GAIRLOCH. 291 



through the whole of the highland parts of which, with 

 little exception, as well as through the adjoining wilds of 

 Sutherland, it would be difficult to find any district not 

 more or less tenanted by the red deer. 



The division of Strath-Conan was long held in unenviable 

 notoriety, as the main stronghold of the illicit distiller in 

 the north of Scotland, a celebrity which it has only lost in 

 recent years. The memory of this may possibly ere long 

 have passed away, but the deer-stalker, who is made aware 

 that the scene of Mr. James Baillie Fraser's tale of the 

 " Highland Smugglers " is laid in the Lovat forest, and 

 adjacent recesses of Strath-Conan, will hardly forget it. To 

 the lovers of romantic fictions, connected with scenes of 

 Nature, and to all those whose spirit is excited by the deep 

 interest which patriotism and tradition have thrown around 

 the "land of the mountain and the flood," these volumes 

 will possess undying charms. 



To the west of Strath-Conan lie the two great districts of 

 Applecross * and Gairloch, containing a vast extent of the 

 most rugged mountain scenery. A great part of it is, of 

 course, utterly unimprovable, and, indeed, inaccessible, 

 thus affording to the deer a secure retreat ; while the fine 

 valleys of the west, which lie between the hills, offer 

 abundant pasture. In this part of Ross-shire the deer are 

 abundant, and the thorough knowledge of the sport and 

 unerring rifles of Sir Francis Mackenzie, of Gairloch, and 

 his brothers, have brought in many a noble stag to Flower- 

 dale, the picturesque residence of his family. The singular 

 beauty of this place, which is a small glen, or opening, among 

 the wildest hills, crowded with trees and shrubs of the 

 richest foliage, and decked on one side by the silvery sand 

 and bright waters of the north-west coast, make it, includ- 

 ing, as it does, the magnificent Loch-Maree in its neighbour- 

 hood, an object well worthy of the traveller's toil. 



Deer-stalking is here, however, a truly laborious sport, 

 and requires more than ordinary skill and perseverance. 

 One of the luckiest shots which the writer remembers, was 

 made here, in 1832, by the Honourable Edwin Lascelles, 



* A separate description of Applecross will be given in the following 

 pages. 



