Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/236

218 stones, washed from the mountains. These stones lie very thick all over the bed, heaped one upon another, except just in the current. I called a council to determine if I could step from stone to stone.—No. There was that day too great a depth of water, where the current ran, even for the servant to wade it. I was therefore obliged to sit still, and the poor horses began to scramble amongst the stones, of which many, I am sure, were three feet above the bottom of the burn; where the poor animals found room to place their feet between them, or sufficient strength to drag the heavy carriage over them, I cannot imagine. It took a length of time, and I was not free from great fear, that some disaster would befall the chaise before it reached the shore; the stony bed being, I verily believe, twenty yards wide. I never shall forget the crossing of the burn of Calder, at Calder castle, which in a flood must be a very furious rapid water. Two miles further, I came to the Nairn river: on its banks, near the bridge, stands a house well situated on an eminence, called Kilravock, with some handsome looking plantations about it. The face of the country towards the towns of Nairn and Forres, is very flat and no way interesting. I passed