Evening star., 1925-09-12
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BooEloper.

c'iio AiCiduo takes Dig CnanCeS OF nav
ing hts trip spoiled by rain. or at
least the famous Scotch and Irish
mists." The traveller by books runs
no such risk. Life in the highlands
OF Scotland during the past century
ana at the present time is described by
native Highlander who was 79
years Of age at the time Of writing.
several years ago. in "A Hundred
Years In the Highlands" by Osgood
Handy Mackenzie. The uncle of the
author, DR.. John Mackenzie, left him
10 manuscript volumes of Highland
memories, covering the period 1903
1850, and the author has drawn on
these and his own "reminiscences Of
long life to make a most interest
Ing volume on Highland history,
customs, superstitions, sports and
scenery. Smuggling and sheep steal
Ing In the old days In the Highlands
might be classed as leading sports. and
the journal of old DR.. John Mackenzie
was full of accounts Of their practice.
one story In It was of crofter, on
the poor roll Of his district, whose
wife and family were, nevertheless. al
ways well fed. He was suspected of
being a sheep stealer, but proof was
never forthcoming. Heavy rains
changed the gravelly course of the
river near his bothy and emptied the
black pool on the bank of which it
stood, and the bed of the pool was
revealed as "the cemetery for in
Vulnerable bones of sheep" Deer
stalking both in the time of his uncle
and later in his own time is described
con amore. Mr. Mackenzie prefers
the old method OF stalking: Il must
say ! like the old way of going off
alone with ones stalker in the morn
ing much better than the present
system of being followed by a retinue
Of gillies and ponies. in order to get
the stays home in the shortest pos
sible time, though 1 admit this is best
for the venison. To me, however, a
cavalcade of that sort takes a lot
away from the romance of stalking"
One chapter gives a thrilling story
OF the uncle'S experiences in a whale
hunt on the island of Lewis in the
Hebrides. The whole town of Storno-
way turned out in boats, with all avail
able missiles from guns and broad
swords to kitchen spits and pebbles, to
hunt the whales sighted at the mouth
of the harbor The result of the
hunt was at least so the uncle's
diary stated, that 96 whales were
driven ashore and killed. "In due time
slices Of whale were being boiled for
oil in every hole and corner of the
town. For many a day everything
oil. It was a wild mess, ending most
childishly in each whale being towed
out to sea, after its blubber was pared
of, and cast adrift, whereas II made
into manure it would have made a
great piece of land grateful for years"
Stories of deep sea and trout fishing,
hunting otters, foxes and wildcats,
trapping badgers and weasels, shoot
ing quail. partridge, grouse, snipe.
woodcock. ptarmigan, wild ducks,
geese, swans and hares, and fighting
the predatory eagles which destroyed
the herons in the heronry-all give
atmosphere to this book, the atmos-
phere Of Highland Scotland itself.
*
The rs colored illustrations, painted
by Sutton Palmer, in Bonnie Scot
land" by A. r. Hope Moncrieff, are Of
themselves sufficient TO make one wish
to start Immediately for Scotland. The
borders of Scotland are thus described:
THE dawn broadens. the naists roll
away to show a northward-bound
traveller how his train, is speeding be-
tween slopes of moorland, green and
gray here patched by bracken or bog,
there. dotted by wind-blow trees,
everywhere cut by water courses
gathering into gentle rivers that can
be furious enough in spite, when they
hurl a drowned sheep or a broken
hurdle through those valleys opening
a glimpse of mansions and villages
among sheltered woods" Close to the
border, in the lowlands. we reach
Dumfries and Ayr, the Burns country,
O'Shanter's Brig o'Doon and Kirk AL
loway. The Waverley route takes us
into the Scott country, to Abbotsford,
Melrose and Dryburgh Abbeys and
Liddesdale, where Scott spent seven
holiday seasons collecting the border
minstrelsy. Then come Glasgow and
Edinburgh. busy city of shipping and
elegant city Of hills, castles and pal.
aces. BY tourists both are remem-
bered for their drunkenness and their
Sabbatarianism. Between Edinburgh
and Glasgow lie the Trossaehs, with
Loeb Katrine and Loeb Lomand,
called by the author "the most per-
functory minimum" of a Highland
tour. This Trossachs country Is also
the country Of the Stuarts' refuge, Of
Wallace and Bruce and Of the exploits
Of the clever outlaw, Rob Roy Mac
gregor. On, up into the Highlands, we
go by the Highland Railway, through
the heart Of the Grampians, or to
Oban. and from there to Inverness by
the Caledonian Canal. This Caledonian
Canal, running through what is called
the Great Glen. is a chain of lochs
and streams linked togther, with their
varying levels made navigable by
locks. Some OF the finest Highland
scenery lies along It's course, including
views Of Ben Nevis, the proclaimed
monarch Of British mountains his
gloomy brow often crowned with mist,
and his precipitous shoulders ermined
with snow at any season."
n
Ireland has never been one Of the
most popular Summer haunts Of the
tourist, yet it Is a country of great
picturesquenesS and variety of seen
cry. With its central moors and peat
bogs and hundreds of lakes, it's coast
ranges, bold headlands and deeply in
dented loughs and its castles and
round towers everywhere, it is fully
the equal of the Highlands of Scot
land. For the tourist who must have
pure recreation as we'll as travel there
are fine golf courses and good angling
at most places. A delightful book on
the north of Ireland, where the seen
cry is probably widest, is Highways
and Byways in Donegal and Antrim"
by Stephen Gwynn, himself a Donegal
man. The book is illustrated by Hugh
Thomson. The author explored these
two northern counties on a bicycle,
but train, motor and boat will be
easier for the average person. He
started from Enniskillen, near the
west coast, the Interlaken of Ireland,
and followed the irregular coast line
all around the north of Ireland to
Belfast, which is only g. short dis.
tance across the Irish Sea from Liver
pool. His account Of his travels shows
interest in everything-not merely
the brown and purple mountains, the
continual sight and sound Of the sea-
the swift, peaty trout streams and
salmon rivers, but also Celtic history,
present-day customs and dialect Of the