BIRD LIFE, ETC. 183 



judgment, an ignorance of the relations which men have 

 to each other and to their Creator, an undue self- 

 estimation, and a contempt of the rights of other men. 

 He who measures the orbit of a comet has not, there- 

 fore, higher faculties than he who examines the cyto- 

 blast of a fungus ; and there is far more to be seen by 

 us in a beetle than in a planet ; upon that granite 

 mountain opposite, at the distance of nine or ten miles, 

 than in the sun and in the moon and the stars. 

 Natural History of Deeside, p. 120. 



30. THE SCENERY OF BENABUIRD. 



On reaching the summit, I found it to be a long, 

 broad, rounded ridge, covered with stones, some of 

 which were rounded, others angular. Here were a few 

 mosses and a considerable quantity of Carex ngida. 

 The scene which here presented itself was exceedingly 

 striking and impressive. All around, mountains 

 appeared behind mountains, with their rocks, ridges, 

 and valleys. A solemn stillness prevailed ; nor was a 

 living creature to be seen ; the clouds rolled their dusky 

 wreaths along the ridges. The beams of the setting 

 sun darted here and there through the clouds, which 

 exhibited a hundred ever -varying shades. In one 

 direction a vast livid mass hung over the ridges of a 

 mountain, its lower fringed margin beautifully tinged 

 with deep crimson. In another place the white vapour 

 which clung to the summits of the mountains assumed, 



