A SPBING WEEK IN THE WEST 

 HIGHLANDS, 1848 



THE lark, with his song of glee, and the lapwings, as they 

 wheeled about, tumbling and chasing each other, with their 

 vernal scream of ecstasy, had given some cheerfulness to 

 the dull sown fields of the Lothians, when a short tour was 

 recommended for the health of my youngest child. I had 

 seen enough of the lovely glen which separates the Holy 

 Loch from Loch Eck, in my shooting and fishing excur- 

 sions, to make me long to penetrate farther ; so, with the 

 hearty concurrence of my fellow travellers, it was to this 

 inlet of the West Highlands that we directed our course. 



An easy steam-passage brought us to Kilmun, and next 

 morning we skirted the Echaig,* which, like a band of 



* I had this salmon-stream, and the shooting of Kilmun Hills, taken 

 from Mr Campbell of Monzie, and can confidently recommend both to any 

 man who is a true admirer of wild sport. In addition to salmon and 

 grilse, the river abounds with sea-trout and whitlings : I have killed forty 

 in about six hours. Thews and sinews are required to travel the moor. 

 It is a sort of peninsula, jutting out between Loch Long and the Holy 

 Loch, on which account scarcely a bird escapes the boundary. The grouse 



