ive memorial of an age of violence and
bloodshed. The last proprietor, says tradition, had to quit this
dwelling by night, with all his family, in consequence of some
unfortunate broil, and take refuge in a small coasting vessel; a
terrible storm arose--the vessel foundered at sea--and the hapless
proprietor and his children were nevermore heard of. And hence, it is
said, the extinction of the race.

The story speaks of an unsettled time; nor is it difficult to trace,
in the long deep valley on the opposite hand, the memorials of a story
not less sad, though much more modern. On both sides the river the eye
rests on a multitude of scattered patches of green, that seem inlaid
in the brown heath. We trace on these islands of sward the marks of
furrows, and mark here and there, through the loneliness, the remains
of a group of cottages, well-nigh levelled with the soil, and, haply
like those ruins which eastern conquerors leave in their track, still
scathed with fire. All is solitude within the valley, except where,
at wide intervals, the shieling of a shepherd may be seen; but at its
opening, where the hills range to the coast, the cottages for miles
together lie clustered as in a hamlet. From the north of Helmsdale to
the south of Port Gower, the lower slopes of the hills are covered by
a labyrinth of stone fences, minute patches of corn, and endless
cottages. It would seem as if for twenty miles the long withdrawing
valley had been swept of its inhabitants, and the accumulated
sweepings left at its mouth, just as we see the sweepings of a room
sometimes left at the door. And such generally is the present state of
Sutherland. The interior is a solitude occupied by a few sheep-farmers
and their hinds; while a more numerous population than fell to the
share of the entire county, ere the inhabitants were expelled from
their inland holdings, and left to squat upon the coast, occupy the
selvage of discontent and poverty that fringes its shores. The
congregation with which we worshipped on this occasion was drawn
mainly from these cottages, and the neighbouring village of Helmsdale.
It consisted of from six to eight hundred Highlanders, all devoted
adherents of the Free Church. We have rarely seen a more deeply
serious assemblage; never certainly one that bore an air of such deep
dejection. The people were wonderfully clean and decent; for it is ill
with Highlanders when they neglect their personal appearance,
especially on a