76 CAM CHREAG AND BEINN DOIREANN. 



see its summit entirely clear of mist — a scarf of vapour seemed 

 constantly to hover about it. 



Our ascent was for the greater part a scramble over rough 

 stones — it seemed as if the whole hill-side were traversed by a 

 river of great boulders — and this demanded careful and attentive 

 footing. Between the stones the parsley-fern pushed out its 

 delicately-hued, feathery fronds in rich abundance, filling every 

 hollow with its gossamer of tenderest green; this, with Alchemilla 

 alpina, Salix herbacea, and Oxyria reniformis, was, as far as we 

 could discover, all that grew on the mountain having any claim to 

 be called mountain plants. At a height of 3300 feet above sea 

 level we found a corrie which, after a minute search, yielded no 

 further spoils, and we were forced to content ourselves with these 

 meagre results. 



This must not be taken, however, as an ultimate finding, as 

 our progress was much impeded by the nature of the ground we 

 had to traverse, and sometimes entirely arrested by the great walls 

 of mist that came dashing round the shoulders of the Ben, and 

 rolling down his face with ever-increasing density. These circum- 

 stances, however untoward for our initial purpose, were not 

 entirely regrettable, giving us, as they did, a very definite idea of 

 what may be looked for on such an excursion, and an insight 

 into certain conditions prevailing at these altitudes valuable as 

 travelling experiences and invaluable in other ways. How 

 changed was the aspect of the hills from that of yesterday! 

 Those that were visible we were only able to recognise from their 

 position, and then but uncertainly in many cases. Eastward, 

 Loch Lyon gleamed fitfully between the hills, a broad shield of 

 silver thrown down among soft folds of velvety green; southward, 

 Beinn Mohr and Beinn Laoigh, with their chain of hills between, 

 loomed large and dim, swathed in whirling mists, while down the 

 beautiful stretch of Glenorchy we looked seaward to Ben Cru- 

 achan standing in ermined majesty with Loch Awe at his feet. 



Two hundred feet or so would have brought us to the summit, 

 but the grey of the clouds, hardly broken all day, was gradually 

 lowering, and the mists, though constantly shifting, were tending 

 downward rapidly, and our descent promised to be a somewhat 

 formidable one, so that we were glad to get safely to the end of 

 the first thousand feet, which was a series of sandy slides and 



