A VISIT TO BRAEMAR. 247 



S. angustatum, often in considerable masses, growing, as the habit of the 

 genus is, in Deer's dung, or anything else that comes in the way; it is by no 

 means particular, as some of the strange habitats Hooker has recorded testify; 

 on stones Parmdia Fahluensis and Corniculana lanata, on the ground a 

 profusion of Gladonia vermicularis, Salix herbacea, and Trientalis JEuropoea, 

 being a very high elevation for the last-named plant. Though it is a sheer 

 impossibility to descend the cliffs themselves, still there exists at their 

 northern extremity, a gully of considerable size, which is, or ought to be, 

 invariably descended by plant-hunters. Here the accumulation of gravel 

 and other detritus from the summit, is kept constantly moist, in common 

 with the huge rocks, often split into colossal cubes that form its sides, 

 and which, among others, produce the following plants: — Cerastiiim alpinum, 

 Veronica alpina, V. serpyllifolia, var. alpina, Poa alpina, var. vivipara, 

 Saxifraga rivularis, Allosurus crispus; and towards the base Hieracium 

 alpinum, and others of that critical genus, Polytriclium hercynicum, P. sep- 

 tentnonale, Oxyria reniformis, BInnavthus Crida-Qalli, Lychnis diuriia, 

 Gnaphalium supinum, G. sylvaticum, the rare var. 0. After again reaching 

 the summit, by rounding a shoulder of the hill towards the north — gath- 

 ering, by the bye, Sibbaldia procumbens — we met with nothing remarkable 

 but a smart shower of hail, (August 2nd.,) and for some time had to 

 navigate our course most warily through thick mists, which unfortunately 

 descended before we had reached the beaten path. We were disappointed 

 in not finding Carex leporina, which was added to the British Flora from 

 this locality some years since. 



In visiting Ben Macdhui, the pedestrian traveller requires the greater 

 part of two days, not only from its distance from his head-quarters, but 

 also from the nature of the ground over which he has to pass. The earlier, 

 then, he starts in the morning the better, especially if he intends to examine 

 the Linn of Corrymulzie and the Linn of Dee, both lying in the line of 

 his route, and perfectly lionized by visitors to Braemar. To the former 

 we paid a flying visit for the purpose of gathering Melampyrum sylvaticum, 

 which there grows plentifully; its other botanical productions are numerous, 

 and, in conjunction with its exquisite scenery, seldom fail in exciting the 

 admiration of the most careless observer. Some miles farther on we cross 

 the Linn of Dee by a bridge, and descend on the other side, to have a 

 closer view of this most remarkable natural phenomenon, which is that of 

 the accumulated waters of the Dee above this point, pressing impetuously 

 through a rift in the rock, (mica schist,) which, in its whole length, seldom 

 exceeds a yard in breadth, and falling into dark boiling pools below, where 

 their fury is gradually spent. The road continues parallel to the course of 

 the river until we arrive at the point where it suddenly takes a northerly 

 direction, which it then retains to its very source; after this point we have 



