The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



Cairngorm Hills. As I gained the upper reaches of the 

 hill the starry saxifrage (Saxifraga stellaris) and Saxifraga 

 hypyioides were common, and an occasional plant of the 

 parsley fern {Allosurus crispus) protruded its delicate foli- 

 age from between the rocks. For the last one thousand 

 feet of the climb, however, vegetation was quite absent, 

 hundreds of acres of volcanic "scree " covering the hill 

 as far as the eye could reach. At an altitude of four 

 thousand feet I watched for some time a number of ravens, 

 apparently a brood of the year, accompanied by the parent 

 birds. They were feeding on a spur of the hill, and as 

 they rose gave an exhibition of soaring powers little 

 inferior to those of the eagle himself. 



It was near sunset as the summit cairn was reached. 

 Even with the summer half gone, the winter's snow still 

 covered the plateau, in places to a depth of quite four feet, 

 and cornices of snow projected over the giant precipices. 

 Though the sun had already set in the glens below, the 

 plateau was still bathed in its soft rays, the snowfields 

 in its glow taking on a faint pinkish tinge, Arctic in its 

 effect. Lower and lower sank the sun in the north-western 

 sky ; passing just above the tops of the Coolin Hills in 

 the Isle of Skye, and throwing out their peaks in strong 

 relief, it ultimately sank behind the horizon across the hills 

 of Knoidart at exactly four minutes to nine (G.M.T.). For 

 a full three-quarters of an hour after this time its rays 

 still shot high into the northern sky, and at no period of 

 the night did the dull red after-glow disappear entirely 

 from the horizon. A short time previously I had seen 

 the light of the sun reflected on the waters of the far 

 Atlantic, and now the hills on the Island of Rhum — the 

 home of heavy stags — stood out sharply. Near by it was 

 possible to make out a strip of the less mountainous Island of 

 Eigg, and the hills of the Outer Hebrides, with their conical 

 peaks — prominent among which was Hekla — were distinct 

 on the horizon. To the east all was haze, save where a 



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