The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



top above the clouds, and just appearing above the summit 

 of Ben Alder one could distinguish the outline of Beinn a' 

 Ghlo or the "Mountain of the Mist," so named because 

 its summit is often shrouded in cloud when the surround- 

 ing hills are clear. But the most prominent of the peaks 

 projecting from the sea of mist was that of Schiehallion, 

 whose tapering cone stood out with true Alpine effect. 

 Westwards the twin tops of Cruachan were just visible 

 above the clouds, but here the mist enveloped all but the 

 extreme summits of the highest hills. 



In the corrie of Allt a' Mhuilinn, far beneath one, the 

 mist ebbed slowly backward and forward, seemingly en- 

 deavouring to press upwards to the higher ground, but 

 making little, if any, headway. Sgor a' Mhaim, a few 

 miles to the south-west, was prominent, its crater-shaped 

 corrie being flooded in bright sunshine, and as I scanned 

 this corrie through the glass a couple of stags were seen 

 to gain the ridge and to look down into the white sea 

 below. 



An intense silence was everywhere; one missed the low 

 croaking of the ptarmigan and the dark form of the eagle 

 as he soared high above the plateau. 



As compared with the summits of the Cairngorm 

 Mountains, the absence of plant life on Ben Nevis is striking, 

 for on the Cairngorms even the highest grounds are at this 

 season tinged with red from the many plants of the cushion 

 pink (Silene acaulis) in full blossom. Although the summit 

 of Ben Nevis is quite devoid of vegetation, I came across a 

 number of plants of the starry saxifrage at an elevation 

 of quite four thousand three hundred feet, and a species 

 of Carex was seen even above this height. 



Among the precipitous rocks on the north-east face of 

 the hillside a considerable amount of snow still remained, 

 and, indeed, one of these snowfields has never been known 

 to disappear entirely even during the hottest summer. The 

 hill carrying the most extensive snowfields, as seen from my 



4 



