, 1890-10-30

SlOK-ANE u EALLS
are dependents of Lord Tweed
moutn,, whose estate Of 10000 acres,
Geusachan Gaelic, 'place of the
mrs stretches away to the south
west behind the mountain walls
which shut In Glen Ailric to Its
north.
the British National gallery or
somewhere In London, IL n won
drous painting Of Strathglass. Nc
Whirter, 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 un-
doubtedly the most
MAGNIFICENT LANDSCAPE
ever placed upon canvas, his own
desperate encouragement at being
unable to convey to others what lie
himself saw and felt was u pitiful
commentary upon the occasional
utter inadequacy of the sublimest
interpretations of art. Here upon
this Jutting crag he stood. 1t Is
where the strath breaks to the
northwest into the higher, gloomier,
grander reach of Glen Afiric.
Strathglass itself sweeps to the east
and west with unobstructed views
for half a score of miles In either
direction. If your fancy be
growing one, put it to its most fer
vent test In picturing the widest,
sweetest, weirdest and most glori-
ously beautiful spot within its pow
ers of creation, and you have not
then got even a glimpse of the mug
ical destinations of Stratglass.
The entire southern horizon for u
range of twenty miles Is ~ serrated
edge Of rock and fir-crowned
mountain-helghts, above escarp-
Inents of steel-gray stone; of lichencd
masses of rock and dead trees up
rooted by bowling tenpests; of III
der, oak and birch, with foliage 80
luxuriant that, in the distance, they
seem like hanging banks of moss;
OF firs 30 dark in their green as to
almost stand there like upright beds
OF purple heather, and of countless
misty lndentations and depths, here
and there sinuously 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 the
hushed waters of some drcamful
loch. Only for that one thread of
silver gray, the Glass river, wind
Ing from side to side in matcbless
curves and lines, and the white
specks of croiters' huts, which, in
your fancy 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, adj
vancing, retreating, with interstices
of opaline hue, where the burns and
mighty chasms are, as If color In
nature throbbed and ebbed until
fading away into IA languorous death
in blue and purple and mist.
To the west more glorious still
are strath aud mountain views.
From the north n wild torrent
comes pouring down from
through a gorge so deep and vast
that even the roaring of the cata-
racts Is muffled and still. High
above this for 1000 feet leaps grand
Knockfin or "Fingal;s Fort" its
summit girdled by two enormously
thick walls Of stone. Past this to
the south and west, uplands rise
aud roll In matchless valley ascents
to the wilds and mysteries of lone
Glen Afiric. 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 archipelago of massive crags
endlessly beaten by the gbostiy
spume of laundering seas. If the
mere outlining of this enchanted
spot so inadequately fails all power
OF description, what inspired pen or
brush could fifty linn its ever
changing formings. scenes and
hues? Glittering peak, blanched
Gill 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 echoing peaks tor COM
panionship in its solitudes.
Tumbling burns quiver and flash,
or show cascades like tlecks of lace,
from within the shadows. And
over all song OF rivuiet, burn and
river, over covert, copse and glen,
over lslet, bog and tarn, floods the
September sunshine, painting for
your feasting in unbound dyes.
Grand Strathglass! Noblest of all
Scotland's wondrous straths and
valleys, because grandest one fash
ioned by the infinite Artificer, and
as yet unsmirched by the defling
touch OF inns and guides and gain.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
II phtun M.,hIn..