One of the early books of English travel in the eighteenth century is Mr. Martin’s “Description of the Western Islands of Scotland” (1703). It is this book that stirred Dr. Johnson to make his visit to the Hebrides, and it is from this that Mallet drew the details for his “Amyntor and Theodora.” In the Preface Martin says: Perhaps it is peculiar to those isles, that they have never been described till now by any man that was a native of the country, or had traveled them.... Descriptions of countries, without the natural histories of them, are now justly reckoned to be defective. This I had a particular regard to in the following descriptions, and have everywhere taken notice of the nature of the climate and soil, and of the remarkable cures performed by the natives merely by the use of simples. This preliminary promise of first-hand observation, especially so far as Nature is concerned, is hardly carried out. The book is a credulous, entertaining, unsifted narrative of whatever marvels came to his ears. His interest rested chiefly on strange cures made by the use of “simples.” The “Description” has the negative importance of entirely ignoring Nature. In its 120 pages there is not a word or phrase in recognition of the wild and beautiful scenery in these islands. The same distinction holds of Brand’s “Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth, and Caithness” (1701). Brand was one of a commission sent by the General Assembly to inquire into religious matters in the northern islands, so it is not strange that he bestows much attention on heathenish and popish rites, charms, and superstitions. He is also much interested in the prevailing diseases and the means of cure employed by the natives, and he says much of their customs, manners, and personal appearance. He describes the crops, the climate, the favorite articles of food, but his eyes are holden to the charms of scenery. In 1715 appeared Alexander Pennecuik’s “Description of Tweeddale.” He was a physician and for thirty years his employment had obliged him to know and observe every corner of Tweeddale. He found great pleasure in “herbalizing shady groves and mountains,” and the chief value of his work is accordingly in its numerous botanical observations. Not a stray sentence indicates pleasure in the beauty of the Lowland mountains.