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Among the Hills, A Record of Scenery and Sports in the Highlands of Scotland by Samuel Abbott (1876)
PREFACE
This record of a sojourn in the Highlands will, it is hoped, have a certain interest to those who have not trod the heather, as well as to those who have.
Regarding the first—although many may be indifferent to field sports, still there are very few who do not appreciate the wild and varied beauties of Highland scenery, and even if caring little about the shooting of grouse or taking of salmon, most people do feel curious to learn wherein lies the charm of pursuits so eagerly sought and so expensively procured. This I have tried to explain and describe simply and without exaggeration.
To sportsmen these pages will recall much of their own pleasant experience, and perhaps excite curiosity and after-inquiry by the details of certain phenomena and events connected with theferce naturalof the hills which they may have carelessly overlooked or missed the chance of observing; and, I think, they can accept the personal incidents recorded as having occurred under my own experience, or, if related secondhand, to have come from those who may be trusted to have intelligently observed and accurately reported.
If my readers should derive only a tithe of the pleasure from perusing this journal that I have had in shaping it, I shall be satisfied—for to me this has been a labour of love by bringing back clearly on my mind many cherished memories.
I believe it to be a common experience that times passed in the country do leave stronger and more vivid prints on the mind than those lived in towns, however much more eventful and important these latter may have been—with myself I find this distinction of recollection to be marked and indubitable, and there are certain days lived in the country, particularly those passed in the Highlands, which will come again and again on my memory with the startling clearness of a vision, when I seem to see every heather-brae and rugged corrie on the hill-side, to look on the broken waters as they rush down the stony glen, almost to feel on my cheek the fresh breeze that waves the slender birches and to hear once more the familiar voices of friends now scattered or gone.
In conclusion—should the free conversation here and there reported only serve acceptably to vary the mere details of scenery and sport, it will have suited its purpose ; and if perchance the reader finds some grave truth, although clothed in motley, so much the better. Be this as it may, no one will think of being captious or hypercritical on the careless converse of a few sportsmen.
S. A.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mohr/index.htm
Alastair
PREFACE
This record of a sojourn in the Highlands will, it is hoped, have a certain interest to those who have not trod the heather, as well as to those who have.
Regarding the first—although many may be indifferent to field sports, still there are very few who do not appreciate the wild and varied beauties of Highland scenery, and even if caring little about the shooting of grouse or taking of salmon, most people do feel curious to learn wherein lies the charm of pursuits so eagerly sought and so expensively procured. This I have tried to explain and describe simply and without exaggeration.
To sportsmen these pages will recall much of their own pleasant experience, and perhaps excite curiosity and after-inquiry by the details of certain phenomena and events connected with theferce naturalof the hills which they may have carelessly overlooked or missed the chance of observing; and, I think, they can accept the personal incidents recorded as having occurred under my own experience, or, if related secondhand, to have come from those who may be trusted to have intelligently observed and accurately reported.
If my readers should derive only a tithe of the pleasure from perusing this journal that I have had in shaping it, I shall be satisfied—for to me this has been a labour of love by bringing back clearly on my mind many cherished memories.
I believe it to be a common experience that times passed in the country do leave stronger and more vivid prints on the mind than those lived in towns, however much more eventful and important these latter may have been—with myself I find this distinction of recollection to be marked and indubitable, and there are certain days lived in the country, particularly those passed in the Highlands, which will come again and again on my memory with the startling clearness of a vision, when I seem to see every heather-brae and rugged corrie on the hill-side, to look on the broken waters as they rush down the stony glen, almost to feel on my cheek the fresh breeze that waves the slender birches and to hear once more the familiar voices of friends now scattered or gone.
In conclusion—should the free conversation here and there reported only serve acceptably to vary the mere details of scenery and sport, it will have suited its purpose ; and if perchance the reader finds some grave truth, although clothed in motley, so much the better. Be this as it may, no one will think of being captious or hypercritical on the careless converse of a few sportsmen.
S. A.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mohr/index.htm
Alastair