Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/184

160 a Dark night an out of the way Road with a Shoulty & a Coggie on each side of the Horsie: sometimes they would be taken from them: the way thay mead the Whisky thay had Sacks mead of Hair which thay used for steeping the Barley after it was steeped & dreeped it was then taken to some out of the way place there to foment & become Malt—it was then taken to a kill to dry & all don in the Dark: it was then taken & ground in a Quren a vary angeint Mill the same kind as Jesus speaks of when he says two Wemon shall be grinding at the Mill the one shall be taken & the other left: after being ground it was put into a Cask & there keept till it became strong Ale: it was then put into a pot & boiled & the steem deverted into a tube called a wirm which was laid amongst Coold watir hence the steem cam out Whisky."

As supplementary to the foregoing gleanings I may here refer to another subject of interview. The road between Banchory and Stonehaven is a typical bit of varied prospect and interest. A few miles out of Stonehaven the wayfarer dips down into the valley of the Cowie, and, crossing the burn by the old brig where the tumbling stream seems hushed under its canopy of trees, he commences the long ascent to what a Transvaaler would call the Neck or notch in the hill land that opens out to him the silvan landscape of Deeside. A little off the highway he will see a lone, low-roofed cottage, its sombre grey