|  | page 51 [incongru]ity additions and accommodations adapted to the  
needs of each successive occupant, who, being for the most  
part proprietor, was at liberty to follow his own fancy: so  
that these humble dwellings remind the contemplative  
spectator of a production of nature, and may (using a strong 
expression) rather be said to have grown than to have been  
erected; - to have risen, by an instinct of their own, out  
of the native rock - so little is there in them of  
formality, such is their wildness and beauty. Among the  
numerous recesses and projections in the walls and in the  
different stages of their roofs, are seen bold and  
harmonious effects of contrasted sunshine and shadow. It is  
a favourable circumstance, that the strong winds, which  
sweep down the vallies, induced the inhabitants, at a time  
when the materials for building were easily procured, to  
furnish many of these dwellings with substantial porches;  
and such as have not this defence, are seldom unprovided  
with a projection of two large slates over their thresholds. 
Nor will the singular beauty of the chimneys escape the eye  
of the attentive traveller. Sometimes a low chimney, almost  
on a level with the roof, is overlaid with a slate,  
supported upon four slender pillars, to prevent the wind  
from driving the smoke down the chimney. Others are of a  
quadrangular shape, rising one or two feet above the roof;  
which low square is often surmounted by a tall cylinder,  
giving to the cottage chimney the most beautiful shape in
 
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