202 A VISIT TO BRAEMAn. 



Having thus dipped incidentally into the geology of the river's basin^ 

 we may remark that for almost its whole length, with few exceptions, 

 such as an occasional patch of crystalline limestone, or a few detached 

 strata of mica-schist, the surrounding country consists either of granite or 

 gneiss, which seem to cover its surface in pretty equal proportions, the 

 former predominating on the north, and the latter on the south side of 

 the river, which drains this pretty extensive district. Passing rapidly through 

 the villages of Kincardine-O'Neil and Aboyne, and catching a glimpse of 

 the scared and rugged hills which enclose Glen Tanar and Birse, the latter 

 of which enjoys something of a Bajotian reputation, for reasons known only 

 to the natives, we emerge on a flat and cheerless moorland, worthy, we 

 think, of being put in competition with the flir-famed "Heath near Forres," 

 the scene of Macbeth's encounter with 



"These 

 So withered and so wild in their attire, 

 That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, 

 And yet are on't." 



However the moor of Dinnat need bear no such black character, for 

 any disagreeable associations to which it may give rise, are at once dis- 

 pelled, or ought to be, on our reaching its farther extremity, when its dull 

 uniformity but gives greater effect to the beautiful scenery around Ballater, 

 whose vicinity we are now approaching. The picturesque scenery of this 

 lovely village has been said to resemble nothing more strikingly than ^'the 

 steep hills of the Black Forest near Wildbad," so that any one who has 

 been at the pains of visiting Wildbad, or other fashionable continental re- 

 sort, may reconsider his good taste in doing so, without first having paid 

 the tribute of admiration at the shrine of the rocky beauties of his father- 

 land, which, be it known, (for in many circles there are those who turn 

 a deaf ear to the fact,) teems with scenery scarcely to be surpassed in 

 point of beauty or sublimity. — '^ 



Yes, fickle Fashion is a wondrous thing. 

 But, truly, the charms of this spot need to be clothed with no fictitious 

 interest, to give it a place in the fond memory of every true admirer of 

 Nature, as he gazes on its rocky walls of grisly hills, about whose swarthy 

 sides the morning mists, in wavy contortions, "like a wounded snake, drag 

 their slow length along" yonder clump of dark fir, which bristles from the 

 rocky debris below, and now disappear over their lichen-painted and weather- 

 beaten summits, with the blue smoke rising languidly in the still air from 

 the hearths of the industrious peasantry. 



And now that we have fairly entered the Highlands by so worthy a 

 portal, we proceed right bi'iskly on our way to Braemar by the road leading 

 round the base of Craigen-darroch — the Rock of Oaks, from its southern 

 * Credo cxperto. — F. 0. Morris. 



