244 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [cuap. xxx11. 
October, started before daybreak for a distant part of the moun- 
tain, where we expected to find him ; and we resolved to pass the 
night at a shepherd’s house far up in the hills, if we found that 
our chace led us too far from home to return the same evening. 
Long was our walk that day before we saw horn or hoof; 
many a likely burn and corrie did we search in vain. The 
shepherds had been scouring the hills the day before for their 
sheep, to divide those which were to winter in the low ground from 
those which were to remain on the hills. However, the day was 
fine and frosty, and we were in the midst of some of the most 
magnificent scenery in Scotland; so that I, at least, was not 
much distressed at our want of luck. Poor Donald, who had 
not the same enjoyment in the beauty of the scene, unless it were 
enlivened by a herd of deer here and there, began to grumble 
and lament our hard fate; particularly as towards evening wild 
masses of cloud began to sweep up the glens and along the sides 
of the mountain, and every now and then a storm of cold rain 
and sleet added to the discomfort of our pusition. There was, 
however, something so very desolate and wild in the scene and the 
day, that, wrapt in my plaid, I stalked slowly on enjoying the 
whole thing as much as if the elements had been in better temper, 
and the Goddess of Hunting propitious. 
We came in the afternoon to a rocky burn, along the course 
of which was our line of march. To the left rose an interminable- 
looking mountain, over the sides of which were scattered a wil- 
derness of grey rock and stone, sometimes forming immense pre- 
cipices, and in other places degenerating into large tracts of 
loose and water-worn grey shingle, apparently collected and 
heaped together by the winter floods. Great masses of rock 
were scattered about, resting on their angles, and looking as if 
the wind, which was blowing a perfect gale, would hurl them 
down on us. 
Amongst all this dreary waste of rock and stone, there were 
large patches of bright green pasture, and rushes on the level 
spots, formed by the damming up of the springs and mountain 
streams, 
Stretching away to our right was a great expanse of brown 
heather and swampy ground, dotted with innumerable pools of 
black-looking water. The horizon on every side was shut out 
