with wide-branching horns longer than their fore-legs. Their hair
is long and as coarse as a polar seal's, and they look as if they
knew no more of housing against snow, rain and wintry winds, or of a
littered bed, than the buffaloes beyond the upper waters of the
Missouri. One would be inclined to think they had lived from calf-
hood on nothing but heather or gorse, and that the prickly fodder
had penetrated through their hides and covered them with a growth
midway between hair and bristles. They will not average over 350
lbs. when dressed; still they seem to hold their own among other
breeds which have attracted so much attention. This is probably
because they can browse out a living where the Durham and Devon
would starve.

The sheep in this region are chiefly the old Scotch breed, with
curling horns and crocked faces and legs, such as are represented in
old pictures. The black seems to be spattered upon them, and looks
as if the heather would rub it off. The wool is long and coarse,
giving them a goat-like appearance. They seem to predominate over
any other breed in this part of Scotland, yet not necessarily nor
advantageously. A large sheep farmer from England was staying at
the inn, with whom I had much conversation on the subject. He said
the Cheviots were equally adapted to the Highlands, and thought they
would ultimately supplant the black faces. Although he lived in
Northumberland, full two hundred miles to the south, he had rented a
large sheep-walk, or mountain farm, in the Western Highlands, and
had come to this section to buy or hire another tract. He kept
about 4,000 sheep, and intended to introduce the Cheviots upon these
Scotch holdings, as their bodies were much heavier and their wool
worth nearly double that of the old black-faced breed. Sheep are
the principal source of wealth in the whole of the North and West of
Scotland. I was told that sometimes a flock of 20,000 is owned by
one man. The lands on which they are pastured will not rent above
one or two English shillings per acre; and a flock even of 1,000
requires a vast range, as may be indicated by the reply of a Scotch
farmer to an English one, on being asked by the latter, "How many
sheep do you allow to the acre?" "Ah, mon," was the answer, "that's
nae the way we count in the Highlands; it's how monie acres to the
sheep."

At about two p.m., the showers becoming less frequent, I set out
with the hope of reaching Inverness be