Scotland contains about 30,000 square miles and 4,000,000 souls.  The shores, especially the western and northern, are beautifully fringed with narrow lochs and steep indentures of the sea, making the coast picturesque beyond description.  The surface is mostly mountainous and rugged, presenting to the eye natural scenery, which for beauty and magnificence can scarcely be surpassed.  On the mountain side mists suddenly form, dense as thunder-clouds and bright as snow-drifts.  We were one day pointed to a certain hill where, it is said, Peden was hunted by dragoons, and found shelter in the heart of a mist-cloud, which he called “the lap of God’s cloak.”  In answer to prayer he thus found safety in the secret place of the Most High; heaven seemed to touch earth where he knelt upon the dripping grass.

These mountainous grounds furnish luxuriant pasture for numerous flocks of sheep.  Here is the shepherd’s paradise, who, with his dog and crook, keeps careful watch.  While the brow of the mountain is white with mist, its cheeks are often crimsoned with heather, and its breast verdant with pasture.  The associated colors are very grateful to the eye, while the sublimity ennobles the heart.

Many picturesque lochs nestle among the hills, in whose placid waters is mirrored the sky in the brilliant variations of day and night.  Poets and novelists have thrown a charm over these waters, and their shady isles—­and deep coves, relating the stories of love and the tragedies of war.  Castles, some in ruins, some in excellent preservation, dot the country from sea to sea, crowning prominent hill tops, and grimly telling of the era of savage strife and imperiled life.  Splendid cities, thrifty towns, and modest country homes are an index of the present prosperous and peaceful conditions.  The industry, intelligence, and happiness of the people are everywhere apparent.  Numerous churches, schools, and colleges bear testimony to the high tide of Christian civilization, which, through the labors and fidelity of the fathers, have carried the present generation into enviable prominence.

The climate is pleasant and healthful.  The asperity of winter is softened by the ocean streams coming from the south; the heat of summer is reduced by the high latitude and the mountains.  Withal the Lord has blessed this celebrated country with rare natural advantages for producing an indomitable and resourceful race.  Something in their environment seems to have given the people more than ordinary qualities of mind and heart.  Through the centuries they listened to the deep music of the sea, gazed upon the majesty of the mountains, meditated upon the solitude of the moors, kept vigil over their flocks in the fields, laboriously tilled the rugged soil; and grew solemn, vigorous, magnanimous, and unconquerable; they became a distinguished people.