INTRODUCTION. xiii 



that, had the thermometer been at 86°, I should have looked 

 upon it as well adapted for the cultivation of sugar, cotton, or 

 tobacco. But the steamer, slow as was its progress, moved 

 too fast for me ; and if ever I again visit the Highlands, it 

 shall be on foot, for no man, with nerve and will, and an ad- 

 mirer of the beauties of nature, can ever truly enjoy the plea- 

 sures of travelling, unless he proceed in that manner. After 

 a while, we entered what I would call a singular narrow and 

 tortuous bayou, winding amongst green meadows and corn- 

 fields, and on whose margins some herons walked with mea- 

 sured steps, while groups of lapwings flew over us so merrily, 

 that we thought they had a holiday too. From the willows 

 and ash-trees on the banks, "cushats" started in great numbers, 

 alarmed by the noise of our paddles. Narrower and more 

 shallow became the bayou, and at length our boat stuck in the 

 mud. After a while, however, the sound of oars came on our 

 ears, and, ere half an hour elapsed, the party from Edinburgh 

 was, amidst much mirth and some sorrow, exchanged for the 

 party from the hills of the north, as anxious apparently to 

 reach their home, as we were to leave it farther behind. Now 

 see us packed close in two great boats, rowed vigorously for a 

 while, then towed along the margin, just in the way that Ca- 

 nadian boatmen still proceed, by means of a cordelle, or as the 

 Kentuckyans were wont to do thirty years ago on the Ohio 

 and Mississippi. But, Reader, here we all are at Stirling. 



Nature must, I think, at one time have felt, as I would call it, 

 " quite pleasant ;" for in this place she has produced a marvel- 

 lously close imitation of one of her own works. At least, such was 

 my impression when I found myself walking around the walls 

 of Stirling Castle, so much did the rock at first resemble that 



