Ossian Collection > Journal of a tour in Scotland in

60 JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND
to be much more numerous in Scotch than in
English towns. And here at Arbroath I saw
more prostitutes walking the streets than
would I think have been seen in any English
town of no greater extent or population.
Thursday, August 26. — Started at 7. 12f
to Montrose. Castles were very numerous
along this coast in the miserable times of old
— some perhaps built as strongholds for
pirates, others for protection against them,
and probably serving for either purpose, on
occasion. We saw Castle Red upon this
stage. Two or three pigeon houses in the
fields of singular construction — slender but
not narrow buildings, with a shelving roof in
front, and a straight wall on the back from
the summit of the roof — the whole being like
the section of a house cut in half, from the
ridge of the roof. Laburnums are common
thus far North, and seem to flourish in the
hedges and plantations. Still the same well-
husbanded country, and the same abundant
harvest : still a great proportion of women in
the fields, and the female peasantry, and the
women of the lower orders in the towns, as
usual filthy, bare-footed, and with Medusa
papers in their hair. Montrose is a better