CHAP. VIII. 



BEN MACDHUL 



137 



great mountain knot to which we have already re- 

 ferred. The scenery of this neighbourhood can scarcely 

 be equalled, even in Switzerland, though it is at pre- 

 sent almost entirely unknown. Cairngorm, Ben- 

 buinach, Benaven, and Ben Macdhui, surround Loch 

 Avon and the forest of Glen Avon. The Banffshire 



AND NORTH ABERDEENSHIRE. 



side of Ben Macdhui forms a magnificent precipice 

 of 1500 feet, which descends sheer down into the 

 loch. This lonely and solemn lake is fed by the 

 streams flowing from the snows that lie all the 

 year round in the corries of the mountains above. 

 These streams leap down from the bare and jagged 

 cliffs in the form of broken cataracts. One of these 

 falls has a descent of 900 feet, The parish of Kirk- 



