

 which he plundered in the cultivated strath. 



This sort of bartering gave little offence ; nay, some 

 were gratified by it, for Chisholm was dreaded as a lawless 

 man, whom it was dangerous to anger or molest; they 

 considered that a person who could live in the gloomy 

 holes under Cam- Vaduc, must be in the service of the 

 powers of darkness, and that it was not safe or canny to 

 interfere with him. Even the foresters used to shun him, 

 though he was never known to offer personal violence, 

 lie lived so much apart from the rest of mankind, and 

 was so seldom seen, that his dress and appearance became 

 latterly a matter of doubt, and the manner and time of 

 his death was never known. He either removed privately 

 from the country, or expired in one of the remote cham- 

 bers of the cavern, which no person was hardy enough to 

 explore. 



A similar system of free living was adopted by a man 

 named John More, who lived in Durness about the same 

 time, and rented a small farm near the Dirrie-more. Pie 

 neither had, nor cared to have, permission to kill deer and 

 game ; but his whole time was devoted to poaching, and 



s 



