THE NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1866, 26 August 1887, Page 14

THE NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD.

NOTES ON A SIX MONTHS' HOLIDAY TOUR ROUND THE WORLD. W. M'H.) No. XXI. KilliecrauMe and Blair Athol-The Capital of Ancient Caledonia — Rumbling Bridge— Ossian's Gave — Dunkeld and the 42nd Highlanders — Dunkeld Cathedral — The Fair City of Perth— Counterfeit Highlandmen and Cockney Sportsmen— The Carse 0' Go-wrie— The Gladiatorial Combat of Sanct Johnston— One More for Hector!— Dumblane and Dumblane Cathedral— The FalMrk Trysta. Before finally setting my face towards Edinburgh and the south I determined to see something of Dunkeld, Blair Athol, and the historic Pass of Killiecrankie, and possibly visit Aberdeen, the Granite City of the North. So, leaving the Bridge early one morning, we rush with many a snort and " skirl " up the banks of Allan Water, through Strathallan to Dumblane and Blackford, then on over the wide-stretching fertile uplands and rich grazing Perthshire meadows forming the famous " Carse 0' Gowrie " into the ancient capital itself, the fair city of Perth, the " St. Johnston " of song and story : I 0 whare did ye get that haver-meal bannock ? 1 O, silly auld body. O dinna ye see ] 1 gat it frae a gey brisk sodger laddie Between St. Johnston and bonnie Dundee. Changing into the Highland Company's cars plying between Perth and Inverness, we hie northwards for , Killiecrankie and Blair Athol, but ere reaching Dunkeld the Scotch mist which has accompanied us for some time develops into a steady depressing drizzle which threatens to make the walk through the historic Pass a labour in vain, and finally decides me to put in the day among the far-famed beauties of Dunkeld. Fear not till Birman Wood Do come to Dunsinnane, said the seer of Macbeth, and alighting near Birman's famous wood, my way lies along the sylvan banks of the noble Tay to the ancient burgh 1 of Dunkeld, that awful place where a faithful chronicler records the painful fact that once upon a time They hangit the minister, drown'd the precentor, Dang down the steeple, and fuddled the bell I Dunkeld, it appears, was once the Capital of Ancient Caledonia, and by one of the Pictish kings was made the seat of religion and letters. Here he erected a monastery of Culdees, subsequently formed into a bishopric by David I, and ranked as the first in Scotland ; the same eminent authority states that the " city of the Caledonians, situate on the River Tay, called at this day Duncaldon— that is, the Hazel Hill"; hence, *also, the name Caledonia from caldon, hazel. * Leaving the town, however, in the meantime behind, I proceed up the roaring, foaming tributary, the Bran, to the celebrated Rumbling Bridge, which spans a remarkable deep, narrow chasm cleft in the solid rock, and into which the foaming mountain torrent suddenly plunges to roar itself hoarse, as it churns and boils in its rocky prison. Like other landowners hereabouts, the astute proprietors of the domain have an eye to business, and although the visitor may, by craning his neck over the parapet, obtain a fairly good view of the chasm, the approaches to the river's brink, where alone the picturesque scene can be viewed in its entirety, are all carefully barred for the extraction of the customary fee. The rain has, however, presumably, shut up the tourist traffic for the day, and I find the gates locked and deserted. It may be a felony in this country to scale fences as it is to kill a rabbit or catch a trout, but as I have not travelled 12,000 miles to be stayed by wooden palisades, or swindled out of my scenic rights by a few boards one way or the other, I chance it; and presently find myself at the foot of some slippery moss-grown steps, looking up from the very- brink of the roaring linn into one of the moat remarkable and picturesque fissures ever wroughtbythe cunning hand of Nature. Returning by the Hermitage, perched high on overhanging crag Ossian's Cave and Ossian's Hall romantically hid below, I pass through the rural hamlet of Inver and by the house where Neil Gow, the celebrated Scotch violinst, lived, and so on back to Dunkeld. The most conspicuous and interesting object in Dunkeld is the ruins of the

Grand Old Cathedral, partially incorporated with the still more ancient monastery of the Culdees, and an hour or so is whiled away in and around the hoary old building and picturesque grounds. The Dowager's ivied dwelling house is just alongside the cathedral, under the shadow of the first two larches ever planted in Great Britain — 150 years ago— but the Duke's palace is situated almost at the other side of the little town. A portion of the cathedral has' been restored, and is used as the parish kirk, and therein I find a marble tablet (commemorative of those who fell in the Indian Mutiny) recording the fact that it was the rocky glens and mountain fastnesses hereabouts that first gave birth to the famous " Black Watch "—Sir Colin Campbell's gallant 42nd Highlanders — and that it was within a few miles of this spot that their now worldknown standard was first unfurled. The chapter house is remarkable for the perfect and prolonged echoes of its lower chamber, and chords formed by musical instruments and sounded in succession, are said to produce the most extraordinary harmonious effects — rivalling those of the iEolian harp itself. After thoroughly exploring the curious old town, and purchasing some trifling momentos of my visit, I recross the Tay— the most delightful river, I think, in all Scotland — and return to Birnam to catch the afternoon train ; but linger long upon the bridge and move with reluctant feet along the river bank, drinking in a scene of wondrous beauty and exceeding" loveliness. Certainly in extent of diversified woodland scenery, no single view I ever saw equals the secluded valley embosoming the ivied cloister and quaint old town of Dnnkeld. This is more remarkable when it is considered that the bulk of the planting is artificial, a former Duke having planted no less than Thirty millions of Trees, chiefly firs, in and around Dunkeld. The walks throughout the grounds are said to exceed 50 miles in extent, but finding about, a tenth part filled me up to the brim I left the other 45 for the next fellow ; even in the matter of scenery one should not be too gluttonous. As we return, we have to our right, on the 'banks of the Almond, the ruins of Ruthven Castle (the scene of the celebrated " Raid of Ruthven"), but better known in modern song and story as Huntingtower. Blair-in-Athol's mine, Jeanie, Little Dunkeld is mine, lassie, St. Johnston's bower and Huntingtower, And a' that's mine is thine, lassie,

