We Were In This Place At Ease And By Choice, And Had No Evils To
Suffer Or To Fear; Yet
The imaginations excited by the view of an
unknown and untravelled wilderness are not such as arise in the
artificial
Solitude of parks and gardens, a flattering notion of
self-sufficiency, a placid indulgence of voluntary delusions, a
secure expansion of the fancy, or a cool concentration of the
mental powers. The phantoms which haunt a desert are want, and
misery, and danger; the evils of dereliction rush upon the
thoughts; man is made unwillingly acquainted with his own weakness,
and meditation shows him only how little he can sustain, and how
little he can perform. There were no traces of inhabitants, except
perhaps a rude pile of clods called a summer hut, in which a
herdsman had rested in the favourable seasons. Whoever had been in
the place where I then sat, unprovided with provisions and ignorant
of the country, might, at least before the roads were made, have
wandered among the rocks, till he had perished with hardship,
before he could have found either food or shelter. Yet what are
these hillocks to the ridges of Taurus, or these spots of wildness
to the desarts of America?
It was not long before we were invited to mount, and continued our
journey along the side of a lough, kept full by many streams, which
with more or less rapidity and noise, crossed the road from the
hills on the other hand. These currents, in their diminished
state, after several dry months, afford, to one who has always
lived in level countries, an unusual and delightful spectacle; but
in the rainy season, such as every winter may be expected to bring,
must precipitate an impetuous and tremendous flood. I suppose the
way by which we went, is at that time impassable.
GLENSHEALS
The lough at last ended in a river broad and shallow like the rest,
but that it may be passed when it is deeper, there is a bridge over
it. Beyond it is a valley called Glensheals, inhabited by the clan
of Macrae. Here we found a village called Auknasheals, consisting
of many huts, perhaps twenty, built all of dry-stone, that is,
stones piled up without mortar.
We had, by the direction of the officers at Fort Augustus, taken
bread for ourselves, and tobacco for those Highlanders who might
show us any kindness. We were now at a place where we could obtain
milk, but we must have wanted bread if we had not brought it. The
people of this valley did not appear to know any English, and our
guides now became doubly necessary as interpreters. A woman, whose
hut was distinguished by greater spaciousness and better
architecture, brought out some pails of milk. The villagers
gathered about us in considerable numbers, I believe without any
evil intention, but with a very savage wildness of aspect and
manner. When our meal was over, Mr. Boswell sliced the bread, and
divided it amongst them, as he supposed them never to have tasted a
wheaten loaf before.
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