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January 30, 1885 J THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 75 Struy, only seven miles off, and had heard that Glen Strath Farrar was by all accounts still more beautiful, I resolved to judge for myself, and now can safely say that Strath Affaric and Strath Farrar combine more beautiful scenery the chaise back without going any further. From Portree I returned to Balmacara, took up my luggage, and had a carriage to Glen Shiel Inn, fifteen miles, crossing at Dornie Ferry. I had good horses, and this was a beautiful GLEN FARRAR, STRUT. than any glen I had ever before visited, and that, upon the whole, the latter has in some particulars the advantage. The Hotel forms an interesting view, with the river Farrar only separated from the house by the roadway. From HOTEL AND WATER, STRUY. Struy I had a carriage to Beauly, so as to get the train to Strome Ferry. There was not much to be done at Strome Ferry, but ‘it was necessary to go there, so as to get to Balmacara, a ten-mile drive over the hills. I exposed mar y plates here, especially on the windings of the road by the side of the Bay, and also secured very good negatives, from a small boat, of the Hotel reflected on the water. I tried the fishing, but neither cod or whiting would bite, so I had to content myself with my camera. Sir Alexander Matheson’s, on Loch Carron, can be visited by one of the roads from Strome Ferry, but as the day was wet, I travelled by the shorter road, and made the trip to his place an excursion of itself. I was glad to leave my heavy luggage at Balmacara, and only take what was necessary for Portree by steamer, and call for it again on my way back. Portree has plenty of fishing boats, and the Bay is good for views, as is also Prince Charlie’s Cave, seven miles by row-boat. The boatmen were promised pictures of the Cave, and they will get them shortly. I wished to go to Sligachan by carriage, twenty miles there and back. I bargained with the landlord to let me have a horse that was not lame. A quarter of a mile’s drive, however, was quite sufficient to furnish proof that he had given me a lame horse which was cruel to drive, so I sent BALMACARA. drive. On going into the parlour at Shiel Inn, I came face to face with a framed print of the hotel that I had myself taken about twenty-seven years previously. It was a good colour, notwithstanding its age, and only looked a little yellow at the edges, where the print came in contact with the mounted cardboard. It had been toned with Australian gold neutralized with carbonate of lime, washed two or three hours, and hung up to dry the same evening—the plan I have continued to follow ever since. Glen Shiel has beautiful high hills all around, and is a very retired and out-of-the-way place. This was either the fourth or fifth time I had visited the inn ; one great inducement to do this being the sea trout which are to be caught in the river when there is sufficient water. From Shiel I drove thirty-six miles to Glen Moriston, resting thehorsesat Cluny and Torgoyle Inns. This Glen, before making this trip, I had always held up as supreme for its beauty of birch and heather ; and I still feel that it must always retain a very high place on the ground of fine scenery. A salmon ladder and rocks by the bridge over the Moriston river furnish plenty of materials for some good negatives. This finished my photographic amusement, and I had only to return home by a twenty-seven mile drive by the side of Loch Ness to Inverness, and rail to Edinburgh and London. The excursion was a most enjoyable one of sixty-one days, and I brought home by far the best lot of negatives I have ever secured. Although I carried five other view lenses of different length of focus, an 8 by 10 rapid with the 2nd or 3rd largest stop and shutter, or with the smallest stop and a longer exposure, proved to be by far the most serviceable to me on this trip, and was seldom taken out of the camera. A PORTABLE LAMP FOR TOURISTS. BY T. G. WHATTE. A really portable and safe lantern, and one a few ounces in weight, is still a much-felt want. The tin and glass affair, with oil-can constantly leaking, is not a desirable piece of apparatus to pack between clothing when travelling. The one I have designed is light, portable, instantly set up, and occupies no more space in the portmanteau than a pocket-handkerchief, and can be made in half-an-hour by anyone possessing a pair of scissors and the necessary materials. The sketch on the next page is about one-fourth the size
