HOLIDAY RAMBLES IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

Clutha Leader, Volume XII, Issue 597, 25 December 1885, Page 3

HOLIDAY RAMBLES IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

(By an Otago Student.)

Aberdeen *_s a grand city, or- rather, perhaps, I should say l#nion Street and; its; continuation is a grand street. It is all built of light granite and I should think that in a day of clear sunshine must be very trying to the eyes.,. There are some r<jagnificent buildings such as the County and Municipal buildings that cost L90,000j. also the Town and Country Bank, the Palace buildings, New Insurance office, <fee, all of granite. In' Castle Street, which is a continuation', of "Union Street, stands the market cross, with effigies of Queen Mar}', and a large number of Kings/ ' Marischal College is also a very line building, but the entrance to it is by an old antiquated gate way with the remains of the Royal arms quartered on it. It looks just like the entrance to a ' close/ - but when you are once inside the College is grand. There are some nice parks in Aberdeen, espe-ci-' ally the Duthie park, the gift of iVliss Duthia, cost L5>0,000, extent 50 acres. By taking a bus, out to the Old Town, you see the brig of Balgownie, the Cathedral and Ring's College. The brig is a pretty bridge with $ne gothic arch. It was built by Bobert I and mentioned by Byron in his Don Juan. The Cathedral is a large plain building, built 1 878-1 5__J, has plenty of old tombstones built in it and ia now used as a parish church. One is. specially struck by the enormous number of handsome churches in Aberdeen, all built of granite, but I was sorry to hear most, of them were like some of the Colonial churches — heavy in debt. The Aberdeen accent is very peculiar. They always misplace tbe r and the vowel. Thus, for. burnt, they say brunt; for grass, girse ; for draughtboard, dambrod ; for when, fan ; what, fat ; where, far &c. There is an amusing story told in connection with this. A man from Edinburgh was in Aber-, de&n and a fire occurred. He was rushing about trying to find out where it was, when he heard a woman call out from a window. ' Far is't ' (where is it?) He understood her to mean 'far east,'- and away he ran in an easterly direction. B,eing unable to find any trace of the fire he retraced his. steps to the place he left. Then the same woman called out ' Far was 't ' (where was it). He thought she said 'far west ' and replied ' what do you say mam 1 one time you tell me it is far east and tlie next time far- west.' Referring to the stone of which the buildings are erected, I may relate another anecdote A Cockney paid a visit to Aberdeen. When nearing- the city he and .an Aberdonian disputed as to the relative durability of buildings in London and Aberdeen, each- upholding the cause of his native city. On arriving in Aberdeen the Aberdonian asked his southern friend whether he still adhered to, his opinion. He replied, '• in London we build houses for time ; you build for eternity. 1 The Aberdonian was satisfied and cheerfully showed his friend the lions of the place. ■ Having seen all I wished to see in Aberdeen, I proceeded to Elgin by train. Elgin is a very prettily situated old Cathedral town of seven or- eight thousand inhabitants, amongst whom I spent ten days most pleasantly. Elgin has the puins of what once- was the roost magnificent Oathedralin Scotland. It was founded in 1224 but is now a pretty complete ruin. It has had to submit to. some very rough usage. It was. burnt by thenotorous wolf of Badenoch and knocked about in various .ways/ And to add insult to injury it was for many years used by the surrounding inhabitants as a stone quarry, they evidently thinking, it was much easier to get stones quarried aiT,dreac]y th,an to/quarry

