PRIMITIVE QUARTERS. 121 



It fortunately occurred that a modest maiden lady, a very 

 "civil-spoken" woman indeed, by name Grace Macalister, had 

 been disappointed of two Glasgow gentlemen, who had engaged 

 her whole house, and so the two benighted travellers from the east 

 were accepted, at the instigation of the late Mr. Douglas, a well- 

 known man in Corry, in lieu of them. Taking possession of our 

 lodgings at once, we formed ourselves into a committee of supply, 

 which resulted in a prompt expenditure of a sum of six shUHngs 

 and threepence, the particulars of which, for the benefit of my 

 readers, and to show how primitive we had all at once become, 

 I beg to subjoin — namely, bread, 7d. ; mutton, 2s. 4d. ; butter, 

 6|d. ; tea, 6d. ; sugar, 3d. ; milk, |d. ; herring, 2d. This 

 sum, with eighteenpence added for whisky, threepence for 

 potatoes, and one penny for a candle, represented the total com- 

 missariat expenses of two persons in Corry for five wholesome 

 but homely meals. Our bed cost us one shilling each per night, 

 and our attendance and washing were charged at the rate of a 

 shilling a day, so long as we used the Hotel Macalister, but 

 even this did not very much swell the grand total of the 

 bill, which, at such rates, was by no means heavy at the end of 

 our holiday ramble over Arran, especially when it is considered 

 that the Arran season does not very greatly exceed one hundred 

 days. Our quarters were certainly primitive enough — namely, 

 half of a thatched cottage, or rather hut we may call it, con- 

 sisting of one apartment containing two beds, four chairs, a 

 small table, and a little cupboard. The beds were curtained by 

 a series of blue striped cotton fragments of three different 

 patterns of an old Scotch kind, and the walls were papered with 

 five different kinds of paper ; but the low roof was the greatest 

 treat of all — it was covered with old numbers of the Witness 

 newspaper, at the time when it was edited by Hugh MiUer, and 

 these had, no doubt, been left in the cottage by previous 

 travellers. The floor was covered with fragments of canvas laid 

 down as a carpet. Many tourists woidd perhaps turn up their 

 noses at this humble cottage, but to my friend and myself it 

 was a delightful change. 



I have not space in which to particularise all the beauties of 

 Arran, but I must say a word or two about Glen Sannox. Near 

 the golden beach of Sannox Bay is situated the solitary church- 

 yard of Corry, with its long grass waving rank over the graves, 

 and its borders of fuchsias laden with brilliant blossoms. There 

 was, we observed, on peeping over the wall, a new-made grave. 



