186 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxni. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Findhoni River Bridge of Dulsie Beauty of Scenery Falls of River 

 Old Salmon-fisher Anglers Heronry Distant View Sudden Rise of 

 River Mouth of River. 



NOTHING can exceed the beauty of the river and the sur- 

 rounding scenery when it suddenly leaves the open and barren 

 ground and plunges at once into the wild and extensive woods 

 of Dunearn and Fairness. The woods at Dunearn are particu- 

 larly picturesque, in consequence of the fir-trees (at least those 

 near the river) having been left rather farther apart than is 

 usual, and no tree adds more to the beauty of scenery than the 

 Scotch fir, when it has room to spread out into its natural shape. 

 The purple heather, too, in these woods forms a rich and soft 

 groundwork to the picture. What spot in the world can excel 

 in beauty the landscape comprising the old Bridge of Dulsie, 

 spanning with its lofty arch the deep black pool, shut in by grey 

 and fantastic rocks, surmounted with the greenest of grass 

 swards, with clumps of the ancient weeping-birches with their 

 gnarled and twisted steins, backed again by the dark pine-trees ? 

 The river here forms a succession of very black and deep pools, 

 connected with each other by foaming and whirling falls and 

 currents, up which in the fine pure evenings you may see the 

 salmon making curious leaps. I shall never forget the impres- 

 sion this scenery made on me when I first saw it. The bridge of 

 the Dulsie, the dark-coloured river, and the lovely woodlands, 

 as I viewed them while stretched on the short green sward above 

 the rocks, formed a picture which will never be effaced from 

 my memory. I cannot conceive a more striking coup d'ail, nor 

 one more worthy of the pencil of an artist. On these rocks are 

 small flocks of long-horned, half-wild goats, whose appearance, 

 with their shaggy hair and long venerable beards, adds much to 

 the wildness of the scene. 



The blackcock and the roebuck now succeed the grouse and 



