72 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V. 



shots at them. Two or three times the birds swooped 

 down, and one of them carried off some bird, prob- 

 ably a grouse, taking it far away round the cliffs of 

 Ben Laighal. The other eagle then made a sudden 

 swoop down to the ground, within a hundred yards 

 of us, but just behind a small hillock ; we ran to 

 the place, confident of getting the bird, but arrived 

 just in time to see the eagle carrying off its prey, 

 whatever it was, in the same direction as that taken 

 by its mate, in all probability straight to the nest. 



Eeaching the brow of a hill, we came in full 

 view of the fine plantations and bay of Tongue. 

 Beautiful and refreshing to the eye were the woods 

 and cultivated fields of Tongue, bursting into view 

 suddenly as they did, after some days' travelling 

 through the rugged wilds of the interior of Suther- 

 land. The beautiful bay was as smooth as glass, 

 the timber growing to the water's edge ; and the 

 whole scene was made still more striking by the 

 abrupt and precipitous outline of the headlands 

 both of the mainland and the islands at the 

 mouth of the Kyle. It is worth a journey of 

 many miles to see the Kyle of Tongue alone. 



Tongue House, formerly the residence of Lord 

 Eeay, the then proprietor of a magnificent range of 

 mountain property, is one of the most beautiful 

 places of the sort that I ever saw. The house itself 



