1NVEKCAULD. 399 



THE FOREST OF INVERCAULD. 



THE Invercauld forest is situated in the parish of Brnemiir, 

 and county of Aberdeen. Lord Byron's famed Loch-na- 

 Garbh* is on the extreme east point, and Bein-a-bour, 

 and Beinavon guards it on the west and north. The river 

 Dee divides it, flowing from west to east, and its numerous 

 small tributaries afford abundance of the finest water for 

 the animals grazing within the range. The house of In- 

 vercauld is nearly in the centre of the sport, and may be 

 said to be surrounded by the forest ; as through the spring 

 and winter months the deer may daily be seen browsing 

 about almost within gun-shot of it, and the destruction 

 they do to the numerous plantations shows they are at no 

 great distance during the rest of the year. With a glass 

 they can be viewed at any time from the windows on the 

 hills around. The extreme length of this forest from east 

 to west is eighteen miles ; the breadth varies from two 

 to five ; it is equal to thirty-four square miles ; the cir- 

 cumference is forty-two miles, and it contains 22,186 

 acres. Within this extent you find every description 



* The height of Loch-na-Garbh, according to the proprietor, is 

 3824 feet ; that of Beinn-a-bourd, 4039. Beinn-avon has 3967 ; and 

 Beinn-a-muich-dui, in the Marr forest, is represented by him as the 

 highest mountain in Scotland, being 20 feet higher than Ben-Nevis. 

 The wild character of the country may be easily divined from these 



niilji'stic friltmvs. 



