A RAID ON SUTHERLAND. 451 



in the afternoon and evening a rugged drive through the 

 mountains to Inchnadamff completed a thoroughly enjoyable 

 day. 



We had come to Tongue on Thursday, the sacramental 

 fast ; and Friday being " the Men's day," Mr H., the super- 

 intendent, gave us a hint that perhaps the keeper might have 

 some qualms about attending us to the lochs. In Caithness, 

 Sutherland, Eoss, and part of Inverness-shire, these nonde- 

 script beings called " the Men," constitute themselves judges 

 of their ministers. When they set their baleful mark on any 

 clergyman, the people refuse to attend his services. They 

 seem a lingering remnant of Popery and superstition in the 

 Highlands, having a separate department of their own, an- 

 swering a little to some of the lay orders of monkish times. 

 We must, however, do the old friars the justice to remember 

 that, ignorant though they were, they were rather in advance 

 of their own day; while these authorities, even in this penny- 

 reading age, have about as much general knowledge as they 

 have divinity. On the death of George III., the leading 

 " Man " of Caithness, when asked by his followers, " Fa was 

 to be king noo ? " oracularly answered, " Fa suld be king but 

 oor ain Sir Shon ! " If old Eoss, the keeper, felt disappoint- 

 ment at being deprived of the services of such sages, I cer- 

 tainly could not detect it in his paradoxical countenance, 

 where mirth and seriousness seemed to struggle with doubtful 

 result. To try him, we offered to witness " the Men's " per- 

 formance ourselves. The right chord was touched ; gravity 

 conquered ; and Eoss, for all but the camlet, might have been 

 a " Man " himself. A few questions about the lochs, however, 

 soon altered the case, and waggery prevailed again. 



The tent was pitched in a secluded spot, beside a little 

 brook among the hills. A large primitive congregation sur- 

 rounded the young Highland minister, who, with violent 

 gesture and defiant tone, was fiercely shouting a Gaelic ex- 



1 The late Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster. 



