Kings & rulers > More leaves from the journal of a life in the Highlands from 1862 to 1882

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with hills rising above it, is extremely pretty, and re¬
minds me of a village in Switzerland. The head of
the Cromartie Frith appears here. After this' and
passing slowly Tain and St. Duthus (called after the
Cathedral there), we thought, as we did not stop, and
were not to do so, that we would take our tea and
coffee—which kept quite hot in the Norwegian kitchen
—when suddenly, before we had finished, we stopped
at Bonar Bridge, and the Duke of Sutherland came
up to the door. He had been driving the engine (!)
all the way from Inverness, but only appeared now on
account of this being the boundary of his territory,
and the commencement of the Sutherland railroad. He
expressed the honour it was to him that I was coming
to Dunrobin. Lord Ronald L. Gower also came up to I
the carriage-door. There was a most excited station-
master who would not leave the crowd of poor country-
people in quiet, but told them to cheer and “cheer
again,” another “cheer,” etc., without ceasing.
Here the Dornoch Frith, which first appears at
Tain, was left behind, and we entered the glen of the
Shin. The railway is at a very high level here, and
you see the Shin winding below with heathery hills on
either side and many fine rocks, wild, solitary, and
picturesque. The Duchess of Sutherland’s own pro¬
perty begins at the end of this glen. At six we were
at Golspie station, where the Duchess of Sutherland
received us, and where a detachment of the Suther^ ,,
land Volunteers, who look very handsome in red r:
jackets and Sutherland tartan kilts, was drawn up. I p.
got into the Duchess’s carriage, a barouche with four pi,
horses, the Duke riding, as also Lady Florence and t
their second son Lord Tarbat, and drove through th< s