SETTLEMENT AND WORK AT DROUGHSBURN. 279 



joins the Don a short distance below, and then runs along 

 Its banks, over the hills to Ballater on the Dee. The valley 

 of the Leochel is a lesser side glen opening on the greater 

 Vale below, covered to its crests with sloping fields, and 

 adorned with patches of wood, meadow and moor. Farms 

 and cottages are scattered over its slopes, generally amidst 

 clumps of ash and plane. It breathes a pleasant pastoral 

 quiet, soothing and sweet, especially as seen on a sunny 

 morning in autumn, the only sounds heard being the voices 

 of cattle and children, or the purling of a brook as it 

 hurries to join the river below. 



Four miles from Alford, where a bridge crosses a stream 

 and a house stands by the highway, a clump of trees may 

 be observed on the right, almost hiding from view the 

 cottages they protect. These cottages, which are discovered 

 chiefly by their blue curling smoke, are known as Droughs- 

 burn,* from the little stream that drains the hollow in 

 which they stand. They are approached by an un- 

 frequented path skirting the rivulet, which is almost hidden 

 by tall grass, wild mint, and luxuriant watercress. An 

 upward walk of half a mile brings you to a garden enclosed 

 by a dike, and overhung by numerous great willows and 

 rowan trees. Behind the garden appears a long thatched 

 cottage, with a smaller one beyond, standing amid the corn. 

 The little glen soon closes in to the left, and a low hill rises . 

 behind crowned with broom and whin. The cottages thus 

 nestle in a tranquil little nook, in solitary but happy 

 seclusion, away from the great world without, overarched 



* Pronounced DrochJ-burn, with the guttural ch. The name is 

 also written and pronounced Droichs '-burn. It is also locally called 

 DreesH-burn. 



