own weakness, and meditation shows him only how little he can sustain, and how little he can perform. There were no traces of inhabitants, except, perhaps, a rude pile of clods, called a summer hut, in which a herdsman had rest in the favourable seasons. Whoever had been in the place where I then sat, unprovided with provisions, and ignorant of the country, might, at least before the roads were made, have wandered among the rocks, till he had perished with hardship, before he could have found either food or shelter. Yet what are these hillocks to the ridges of Taurus, or these spots of wildness to the deserts of America?

It was not long before we were invited to mount, and continued our journey along the side of a lough, kept full by many streams, which, with more or less rapidity and noise, crossed the road from the hills on the other hand. These currents, in their diminished state, after several dry months, afford, to one who has always lived in level countries, an unusual and delightful spectacle; but in the rainy season, such as every winter may be expected to bring, must precipitate an impetuous and tremendous flood. I suppose the way by which we went, is, at that time, impassable.

The lough at last ended in a river, broad and shallow, like the rest, but, that it may be passed when it is deeper, there is a bridge over it. Beyond it is a valley, called Glensheals, inhabited by the clan of Macrae. Here we found a village, called Auknasheals, consisting of many huts, perhaps twenty, built all of dry-stone, that is, stones piled up without mortar.

We had, by the direction of the officers at Fort Augustus, taken bread for ourselves, and tobacco for those Highlanders who might show us any kindness. We were now at a place where we could obtain milk, but, must have wanted bread, if we had not brought it. The people of this valley did not appear to know any English, and our guides now became doubly necessary as interpreters. A woman, whose hut was distinguished by greater spacious-.

ness, and better architecture, brought out some pails of milk. The villagers gathered about us in considerable numbers, I believe without any evil intention, but with a very savage wildness of aspect and manner. When our meal was over, Mr. Boswell sliced the bread, and divided it amongst them, as he supposed them never to have tasted a wheaten loaf before. He then gave them little pieces of twisted tobacco, and, among the children, we distributed a small handful of halfpence, which they received with great eagerness. Yet, I have been since told, that the people of that valley are not indigent; and when we mentioned them afterwards, as needy and pitiable, a Highland lady let us know, that we might spare our commiseration; for the dame, whose milk we drank, had probably more than a dozen milk-cows. She seemed unwilling to take any price, but, being pressed to make a demand, at last named a shilling. Honesty is not greater where elegance is less. One of the by-standers, as we were told afterwards, advised her to ask more, but she said a shilling was enough. We gave her half-a-crown, and I hope got Nome credit by our behaviour; for the company said, if our interpreters did not flatter us, that they had not seen such a day, since the old laird of Macleod passed through their country.

The Macraes, as we heard afterwards in the Hebrides, were originally an indigent and subordinate clan, and having no farms nor stock, were in great numbers servants to the Maclellans, who, in the war of Charles the first, took arms at the call of the heroick Montrose, and were, in one of his battles, almost all destroyed. The women, that were left at home, being thus deprived of then husbands, like the Scythian ladies of old, married thu wwwxx, and the Macraes became a considerable

armest om putney, we were at leisure to exuspcutecom and to mostigate the reason of thepuhumor by wasd sd mugged regions, as these

Mountainous countries commonly contain the original, at least the oldest race of inhabitants, for they are not easily conquered, because they must be entered by narrow ways, exposed to every power of mischief from those that occupy the heights; and every new ridge is a new fortress, where the defendants have again the same advantages. If the assailants either force the strait, or storm the summit, they gain only so much ground; their enemies are fled to take possession of the next rock, and the pursuers stand at gaze, knowing neither where the ways of escape wind among the steeps, nor where the bog has firmness to sustain them: besides that, mountaineers have an agility in climbing and descending, distinct from strength or courage, and attainable only by use.

