THE SECRET OF THE HIGH HILLS 219 
motive which is surely spiritual rather than 
material — the desire for the environment whieh 
will uplift and ennoble, and with it bring a sense 
of being nearer to the pure — nearer to the things 
that are unseen and eternal — removed from all 
that is eoarse and material. 
I well remember on one occasion discussing 
the question of the future world with a Highland 
keeper, and the emphatic way in which he said, 
" One thing is certain, and that is, that no one 
could be an atheist if he spent his life on the 
mountains." I also remember that, curiously 
enough, the same observation was made by one 
Cambridge undergraduate to another, the speaker 
having been in the habit of spending days and 
nights camping out on the mountains in his 
father's Highland property. 
It is not inappropriate that in the Gaelic 
language the words used to signify " death " and 
" died " are not the same when used in reference 
to a human being as the words which are used in 
reference to an animal, the former words, caoch- 
ladh (substantive), chaochail (verb), signifying a 
change or passing from one state of life into 
another, the latter bas (substantive), bhasaich 
(verb), extinction or annihilation. 
