THE HIGHLANDS. 323 



first novel of Waverley in 1814. In these wonderful fic- 

 tions the old Highlander of ancient Scotland was depicted 

 to the life, with his tartan plaid and formidable claymore. 

 People's minds were all filled with visions of that land of 

 poesy, and imagined the shores of its lakes, its mountain 

 heather, its deep glens and caves, peopled with all those 

 loved fancies which the great novelist's imagination con- 

 jured up ; and at the very moment when genius threw 

 so much light upon the picture, what remained of these 

 people were being persecuted and expelled for the aggran- 

 disement apparently of a few rich proprietors. 



On all sides an outcry was raised. The absolute right 

 to the land, claimed by these mere feudal chiefs, was dis- 

 puted. It was contended that they were nothing more than 

 suzerains, and that the land belonged as much to their 

 vassals as to themselves. In many respects this observa- 

 tion might be just. Taking tradition only as the rule, it 

 might have been received ; but in the struggle between 

 the present and future against the past, history must needs 

 be in the wrong. The utility of the thing was evident, 

 if the right was not completely established. Deeming it 

 out of the question to leave the labouring population of 

 the Lowlands exposed to such a dangerous neighbour- 

 hood, the government interposed on behalf of public 

 safety. Thanks to the help thus afforded, the depopula- 

 tion was accomplished, and by degrees the Highlands 

 have been gradually deprived of the greater portion of 

 their wild inhabitants. 



Nowhere has the experiment been tested on so large a 

 scale as in Sutherlandshire, which forms the north-west 

 extremity of Great Britain. It is a wild, rugged country, 

 where the mosses are more numerous, and the rocks more 

 bare, than in the adjacent districts, and it is not even 

 more picturesque on account of its desolation. Situated 



