ustomed to the ground, follows
him with little deviation. Sometimes the hill is too steep for the
horseman to keep his seat, and sometimes the moss is too tremulous to
bear the double weight of horse and man. The rider then dismounts, and
all shift as they can.

Journies made in this manner are rather tedious than long. A very few
miles require several hours. From Armidel we came at night to
Coriatachan, a house very pleasantly situated between two brooks, with
one of the highest hills of the island behind it. It is the residence of
Mr. Mackinnon, by whom we were treated with very liberal hospitality,
among a more numerous and elegant company than it could have been
supposed easy to collect.

The hill behind the house we did not climb. The weather was rough, and
the height and steepness discouraged us. We were told that there is a
cairne upon it. A cairne is a heap of stones thrown upon the grave of
one eminent for dignity of birth, or splendour of atchievements. It is
said that by digging, an urn is always found under these cairnes: they
must therefore have been thus piled by a people whose custom was to burn
the dead. To pile stones is, I believe, a northern custom, and to burn
the body was the Roman practice; nor do I know when it was that these two
acts of sepulture were united.

The weather was next day too violent for the continuation of our journey;
but we had no reason to complain of the interruption. We saw in every
place, what we chiefly desired to know, the manners of the people. We
had company, and, if we had chosen retirement, we might have had books.

I never was in any house of the Islands, where I did not find books in
more languages than one, if I staid long enough to want them, except one
from which the family was removed. Literature is not neglected by the
higher rank of the Hebridians.

It need not, I suppose, be mentioned, that in countries so little
frequented as the Islands, there are no houses where travellers are
entertained for money. He that wanders about these wilds, either
procures recommendations to those whose habitations lie near his way, or,
when night and weariness come upon him, takes the chance of general
hospitality. If he finds only a cottage, he can expect little more than
shelter; for the cottagers have little more for themselves: but if his
good fortune brings him to the residence of a gentleman, he will be glad
of a storm to prolong his stay. There is, howev