ALT DERG. 



Qnodque fuit campus, vallern decursus aqnarum 

 Fecit ; et eluvie mons est deductus in sequor." 



OVID. 



ONE of the most remarkable spots amidst the 

 peculiar scenery of the sandstone hills near Gor- 

 don Castle is Alt Derg or the red hum although 

 the latter title can convey no idea of its extraordi- 

 nary configuration or peculiarities, for the bed of 

 the so-called " burn " is now perfectly dry during 

 summer and autumn, although it is doubtless to 

 the long-continued erosive action of running water 

 during past centuries, aided by the alternate influ- 

 ence of frost, rain, and melted ice and snow, that 

 the deep excavation of the main glen is to be 

 attributed, as well as of those tributary fissures 

 that run in on either side, through which in by- 

 gone ages a cumbrous burden of rocks, mud, 

 stones, and gravel was discharged into the bed of 



