THE PINE. 39 



The Rothiemurchus pine is generally floated down 

 the river Spey; and when it is once brought to that 

 river, the passage of a raft is a matter of little diffi- 

 culty at any season. In times of drought there is, 

 however, a good deal of difficulty in getting the 

 timber to the Spey; and, in order to accomplish that 

 object, the workmen collect the trees in the dell, or 

 den, build up a temporary dam, and wait the coming 

 of a flood, which, in a country of so varied surface, 

 is of frequent occurrence. When the flood comes, 

 and the temporary dam is full of water, they break 

 down the dyke, and away go the whole contents, 

 thundering down to the Spey. 



On the hills to the northward of the Spey, and 

 just opposite to Rothiemurchus, there is a good deal 

 of timber on the banks of the Dulnan; but in that 

 part of the country the forest is decreasing. The 

 timber there, however, is of good quality, though, 

 perhaps, not altogether equal to that of Rothie- 

 murchus. 



The principal rivers by which timber is floated to 

 the sea from the remains of the Sylva Caledonice, 

 or Great Scottish Forest, beside the Tay and Spey, 

 as has been mentioned, and the Dee, by which the 

 timber of Mar is floated to Aberdeen, are the Ness 

 and the Beauly, both in Inverness-shire. The pines 

 on the Ness are to a considerable extent exhausted; 

 and the trees that are now found in the remote 

 places are, when cut, thrown into the small rivers, 

 and float to Loch Ness. On the Beauly the forests 

 are more extensive; and there are regular saw-mills 

 about midway between the forest and the sea, at 

 which the trees are cut into scantlings. , To the 

 mills the trees float down the river; and at one 

 place they have to descend a cascade of at least 

 forty feet in height. This they sometimes do 

 with so much violence, that they are split to 



