CHAPTER XXIII THE FINDHORN 



NrOTHINGcan exceed the beauty of the river 

 and the surrounding scenery when it sud- 

 denly leaves the open and barren ground and 

 plunges at once into the wild and extensive 

 woods of Dunearn and Furness. The woods at Dunearn 

 are particularly picturesque, in consequence of the fir- 

 trees (at least those near the river) having been left rather 

 farther apart than is usual, and no tree adds more to the 

 beauty of scenery than the Scotch fir, when it has room to 

 spread out into its natural shape. The purple heather, too, 

 in these woods forms a rich and soft groundwork to the 

 picture. What spot in the world can excel in beauty the 

 landscape comprising the old Bridge of Dulsie, spanning 

 with its lofty arch the deep black pool, shut in by grey and 

 fantastic rocks, surmounted with the greenest of grass 

 sv/ards, with clumps of the ancient weeping-birches with 

 their gnarled and twisted stems, backed again by the dark 

 pine-trees? The river here forms a succession of very black 

 and deep pools, connected with each other by foaming and 

 whirling falls and currents, up which in the fine pure even- 

 ings you may see the salmon making curious leaps. I shall 

 never forget the impression this scenery made on me when 

 I first saw it. The bridge of the Dulsie, the dark-coloured 

 river, and the lovely woodlands, as I viewed them while 

 stretched on the short green sward above the rocks, form- 

 ed a picture which will never be effaced from my memory. 

 I cannot conceive a more striking coup cPceil, nor one more 

 worthy of the pencil of an artist. On these rocks are small 

 flocks of long-horned, half-wild goats, whose appearance, 

 with their shaggy hair and long venerable beards, adds 

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