smiths of the
tribe, discovered a rich vein of silver, which he wrought by stealth,
until he had filled one of the apartments of his cottage with bars and
ingots. But the treasure, it is added, was betrayed by his own
unfortunate vanity, to his chief, who hanged him in order to serve
himself his heir; and no one since his death has proved ingenious enough
to convert the rude rock into silver. Years had, I found, wrought their
changes amid the miniature Highlands of the Conglomerate. The sapplings
of the straggling wood on the banks of Loch Ousy,--the pleasant little
lake, or lochan rather, of this upland region,--that I remembered having
seen scarce taller than myself, had shot into vigorous treehood; and the
steep slopes of Knock Farril, which I had left covered with their dark
screen of pine, were now thickly mottled over with half-decayed stumps,
and bore that peculiarly barren aspect which tracts cleared of their
wood so frequently assume in their transition state, when the plants
that flourished in the shade have died out in consequence of the
exposure, and plants that love the open air and the unbroken sunshine
have not yet sprung up in their place. I found the southern acclivities
of the hill covered with scattered masses of vitrified stone, that had
fallen from the fortalice atop; and would recommend to the collector in
quest of a characteristic specimen, that instead of laboring, to the
general detriment of the pile, in detaching one from the walls above, he
should set himself to seek one here. The blocks, uninjured by the
hammer, exhibit, in most cases, the angular character of the original
fragments better than those forcibly detached from the mass, and
preserve in fine keeping those hollower interstices which were but
partially filled with the molten matter, and which, when shattered by a
blow, break through and lose their character.

One may spend an hour very agreeably on the green summit of Knock
Farril. And at almost all seasons of the year a green summit it
is,--greener considerably than any other hill-top in this part of the
country. The more succulent grasses spring up rich and strong within the
walls, here and there roughened by tufts of nettles, tall and rank, and
somewhat perilous of approach,--witnesses, say the botanists, that man
had once a dwelling in the immediate neighborhood. The green luxuriance
which characterizes so many of the more ancient fortalices of Scotland
seems satisfactorily acco