SCENERY. 75 



object in the landscape, catching the eye and centralizing 

 the view from a long distance, all over this part of the 

 country. It is a hill of which Aberdeenshire is justly 

 proud, and it is celebrated in sweet song. It is the synonym 

 of home and country to every one born under its shadow, 

 the mention of the name drawing tears to the eyes of 

 those long banished from it, as in the case of John Duncan's 

 friend, Charles Black. To these two men it became, 

 as Charles says, "what Lochnagar was to Byron," the 

 sacred mountain of their lives, illuminated and consecrated 

 by the halo of a thousand memories. 



Benachie forms the centre of the great granitic outburst 

 which rises through the Silurian rocks of middle Aberdeen. 

 On the west, it looks into the fertile hollow of the Vale 

 of Alford, of which the Benachie range is the eastern 

 boundary. This range runs north and south, from Benachie, 

 which forms its bold northern end, to Correnie Forest, 

 where it overlooks Strath Dee. It is closely and in many 

 places wildly wooded, except at its two extremities, which 

 are bare and commanding. It is cut through from east to 

 west at two points by the River Don, which drains the 

 Vale of Alford and seeks its narrow way through a curving 

 glen that forms a huge rent right across the hills, from 

 Castle Forbes to Monymusk ; and by the more elevated 

 glen of Tillyfourie, close and steep, through which the 

 Alford Valley Railway has been carried the river and the 

 rail dividing the range into three nearly equal portions, and 

 then meeting at both sides of the chain. The whole forms 

 a fine series of hills, surrounded by countless scenes of 

 uncommon beauty, commanding wonderful prospects of 

 the level country below, and richly rewarding the geolo- 