thei% for- " Ifcut thp.. ruins, show the. building to. have been very grand indeed. I^ike many other old Scotch towns Elgin lias a. market square with irregular streets leading.. oJSjj* from it. There is an eminence— Lady Hill— from, which a* good view is obtained^ On Lady Hill are the ruins of an old castle, while several rows of houses run from' fche~_ oot of it. There, are also some fine churches, villas, &c, and a fine new Town hall has just been completed. There is. a large woollen mill, which I was shown over. I had ne\ er been through aim. before, and was much struok- with ; the. enormous ■ number, of processes the woo} has to go through, before it is converted into cloth. These include carding, spin,-, ning, weaving, etp., s and then when the cloth i^ made it has. to be sorted, threads put right, knots tied up, washed, • shrunk, *-roned, etc. They had a fine, stock of checks, shopting cloths, rugs, etc. In repjy to, a question the ina.na.ger told nip they don't use nearly so much N,ew _sealand wool, •now as they formerly, did, as ; the people go in for a cheaper article now-a-days. r J?hus it appears New- Zealand wop! is tod good for them. I saw in Elgin the most extraordinary style of advertising I think I have ever seen. It was in a stationer's shop, where the proprietor called my- attention to a complete, copy of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, illustrated, price one penny. At the foot of each page is printed * Gooplpllfs Baking Powder,' or * Goodall's I^ack Lead,' etc. In order thus to advertise his wares Gopdall published the work at the price of one penny, and he has all Dickens'* works pu.blish.3d at the same price. I learned that the wprkawere being sold by thousands. I hope they will pay him. Elgin has very pretty surroundings, such as woods with firs, .ash trees, beeches, birches, mountain ashes, etc. One fine, walk of four miles leads to Newton Tower, from which a fine and extensive view is obtained. You can see portions of six counties— Caithness, Sutherland,' Cromarty, Inverness, Banff, and Moray, the ocean,, etc., down to, Lossiemonth, which by train, is six or seven utiles off; Lossiemouth is a fishing village with a nice beach three miles in length leading to Covesea Hghthou.se. About three m,ile3 from. Ejgin are the ruins of Spynie castle, with a massive tower-, dungeons, groove for the portcullis, etc., and about six miles away are the stately ruins of an abbey. Taking train to, Forres and then walking ox- driving for five miles or- so, we come to the rom antic banks of the Findhorn, river, which can easily; be followed for five miles. These are steep precipitous rocky banks, with the river sometimes rushing wildly along, between them, and at other times forming deep, black pools. There is a fine background of wood which looked beautiful, the trees just beginning- to take, on the autumn tints.

Leaying Elgin and most kind and hospitable, friends there with regret, I proceeded to Inverness, the capital of the north. Inverness is a fine city, situated on the Ness. It has a grand, cathedral, modern oastle, etc., but I had not time to make a minute inspection, as- I had "to start down the Caledonian Canal at 7- o'clock the following morning. About five miles from Inverness is Oulloden, *w._uch poor Prince Charlie had causa to remember. It takes a w-hole. day ,to go -down from Inverness to Oban. The canal is GO utiles long, of which about two thirds are natural lochs — (Loch Isfess, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy), and the remaining third artificial canal. We had a good many passengers pn board, chiefly tourists, but there were also several shepherds with their collie dogs, going down to see about sheep. The shepherds would gather, together, and earnestly discuss matters in gaelic. I presume the chief object of interest to them was the price of sheep. We ljad also a piper on board, a retired soldier who was bound for Fort William to draw his pension. He strutted about on deck, playing tunes on his bagpipes with a my-foot-is-on-my-native-beath kind of bearing that was highly amusing. The scenery along, the canal is very grand. There are hills on hoth sides, many wooded, many covered with heather, some greenish with grass, and many rocky crags. We had very rough weather on Loch Ness. The steamer stopped at Foyers to let us see the celebrated Falls of Foyers, the finest, falls in Great Britain. They are situated about a mile from the edge of the loch. As there had been a good deal of rain we saw the fall at its best. It is a fall qf $00 feet, and even standing at the top you get drenched with the spray sent up from the bottom. But we had not time. to exhaust our epithets of praise over it, as two rqen had been sent with us from th,e boat to hurry us back, past experience having ho doubt taught the proprietors that tourists delighted to linger, at the falls, and wlien there were, apt to forget the fleeting nature of time At Fort Augustus the boat had to pass through •three or four locks, so we had time.to go through tho Roman Catholic College . and Monastery there. This' is, a grand affi-ir, built on the site of the old fort, which was stormed by Prince Oharlie and part qf which still remains. The college is intended .for. the education of the sons of Roman Catholic gentry and nobility. Jtcpsjs TjBQ,QQOj

