96 BENULA AND FARLEY, 1920 



hopeless, in striking contrast to last year, when 

 it was the best ever known viz., 431 sea-trout, 

 weighing 603 pounds, and 9 grilse and 2 salmon. 

 However, the grouse were fairly good, which kept 

 us from open enmity, and on the 19th my roe 

 efforts were rewarded, and I got a nice young 

 buck in Farley Wood in the centre beat. He 

 was only a two-year-old and his horns, of course, 

 were not great, but still it was quite a pretty 

 little head, and the shot was creditable (it was 

 over 100 yards), and I got him bang in the heart. 



And that was the beginning of the fun, for 

 the next day I heard from Fraser that Glencannich 

 forest was unlet, and he thought I might get some 

 early stalking on it, so I wrote and made an offer 

 for a few stags; but I was too late, as it had just 

 been let, and the agents offered me Benula, which 

 was 7 miles still farther up the glen and 30 miles 

 fromBalblair too far, but too tempting not to have 

 a shot at and in, and so we fixed it up at three 

 stags just for the sake of having a look at the 

 forest. The first attempt on the 24th was a 

 failure, as the mist never cleared and the stags, 

 of course, were on the high tops; it was clear up 

 to about 2,000 feet, but very thick above that, 

 and after lunch the mist came down still lower. 

 We went up the steep zigzag from the new lodge 

 with Finlayson, the head stalker, and made for 

 the top of Scurr-na-Lapich, 3,700 feet. It was a 

 tremendous climb, and there being no view and 



