FROM DORNOCH TO CAPE WRATH.

FROM Dornoch, through a country, some parts of which seemed to be tolerably well cultivated, and others in a state of nature, I arrived at the foot of the Ord of Caithness. This is an exceedingly high hill, though I did not ascend it, which is seen from the coasts of Murray, rising in a grand and majestic manner. However, I am sorry to say, the country looks bleak and barren in most places around it; and, except about Berrydale Castle, the seat of the earl of Caithness, and the improvements lately made by Sir John Sinclair, Mr. Horn, writer to the signet, and a few others, Caithness has yet a most dreary appearance. I am surprized that the proprietors of land here do not encourage and invite farmers from the southern counties of Scotland, to occupy and improve their estates. There is much ground in Caithness, with long tough grass, which evidently shews the soil in Caithness to be fertile, were it properly cultivated and drained; and were a few good farmers to be scattered here and there over the country, and to find suitable encouragement from the proprietors, particularly as the herring and other fisheries on its coast are capable of much improvement, Caithness might become much warmer, and a kind of paradise, compared with what it is. It is true the soil in many places seems swampy, but then there are stones enough in most places to make covered drains; and, where these cannot be easily

obtained, the other methods recommended by Elkington on Draining, might be adopted to advantage.

It is unfortunate that there is not more wood in Caithness; but certainly, clumps, belts, and patches, of wood, might, by degrees, be adopted; which, by carefully suiting the plant to the soil, would no doubt thrive; and, consequently, beautify and warm the country. It is true, wood, in general, does not thrive here, unless well sheltered; but I am sorry to say, that they who have introduced planting here, have not attentively (lord Caithness excepted) adapted the plant to the soil. It is a fact, that on several parts belong to the earl of Caithness, birch springs spontaneously, though yearly destroyed and eaten down by the cattle; and in several places, particularly in hollows, the plantings and clumps introduced by his lordship are in a thriving condition. Sir John Sinclair has some plantations about Bradwell, in the parish of Hall-kirk, of the thinnings of which he lately sold to the amount of ten pounds, a great matter for this country! Yet, still it seems, wood, with proper care, may be raised of some kind. There is not a doubt but it grew here formerly, and even in Iceland. It seems easy to raise wood in the neighbourhood of wood; but very difficult to raise it where there is no wood. The French voyager, Peyrouse, remarked, that whare any island in high latitudes had been denudes of its wood, it was next to impossible to restore it. You must begin this arduous and slow work, by raising any kind of wood that will grow, however dwarfish.

In general, the men and women of Caithness, are

but of small stature, as well as the trees. We are not to judge of them by such tall strapping fellows as Sir John Sinclair, and other gentlemen from that county; who have the double advantage of plenty of victuals and a keen air. They are stunted creatures, with a sharp visage, indicative of both intelligence and want. I was at pains to inquire into the diet of these poor people. Breakfast, MEAL and BREE, that is, water-gruel, not the substantial porridge of the Lowlanders.

Dinner, meal and bree kail, or a kind of soup meagre, in which there is boiled, perhaps, some barley or grits, with some kail, and a scanty allowance of barley-cakes. Supper, meal and bree: or, in place of this, sowens, a kind of frumarty, made from the husks of grits, or oatmeal. On Sundays, or other festivals, they have, after their meal and bree, some milk, or perhaps two eggs. If any farmer is reported to eat flesh; the laird considers this as a fraud on him. "I must look sharp after this man: he has his farm too cheap. They tell me he eats flesh-meat."

It is a common thing for labourers, or farmers servants, to stipulate with their masters, that, besides their meal and bree, or soup meagre for dinner, they shall have a certain number of stocks of kail, to be eaten with bread and salt. This must appear to an Englishman wholly incredible; as being altogether insufficient to keep soul and body together. Nevertheless, there is nothing more certain, and I dare to appeal for the truth of it to any one acquainted with Caithness. Fish, they sometimes have; and certainly might have it oftener, if something wrong in the political economy of the country,

k k

did not counteract the benignity of nature; as at Perth, and other parts, with respect to the salmon.

The lairds and ladies of Caithness, seem social, convivial, gay, and merry, in proportion to the misery of the poor slaves, from whose labour and privations they derive the means of their festivity. They visit one another often, and for weeks at a time-One thing peculiar to Caithness: The gentlemen gently pinch the toes of the ladies with their own toes, by way of making love, under the table at dinner or supper. I was astonished at a constant treading on my toes, one night, which was repeated after many wry faces on my part. Next morning, having mentioned the circumstance to some one, I was let into the secret. My tocs, by mistake, received a compliment not intended.

Caithness in its present state, it must be confessed, seems not much calculated for the produce of trees, as there are in many places not more than three feet of earth, and rock every where below; consequently rock not being an absorbing stratum, rain, when it falls, lodges above the rock; and, if more than is sufficient to moisten the earth, ruins the main or top root, when it goes down that far: but this excess of moisture, which must obstruct, in many cases, the growth even of acquatic plants, might in a great measure be prevented by draining, which would not only give vent, in nine cases out of ten, to the surplus moisture, and prevent the main and other roots from being too much steeped in water, but also ameliorate the climate, and give life to a thousand different kinds of vegetables that never will thrive till this mode of procedure is adapted.

Though I found many genteel and well-informed

though uncomMany of them foreheads, and,

people here, yet I could not help observing a cast of countenance in the people, which, mon, is by no means disagreeable. have high cheek bones, rather broad though a peculiar, yet a shrewd and sensible look. The coast of Caithness, from Dornoch to Wick, a distance of near sixty miles, running north and east, is not much indented, and nearly a straight line. The ord of Caithness, and a variety of other hills of less note, spread their roots to the sea, which here is fertile in proportion as the land is barren. Excepting at Gosport, near Portsmouth, I never saw a greater variety of broken and curious shells, than I found on the beach, not far from Dunbeath Castle, where I went one morning to amuse myself, by taking a plunge in the sea.

They have, what they call, lucky and unlucky days, hours, and objects here, as well as in the interior of the Highlands, where Inverness-shire joins Aberdeenshire, Bamffshire, and that of Murray; and where, as travellers seldom visit those places, I have been the more minute in my remarks. For instance, if an ox or sheep is killed, during the time the moon is decreasing, they imagine the pieces, while salting, boiling, or otherwise dressing, will grow less; but, if these are killed while the moon is encreasing, they imagine that these pieces will also encrease. Hence they generally kill oxen, sheep, &c. from the change to the full of the moon. There is a certain day in which they generally marry; and they imagine, were they to marry on any other day, that the marriage would be unfortunate. The day on which they generally choose to enter the pale of