88 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



John, who officiates as cook, are deposited at night, 

 while the otter-hunter and piper canton themselves in 

 the opposite den. A detachment of boys, or irregulars, 

 who have followed the master to the mountains, bivouac 

 somewhere in the vicinity of the cabin. In a sod-walled 

 sheeling erected against a huge rock, the herdsman and 

 his family have taken up their temporary residence, 

 while we occupy the hut ; but its limited dimensions 

 would be quite unequal to shelter a moiety of our 

 extensive train. But while a mountain sheep hangs 

 from *' the couples "* of the cabin, and the whisky- 

 keg continues unexhausted, those worthies matter little 

 in what cranny they ensconce themselves at night. 

 To a late hour the piper is in requisition, and these 

 careless devils dance, and laugh, and sing, until my 

 cousin's mandate scatters them like ghosts at cock- 

 crow ; off they scamper, and where they bestow them- 

 selves till morning, none but themselves can tell. 

 Although the quantity of whisky consumed here, in 

 the short space of three days, appears almost incredible ; 

 yet upon these seasoned vessels its effects are so very 

 transitory as almost to authenticate the boasted virtues 

 of the mountain-dew — " that there is not an aching 

 head in a hogshead full ! " 



While traversing a low range of moors an incident 

 occurred which at this season was unaccountable. A 

 red and white setter pointed at the top of a little glen. 

 The heathy banks on both sides of a mountain rivulet 

 undulated gently from the stream, and caused a dipping 

 of the surface ; and the ground seemed a favourable 



* The couples are the principal timbers that support the roof ; 

 they are placed at stated distances, and an Irishman describes the 

 size of a house by telling you that it has so many " couples." 



