asily to be climbed by the greatest vigour and activity: our way
was often crossed by little rivulets, and we were entertained with small
streams trickling from the rocks, which, after heavy rains, must be
tremendous torrents.

About noon we came to a small glen, so they call a valley, which,
compared with other places, appeared rich and fertile; here our guides
desired us to stop, that the horses might graze, for the journey was
very laborious, and no more grass would be found. We made no difficulty
of compliance, and I sat down to take notes on a green bank, with a
small stream running at my feet, in the midst of savage solitude, with
mountains before me, and, on either hand, covered with heath. I looked
around me, and wondered, that I was not more affected, but the mind is
not at all times equally ready to be put in motion; if my mistress, and
master, and Queeney had been there, we should have produced some
reflections among us, either poetical or philosophical; for though
"solitude be the nurse of woe," conversation is often the parent of
remarks and discoveries.

In about an hour we remounted, and pursued our journey. The lake, by
which we had travelled for some time, ended in a river, which we passed
by a bridge, and came to another glen, with a collection of huts, called
Auknashealds; the huts were, generally, built of clods of earth, held
together by the intertexture of vegetable fibres, of which earth there
are great levels in Scotland, which they call mosses. Moss in Scotland
is bog in Ireland, and moss-trooper is bog-trotter; there was, however,
one hut built of loose stones, piled up, with great thickness, into a
strong, though not solid wall. From this house we obtained some great
pails of milk, and having brought bread with us, we were liberally
regaled. The inhabitants, a very coarse tribe, ignorant of any language
but Erse, gathered so fast about us, that, if we had not had highlanders
with us, they might have caused more alarm than pleasure; they are
called the clan of Macrae.

We had been told, that nothing gratified the highlanders so much as
snuff and tobacco, and had, accordingly, stored ourselves with both at
Fort Augustus. Boswell opened his treasure, and gave them each a piece
of tobacco roll. We had more bread than we could eat for the present,
and were more liberal than provident. Boswell cut it in slices, and gave
them an opportunity of tasting wheaten bread, for the first time. I then
got