176 CUMYN'S CAIRN. 



other respects the most favourable that can be imagined 

 for a forest. Mountains of various altitude, open sunny 

 corries, deep glens and ravines, holes for solitary harts to 

 hide in, and numerous rolling pools, burns also and rivers, 

 and large pine woods to shelter them during the inclement 

 season. 



The two highest mountains in the forest are Een-y-gloe 

 and Ben Dairg or the Red Mountain. Ben-y-gloe is of 

 vast magnitude, and comprehends a little territory within 

 itself, stretching its huge limbs far and wide. It is 

 computed to be twenty-four Scotch miles in circumference, 

 and it contains twenty-four corries ; these corries, though 

 contiguous, are separated from each other by such high 

 ridges, that a person standing in one of them could not 

 hear a shot fired in the next. The highest point of the 

 mountain is Cairn-na-gowr, or the Goat's Hill, which is 

 3725 feet above the level of the sea. On the eastern side 

 of Ben-y-gloe lies Loch Loch, abounding in char and 

 trout ; and near it stands Cumyn's Cairn, concerning 

 which tradition has given us the following story : 



About the beginning of the thirteenth century the 

 authority of the district was divided between the family of 

 Cumyn Earl of Baden och, and M f In tosh of Tirinie. The 

 latter had presented Cumyn's lady with a present of twelve 

 cows and a bull ; but this substantial donation, so far from 

 exciting the gratitude of the chief, only raised his envy 

 and cupidity, and he resolved to strip his neighbour of his 

 opulence. He surrounded M'Intosh's castle of Tomafour, 

 situated about a mile from his own castle of Blair Atholl, 

 and in the silence of midnight massacred the whole family. 

 Near M'Intosh's seat lived an old man who held a piece of 



