The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-27

from tho doors of THAR crofts, and DOUBT
that / am from 20 far land as America. TO
their ken, I am the first American 70 Know
Strathglass. And what thrill comes 20
one at the CONSEQUENCES OF poeGny pe ae
the first American to be seens nearly at we
threshold of the2Oth century, anywhere on sns
face Of this great earth! That noble strath
opens to the German ocean at Beauty, ana
with a gradual ascent cleaves etralgnt ana
true through the mist wreathed mountalns
for neatly 30 miles to the southwest, ano
then breaks into two western chaems. Glen
Cannich and Glen Afffic, which nearly
equal Strathglass IN beauty and grandeur:
Il ia all one region. And 0cross the ~ OF "
miles from sea to sea there are just two ca,
tates, that of the Chisolms Of Chisoim, and
Kintail of Rossshire. These cover the
strains and Rlens, reaching far over upon
the mountains to the north aud south; and
from 600 to 800 square miles of land are
possessed by two familiee. More than one
halt of this is enclosed as game preserve,
and is controlled through rental a. sucn
BY one man. That means that down
through the past century Thousands o. people ane
ship, had precisely the same oriRinA rlgns
to lands they occupied a. had tho hea.:s OF
the clans themselves. have been driven
from their home. that one man, able to pay
10000 per year in rentals, $1,000 year IN
the expense of hunting lodges, gamekeep-
ers and gillies, and as much more in htlga,
ton, could como here once year ana
butcher red deer; and those red deer as
tame, from the absence of human KIND, as
the mild-eyed cows that stand in the croft
ers' byres.
There is little Of human interest in this
magical Gray Valley. The intsr1ninable
scenes of splendor are what would bring you
again and again to it when you had once
known it. Indeed it may be called 80 close
. preserve that one commits treepam IN
entering it, unless your feet are kept within
the track Of the two roads. which thread
mountain bases above and at either
side Of the river Glass, and dnalh
branch into bridIe-paths among the west
ern Rlens. Passing up the gtrath from
Beauty one gentleman's seat 10 found.
little farther on, an avenue of sycamores
the Chisholms Of Chisholm, who fought to
the death at Culloden for "bonnie Prince
Charlie" The Chisholms they have al
ways been called; an old chief OF the clan
once saying there were but three persons in
the world entitled 10 the distinction Of this
Chisholm. Early in the century the male
line became extinct, and the attorneys OF
the estate, which covers vast Strathglass
and more, for forty years searched the
whole earth for an heir, finally discovering
IN the .r 70 g r.. yage h .so
died without male issue few years since;
and the wife and daughter, living in regal
splendor, are not deeply saddened because
another ''the'' Chisholm is difficult to dis
cover.
Besides Erchless castle. there are the lit
tie hamlet Of struy, containing less than .
half dozen houses; not over score Of
crofters' houses, little specks of white
down there in the depths of the valley; q
tiny Catholic chapel-for Cromwell and
Knox could never quite annihilate the old
religion in these Highland fastnesses-and
on earth. hundreds OF feet in height. cut
into the escarpment of the southern
mountain-wall; the Manse where / am
living and the little Free Church at Fas-
nakyle Bridge; and finally, the hamlet of
Tomich whose inhabitants are wholly de-
estate Of $1,000 acres, Geusachan Gaelic,
''place of the frs stretches away to the
southwest behind the mountain walls which
shut in Glen Affric to its north.
In the British national gallery, or some
where in London, ia a w0ndrOus painting
Of Strathglass. McWirter, painter Of the
strath, lived in this manse for the many.
many months he was at work, and though
he produced undoubtedly the most mag
nificent landscape ever placed upon canvas,
his own desperate disbursement at be-
ing unable to convey to others what he
himself saw and felt was pitiful comen-
tary upon the occasional utter inadequacy
of the sublimest interpretations Of art.
Here upon this jutting crag he stood. It
is where the strath breaks to the northwest
into the higher, gloomier, grander reach of
Glen Affric. Strathglass itself sweeps to
the east and west with unobstructed views
for half a score Of miles in either direction.
If your fancy be glowing one. put 1t to its
most fervent test in picturlng the widest, |
sweetest, wierdest and most gloriously |
spot within its powers of creation, |
and you have not then got even glimpse |
of the magical destinations of Strathglass. |
The entire southern horizon for range
of 20 miles is serrated edge of rock and
fr-crowned mountain heights, above es-
carpments of steel-gray stone; of lichened
masses Of rock and dead trees uprooted by
bowling tempests; of alder. bak and birch
with foliage SO luxuriant that, in the dis
moss; of frs SO dark in their green as to
almost stand there like upright beds of
purple heath, and of countless misty in
and depths, here and there sim
uoasly lined by the featherly course of
some foaming waterfall. The bed Of the
below where you are standing, appears to
the eye as smooth and level as the hushed
waters of some dreamful loch. Only for
that one thread of silver gray, the Glass |
river. winding from side to side in match |
less curves and lines, and the white specks !
of crofters' huts which, in your fancy, are
transformed into far, faint sails, woul0 the
illusion remain complete. While to your
left, mountain masses in gigantic |
swaths, or like emerald headlands in |
endless succession above some peace
full shore, burst into view, advancing, re- |
treating. with interstices of opaline hue, |
where the burns and mighty chasms are, as |
If color in nature throbbed and ebbed until |
fading away into q languorOus death in |
blue and purple mist.
To the west more glorious still are strAth !
and mountain views. From the north a
wild torrent comes pouring down from
weird Glen Cannich through a gorge 90
deep and vast that even the roaring OF the
cataracts ia mufied and still. High above
this for 5000 feet leaps grand Knockfn or
'FingaPs Fort" its summit girded by two
enormously thick wallis Of stone. Past this
to the south and west. uplands rise and roll
in matchless valley accents 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 ard
stately mountain piles. Man 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 cd
peaks, wreathed in endless bands and wings
Of mist, seems like some vast archipelago
of massive oraiRs endlessly beaten by the
49,