THE HIGHLANDS. 837 



the Highlands. The mountains there are quite free from 

 wood. This nakedness is referred to several causes, espe- 

 cially to the sea- winds ; but all parts of this immense 

 surface are not equally exposed to storms : the destruc- 

 tion of wood is therefore to be attributed, in a great 

 measure, to the same cause which has so completely 

 stripped French Africa, and which is so rapidly destroying 

 every kind of vegetable earth upon our own mountains ; 

 namely, the unrestricted grazing of the flocks. As soon 

 as the population left, care was taken to apportion to 

 pasture and forest each their separate ground. Since the 

 Scotch chieftains have become large proprietors, they 

 have undertaken immense plantations. The late Duke 

 of Atholl planted fifteen thousand acres with larch. 

 This splendid forest, now of sixty years' growth, has 

 sprung up with astonishing vigour, covering with its 

 dark mantle the mountains north of the Tay around 

 Dunkeld, and is not among the least of the beauties of 

 that grand scenery. It is doubtful if Baden and the 

 Black Forest are to be compared with it. I am not sure 

 that the forest planted by man does not bear away the 

 palm from the natural forest, the larch against the fir. If 

 woods are out of place in the low country, where the land 

 is fit for producing corn, meat, or wine, they are undoubt- 

 edly in their proper place upon steep heights, where no- 

 thing else will grow. Besides their own peculiar value, 

 they protect the valleys from the violence of storms, regu- 

 late the fall of rains, and, what is not to be overlooked, 

 add to the grandeur of the scenery. The foaming falls 

 of Tay are ten times more beautiful for being clothed 

 with this majestic foliage. 



Finally, and this perhaps is the most curious feature 

 in that skilful turning to account of wilderness, there is 

 the extraordinary profit derived from its game. Ptar- 



