338 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



liest trees, after the Norwegian fashion, was suggested, 

 and put in practice. High prices were obtained in con- 

 sequence ; and about one hundred years since, the Duke 

 of Gordon sold his fir-wood of Glenmore for ten thousand 

 pounds. Many of the trees measured from eighteen to 

 twenty feet in girth; and a plank nearly eight feet in 

 breadth is still preserved in Gordon Castle. 



Alas for the Rothiemurchies forest, the most extensive 

 in Scotland ! That noble forest comprised above sixteen 

 square miles. It was, and is not. The Ingh price of 

 timber hastened its demolition, although it had yielded 

 twenty thousand per annum to the proprietor. And alas 

 for the kingly forest of Glenmore, which equalled that 

 of Eothiemurchies, and formed one continuous woodland ! 

 How are the mighty fallen ! giant trees, which resisted 

 the storms of ages. Time was when those great forests 

 seemed almost interminable ; and among them were calm 

 silent lakes, which reflected on their mirror-like surfaces 

 contiguous forests of Scotch fir, clothing one distance after 



