CHAPTER XXXVIII 



GARBH CHOIRE MHOR : A CORRIE IN THE CAIRNGORM MOUNTAINS 



1YING in the heart of the Cairngorm Hills, where no eye 

 can see it from a distance, is the Great Rough Corrie, 

 or, as it is known in the Gaelic speech, Garbh Choire 

 Mhor. (Pronounced Garav Korry Vor.) 



I think that of all the corries of this wild mountain range 

 it must be the most gloomy and remote ; yet it holds, especi- 

 ally during dark days of storm, a great charm and one that 

 is peculiarly its own. I know the corrie at all seasons of the 

 year, and I think that in early November, when late autumn 

 is merging into winter, and when the high tops are snow- 

 sprinkled, it may be seen at its best. 



The mists are often on the hill-tops these short days of 

 late autumn, and descend into the corrie, filling it with grey 

 vapours that sway and eddy with the uncertain gusts of wind. 

 Darkness falls early in the corrie, for on every side the big 

 hills rise, and in the corrie itself the autumn sun never 

 shines. 



Immediately south of the corrie Cairn Toul rises steeply, 

 with mile upon mile of granite scree, devoid of life and deso- 

 late save when the eagle, in his hunting, passes across the 

 hill face. Westward is a sheer precipice, at the foot of which 

 lie the eternal snows of the Garbh Choire, small and peat- 

 stained after a hot summer, still large and unbroken after 

 a summer of cold and wet. NortK of the corrie is the great hill 

 of Braeriach, with its corries and precipices — Coire Ruadh, 

 or the Red Corrie; Coire Bhrochain, or the Corrie of the 

 Porridge. Then there is that wild corrie where the Dee 



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