78 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER 



quite spell bound. My compaiiion, too, though no 

 stranger to the scene, was not thoroughly proof against 

 its influence ; and for some distance we drove on in 

 silence, till a sudden turn brought us unexpectedly on 

 a small herd of roe quietly grazing in the road. 

 Though not more than a hundred yards away, they 

 exhibited no signs of alarm, but merely springing 

 gracefully to the top of the bank, one by one took a 

 steady survey of us as we approached, and then dis- 

 appeared within the covert. 



Shortly after this the nature of the scenery changed. 

 Our road lay along the banks of an inland frith or arm 

 of the sea, running up the country some twenty miles. 

 In some parts the shore rose quickly to an elevation of 

 fifteen hundred feet, in others receding into open moors 

 stretching far away to our left. Where the rise was 

 abrupt the road was blasted and cut in the solid rock, 

 at a height of about one hundred and fifty feet above 

 the water. The rocks were covered with the mountain- 

 ash, dwarf oaks, and stunted birch, whose roots found 

 a scanty hold and meagre subsistence among their 

 fissures and interstices; while about them were congre- 

 gated, like so many satellites, tufts of various kinds of 

 ferns and lichens ; the ivy and the stagshorn moss 

 hanging down in graceful festoons, or the foxglove 

 ringing its many bells, glistening with the morning 

 dew. Here and there a giant pine reared his tall head 

 high above all the rest, the wood-pigeon still roosting 

 or cooing among the clusters of fir-apples. Many a 

 tiny burn tinkled its way from stone to stone, and, 

 creeping quietly across our course, fell over the preci- 

 pice, and was lost on the beach below.- Occasionally 

 a larger stream, swollen into a torrent, dashed from 

 rock to rock down towards the road, and then, when 

 within a yard of our wheels, suddenly disappeared 



