PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. 27 



This was very provoking ; but as it had been through 

 no fault of ours, we were the less annoyed. Walter and 

 I were for following up the game ; but we yielded to 

 the better judgment of Donald, who assured us that 

 we should see no more of it that day. Our only chance, 

 therefore, was among the roe. 



Having now, however, but one gilly with us, and two 

 at least being necessary to beat the woods, we easily 

 induced the shepherd to accompany us, and set off at 

 once in quest of fresh game. Our path lay for some 

 distance along the plateau which I mentioned before, 

 the Gaelic name of which (though I forget it at this 

 moment) means the hog's back. We were now on 

 elevated ground about 2,500 feet above the sea and 

 the view was fine in the extreme, the air being wonder- 

 fully clear, so that we could see to a great distance in 

 every direction. Before us were hills rising above 

 hills, in every variety of contour, from the barrow- 

 shaped, well-rounded summits of the " old red sand- 

 stone " to the precipitous peaks and rugged outlines of 

 the more primitive formations, here and there some 

 grand patriarch rearing his bald forehead above the 

 lesser groups around him, while numerous mountain 

 lochs were scattered about the hollows, some glittering 

 in the sunshine, and others almost lost in shade beneath 

 the overhanging crags. On either side ran two parallel 

 straths or vales, named respectively " Strath Mohr " 

 and " Strathsbeallog " (the " great vale " and the " vale 

 of the hunter "), down the centres of which ran two 

 slightly winding rivers, presenting an appearance some- 

 what like one of those huge skeletons which a geolo- 

 gist loves to contemplate as he finds its outline in the 

 solid rock the central river representing the backbone 

 slightly distorted, and the numerous tributary burns its 



