THE HEAVENLY VALE. 37 



of its ancient state of savage wildness. To me the 

 Highlands will lose much of their grandeur and charms 

 when the eagle exists only in their legends and 

 reminiscences. 



At length we reached our destination, Glen-nam- 

 haidh; and a spot more worthy of its name was seldom 

 trodden by the foot of man. In shape resembling a 

 horseshoe rather elongated, the valley forms a kind of 

 amphitheatre ; the sides, running up to the height of 

 1800 feet, and at the curved end rising very abruptly, 

 are lined with birch copses. Above the glen, on the 

 very top of the hill, is a mountain loch, called in Gaelic 

 " the frozen loch ; " and from this issues a stream, the 

 waters of which glide down a deep fissure in the face 

 of a huge black rock, forming a waterfall about 70 feet 

 high, and then tumble and dance over a series of 

 cascades far into the depths of the dell. In the centre 

 of the last cascade, with the waters leaping on either 

 side of it, stands a jet-black stone, in its form some- 

 what resembling a rude cross, to which the legends of 

 the glen have attached the sobriquet of " Uaigh-na- 

 sithchean/' or, " the tomb of the fairies." And, 

 certainly, though our common notions of those crea- 

 tures would assign to them the gift of immortality; 

 yet, if they must, like frail humanity, also pay their 

 debt to nature, this is a most suitable spot wherein to 

 lay their elfin bones, a rock, blackened by the spray 

 of ages, fringed round by the fox-glove and the fern, 

 while above wave the long drooping branches of a 

 weeping birch, bending over the rude cross and fretting 

 with the stream that murmurs by. 



Such is but a meagre description of the lovely spot 

 to which we had directed our steps in search of more 

 deer. Our search, however, proved futile. Stationing 



