244 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CUAP. xxxii. 



October, started before daybreak for a distant part of the moun- 

 tain, where we expected to find him ; and we resolved to pass the 

 night at a shepherd's house far up in the hills, if we found that 

 our chace led us too far from home to return the same evening. 



Long was our walk that day before we saw horn or hoof; 

 many a likely burn and corrie did we search in vain. The 

 shepherds had been scouring the hills the day before for their 

 sheep, to divide those which were to winter in the low ground from 

 those which were to remain on the hills. However, the day was 

 fine and frosty, and we were in the midst of some of the most 

 magnificent scenery in Scotland ; so that I, at least, was not 

 much distressed at our want of luck. Poor Donald, who had 

 not the same enjoyment in the beauty of the scene, unless it were 

 enlivened by a herd of deer here and there, began to grumble 

 and lament our hard fate ; particularly as towards evening wild 

 masses of cloud began to sweep up the glens and along the sides 

 of the mountain, and every now and then a storm of cold rain 

 and sleet added to the discomfort of our position. There was, 

 however, something so very desolate and wild in the scene and the 

 day, that, wrapt in my plaid, I stalked slowly on enjoying the 

 whole thing as much as if the elements had been in better temper, 

 and the Goddess of Hunting propitious. 



We came in the afternoon to a rocky burn, along the course 

 of which was our line of march. To the left rose an interminable- 

 looking mountain, over the sides of which were scattered a wil- 

 derness of grey rock and stone, sometimes forming immense pre- 

 cipices, and in other places degenerating into large tracts of 

 loose and water-worn grey shingle, apparently collected and 

 heaped together by the winter floods. Great masses of rock 

 were scattered about, resting on their angles, and looking as if 

 the wind, which was blowing a perfect gale, would hurl them 

 down on us. 



Amongst all this dreary waste of rock and stone, there were 

 large patches of bright green pasture, and rushes on the level 

 spots, formed by the damming up of the springs and mountain 

 streams. 



Stretching away to our right was a great expanse of brown 

 heather and swampy ground, dotted with innumerable pools of 

 black-looking water. The hori/ou on every side was shut out 



