74 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



so bad, however, you may tread in perfect safety whenever 

 you see stones lying about in it." 



" Much obliged for your posthumous advice ; but if I 

 had been alone and had sunk in this bottomless bog, I 

 should have been buried alive, and advertised for as 

 missing." 



" Something of that nature might probably have 

 occurred ; but I must tell you for your solace, in case of 

 any future accident, that peat has wonderful antiseptic 

 properties, and that you would have remained, though 

 dead, in perfect preservation. Many instances are re- 

 corded of bodies so buried having been found fresh and 

 unimpaired after a long lapse of years ; and particularly 

 the body of a woman was found six feet deep in the Isle 

 of Auxholme in Lincolnshire : the antique sandals on her 

 feet afforded evidence of her having been buried there for 

 many ages ; yet her hair, nails, and skin are described as 

 having shown scarcely any marks of decay.* Thus you 

 might have been exhumed after a few centuries, and put in 

 a niche for the admiration of posterity, like the dried bodies 

 at Monreale in Sioily, which are by no means alarmingly 

 ugly, as I can testify." 



" Highly alluring, certainly ; I am glad, however, I was 

 taken out for all that." 



" Well, we shall now go along by the burn side, where 

 the ground is firm, and then up that mountain which 

 heaves its narrow back so high in the air. You have now 

 seen what is termed a quiet shot; and I hope to show you 

 sport of another description before we reach Blair, for all 

 our best ground is to come. See, we are to go up this hill 

 which leads to Cairn-Cherie ; it will conduct us to the top 

 of yonder grey summit, called Ben-y-venie, and there we 

 shall have a fine command over all the deer that may 

 chance to be within miles of it." 



" Upon my word you try me hard, and, I believe, really 

 wish to prove your peat's antiseptic qualities upon my frail 

 body. The aerial perspective of that mountain's crest is 



* Ly ell's Theology. 



