82 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



of society, but not without its attractions and 

 charms for the student of nature. After Miss 

 Minnie's decease, the farmhouse being deserted 

 and the ferry disused, the seals took possession 

 of these rocks on each side, which were far up 

 the loch and seldom disturbed ; but recently the 

 farm has been let again with an adjacent island, 

 the house once more echoes with human voices, 

 and the traffic with the mainland is renewed, so 

 the poor seals have been evicted from some of 

 their last refuges without compensation for dis- 

 turbance. 



Dear, beautiful Loch Craignish ! How many 

 happy days can I remember on its surface ! As 

 Macallum and Sandy pull us round from Dun- 

 troon the dredge is on board, and the ladies' 

 sketch-books, as well as a substantial luncheon 

 basket ; but it is a low spring-tide, and the 

 ostensible objects of our expedition are seals and 

 oysters. The latter, alas ! are now few and far 

 between, but some may be secured at dead low 

 water sticking to the rocks, and, if so, what an 

 addition they will make to our lunch ! No germs 

 of typhoid can lurk in the clear sea water, and 

 one old fellow has five times as much flesh on 

 him as the degenerate Native of the South, and 

 three times as much flavour. On we go, inside 

 Rabbit Island, past the point of Ardifure, and 

 round under the shore of Macaskan, still in- 

 habited by fallow-deer, with one solitary shepherd 



