The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

THE TWO DROVERS.
(irapttrr i $fiit.
IT was the day after Doune Fair when my story commences. It had been
a brisk market; several dealers had attended from the northern and midland counties in England, and English money had flown so merrily about
as to gladden the hearts of the Highland farmers. Many large droves were
about to set off for England, under the protection of their owners, or of the
topsmen whom they employed in the tedious, laborious, and responsible
office of driving the cattle for many hundred miles, from the market where
they had been purchased, to the fields or farm-yards where they were to be
fattened for the shambles.
The Highlanders, in particular, are masters of this difficult trade of
driving, which seems to suit them as well as the trade of war. It affords
exercise for all their habits of patient endurance and active exertion. They
are-required to know perfectly the drove-roads, which lie over the wildest
tracks of the country, and to avoid as much as possible the highways, which
distress the feet of the bullocks, and the turnpikes, which annoy the spirit
of the drover; whereas, on the broad green or gray track, which leads across
the pathless moor, the herd not only move at ease and without taxation,
but, if they mind their business, may pick up a mouthful of food by the
way. At night, the drovers usually sleep along with their cattle, let the
weather be what it will; and many of these hardy men do not once rest
under a roof during a journey on foot from Lochaber to Lincolnshire.
They are paid very highly, for the trust reposed is of the last importance,
as it depends on their prudence, vigilance, and honesty, whether the cattle
reach the final market in good order, and afford a profit to the grazier. But
as they maintain themselves at their own expense, they are especially economical in that particular. At the period we speak of, a Highland drover
was victualled for his long and toilsome journey with a few handfulls of
oatmeal, and two or three onions, renewed from time to time, and a ram's
horn filled with whisky, which he used regularly, but sparingly, every night
and morning. His dirk, or skene-dhu, (i. e. black-knife,) so worn as to be
concealed beneath the arm, or by the folds of the plaid, was his only weapon,
excepting the cudgel with which he directed the movements of the cattle.
A Iighlander was never so happy as on these occasions. There was a
variety in the whole journey, which exercised the Celt's natural curiosity
and love of motion; there were the constant change of place and scene, the
petty adventures incidental to the traffic, and the intercourse with the various farmers, graziers, and traders, intermingled with occasional merrymakings, not the less acceptable to Donald that they were void of expense;
- and there was the consciousness of superior skill; for the Highlander, a
child amongst flocks, is a prince amongst herds, and his natural habits in2L2 (425)