

2 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



submit to the arduous experiment. An ordinary walk is not 

 enough for a strong man who is at the same time an earnest 

 student. In order to keep his mind up to the mark, he ought 

 to accustom himself to hardship, and inure his limbs and 

 muscles to fatigue. No doubt it is hard laws to a man in 

 middle life, who has never done more than his " Saturday's 

 walk," and a short stroll on the other days of the week, to 

 send him up the steep mountain- side with a gun under his 

 arm ; but even he, by perseverance and practice, will become 

 astonished at his own powers, and delighted with the probable 

 result health and strength of mind and body. 



It is needless to say how few of us would endure this con- 

 tinual hardship and fatigue, were it not for the present ex- 

 citement, which impetus is supplied by the love of hunting, 

 innate, though often latent, in most manly and independent 

 characters. I always sympathised with the Scotch poacher of 

 fifty years ago, who, for the sheer love of sport, sallied out 

 over the well-known hills, and with his quaintly broke collie 

 dog and rusty single-barrel enjoyed himself to the full. He 

 never sold his game, but when he had more than his family 

 could use, gave the rest to his neighbours. That is past and 

 gone; the English squire first drove the poorer Scotch one 

 out of the market, and he in his turn has been superseded by 

 the millionaires from London, Manchester, and America. In- 

 credible prices are given by the latter for all our first-class 

 deer-forests and shootings, while the second-rate beats are as 

 eagerly contended for by the men of less ample means ; and 

 now it is Sassenachs, protection, and keepers over the whole 

 Highland range. This picture may not be a very bright one 

 to a high-spirited and patriotic Scotchman : still it has its 

 light as well as its shade. The almost fabulous rents paid for 

 all the best beats bring money into the country ; and the 

 sportsmen, to say nothing of being fleeced by the natives, are 

 lavish of their purses, which also swells the stream of wealth 

 flowing into the Highlands. To recur to my opening sen- 



