384 APPLECROSS AND GAIRLOCH. 



the " Highland Smugglers " is laid in the Lovat forest, 

 and adjacent recesses of Strath-Conau, will hardly forget 

 it. To the lovers of romantic fictions connected with 

 scenes of Nature, and to all those whose spirit is excited 

 by the deep interest which patriotism and tradition have 

 thrown around the " land of the mountain and the flood," 

 these volumes will possess undying charms. 



To the west of Strath-Conan lie the two great districts 

 of Applecross * and Gairloch, containing a vast extent of 

 the most rugged mountain scenery. A great part of it is, 

 of course, utterly unimproveable, and, indeed, inaccessible, 

 thus affording to the deer a secure retreat ; while the 

 fine valleys of the west, which lie between the hills, offer 

 abundant pasture. In this part of Ross-shire the deer are 

 abundant ; and the thorough knowledge of the sport and 

 unerring rifles of Sir Francis Mackenzie, of Gairloch, and 

 his brothers, have brought in many a noble stag to Flower- 

 dale, the picturesque residence of his family. The singular 

 beauty of this place, which is a small glen, or opening, 

 among the wildest hills, crowded with trees and shrubs of 

 the richest foliage, and decked on one side by the silvery 

 sand and bright waters of the north-west coast, makes it, 

 including, as it does, the magnificent Loch-Maree in its 

 neighbourhood, an object well worthy of the traveller's 

 toil. 



Deer-stalking is here, however, a truly laborious sport, 

 and requires more than ordinary skill and perseverance. 

 One of the luckiest shots which the writer remembers, was 

 made here, in 1832, by the Honourable Edwin Lascelles, 



* A separate description of Applecross will be given in the fol- 

 lowing pages. 



