converfation both on his own condition, and that of the country. His life feemed to be merely paftoral, except that he differed from fome of the ancient Nomades in having a fettled dwelling. His wealth confifts of one hundred fheep, as many goats, twelve milkcows, and twenty-eight beeves ready for the drover.

From him we first heard of the general diffatiffaction which is now driving the Highlanders into the other hemisphere; and when I asked him whether they would ftay at home, if they were well treated, he answered with indignation, that no man willingly left his native country. Of the farm,' which he himfelf occupied, the rent had, in twentyfive years, been advanced from five to twenty pounds, which he found himself fo little able to pay that he would be glad to try his fortune in fome other place. Yet he owned the reasonablenefs of raifing the Highland rents in a certain degree, and declared himfelf willing to pay ten pounds for the ground which he had formerly had for five.

Our hoft having amufed us for a time, refigned us to our guides. The journey of this day was long, not that the diftance was great, but that the way was difficult. We were now in the bosom of the Highlands, with full leisure to contemplate the appearance and properties of mountainous regions, fuch as have been, in many countries, the last fhelters of national diftrefs, and are every where the scenes of adventures, ftratagems, furprizes, and efcapes.

Mountainous countries are not paffed but with difficulty, not merely from the labour of climbing

for

for to climb is not always neceffary: but because that which is not mountain is commonly bog, through which the way muft be picked with caution. Where, there are hills, there is much rain, and the torrents. pouring down into the intermediate spaces, feldom find fo ready an outlet, as not to ftagnate, till they have broken the texture of the ground.

Of the hills, which our journey offered to the view on either fide, we did not take the height, nor did we fee any that aftonished us with their loftinefs. To.. wards the fummit of one, there was a white spot, which I fhould have called a naked rock, but the guides, who had better eyes, and were acquainted with the phænomena of the country, declared it to be fnow. It had already lafted to the end of August, and was likely to maintain its conteft with the fun, till it should be reinforced by winter.

The height of mountains philofophically confidered is properly computed from the furface of the next fea; but as it affects the eye or imagination of the paffenger, as it makes either a fpectacle or an obstruction, it must be reckoned from the place where the rise be gins to make a confiderable angle with the plain. In extenfive continents the land may, by gradual elevation, attain great height, without any other appearance than that of a plane gently inclined, and if a hill placed upon fuch raifed ground be defcribed, as having its altitude equal to the whole space above the fea, the reprefentation will be fallacious.

These mountains may be properly enough meafured from the inland bafe; for it is not much above the fea. As we advanced at evening towards the

weftern

western coaft, I did not observe the declivity to be greater than is neceffary for the difcharge of the inland

waters.

We paffed many rivers and rivulets, which com-, monly ran with a clear fhallow ftream over a hard pebbly bottom. These channels, which feem fo much wider than the water that they convey would naturally require, are formed by the violence of wintry floods, produced by the accumulation of innumerable streams that fall in rainy weather from the hills, and burfting away with refiftless impetuofity, make themselves a paffage proportionate to their mafs.

Such capricious and temporary waters cannot be expected to produce many fifh. The rapidity of the wintry deluge fweeps them away, and the fcantinefs of the fummer ftream would hardly fuftain them above the ground. This is the reason why in fording the northern rivers, no fishes are feen, as in England, wandering in the water.

Of the hills many may be called with Homer's Ida, abundant in fprings, but few can deferve the epithet which he bestows upon Pelion, by waving their leaves: They exhibit very little variety; being almoft wholly covered with dark heath, and even that feems to be checked in its growth. What is not heath is nakednefs, a little diverfified by now and then a ftream rufhing down the fteep. An eye accustomed to flowery pastures and waving harvests is aftonifhed and repelled by this wide extent of hopeless fterility. The appearance is that of matter incapable of form or use. fulness, difmiffed by nature from her care, and dif

inherited

inherited of her favours, left in its original elemental ftate, or quickened only with one fullen power of uselefs vegetation.

It will very readily occur, that this uniformity of barrennefs can afford very little amusement to the traveller; that it is easy to fit at home and conceive rocks, and heath, and waterfalls; and that these journies are useless labours, which neither impregnate the imagination, nor enlarge the understanding. It is true, that of far the greater part of things, we must content ourselves with fuch knowledge as defcription may exhibit, or analogy fupply; but it is true likewife, that these ideas are always incomplete, and that, at leaft, till we have compared them with realities, we do not know them to be juft. As we see more, we become poffeffed of more certainties, and confequently gain more principles of reasoning, and found a wider bafis of analogy.

Regions mountainous and wild, thinly inhabited, and little cultivated, make a great part of the earth, and he that has never seen them, must live unacquainted with much of the face of nature, and with one of the great scenes of human existence.

As the day advanced towards noon, we entered a narrow valley not very flowery, but fufficiently verdant. Our guides told us, that the horses could not travel all day without reft or meat, and entreated us to flop here, because no grafs would be found in any other place. The request was reasonable, and the argument cogent. We therefore willingly difmounted, and diverted ourselves as the place gave us opportunity.

I fat down on a bank, fuch as a writer of romance might have delighted to feign. I had indeed no trees to whisper over my head, but a clear rivulet ftreamed at my feet. The day was calm, the air was foft, and all was rudenefs, filence, and folitude. Before me, and on either fide, were high hills, which, by hindering the eye from ranging, forced the mind to find entertainment for itself. Whether I spent the hour well I know not; for here I first conceived the thought of this narration.

We were in this place at ease and by choice, and had no evils to fuffer or to fear; yet the imaginations excited by the view of an unknown and untravelled wilderness are not fuch as arife in the artificial folitude of parks and gardens, a flattering notion of self-sufficiency, a placid indulgence of voluntary delufions, a fecure expanfion of the fancy, or a cool concentration of the mental powers. The phantoms which haunt a defert are want, and mifery, and danger; the evils of dereliction rush upon the thoughts; man is made unwillingly acquainted with his own weakness, and meditation fhews him only how little he can fuftain, and how little he can perform. There were no traces of inhabitants, except perhaps a rude pile of clods called a fummer hut, in which a herdfman had refted in the favourable seasons. Whoever had been in the place where I then fat, unprovided with provifions, and ignorant of the country, might, at leaft before the roads were made, have wandered among the rocks, till he had perished with hardship, before he could have found either food or fhelter. Yet what are these

hillocks