368 A SPRING WEEK IN THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 



sport, if he saw a mouse on his kitchen floor at early dawn 

 and was unable to Mil it. The same man was confident 

 of success should a cat jump out of a bush before him 

 when on his way to the hill. He affirms that he never 

 saw either omen fail. This man, from the braes of Atholl, 

 is now conducting a flourishing trade in Edinburgh, a 

 clear-headed capital man of business, and quite as super- 

 stitious as when he left the glens many years ago. When 

 the victims are ready prepared, the victimisers will never 

 be wanting. There is now a woman in Morayshire who 

 sells, for a guinea, a bottle of spring water as a charm 

 against all diseases, (if her remedy got a fair trial, it 

 might do more good than she thinks or intends,) and after 

 my account of the deer-slaying cobbler, no one will be sur- 

 prised to hear that she has no lack of customers.- Respect- 

 able people, often from a great distance, pay (to her) very 

 profitable visits. She is proud of being the lineal descen- 

 dant of a race of witches, and her grandfather was the 

 acknowledged most potent wizard of the district. From 

 him she inherited the much boasted possession of "the 

 river-horse's bridle " and " the mermaid's stone," which 

 powerful spells she exhibits as proofs of her weird origin 

 and descent. 



In defiance of the boding cuckoo, I ordered out our 

 vehicle for Inveroran. No votary of nature can follow the 

 windings of this lovely strath of the Urchay without deep 

 interest. The road runs parallel to the river nearly the 



plentiful in the forest, that he assured me a fair shot might have bagged 

 ten brace in a few hours. 



