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of the party would be found there ; but as we approached 
the building sank, and in the course of a few steps it went 
downwards until avc found that there were only three layers 
of stones not very thick, and the whole under two feet high. 
The disappearance must have occurred within the space of 
twenty feet; my present impression is that it was less. 
Further on we attained the man at the summit, and the 
cloud became denser ; we could not see many feet, and I did 
not think it safe to move from the spot for some time, not 
knowing the locality. Sitting there, I saw four perpendicular 
lines on the cloud ; I looked up and found that they terminated 
in the body of an animal which was moving slowly towards 
us. The distance could not be measured, except by the 
number of steps taken by the animal, and from these I con- 
cluded that when first seen it was from twelve to twenty feet 
from us ; I looked on twelve as being most probable. I do 
not exaggerate when I say that the height was in appearance 
thirty feet. Wondering what was to be the end of this 
strange vision, I called the attention of all, but the animal 
diminished in size so rapidly that only one or two, who 
instantly attended to my call, could perceive the monstrous- 
ness of the exaggeration of form now presented by a 
moderately-sized pointer. On coming up to the more 
advanced portion of our party, they were enlarged and 
distorted, as we often hear described ; but such effects are 
comparatively common, and they arc not to be compared 
witli the two instances mentioned. The first was seen 
with my face towards the sun nearly. It was about midday. 
The second phenomenon was seen twenty minutes later, 
when looking nearly north. 
Although I have lived much in sight of Morven, where 
one might expect to see the “spirit of the mist on the 
hills,” I had not seen anything similar before, nor have I 
gained from the shepherds that such things arc common. 
Perhaps if they were common, Ossian’s ghosts would be loss 
imposing. 
