154 



TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. 



CH. X. 



wonderful shots, and dogs that never failed to 

 pull down their stag. On most points silent and 

 reserved, on this one he is talkative and eloquent. 

 No man, too, has a greater taste for, and a more 

 correct conception of, the beauties of nature : 

 he points out to you with admiration the very 

 mountain slope, the very come that you have 

 already marked down in your mind as surpass- 

 ingly grand. At first you may think him a 

 reserved and rather morose man, but when he 

 finds out that you are not only a brother of 

 the craft, but also a fervent admirer of the 

 natural beauties of his favourite lochs and corries, 

 his heart opens, and he will go through fire or 

 water to serve you : his expression of face alters, 

 he takes you under his protection, and leads you 

 to points of view which you would have travelled 

 fifty miles to see ; and, in fact, enters into all 

 your wishes and thoughts with tact and eager 

 desire to please you. Mercenary and greedy as, 

 I am sorry to say, Highlanders in many parts of 

 the country have become, I did not find this the 

 case in Sutherland. The shootings not having 

 been let much, the country -people are not yet 

 spoiled, but still retain, in a great measure, the 

 natural good feeling, the air of high-bred civility, 

 of which most mountaineers have a far greater 



