CHAPTER XV 



BEN MORE MULL 



To the Isle of Mull the name "Muile nam Mor-Bheann," 

 or "Mull of the Big Hills," has been given. In one of the 

 songs of Duncan Livingstone, the Crogan bard — he who 

 in the Gaelic was known as "Donnachadh nam Blar " — 

 the island was thus designated, and now wheresoever the 

 language of the Gael is spoken this song is known and 

 sung. 



But though Mull is guarded by many hills — the rough, 

 precipitous slopes of Beinn Buie shielding the land from 

 gales from the south, while rising from the Sound of Mull, 

 Dun da Ghaoithe breaks the force of the northerly winds 

 — there is one mountain that towers above the rest, so that 

 for many miles to seaward it serves as a landmark, and 

 even from the distant hills of Perth and Inverness can 

 clearly be seen, and that is Ben More — "the Big Hill." 



Compared with Ben Nevis, or the giants of the Cairn- 

 gorm Range, Ben More is not high, for its summit reaches 

 a level of no more than 3,163 feet; but whereas the bases 

 of the Cairngorms lie more than fifteen hundred feet above 

 sea level, Ben More rises straight from the waters of the 

 Atlantic. 



There is little heather growing on these hills of the 

 far western coast, for the rainfall is extremely heavy and 

 the soil is not suitable; granite, which heather loves, 

 is absent, and the black basaltic rock does not favour its 

 growth. Thus it is that Ben More, on its lower slopes, is 

 clothed in rich grass, and nearer the top only a few stray 

 mosses and mountain plants find lodging places amongst 

 the sharp volcanic rocks. 



82 



