SANDHILLS OF MORAYSHIRE. 11 



CHAPTER XX. 



The Sandhills of Morayshire: Description of; Origin of Foxes: De- 

 structivcness and Cunning of; Anecdote of Hoe-hunting in the Sandhills 

 Anecdote*. 



BETWEEN the fertile plains of Moray and the shores of the Moray 

 Firth there lies one of the most peculiarly barren and strange 

 districts of country in Scotland, consisting of a stretch of sand- 

 hills, in most parts formed of pure and very fine yellowish sand, 

 without a blade of vegetation of any description, and constantly 

 shifting and changing their shape and appearance on the recur- 

 rence of continued dry winds. Looking from the hills more 

 inland, this range of sand, in the evening sun, has the appearance 

 of a golden boundary line to the beautiful picture of the firth. 

 "With the magnificent rocks of Cromarty, and the snow-capped 

 mountains of Ross-shire and Sutherland in the distance, I know 

 no more striking picture than the coup d'ceil of this landscape, 

 with the smiling plains and groves of Morayshire as a fore- 

 ground. 



In other parts of these sandhills are tracts covered with a dry 

 and rough kind of bent ; the long roots of which, stretching along 

 the surface of the sand, and throwing out innumerable fibres and 

 holders, serve in some measure to prevent the drifting of the sand. 

 It is a matter of surprise how this bent can find enough sustenance 

 and moisture in the sand, which is always moving and always dry. 

 At the extremity, opposite Findhorn, is a peninsula, with a soli- 

 tary farm-house, and a tolerably- si ml arable farm, with tracts of 

 broom and furze around it. The furze-bushes are all eaten by the 

 rabbits into peculiar shapes, as the old yew and box trees in a 

 Dutch garden are cut into figures to humour the quaint fancies 

 of their heavy-sterned proprietors. The rabbits ought, by the by, 

 to be well clothed, as they nibble the furze into regular cushions 

 and ottomans, on which they sit and look out in the fine summer 

 evenings, without fear or dread of the sharpness of the thorns, 



M 



