KILLIN COTTAGES. 303 wood, and will not want it long. Not only pines and larches grow rapidly here, but I have seen shoots of three feet a-year in a coppice of oaks. Sept. 1.-To Killin, only 21 miles to-day, through much the same sort of country as yesterday; glen after glen,-green, and bare, and deserted, with towering hills all round; one of them seemed to have the form of an immense crater,-a hollow cup, but all the detached masses below were granite and schistus, and nothing volcanic. Beautiful pieces of quartz lay about everywhere. Some of the hills could not be less than 2000 feet high. The Tay, an inconsiderable mountain torrent, descended with us the whole day. The question occurs naturally in traversing these solitudes, where are the men? where are the Highlanders? And if you are told that the system of sheepfarming has banished them from their country, then you would be apt to ask, where are the sheep? Very few indeed are seen; the grass is evidently not half eaten down,-hardly touched, indeed, in many places. We met to-day, however, with several habitations, and we entered some of them; a small present was willingly received, and served as a passport to our curiosity. The only door is common to men and beasts, and, of course, very dirty. You see, as you come in, on one side a small stable, which seems very unnecessary, since, in the much more rigorous climate of North America, cattle have commonly no shelter in winter. The other side is separated by a rough partition; this is the dwelling-place of the family; you find in it not a chimney, but a fire-place on the ground, with a few stones round it, immediately under a hole in the roof; a hook and chain fastened to a stick, to hang an iron kettle on; a deal table; a 304 KILLIN COTTAGES. piece of board, on which oat-cakes are prepared; a dresser, with some little earthen-ware; an old press; a pickling-tub for mutton; some pieces of mutton hung in the smoke, which winds round them on its way to the roof; a shelf with many cheeses, and among the cheeses a few books. The title of one of them was, "Searmona le Mr Eobhanu Mac Diarmud, ministeir ann in Glastho, agus na Dheigh sin an cornu. Duneidin du Bhuaiste le Islenau. 1804." Another was a catechism, also in the Erse or Gaelic, and a Bible in English. The beds were a filthy mattrass, and a filthy blanket,-no sheets; no floor,-only the ground trodden hard; a window of four small panes, not one entire. Such is the interior; and to finish the picture of these hovels, each has its ladder against the roof; either to stop the progress of fire, when the thatch happens to catch, or a leak, which they do by means of a few sods. Some of the roofs bore a luxuriant crop of grass. This is abject poverty, or at least appears so; yet these people feel no want, and enjoy health, which is more than many do who are rich. Their poverty does not seem to extend to food, for they have plenty of fish from their lakes and rivers; and one acre of potatoes can feed a family. They have also a small field of oats; meat is not probably very scarce near such flocks of sheep, and I saw hogs to-day. Fuel is at their door. Labour is paid 2s. 6d. or 3s. a-day. With such means of subsistence, I do not understand what the Highlanders gain by migrating to America. With some labour, they can procure here, what is not to be had there without labour. There are schools here everywhere; children learn to read in English and Erse; but the last language alone is in common use. KILLIN-TAYMOUTH. 305 As we approached Killin, the scene changed all at once, without any perceivable difference in soil or situation; the glen became cultivated, and covered with luxuriant crops of grain, hay, potatoes, &c. substantially inclosed with stone fences. A good house, with fine plantations round it, and an appearance of wealth, indicated sufficiently the source of these improvements,-capital had stimulated industry. industry. Other gentlemen's houses, and more cultivated fields appeared in succession ;then Loch Tay in the distance, and the fertile valley of Killin, decorated with groves of fine trees. The Tay, and another small river uniting in front of this valley, form the lake, which recedes before the eye, between two screens of mountains. These rivers separated formerly the lands of two great families, the Breadalbanes and the Macnabs, and their respective cemeteries are shown on two islands formed by these rivers. That of the Macnabs is very picturesquely situated, in the middle of foaming cascades, and all overshadowed with tall pines. The last chief of this feudal race died but a few years ago, and the people of the country tell strange stories about him. He seems to have had the bodily strength, with the intemperate habits and rude manners of the heroes of Homer, Unfortunately for him, this age is not epic, and he will not be sung. The heroes of our days are essentially des heros de cabinet. This one has left a posterity of thirty or forty little Macnabs, without having ever been married. The tomb of Fingal is, we understand, in this neighbourhood, and I give here a very good drawing of it, which I received from an eminent artist, Mr Williams of Edinburgh. September 2.-Taymouth, 16 miles to-day in |