AND ANGLING SONGS. 147 



few of the evils engendered by the keeping up of small Highland 

 communities. The introduction amongst us of Indians and their 

 wigwams from the coasts of Labrador, will admit almost of as 

 much reason and 'excuse as does the continuance of these fungi, 

 an inbreak upon which has from some quarters called forth such 

 a deal of lamentation and foolish outcry. 



Above the Rogie Falls, when I first knew them, there lay 

 stretched a suspension bridge, or rather the remains of one, for 

 its condition was such that it required extreme caution to accom- 

 plish a transit by it. The natural forest-land which guards the 

 Blackwater at this point, along with a profusion of crags and 

 undergrowth, gave shelter, among other species of vermin, to 

 the wild cat (Felis catus]. A happy thought, I recollect it being 

 told me by the proprietor, led to the conversion by his game- 

 keeper of this crazy means of communication betwixt the banks 

 into an apt spot for the setting of traps, wherewith, in the course 

 of a single season, he captured several undoubted specimens of 

 this ferocious animal. 



The zoology of the whole district, comprehending the banks 

 of the Rasay, Tarviewood, Craigdarroch, Tor Achilty, and 

 Brahan Forest, is extremely interesting. It embraces many of 

 our rarer quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and insects. The Tor is a 

 strikingly situated, singularly developed, and finely embellished 

 eminence, which, within its own confines, offers to the naturalist 

 subjects of study, the bare enumeration of which would form a 

 volume. At its base, this hill is fringed richly with natural oak 

 and birch wood, the latter chiefly of the pendent order. Higher 

 up it is girthed with a zone of pine-wood, above which lies a 

 coping of luxuriant heather. The attractions of this hill are 

 greatly enhanced by the union of the rivers Conon and Rasay, 

 which converge below it, and by its relation on the upper side to 

 the fair mirror bearing its name, and the finely diversified ridge, 

 with its leafy screens, its sylvan knolls, and rocky facings 