and? its; <?hur.cli L&o,o£jp-. On. the^&yy down the^canalj -we piassjecb s.ev__;a^' '%£ijs| glens, old. forts,, ruined castles, v fyo.^ rendered alinpst haljpwed> ground h$ the wa^denngs. and BJbbr'mings, of pppji?. Prince Charlie, both before and aftejj. Culloden. Oyerstiadp.wing. A,ug> v ustus is * Big, lien '--Ben Nevis -rrijK height the. p/ide, o| %ea£. Britain,, |t, however, isl very, small as compared} with N?ew mpu^njLaiij^ only 4406 f t" high n or $bou&' VpPft lower than Ben Lomond^ aji. Queehi-. town, which so many of yon, people, have .lirabedj,. _^he. top, of Ben, Niavia^ is generally enshiiOudedj ijn-nys^sya^^b, was so when, I was, tjhere. On • i?ea,ch-i ing the end of the. canal, vye waljj*. or. drive a mile down, to Corpack, where, W3 catch another lioat. bound, for Qban I intended going op to Oban, aajdj dpp(ji\ the Crinari Canal, but aj Mjahcheste.s gentleman an^d I de.yiated. from, this^ course, and got off* afy. Ballachulisbi; go through* Glencoe. Ballach'ulisji, a fine ' __;eilant^ame,.„speciaj;l<y wfcsn, properly draped out ■ % pgop^e, themselves. W^ walked, four miles, to, the village, of Glencoe, wh^re w^, stayed all night at an inn, Ne_;t, mprning, we. started andj walked} through Glencoe, 1%. miles, long. This. is the wildest, glen, ii^ SpotlancL^ Ijlje, scene of the. notQrip,ua, n_j_ss,acre, of£ GJencoe, which is marked by the. ruins, of- two or three huts, oyer which, $ small) monument has been erected-—, a wils, filing- place for such, a ; \?ildj massacre. Glencoe is j\ narrow pass, between very wild and yerft grand rugged crags and hjjlls piled; pn^ allj sides, in all conceivable shapesr-rb.ig* boulders, of hills, and fissured- cijagsV without the vestige of a tree. day turned out very Wjild, and njanjr. of the peaks w,ere covered, . with; sno,"^. Three, immense boulders of hjlh-L very like each other, aridj with^ snow-capped peaks peering between, especially- strikes one, _^or tjh& \sgfc four or five miljes the. ram p6,u,red; ii\ torrents, and we, ( of course, got quite drenched, but coming to an inn, we, got our clothes dried and' went on our. waj*; rejoicing. W/e then dro„ve,toy Ty*n,d*c*ap.i, past on,©, of the largest -ir\. Scotland ; rental, L 50,0 0. a y,-eftj-\ ' '. A\\ the land about We. belong?; $0, the. Earl of Breadajbaiie, over whose pro. perty you can walk IQO -miles in, ft direct line. I then proceeded to Dundee, passing some magnificent scenery. — Glenogle, Lpcheamheadi. having, a^ fine view of the loch with the surround-, ing slopes partly wooded and partly* dotted o.yer". with farms }. past, BaU quidder, and saw the place where" Rob, Roy is buried.. We passed; a,p .then place named Tynmore, I thjnk^ bis -^ is always called Ninayah, by ihe people, because there are three inns in it,, iandj it once took a Scotch droyer. three, daya, to get through the village. He lan,d,edj at one inn, stayed a night there, where, he found the whisky, very good*. I^ext, day he. got to iphe second inn. a few; yards further, on, where the. "wbisj_y> was again so, good that ha had to, stay, a second night there, and so on with^ the third inn. We soon emerge frou\ the Highlands, leaving the grand old) hills beliind v and pass along the Lowlands about Berth, witlj the fine gen. tlemen's seats, woods' Ejjuturon tintbd^ the cosy farmhouses, ths stubbie fields, studded with cprxi stacks, <fee. Thus, teraiihatepl a very delightful -ratable, through the Highlands of- Scotland. There aye, of course, many otfye^ routes^ than. the one I took, andVihany other, interesting places to be se#n. S.cs\e Q$ these 1 may yet have an opportunity, of doii^ Here the oppof tun'iti-S land; facilities for, travelling are very differ, ent fro^n. New Zealand. I^ilway Com. panics, and Steamboat Cfanpipanjes,' ajj-e. yery- enterprising, and organise -fil^ sorts of cheap trjps through the -highlands of Scotland. I?or. examp^e. n the. fares (third-class, apc\ : g ( teeraje) ", for. a, circular tour c$ Scotland i$ only L y _>, I did not take one of these tours^ a.s it; did not suit' the places, I had tq gp, tQ. Tha hqtel charges ata yet very. hig_i ii\ the Highlands, bju.t one is, not ob,Ugedj to patronise them to a, lav-ge patent. The whole expense I was^ put.to, ■■vfffl, comparatively trifling^ w.^lst J saw q_ great deal, n,\ade a few • friends, and} during. ii*-y Wthple life will _fael .interested in the \yild, rQman,tia, hospitabdQ Highl^nd[s of Scotland. ' ,