The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



some rocky point overlooking the glen, whither they had 

 gone to feel the cool sea breeze moving gently up to them. 

 There they have remained almost motionless for hours on 

 end, and not until the sun was dipping westward have 

 they moved down to graze on the fresh grass at the burn- 

 side. At the head of the glen, just on the watershed, is a 

 hill face with southern exposure where deer — stags and 

 hinds — are to be seen grazing almost every day of winter 

 and early spring. The hillside is a warm one, and snow 

 rarely covers it, so pasture may be sought there when snow 

 and ice are holding fast in their grip the north-facing slopes. 

 In the height of summer deer are rarely seen in the glen, 

 but during September nights, when the world is still, when 

 the earth has not as yet lost her summer freshness, and 

 when the moon is high in the heavens, I have seen the 

 ghostly forms of stags cross the track before me, and have 

 heard their roaring echoing from hill to hill. 



On a clear day one sees far from the glen. There is 

 one point where, through a dip in the hills, Ben Cruachan, 

 that hill which rises so steeply above Loch Awe, arrests 

 the eye. Often I have watched the setting sun striking 

 full on its conical top, transforming the whole hillside to 

 gold, and lighting up the lingering beds of snow in 

 its glow. Frequently in hot summer weather Cruachan is 

 covered with dark thunder-clouds, while in the glen of 

 which I write the sun shines warm and clear; for thunder 

 rarely comes to these island hills during the summer months, 

 though during winter, gales from west or north-west bring 

 many thunderstorms in from the wild sea which breeds 

 them. 



There are two burns in the glen. One flows towards 

 the east; the other — reached after the watershed has been 

 crossed — to the west, and to the open Atlantic. Near the 

 head of the glen a chain of hill lochs store the water, and 

 with the first spate of July many grilse and sea trout — 

 a few salmon among them, too — enter the burn from the 



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