GREY PTARMIGAX. 201 



The summits of the loftier momitains ; Cairngorm on the 

 one hand, Ben-na-muic-diii, and Benvrotan, on the other, and 

 Loch-na-gar in the south, were covered with mist ; but the 

 clouds had rolled westward from Ben-na-buird, on which 

 I stood, leaving its summit entirely free. The beams of the 

 setting sun burst in masses of light here and there through the 

 openings between the clouds, which exhibited a hundred vary- 

 ing shades. There, over the ridges of yon brown and torrent- 

 worn mountain, hangs a vast mass of livid vapour, gorgeously 

 glowing with deep crimson along all its lower fringed margin. 

 Here, the white shroud that clings to the peaked summits, 

 assumes on its western side a delicate hue like that of the petals 

 of the pale red-rose. Far away to the north, glooms a murky 

 cloud, in which the spirits of the storm are mustering their 

 strength, and preparing the forked lightnings, which at mid- 

 night they will fling over the valley of the Spey. 



From a small lake, in a rocky corry, at the distance of five 

 or six miles, a white streamlet rushes down an alpine valley 

 bounded by precipitous rocks. To the west and north-west, 

 the mountains recede, range beyond range, apparently undi- 

 minished in grandeur, but toward the east, their ridges rapidly 

 fall. The summits of those around are flat or rounded, com- 

 posed of crumbling stones, with cairns of granitic rock protrud- 

 ing here and there. They are furrowed in many places by 

 persons who, some years ago, gained a subsistence by gathering 

 the rock-crystals and other minerals which are occasionally 

 found among the disintegrated fragments. ISIany of them pre- 

 sent vast precipices, and corries, or great cavities surrounded 

 by rocks, in which is sometimes found a blue lake of un- 

 fathomed depth. 



Descending from the highest part of the summit, I proceeded 

 eastward for about half a mile, until I came to a corry facing 

 the south, down a rapid slope, about the centre of which I de- 

 scended with all possible speed, the sun having by this time 

 sunk behind Benvrotan. Having got to the bottom of the 

 slope, I began to run, and coming unexpectedly upon a flock 

 of Brown Ptarmigans that had settled in their night's quarters, 

 started them, to my own momentary alarm. A little farther 



