as if
Scotland grew no heather but on the banks of the Clyde. They passed away
with their treasure towards Loch Lomond. A party of boys, dressed all
alike in blue, very neat, were standing at the chaise-door; we
conjectured they were charity scholars; but found on inquiry that they
were apprentices to the cotton factory; we were told that they were well
instructed in reading and writing. We had seen in the morning a flock of
girls dressed in grey coming out of the factory, probably apprentices
also.

After dinner set off towards Hamilton, but on foot, for we had to turn
aside to the Cartland Rocks, and our car was to meet us on the road. A
guide attended us, who might almost in size, and certainly in activity,
have been compared with William's companion who hid himself in the niche
of the cavern. His method of walking and very quick step soon excited
our attention. I could hardly keep up with him; he paddled by our side,
just reaching to my shoulder, like a little dog, with his long snout
pushed before him--for he had an enormous nose, and walked with his head
foremost. I said to him, 'How quick you walk!' he replied, '_That_ was
_not_ quick walking,' and when I asked him what he called so, he said
'Five miles an hour,' and then related in how many hours he had lately
walked from Lanerk to Edinburgh, done some errands, and returned to
Lanerk--I have forgotten the particulars, but it was a very short
time--and added that he had an old father who could walk at the rate of
four miles an hour, for twenty-four miles, any day, and had never had an
hour's sickness in his life. 'Then,' said I, 'he has not drunk much
strong liquor?' 'Yes, enough to drown him.' From his eager manner of
uttering this, I inferred that he himself was a drinker; and the man who
met us with the car told William that he gained a great deal of money as
an errand-goer, but spent it all in tippling. He had been a shoemaker,
but could not bear the confinement on account of a weakness in his chest.

The neighbourhood of Lanerk is exceedingly pleasant; we came to a sort of
district of glens or little valleys that cleave the hills, leaving a
cheerful, open country above them, with no superior hills, but an
undulating surface. Our guide pointed to the situation of the Cartland
Crags. We were to cross a narrow valley, and walk down on the other
side, and then we should be at the spot; but the little fellow made a
sharp turn down a footpath to the