And now, as a last illustration, let me conduct the reader in
imagination to the far north-west of Scotland and place him on the
craggy slopes above the upper end of Loch Maree as the sun, after a
day of autumnal storm, is descending towards the distant Hebrides
in a glory of crimson, green, and gold. Hardly anywhere within the
compass of our islands can a landscape be beheld so varied in form
and colour, so abounding in all that is noblest and fairest in our
mountain scenery. To the right rises the huge mass of Slioch, catching
on his terraced shoulders the full glow of sunset, and wreathing his
summit with folds of delicate rose-coloured cloud. To the left, above
the purple shadows that are now gathering round their base, tower the
white crags and crests of Ben Eay, rising clear and sharp against the
western sky. Down the centre, between these two giant buttresses, lies
Loch Maree--the noblest sheet of water in the Scottish Highlands--now
ablaze with the light of the sinking sun. Headland behind headland, and
islet after islet rise as bars of deep violet out of that sea of gold.
Yonder a group of pines, relics of the old Caledonian forest, stand
boldly above the rocky knolls. Around us the naked rock undulates in
endless bosses, dotted with boulders or half-buried in the deep heather
that flames out with yet richer crimson in the ruddy light filling
all the valley. Overhead, the banded cliffs of Craig Roy, draped with
waterfalls and wet with the rains of the earlier part of the day, glow
in the varying tints of sunset. We hear the scream of the eagles that
still nest in these inaccessible crags; the hoarse outcry of the heron
comes up from the lake; the whirr of the black-cock re-echoes down the
hill-side. It might seem as if we were here out of sight and hearing
of man, save that now and then the low of cattle, driven home to their
stalls, falls faintly on the ear from the distant hamlet, which is
fading into the gathering twilight of the glen.
At such a time and in such a scene the past speaks vividly to us,
if there be human associations of a bygone time linked with the
place. Here, in this remote Highland valley, we are led backward
in imagination through generations of strife and rapine, clan
warfare and private revenge, bravery and treachery, superstition and
ignorance, far away to that early time when, in the seventh century,
Maelrubha, the red priest from Ireland, preached to the savage Picts,
and first brought this region within the ken of civilised men. More
than twelve hundred years have since passed away, but the memory of
that early missionary still lives here among the solitudes which he
chose as the scene of his labours. The lake yet bears his name, and
his favourite island of retirement, embowered in holly, mountain ash,
and honeysuckle, contains his holy well, which, even to this day, is
visited for the cure of diseases, while offerings are there made to the
saint.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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