Considerations of health, followed by growing appreciation of the charms of Gairloch, have caused me to make my Highland home in this out-of-the-world parish. Its romantic scenery and health-giving climate are its most obvious attractions; but add to these its wonderful legends and traditions, the eventful history of its dominant family, the story of its old ironworks, the interesting peculiarities of its Highland inhabitants, the distinction conferred upon it by the visit of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the great geological controversy about its rocks, the sport its waters afford to the angler, the varied subjects it displays to the artist, and the pregnant fields of research it yields to the scientist, and you have a list of allurements it would be difficult to beat elsewhere. Though its boundary line extends to within five miles of the railway, Gairloch still preserves many of the characteristics of old days, and these not only possess a peculiar fascination for most people, but are also well fitted to arouse and nourish a spirit of investigation. * * * * * The famous Loch Maree (with the small but romantic islet known as Isle Maree) is surrounded by the finest scenery in the parish. Their attractions bring annually some three thousand visitors to Gairloch. One might have fancied that such an influx of people would have led to the accumulation of a large and increasing stock of knowledge of this Highland parish, but as a rule the visitors are here to-day and gone to-morrow, and take no thorough interest in the country or its inhabitants. Some years ago I happened to travel by the railway from Inverness to Achnasheen in the company of a pleasant party, comprising a gentleman and three ladies, who were making a tour in the Highlands. They boasted that, though their time had been limited to a very few days, they would have seen the greater part of the Highlands before they returned home. On the day I fell in with them their object was to see Loch Maree. To accomplish this they had arranged by telegraph for a carriage and pair to await the arrival of the train at Achnasheen. The day proved wet and misty, and I saw them leave the railway station in a close carriage. I followed soon after on the mail-car. A short delay took place at Kenlochewe whilst the horses were changed. There I found my fellow-travellers enjoying their lunch in the hotel. They told me that although the day was too wet for them to drive down to the shore of the loch, and too misty to admit of its being fully seen from a distance, yet they were quite able to say that they had seen Loch Maree, for at one point they had put their heads out of the windows of their carriage during a brief cessation of the rain and had distinctly seen the water of the loch! They were returning to Achnasheen as soon as they had swallowed their lunch, to catch the train back to Inverness the same afternoon.