To our left we have Dun|innane Hill and Scone Palace, while as we run into Perth the carse stretches away down to Dundee at the mouth of the river. Is it of Dundee or Forfar the story is told that in ancient times a guide wife, having brewed her " peck o' maut " set it down by the doorstep to cool, when a' straying bibulous cow came along and drank it up, and even turned over the tub and licked it round and round with a shameless drunken thirst for more. The law was invoked, and the owner of the depraved and dissolute animal sued for the value of the liquor consumed, but inasmuch as the defendant showed that the ale was drunk standing, and that as the standing or parting f* stirrup cup " was, by universal custom, not chargeable, the bench had no option but to dismiss the case ! Arriving again in the

"Fair City" of Perth. a steady rain and a falling thermometer decides me against the Dundee-Aberdeen portion of my programme, and bids me hie southwards to a clearer sky and less Plutian surroundings, so our stay in Perth is limited, and my recollection of that fair city somwehat hazy. Since tho Tay bridge disaster, and until the great Forth bridge be completed all the northern traffic centres under the enormous roof of the Perthrail way station, which also forms the junction of the Highland and North British Companies' lines, and a very interesting half hour is spent in watching the continuous living stream pouring itself along in kilts and macintoshes. The bulk of the' stream is composed of sportsmen and tourists returning from the moors and salmon haunts, with a goodly sprinkling of deerstalkers fresh from Following the red deer o'er mount and through brake, ' and piles of venison cases destined for London, &c, with game bags and fish baskets, rods, guns, and reels lie heaped around on every hand. The kilt seems rather fashionable, and is affected by numbers of , Counterfeit Hlghlandmen and Cockney Sportsmen, Several drawing-room '• exquisites " swell around with all the plumes and swagger of the proudest chief that ever trod the heather, while now and again the genuine article, the " real Mackay "— • a broad-shouldered lineal descendant of Rob ROR O y — strides past in flying tartans with the " light springing footstep " which characterised the " March of the Cameron Men," and is born only of the mountain and the heath, the forest glade and heathery brae. The city of Perth, long regarded as the capital of Scotland, is a burgh of great antiquity and a long race of kings, from the Kenneths downwards, have been crowned in the adjacent Pala«e of Scone on that royal coronation stone | brought from Dunstaffanage Castle. It is a handsome town of about 30,000 inhabitants, pleasantly built along the banks of the noble Tay. The view from Kinnoul Hill or any of the surrounding heights is splendid, and the level wide-spreading

