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In Neil Gunn’s Highland River, the Water of Dunbeath is a path to be followed to its source, Loch Bràigh na h-Aibhne (ssss1 and front cover). The watercourse is punctuated by pools, which serve as recurrent landmarks encountered along the way. In Macintyre’s Song to a Ewe, his path begins and ends at home and is marked by clachans, which the poet calls upon to beg for wool. In Praise of Beinn Dòbhrain, the journey of the deer is marked by corries and passes, acting as boundaries, and hills acting as landmarks. It ends at a holy mountain stream, where the herd slakes its thirst. When Kenn in Highland River journeys, man and boy, further and further upstream, the enclosure of the Strath diminishes. As his horizons widen the importance of river pools lessen and the prospect of a broader domain gains greater sway, dominated by the ineluctable landmark of Mòr-bheinn, which gathers most of Caithness into its visual envelope. His explorations are guided by images of the pools, and as for other indigenous people, by what has happened in these places. They are recalled in his mind’s eye rather than through map reading. His sporadic and recurring movements through the Strath are essential to his growing ability to find his way; ultimately to the source; ultimately to his source.