CORRACH-BAH ; OR, A PLEA FOR THE WASTES. 225 



crag or barren fell for all the rich slopes and verdant valleys 

 of the Lowlands. 



In the recesses of the Black Mount forest, very consider- 

 ably above the level of the sea, there is a moorland lochan, 

 about a mile long by half a mile broad, called in Gaelic, 

 Lochan Nahachalach ; and a little to the east, connected by a 

 rocky brook, is Loch Bah (the drowning loch), about three 

 miles long by a mile broad. The shores of these lochs, if 

 shores they may be called which consist of an occasional strip 

 of yellow sand, are seldom trodden by any foot but that of the 

 wild deer or the otter. Jagged points of rock continually ob- 

 trude themselves above the blue-grey water ; and the eyrie of 

 the sea-eagle fixed upon the top of an old birch, on a rugged 

 heathery islet of Loch Bah, while another eyrie graces an aged 

 Scotch fir of Loch Nahachalach, completes a picture so ex- 

 quisitely savage, that fancy in its wildest mood could scarcely 

 alter or amend. On the south these lochs are bounded by an 

 extensive morass, full of small tarns, intersected by a pretty 

 large moor-burn ; and on the east of Loch Nahachalach a steep 

 craggy hill rises abruptly from its side. An eyrie of the 

 golden eagle is placed on a shelf of rock half-way up, and I 

 have enjoyed the rare luxury of seeing both eyries at the same 

 moment, and both queens in undisturbed possession of their 

 thrones. Seldom any collision took place, each having her 

 favourite hunting-ground. There was the mountain for the 

 nobler bird, and the morass for her more vulture-shaped neigh- 

 bour. They sometimes, however, had a battle in the air ; but 

 the looser form, the heavier movement, and the less daring 

 spirit of the erne, made her no match for the mountaineer, 

 who soon drove her screaming to her island. 



In the distance may be discerned the dark forms of moun- 

 tains belonging to that range called Corrach-Bah, a very 

 favourite resort of the golden eagle. The corries which inter- 

 sect them afford the richest pasture for the deer ; and the hill- 

 fox, the wild-cat, and the marten are not yet banished from 



p 



