386 A Walk from 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 



INVERNESS ; ROSS-SHIRE ; TAIN ; DORNOCH ; GOLSPIE PROGRESS OF RAIL- 

 ROADS THE SUTHERLAND EVICTION SEA-COAST SCENERY CAITH- 

 NESSWICK : HERRING FISHERIES JOHN O'GROAT'S : WALK'S END. 



INYEENESS is an interesting, good-sized town, with 

 an intellectual and pleasing countenance, of some- 

 what aristocratic and self-complacent expression. It is 

 considered the capital of the Highlands and wears a 

 decidedly metropolitan air. It is well situated on the 

 Ness, just at its debouchment into the Moray Firth, a 

 river that runs with a Ehine-like current through the 

 town and is spanned with a grand suspension bridge. 

 It has streets of city-built and city-bred buildings, 

 showing wealth and elegance. Several edifices are in 

 process of erection that will rank with some of the best 

 in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It has a long and pre- 

 tentious history, reaching back to the Eomans, and 

 dashed with the romance of the wild ages of the coun- 

 try. Oliver Cromwell, or Sledgehammer II,. Macbeth 9 

 Thane of Cawdor, Queen Mary, Prince Charlie, and 



