A WEEK AT GLEN SHEE. 157 



XX. 

 A WEEK AT GLEN SHEE. 



BY PETER E W I N G. 



[ReadSOlh December, 1SS4.1 



In giving you my opinion of the district around the 

 head of Glen Shee as a field for the botanical collec- 

 tor, it is necessary that I should say at the outset 

 that the eight days spent there were in the begin- 

 ning of xlugust, which proved to be too late for the 

 majority of the flowering plants. 



On arriving at Blairgow^rie, I proceeded by coach 

 to the Spittal of Glen Shee. The drive between these 

 places is one of the finest I have ever had, the con- 

 figuration of the mountains, and the rich colouring 

 of hill and dale produced by the varied vegetation, 

 being very pleasing to the eye. The drive is no 

 doubt long; but its distance is not felt to be too 

 great, unless one sees, in passing, many i)lants which 

 he would like to get out to obtain. Alchemilla 

 alpina and Averia pratensis, var. alphui, are among 

 the more conspicuous plants on the roadside in the 

 course of the drive. The hotel is a very comfortable 

 one, and stands at an altitude of about 1000 feet, at as 

 lovely a spot as can be found in the glen. Looking al- 

 most due north may be seen the whole length of Glen 

 Beg, a distance of about five miles. This glen is 

 pretty wide, with heather and grass-clad hills of no 

 great height on either side, and having at its head 

 the far-famed Cairn well, whose altitude is 3059 feet. 

 I was surprised to hear the passengers on the coach 

 talk of going over the Cairnwell as we hear sailors 

 speak of rounding the Cape. This is owing to tlie 

 very sudden ascent on the Braemar Road, and two 



