All That We Gave Was Not Much, But
It Detained Them In The Barn, Either Merry Or Quarrelling, The
Whole Night, And In The Morning They Went Back To Their Work, With
Great Indignation At The Bad Qualities Of Whisky.
We had gained so much the favour of our host, that, when we left
his house in the morning, he walked by us a great way, and
entertained us with conversation both on his own condition, and
that of the country.
His life seemed to be merely pastoral, except
that he differed from some of the ancient Nomades in having a
settled dwelling. His wealth consists of one hundred sheep, as
many goats, twelve milk-cows, and twenty-eight beeves ready for the
drover.
From him we first heard of the general dissatisfaction, which is
now driving the Highlanders into the other hemisphere; and when I
asked him whether they would stay at home, if they were well
treated, he answered with indignation, that no man willingly left
his native country. Of the farm, which he himself occupied, the
rent had, in twenty-five years, been advanced from five to twenty
pounds, which he found himself so little able to pay, that he would
be glad to try his fortune in some other place. Yet he owned the
reasonableness of raising the Highland rents in a certain degree,
and declared himself willing to pay ten pounds for the ground which
he had formerly had for five.
Our host having amused us for a time, resigned us to our guides.
The journey of this day was long, not that the distance 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, such as have been, in many
countries, the last shelters of national distress, and are every
where the scenes of adventures, stratagems, surprises and escapes.
Mountainous countries are not passed but with difficulty, not
merely from the labour of climbing; for to climb is not always
necessary: but because that which is not mountain is commonly bog,
through which the way must be picked with caution. Where there are
hills, there is much rain, and the torrents pouring down into the
intermediate spaces, seldom find so ready an outlet, as not to
stagnate, till they have broken the texture of the ground.
Of the hills, which our journey offered to the view on either side,
we did not take the height, nor did we see any that astonished us
with their loftiness. Towards the summit of one, there was a white
spot, which I should have called a naked rock, but the guides, who
had better eyes, and were acquainted with the phenomena of the
country, declared it to be snow. It had already lasted to the end
of August, and was likely to maintain its contest with the sun,
till it should be reinforced by winter.
The height of mountains philosophically considered is properly
computed from the surface of the next sea; but as it affects the
eye or imagination of the passenger, as it makes either a spectacle
or an obstruction, it must be reckoned from the place where the
rise begins to make a considerable angle with the plain. In
extensive 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 such raised ground be
described, as having its altitude equal to the whole space above
the sea, the representation will be fallacious.
These mountains may be properly enough measured from the inland
base; for it is not much above the sea. As we advanced at evening
towards the western coast, I did not observe the declivity to be
greater than is necessary for the discharge of the inland waters.
We passed many rivers and rivulets, which commonly ran with a clear
shallow stream over a hard pebbly bottom. These channels, which
seem so 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 bursting away with resistless impetuosity, make
themselves a passage proportionate to their mass.
Such capricious and temporary waters cannot be expected to produce
many fish. The rapidity of the wintry deluge sweeps them away, and
the scantiness of the summer stream would hardly sustain them above
the ground. This is the reason why in fording the northern rivers,
no fishes are seen, as in England, wandering in the water.
Of the hills many may be called with Homer's Ida 'abundant in
springs', but few can deserve the epithet which he bestows upon
Pelion by 'waving their leaves.' They exhibit very little variety;
being almost wholly covered with dark heath, and even that seems to
be checked in its growth. What is not heath is nakedness, a little
diversified by now and then a stream rushing down the steep. An
eye accustomed to flowery pastures and waving harvests is
astonished and repelled by this wide extent of hopeless sterility.
The appearance is that of matter incapable of form or usefulness,
dismissed by nature from her care and disinherited of her favours,
left in its original elemental state, or quickened only with one
sullen power of useless vegetation.
It will very readily occur, that this uniformity of barrenness can
afford very little amusement to the traveller; that it is easy to
sit at home and conceive rocks and heath, and waterfalls; and that
these journeys 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 such
knowledge as description may exhibit, or analogy supply; but it is
true likewise, that these ideas are always incomplete, and that at
least, till we have compared them with realities, we do not know
them to be just.
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