" Carse o' Gowrie " is unsurpassed for the richness of its luxuriant pastures. In the " Fair Maid of Perth " the view obtained from the Wicks of Baiglie is declared to be [unsurpassed in Great Britain, probably in the world. Sir Walter Scott, indeed, considered Perthjto be the first county in Scotland for beauty and variety of scenic attractions, combined with a rich and generous soil, and says " the vegetation of a happier climate and soil is mingled with the magnificent characteristics of mountain scenery, and woods, groves, and thickets in profusion clothe the base of the hills, ascend up the ravines, and mingle with the precipices. It is in such favoured regions that the traveller finds what the poet Gray, or someone else has termed, • Beauty lying in the lap of Terror.' " When the early Roman emigrants, under " Kurnil" Agricola, first looked down upon the scene, it is recorded that, transported with delight, they exclaimed, " Behold the Tiber ! Behold the field of Mars !" but the comparison of the "drumlie" Tiber with the crystal waters of the Tay has been indignantly scouted in the lines — " Behold the Tiber !" tho vain Roman cried, Viewing the ample Tay from Baigle's side ; But where's the Scot that would the vaunt repay And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay ? Two splendid parks, each over a mile in circumference, adorn the city on either side, and are respectively known as the North and South Inch, and it was the broad level expanse of the former that the " vain Roman " claimed as his Campus Martius. Thretty for thretty faucht in Barrens, At Sanct Johnston on a day besyde the Black Freris . One of the numberless historical incidents appropriated by Scott was that of the judicial combat alluded to above between two parties of 30 men each, picked from rival Highland clans, who fought out the Gladiatorial Combat before the king and assembled multitudes of St. Johnston, and with much the same result as is generally supposed to attend the family squabbles of the cats of Kilkenny. The North Inch is famous as the spot whereon this battle was waged, and readers of the " Fair Maid of Perth" know how felicitously the great master has told the story ; how the bold and gallant "Halo' the Wynd "—the redoubtable Gow Chrom — volunteered to "stand in " with the clan Chattan for the mere love of the thine, and how old Torquil in his idolatrous affection for a pusillanimous chief sacrificed his sons one after the other in his protection thrusting them before Hal's deadly claymore with the cry, " One more for Hector ! Another for Hector ! " Leaving all the glories of Perth and Scone Palace behind, we cross the soft-flowing Earn, groan through the Forgandenny tunnel, and pass the secluded dell embosoming the immortal " Birks of Invermay," then onward to Auchterarder and the old " House of Gask," sung of by Lady Nairn in her tuneful "Lays of Strathearn." After passing Kincardine Glen, the site of Montrose's ruined castle, we draw up for a moment at Crieff Junction, where a short branch runs up to Loch Earn and the famous gardens of Drummond Castle. Whirling onward we pass Carsbreck ponds, the curling rendeVous of Scotland and Greenloaning, with its celebrated Roman camp (Ardoch), and finally draw up at Diunblane, to fill in the rest of the evening exploring one of the quaintest of Scotland's ancient burghs- and that winding river-bank, whereon once strayed sweet Jessie, the " Flower 0' Dumblane." The characteristics of Dumblane are graphically touched off by Dr W. C. S^mith, of Edinburgh :— A gray old minster on the height, Towers o'er the trees and in the light ; A gray old town along the ridge, Slopes winding downward to the bridge. A quaint old gabled place, With church stamped on its face. A quaint old place. A minster gray, A gray old town that winds away Through gardens down the sloping ridge To rivers brim and ancient bridge, Where still the waters flow To the deep pool below. So says the poet-preachef of Edinburgh, as he tunefully pictuces off the rare old town, and, as may be gathered from the lines, the " gray old

minster" is the first object of 'attraction. This* fine six or seven century old ruin, with its remarkable window— pronounced by Ruskin to be the finest of 'lib kind in Britain— is. duly examined and admired, but, truth compels me to add that were it not for the Nestor'B dictum I should, in my ignorance, probably have preferred the window in Melrose Abbey.

Passing along a winding, crooked sort of a thoroughfare, I chance upon an old curler f ondling, by open doorway, an antiquated pair of "single sole" curling stones, and — as the Yankees say — I anchor " right thar." A few words serve to make the old man's eyes glisten, and in a moment we are sworn friends and I receive at his hands a full and circumstantial account of all the important bons'piels played in and around Dumblane for the last 25 years, with a general desertation on'curlers and curling in general and — as the crowning mark of friendship — a peep at the old man's treasures, his medals and his trophies won on the bloodless fields of Scotia's national winter sport — the royal game of curling. Turning my back finally on the North and leaving Stirling by early train ,one morning, my third and last journey to Edinburgh is made via Falkirk, swarming with bucolic throng for the October "tryst," Linlithgow, full of queer old gables and red-tiled roofs, and the rich meadows and waving cornfields of Midlothian.

The Falkirk Trysts '

have a world-wide reputation, and the scene on Stenhouse-Muir to-day or ateitherof the triennial gatherings (August, September, and October) is said to be without parallel in Great Britain, probably in the whole world; 100,000 sheep and 50,000 head of cattle frequently change hands in the day. An eminent English agriculturist, reporting on the " cattle " day of the tryst, says : " Every isle and holm which exposes its rugged crags to the fury of the Western Ocean, between Islay and the Orkneys, every mainland glen from the Mull of Kintyre to Cape Wrath pours in its pigmy droves, shaggy and black, or relieved only as to colour by a sprinking of reds, and of duns graduating from mouse to cream colour. From Northern and Eastern Sutherland, Caithness, Ross, and Inverness they come in longer on the leg, smooth and vulgar. From Central Argyle, Perth, and from some of the islands come the carefully-bred West Highlanders, these are the the flower of the show, engage everyone's talk, and attract everyone's attention, every individual of them delights the eye of a connoisseur. Aberdeen and Forfar send in droves of large and bony but useful bullocks. The October show is the most imposing, the universal colour is black,' and the moor is in appearance one black mass ; you may be accommodated with every size, from that of a Newfoundland dog!to a bullock of 100 stones. The cattle are mostly in the hands, of dealers, having been brought up in the western markets; many, however, of the best West Highlanders are brought to the tryst by their breeders, and you may see a kilted laird from the Hebrides standing, like Rob Roy, at the tails of his own bonnie stots and queys. . . . We have been somewhat minute in describing these proceedings because they are on a scale of magnitude quite unknown to southern agriculturists, and we can assure our readers that the men who carry them on are quite equal to the occasion." From the tone of the concluding remark it may safely be inferred that the eminent agriculturist returned to his southern home a poorer as well as a wiser man !