If the war be not soon concluded, the invaders are dislodged by hunger; for in those anxious and toilsome marches, provisions cannot easily be carried, and are never to be found. The wealth of mountains is cattle, which, while the men stand in the passes, the women drive away. Such lands, at last, cannot repay the expense of conquest, and, therefore, perhaps, have not been so often invaded by the mere ambition of dominion, as by resentment of robberies and insults, or the desire of enjoying in security the more fruitful provinces.

As mountaineers are long before they are conquered, they are likewise long before they are civilized. Men are softened by intercourse mutually profitable, and instructed by comparing their own notions with those of others. Thus Cæsar found the maritime parts of Britain made less barbarous by their commerce with the Gauls. Into a barren and rough tract no stranger is brought, either by the hope of gain or of pleasure. The inhabitants, having neither commodities for sale, nor money for purchase, seldom visit more polished places, or, if they do visit them, seldom return.

It sometimes happens that by conquest, intermixture, or gradual refinement, the cultivated parts of a country change their language. The mountaineers then become a

et nation, cut off, by dissimilitude of speech, from Sation with their neighbours. Thus, in Biscay, the ad Cantabrian, and in Dalecarlia, the old Swedish subsists. Thus Wales and the Highlands speak ac tongue of the first inhabitants of Britain, while the her parts have received first the Saxon, and in some dece afterwards the French, and then formed a third language between them.

That the primitive manners are continued where the primitive language is spoken, no nation will desire me to suppose, for the manners of mountaineers are commonly savage, but they are rather produced by their situation than derived from their ancestors.

Such seems to be the disposition of man, that whatever makes a distinction produces rivalry. England, before other causes of enmity were found, was disturbed, for some centuries, by the contests of the northern and southern counties; so that at Oxford, the peace of study could for a long time be preserved, only by choosing annually one of the proctors from each side of the Trent. A tract, intersected by many ridges of mountains, naturally divides its ah ditauts into petty nations, which are made, by a thou-und causes, enemies to each other. Each will exalt its own chicts, each will boast the valour of its men, or the beauty of its women, and every claim of superiority irricals competation, injuries will sometimes be done, and be was uguuously defended; retaliation will sometimes atcmpied, and the debt exacted with too much in

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To do thighlands it was a law, that if a robber was cd dom justices any man of the same clan might be low places This was a kind of irregular justice, Veu le necessary in savage times, could hardly toud, and a feud once kindled among an wal na vatiety of pursuits to divert their out for ages, either sullenly glowing in

pouty blazing into public violence.

Vident judicature, there are not

wanting memorials. The cave is now to be seen to which one of the Campbells, who had injured the Macdonalds, retired with a body of his own clan. The Macdonalds required the offender, and being refused, made a fire at the mouth of the cave by which he and his adherents were suffocated together.

Mountaineers are warlike, because by their feuds and competitions they consider themselves as surrounded with enemies, and are always prepared to repel incursions, or to make them. Like the Greeks in their unpolished state, described by Thucydides, the Highlanders, till lately, went always armed, and carried their weapons to visits, and to church.

Mountaineers are thievish, because they are poor, and having neither manufactures nor commerce, can grow richer only by robbery. They regularly plunder their neighbours, for their neighbours are commonly their enemies; and having lost that reverence for property, by which the order of civil life is preserved, soon consider all. as enemies whom they do not reckon as friends, and think themselves licensed to invade whatever they are not obliged to protect.

By a strict administration of the laws, since the laws have been introduced into the Highlands, this disposition to thievery is very much repressed. Thirty years ago, no herd had ever been conducted through the mountains without paying tribute in the night to some of the clans; but cattle are now driven, and passengers travel, without danger, fear, or molestation.

Among a warlike people, the quality of highest esteem is personal courage, and with the ostentatious display of courage are closely connected promptitude of offence, and quickness of resentment. The Highlanders, before they were disarmed, were so addicted to quarrels, that the boys used to follow any publick procession or ceremony, however festive, or however solemn, in expectation of the battle, which was sure to happen before the company dispersed.