HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 49 



CHAPTER VI. 



LOCH TAY. KENMOEE. TAYMOTJTH. FOETINGAL, FALLS OF ACHAEN. ABEE- 

 FELDIE. DUNKELD. PEETH. 



AFTER breakfasting, on the morning of the 19th, we set out on 

 our homeward route. Ben Lawers, a classical spot in the annals 

 of British Botany, had now been traversed ; and though our suc- 

 cess had been but moderate, we could look back with pleasure on 

 a locality celebrated by many eminent men, who had visited this 

 mountain-range not once in their lives, but several times every 

 summer. This was the culminating point of our journey, and 

 when we had reached it the grand object of our short Scottish 

 tour was accomplished. It was both the furthest extent from our 

 home and the greatest elevation above the coast-line that we had 

 attained. About three weeks had been now spent in the High- 

 lands, and spent very agreeably and not un profitably. We had 

 passed through a country of great interest and beauty, celebrated 

 by poets, painters, sportsmen, and men of science. We did not 

 enjoy much of what is called Highland hospitality ; yet we are 

 able to testify from experience that the ancient reputation of the 

 inhabitants is not a myth. Hospitality is still one of the High- 

 land virtues. Kind treatment, civility and courtesy, may be ex- 

 pected from the genuine Celt. Deference, politeness, readiness 

 to give information to strangers, and quickness in anticipating 

 their wants, are characteristic of a genuine descendant of the 

 ancient Gael. 



But our hearths and homes now began to exert their influence 

 over our affections, and the charms of novelty had lost their fas- 

 cinating power. The sounds of water and waterfalls were not 

 so pleasing now as they were when first heard and seen. Rivers 

 rushing over their rocky channels, lakes either calm or ruffled, 

 mountain defiles, fringed with wood, or terrible with impending 

 rocks, were now comparatively common objects; and they began 

 to be objects of as much indifference as the sounds and sights of 

 London are to the thorough-bred Londoner, who, intent on 



JJ 



