We were sorry to leave the “Bogroy Inn,” as the mistress said she would have been glad of our further patronage, but we had determined to reach Inverness as a better place to stay over the week end.  With great difficulty we walked the remaining six miles under the trees, through which the moon was shining, and we could see the stars twinkling above our heads as we marched, or rather crawled, along the Great North Road.  On arriving at Inverness we crossed the bridge, to reach a house that had been recommended to us, but as it was not up to our requirements we turned back and found one more suitable across the water.  Our week’s walk totalled 160 miles, of which thirty-nine had been covered that day.

(Distance walked thirty-nine miles.)

Sunday, September 24th.

After a good night’s rest and the application of common soap to the soles of our feet, and fuller’s earth to other parts of our anatomy—­remedies we continued to employ, whenever necessary, on our long journey—­we were served with a good breakfast, and then went out to see what Inverness looked like in the daylight.  We were agreeably surprised to find it much nicer than it appeared as we entered it, tired out, the night before, and we had a pleasant walk before going to the eleven-o’clock service at the kirk.

Inverness, the “Capital of the Highlands,” has a long and eventful history.  St. Columba is said to have visited it as early as the year 565, and on a site fortified certainly in the eighth century stands the castle, which was, in 1039, according to Shakespeare, the scene of the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth.  The town was made a Royal Burgh by David I, King of Scotland.  The Lords of the Isles also appear to have been crowned here, for their coronation stone is still in existence, and has been given a name which in Gaelic signifies the “Stone of the Tubs.”  In former times the water supply of the town had to be obtained from the loch or the river, and the young men and maidens carrying it in tubs passed this stone on their way—­or rather did not pass, for they lingered a while to rest, the stone no doubt being a convenient trysting-place.  We wandered as far as the castle, from which the view of the River Ness and the Moray Firth was particularly fine.

We attended service in one of the Free Churches, and were much interested in the proceedings, which were so different from those we had been accustomed to in England, the people standing while they prayed and sitting down while they sang.  The service began with the one hundredth Psalm to the good old tune known as the “Old Hundredth” and associated in our minds with that Psalm from our earliest days: 

  All people that on earth do dwell,
    Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. 
  Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell,
    Come ye before Him, and rejoice.

[Illustration:  THE CATHEDRAL, INVERNESS.]

During the singing of this, all the people remained seated except the precentor, who stood near the pulpit.  Then followed a prayer, the people all standing; and then the minister read a portion of Scripture from the thirty-fourth chapter of the prophet Ezekiel beginning at the eleventh verse:  “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out.”