The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-11-02

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through the miSt-wreathed mountains for
nearly thirty miles to the southwest, and
then breaks into two western chasms, Glen
Cannich and Glen Affric, which nearly equal
Strathglass in beauty and grande ur. 1t is
all one region. And across the seventy or
eighty miles from sea to sea there are
just two estates, that of the Chish0ms
of Chisholm, ami kintiil of Ross-shire.
These cover the straths and glens,
reaching far over upon the mountains In the
north and south; and from 600 to 500 square
miles of land are possessed by these TWO
families. More than One-half OF thlS Is
inclOsed as game preserve, and IS confronted
through rental as such by one man. ihaI
means that down through the past century
thou sands of people who through the lnhe-
rent rights OF clanship had precisely the
same original right to lands they occupied
as had the heads of the clans themselves,
have been driven from their homes, that one
man. able to pay $4,000 per year IN rentals,
$4,000 a year in the expenses OF hunting
lodges, game-keepers aud gilies, aud as
much more in litigation, could come here
once a year and butcher red deer, and those
red deer as tame, from the absence of man
kind, as the mild-eyed cows that stand in
croftcrS' byreS.
There is little of human interest in this
magical Gray Valley. The intermnable
scenes of splendor are what would bring
you again AID again to it when you had
once known it. Indeed, it may be called
so close a preserve that one commits tres
pass in entering it, unless your feet are
kept within the track of the two roads
which thread the valley. These wind
along the mountain bases above and at
either side of the RIVER Glass, aud finally
branch into bride paths among the west
ern glens. Passing up the strath from
Beauty one gentleman'S seat is found. A
little farther on, an avenue OF SycamoreS
leads to ErchleSs Castle, the great hall OF
the ChShOlms of Chisholm, who fought to
the death at Culloden Tor bonnie Prince
Charlie" The Chisholms they have always
been called; an old chief of the clan once
saying there were but three persons III the
world entitled to this prefix, the Pope,
the" King aud THE" Chisholm. Early in
the century the male line became extinct,
and the attorneys of the estate, which covers
vast StrathgasS and more, Tor forty years
searched the whole earth for an heir, finally
discovering one III the person Of struggling,
half-starved clerk III New York. He also
died without male issue few years since;
and the wife aud dauS ,ers, living in regal
splendor, are not deeply saddened because
another the" Chisholm is diff ult to DIS
cover. Besides Erchless Castle. there are
THE LITTLE HAMLET OF sTRUY,
Containing less than half-dIzen houses;
not over score of croftels' houses, little
S ecS Of white down there in the depths OF
the valley; ii tiny Catholic chapel - for
CrumW ell and Knox could never quite ami
hiiate the old religion in these Highland
faStneSSes-and near II the vasteSt ami most
curious cross on earth, HUNDREDS OF feet in
heg ht cut INFO the escarpment of the south
ern mountain-wall; the manSe where |
am living and the little Free Church at Fas-
nakyle bridge; and finally, the hamlet of
Tomlch, whose lnhu bitautS are wholly de-
pendents of Lord Twecdmouth, whose es-
tate of $4,000 acres, GurSachan Gaelic
place of the frs, stretches away to the
southwest behind the mountain walls which
shut in Glen Atfrc to its north.
In the British National Gallery or some
where i'll London is a wondr0uS painting of
SLraJhghss. MeWhirter, painter of the
Three Graces," found the marvellous
strath, lived in this manse for the many
many months he was at work, and though
he produced undoubtedly the most magnifi-
cent landscape ever placed upon canvas, his
own desperate disbursement at being I'M
able to convey to others what he himself
saw ard felt was ptiful commentary upon
the occasional utter inadequacy of the sub
finest interpretations of art Here upon this
ju,ting crag lie stood. 1t Is where the strath
breaks to The northwest INTO the higher,
gloomier, grander reach Of Glen Atfric.
Strathglass itself sweeps to the east and
west with unOtStructed views for half
score of miles in either direction. II your
fancy be glowing one, put it to its most
teryent test in pictuling the widest, sweet
est, weirdest and most glOriOusly beautiful
spot within its powers of creation. and you
have not then got even glimpse of the
magical Vaccinations of Strathg ass.
The entire southern horizon tor a range of
20 miles is a Serrated edge of rock and fir
crowned mountain heights, above escarp-
ments Of steelgray stone; of lichened
masses of rock and dead trees upro0ted by
howing tempesiS; OF ader, oak and birch
with foliage SO luXuris n that, in the dis
lance, they seem Ike hanging banks of
moss; of frs SO dark in their green as to
almost stand there like upright beds of pur-
ple heather. and of countless misty inden-
tations and depths, here and there sin
uously lined by the feathery course Of some
foaming waterfall.
THE BED OF THE STRATH,
For all this distance, while 1000 feet below
where you are standing, appears to the eye
as smooth and level as tn hushed waters OF
some dreamful lOch. Only for that one
thread of silver gray the Glass River, wind
ing from side to SHE IN matchlesS curves and
lines, and the white specks OF crOtters' hutS
which, in your fanny, are transformed into
far, faint sails, would the Illusion remain
complete. While to your left mountain
masses in gigantic swaths, or like emerald
headlands in endless succession above some
peaceful shore, burst into view, advancing,
retreating, with intersticeS of Opalne hue,
where the burns and mighty cGaSms are, as
if color in nature throbhed and ebbed until
fading away into a dangerous death in blue
and purple and mist.
To the west mure glorious still are strath
and mountain views From the north
wild torrent comes pouring down from weird
Glen Cannlch through gorge so deep and
vast that even the roaring of the cataractS
is muffied and still. High above this for
1000 feet Leaf grand knockln or "FinsaPs
Fort" its summit glTdled by two enormously
thick walls Of stone. Past this to the south
and west uplandS rise and roll in matchless
valley ascents to the wilds and mysteries OF
lone Glen Affric. Behind, to the NORTH far
Ben Wyvis, giant monarch of the north,
thrusts its peak above dark and stately
mountain piles. Nam Suil, "hill of the
eye" or mount of the extensive view,"
stands guard in the west, while the whole
far horizon pierced by hundreds of grim
Old peaks, wreathed in endless bands and
wings of mist, seems like some vast archi-
pelago of massive cragS endleSsly beaten
by the ghostly spume of laundering seas.
If the mere outlining of this enchanted spot
so inadequately fails all power of descrip-
ton, what inspired pel or brush could filly
linn It's ever-changing formings, scenes and
hues? Glitterng peak, blanched cliff and
threatening precipice burst through the
heather and sea-green copse. Away among
the heights, the eagle wheels above the
gorgeS or calls to the eeh0ing peaks for COM
partnership in its soiitu1es. TumbliBg burns
culver and flash, or show cascades like
fiecks of lace from within the shadows. And
over all song of rivulet, burn and river;
over covert, copse and glen; over islet, bog,
and tarn, floods the September sunshine
painting for your feastiDg in unbound dyes.
Grand StrathglasSi Noblest of all Scot
lands wOndTOus Straths and valleys because
grandeSt one fashioned by the infinite
artiicer and as yet unsmirched by the de-
filing touch OF inns and guides and gain.
Copyright EDGAR L. WAKEMAN
USE FOR WITHERED FLOWERS.