Scientific Redicrvs. 34^ 



Thei'e was anothei' flood on the 27th of August, also vei'y' disas- 

 trous in its effects, and which, connected principally with the Mo*^ 

 nadhleadh mountains, influenced principally the Nairn, the vailed' 

 of the Garve, and the burn of Moniack. 



No legends tell of any of these rivers having before wotked such 

 universal ruin, or produced sUch extensive misery ; and we think 

 that, on this subject. Sir T. D. Lauder's philosophy is good. Rain 

 dirops were formerly evaporated on the hill-side, or sucked up by 

 an arid or a spongy soil. These are now dry hill-pastures ; bo^ 

 have been reclaimed ; and the plains are now fertile tracts. The 

 systematic agriculturist must therefore make provision for greater 

 noods than were produced before the country became so highly 

 improved. 



We have ourselves often traversed this country, so lately the 

 theatre of a desolating flood ; and the picturesque scenery of its ' 

 streams and mountains, and the smiling aspect of its wide valleys, 

 cultivated plains, and birch-fringed hills, are deeply impressed 

 upon our memory. How great must have been the change, when 

 these plains, belted with wood and shrubbery, mid which rose the 

 lonely cairn and rudely sculptured obelisk, and the fertile and cul- 

 tivated tracts, smiling with their rich products, and interspersed 

 %vith the lively habitations of men, were overwhelmed in the vast 

 flood of impetuous waters. Now the tufted trees could barely raise 

 their heads above the torrent which hastened to the ocean, covered 

 with the floating wrecks of nature and of human industry. The 

 house, formerly on the plain, now perched on the verge of some 

 precipice, or mingled its ruins with those of the mountain and th6 

 forest. 



Nor was the change less in the upland districts. The tracts wind- 

 ing along the mountain side were obliterated, ^-the high and steep 

 acclivity of the mountain faces, seared with tributary ravines, were 

 sheeted with cataracts, — castellated rocks, \vith the rugged forms 

 of aged pines, rose above the waters, — and the bold and lofty arches 

 of the Highland bridges, spanning the yawning chasm, were swept 

 ruthlessly away. 



The secluded haunts and shaggy coverts of Easter-Tchirfogrein, 

 " the place hid from the sun," were shorn of their beauteous pro- 



Sortions. But it was the case with all these fair glens and lovely vales. 

 Irs. Cumming Bruce, in a letter to the author, expresses herself 

 mth the feeling and sensibility of a lady, on the devastation of 

 Dunphail, " I daresay," she says, " we were all too proud of the 

 beauty of our valley, — a beauty which we had not given, and which 

 we could not take away, but which has vanished in an instant be- 

 fore His sweeping arm." 



The bridges and houses that were destroyed are innumerable, 

 and the loss of lives considerable. The author remarks, that the 

 bridges of the old military school of architecture resist the flood 

 with success, though not capable of doing so when modernized. 



