capital salmon river; and the lake, according to the same authority, is "perfectly full of trout of various kinds, from the salmo ferox of twenty pounds, to the yellow trout of half a pound; and a fair angler, on any day from the 1st May to the end of the season, may kill five or six dozen of trout, varying from half a pound to four pounds." If this statement be true, the number of trout in Loch Shin must be enormous, seeing that the lake is twenty-one miles long, with a varying breadth of from half a mile to two miles.

After a hurried repast, I continued my journey in a one-horse dog-cart to Golspie, fourteen miles from Lairg. The road passes through Strathfleet, a fertile valley, smiling with agricultural prosperity, a pleasant sight after long familiarity with the rugged mountains and brown mosses of West Sutherland. For, however much we may admire the majesty of barren mountains, all but very enthusiastic geologists must feel that they would not like to dwell amongst them; and we return to plains and valleys, swelling hills and varied woods, with the delight that we experience in rejoining dearly loved friends. Such at least was my feeling as we sped past corn-fields and pastures, good houses and snug farmsteads, creditable alike to landlord and tenant; and as we entered Golspie, a robust hearty village, swelling under the fostering patronage of the Duke to town-like proportions, the combined influences of the soft pastoral scenery, seen through the mellow

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light of a delicious evening, and the pleasure that always attends the successful accomplishment of an enterprise, caused my spirits to rise to high exhilaration as I entered Mr. Hill's charming inn at Golspie, where, alas! they were destined to be suddenly depressed to zero.

CHAP. XXVII.

A Travelling Mishap.-Lose my Luggage.-A Friend in Misfortune.— Golspie. Its Agrémens. — A Bridal Pair. — The Duke's Readingroom.-Dunrobin Castle.-Robert's Dun.-French Architecture.Internal Decorations. Old and New Castles.-The Queen's Apartments.-The Great Tower.- View from the Summit. - Geological Museum. - Oolitic Rocks.- Brora. - Manuscript by Sir H. Davy preserved at Dunrobin. — The Gardens and Pleasure Grounds. Magnificent Thistles.-The Show Dairy. - The Duchess's MilkDrinking Gallery.- Charming Walks.-Monument to the late Duke of Sutherland. - Phosphorescent Fish. - King Kenneth and his Nobles.

You may remember I told you that my portmanteau was to be sent by the mail from Brawl to Golspie. I had attached a very plain direction to it myself, and I knew that my friends would take care that it was duly despatched. Besides my travelling wardrobe, both large and valuable, it contained papers of considerable importance which I had brought from London, the loss of which would have been a serious misfortune to me. Conceive then my excessive disappointment and vexation, when, on inquiring for my portmanteau, Mr. Hill told me that it had not arrived, and that he did

A TRAVELLING MISHAP.

not know anything about it.

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Concluding that my friends had forgotten to forward it, I despatched a letter by the mail which passes through Golspie to Thurso, in the night, requesting them to send it on without delay. I also wrote to the mail coach office at Inverness, inquiring whether my lost property was lying there, and having taken these steps, I waited the issue as patiently as possible. But, dear reader, if you have ever lost luggage, especially if it has contained papers of importance, have you not found, in spite of all your philosophy, that your thoughts are for ever straying after your missing property, particularly if you have no friend with you? But though alone, I was not absolutely friendless. The world is not that frigid unsympathising mass of humanity that some persons would have you believe it to be, and you would be singularly unfortunate if, even in the matter of losing your luggage, you failed in finding a friend. Certain is it that I found a kind one at Golspie.

Sitting alone in the coffee-room on the day after my arrival, musing over my loss, a gentleman from Wick came in, entered into conversation with me, learned my misfortune, and straightway offered to lend me any money I might require, at the same time expressing a desire to assist and advise me in tracing and recovering my portmanteau. Money I did not want, for I had not been quite so foolish as to leave my cash in my port

manteau, but the offer of assistance was gratefully accepted.

It would be wearisome were I to recount the repeated disappointments I experienced when the mail arrived three successive nights without bringing my luggage. How I lay awake during the midnight hours, listening for the guard's horn heralding the coming mail-how, when at length I heard the blast, I huddled on my clothes, and sat with driver and guard in a small room before a large fire, hearing, while they were sipping hot coffee, the result of their inquiries along the road for I had offered a very large reward for my portmanteau, which had been despatched by my friends. Suffice to say, that I ascertained that it had not been put down at any place between Brawl and Inverness, nor did it appear that it had been taken to that town; at least the mail coach agent knew nothing about it. How ardently I longed for the electric telegraph while waiting for these nightly mails, you may imagine.

In one respect, however, I was fortunate: Golspie is a very pleasant place, so pleasant, indeed, and beautifully situated, that with your mind at ease a few days might be spent very enjoyably at Mr. Hill's hotel. How highly it is esteemed, appears by the fact that nouveaux mariés repair there to forget all but themselves. While I was fretting about my loss, a couple in this condition occupied the rooms adjoining mine, and were, I take it for