Dr Charles Stuart on the Excursion to Braemar. 389 



Excursion of the Scottish Alpine Cliib to Braemar in 1889. 

 By Chaeles Stuart, M.D. 



(Read 12th December 1889.) 



The party this season was constituted by Professor Bayley 

 Balfour, President, the Eev. Geo. Alison, chaplain, the Eev. 

 D. Paul, the Eev. W. W. Peyton, Dr Stuart, and Dr Mac- 

 farlane and Messrs King and Turnbull as visitors. Travel- 

 ling, on the 16th July, by the Pife route, we reached Braemar 

 at 5.30 P.M., and were most comfortably accommodated at The 

 Invercauld Arms. Through the courtesy of Sir Algernon 

 Borthwick, Bart., M.P., the lessee of the Invercauld Deer 

 Forest, we obtained permission to go to the corries of Bein- 

 a-Bhuird, and also to Oraigindal, for botanical purposes. 

 The best thanks of the Club are due to him. Mr M'Hardy, 

 his chief forester, acted as our guide. 



On the morning of the 17th, at seven o'clock, the moun- 

 tains w^ere draped to their base in mist after a night of rain, 

 but in the low country the rain cleared off by the time we 

 started for Bein-a-Bhuird. Entering the pine woods behind 

 Mr M'Hardy 's house, we made northwards till we reached a 

 pony track, which led us due west behind Cairn-na-Drochel, 

 through Glen Candlich, to Sluggan Lodge, a hill cottage 

 with offices, which may be live miles from Braemar and half- 

 way to Bhein-a-Bhuird. By the sides of the path Vaccinitivi 

 Myrtillus, covered with fruit, was in abundance, and Erica 

 cinerea was in fine bloom. Epilohium angustifolium, Linn., 

 was in bright flower, varying in height from a few inches in 

 the higher regions to several feet lower down. On the 

 rocky slope leading up to Sluggan Cottage many sub-alpine 

 plants flourished, various willows covered the banks, the 

 ground being carpeted with the oak and beech fern in pro- 

 fusion, while species of Hicraciurn and Hypericum gave a 

 colour to the greenery all around. Shrubby plants assumed 

 a prostrate habit here. The common broom, Sarotlcamnus 

 scoparius, Koch, for example, instead of being upright, was 

 flat on the ground. By the time Sluggan Lodge was reached 

 the weather had become worse, a small cold rain coming 

 down through the mist, and wetting us to the skin. The 

 Ben was veiled to its base. Passing the shooting lodge, the 



