n,
Prisoners are, as well as we?"'

I suppose he had been thinking of our confined situation[707]. He would
fain have gone in a boat from hence, instead of riding back to Slate. A
scheme for it was proposed. He said, 'We'll not be driven tamely from
it:'-but it proved impracticable.

We took leave of M'Leod and Talisker, from whom we parted with regret.
Talisker, having been bred to physick, had a tincture of scholarship in
his conversation, which pleased Dr. Johnson, and he had some very good
books; and being a colonel in the Dutch service, he and his lady, in
consequence of having lived abroad, had introduced the ease and
politeness of the continent into this rude region.

Young Col was now our leader. Mr. M'Queen was to accompany us half a day
more. We stopped at a little hut, where we saw an old woman grinding
with the _quern_, the ancient Highland instrument, which it is said was
used by the Romans, but which, being very slow in its operation, is
almost entirely gone into disuse.

The walls of the cottages in Sky, instead of being one compacted mass
of stones, are often formed by two exterior surfaces of stone, filled up
with earth in the middle, which makes them very warm. The roof is
generally bad. They are thatched, sometimes with straw, sometimes with
heath, sometimes with fern. The thatch is secured by ropes of straw, or
of heath; and, to fix the ropes, there is a stone tied to the end of
each. These stones hang round the bottom of the roof, and make it look
like a lady's hair in papers; but I should think that, when there is
wind, they would come down, and knock people on the head.

We dined at the inn at Sconser, where I had the pleasure to find a
letter from my wife. Here we parted from our learned companion, Mr.
Donald M'Queen. Dr. Johnson took leave of him very affectionately,
saying, 'Dear Sir, do not forget me!' We settled, that he should write
an account of the Isle of Sky, which Dr. Johnson promised to revise. He
said, Mr. M'Queen should tell all that he could; distinguishing what he
himself knew, what was traditional, and what conjectural.

We sent our horses round a point of land, that we might shun some very
bad road; and resolved to go forward by sea. It was seven o'clock when
we got into our boat. We had many showers, and it soon grew pretty dark.
Dr. Johnson sat silent and patient. Once he said, as he looked on the
black coast of Sky,-black, as being composed of rocks seen in the
du