60 THE BIRDS OF lONA AND MULL. 



weed is the great moUifier among the wildest nations : the Arab 

 exchanges pipes on meeting his friend, as an assurance of his 

 good faith, and the American chiefs dispel the impending war- 

 cloud by a few whiffs from the pacific calumet. Had tobacco 

 been discovered in the Middle Ages, I will answer for it that 

 those warlike barons would have stopped at home and smoked 

 their pipes upon their castle walls, instead of galloping about the 

 country cutting people's throats. 



I am on the eve of starting on a trip to the north-west 

 extremity of Mull, where there is a loch famous for Widgeon and 

 other Ducks. I shall take a boat and one hand, touching, if it is 

 possible, at Staffa on the way, for Geese abound there. I wish I 

 could have the pleasure of your company : I have plenty of 

 feathered society indeed, but I would rather, for a companion, 

 have one of Plato's two-legged animals without feathers ! The 

 time of my absence will depend entirely upon the wind. 



I began this letter intending to make a few remarks upon the 

 habits of the Long-tailed Duck ; instead of which I have rambled 

 after birds' nests, till I have got I don't know where, so I had 

 better conclude, and leave the Long-tailed Duck for another post. 



