APPENDIX. 309 



— but these are mostly confined to the south-west of our 

 western district, and to the bleak upland moors of Durness 

 and Cape Wrath, in which latter district they roll along 

 with vast wavy undulations, like a heather-clad prairie, 

 reminding one of an Arctic tundra more than any other 

 part of Scotland we can recall to memory. 



The marvellously broken and sinuous nature of the 

 whole western land, and markedly of Assynt and Eddera- 

 chyllis, affords many natural basins and resting-places for 

 sheets of water of varying depths and areas. 



Of inland valleys perhaps the most remarkable and 

 the finest in aspect is the long narrow Glen Canisp, 

 studded throughout its lower reaches with lovely smiling 

 lakes and rivulets, but receding in darker grandeur 

 towards the hills. The Pass of Stronchrubie and the 

 approach to Loch Assynt by the base of the gigantic lime- 

 stone cliffs, where the holly-fern and the wall rue flourish, 

 and where great stems of ivy and holly find clinging room 

 and roothold in its buttresses, — is also well worthy of 

 the admiration of the traveller. The great pass also by 

 the lakes of the Reay Forest, between the head waters of 

 Loch Shin and the mouth of the Laxford, is wild and 

 grand in the extreme. Nor can we omit mention of 

 the "Melancholy Strath of Dionard," ten long dark- 

 shadowed miles of valley between the shooting-lodge of 

 Gualinn and the Kyle of Durness. As we first witnessed 

 this dreary valley, with the snake-like course of its native 

 stream — the Dionard or Grudie — we could not recall a 

 weirder, wilder scene in Scotland, not even if we remem- 

 ber the great moor of Rannoch in Perthshire, or the inter- 

 minable moors of the eastern division of the county. 



Inland Lochs and Rivers. 



The parish of Assynt alone is said to hold over 300 

 lochs of various sizes. Edderachyllis is not far behind, 

 but Durness is not quite so honeycombed. These gems, 

 set in the dark moorland or high on the shoulder of one 

 of the monarchs of mountains, glisten and dance in the 



