228 THE GEOGRAPHY 



for his curls ; the members of the Travellers' Club covet 

 no other honour but to have journeyed far and wide ; 

 and the waiters of the Club House catch flying, from the 

 conversation of the guests, more geographical knowledge 

 than if they had been for years industrious scholars of 

 Ritter. Wherefore should we not also try to draw some 

 benefit from this place ? We step up to a table, at which 

 sit three men in lively conversation, whose sunburnt 

 visages at once betray the eager sportsman, often gathering, 

 in the pursuit of a day's whim, impressions which many a 

 Naturalist would envy. 



" In the middle of October of last year," related one, 

 " I was among the beautiful mountains of Moray. Before 

 me lay one of those quiet, mirror-like mountain lakes 

 which ornament that county, one bank extending out into 

 the low moorland, covered with Moss and Sedge, and the 

 white-topped Cotton-grass, while, on the other shore, rose 

 picturesque precipices of grey, wild rocks, sparingly decked 

 with Birches and Hazel-bushes, and sometimes rising into 

 lofty cliffs, around which the cawing crows were circling. The 

 thick autumn mist gradually began to retreat before the 

 sun, which made the slight hoar-frost on bush and copse 

 sparkle like a thousand diamonds. The light vapour 

 rolled itself up in fantastic shapes through the mountain- 

 passes, and disclosed the neighbouring hills, red with the 

 heather, or hurried up higher on the mountains through 

 the light, vigorous crests of Scotch Firs, which grew more 

 and more distinct. I had been long tracing the vagaries 

 of a particular, odd-shaped cloud, when all at once the 

 light morning breeze whirled it round and threw it off, 

 leaving a hill-side clear, on which, in quiet majesty, 

 reclined a stag of sixteen antlers. My first thought was 

 to place myself out of his sight, so I threw myself down 



