186 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



crags of Lochnaneun, on the shoulder of Lochnagar, 

 and a ridge descending, on the left, from that mountain 

 down to the Dee. Beyond the river, northward, is seen 

 the rugged and partly wooded face of a brown hill, 

 forming a kind of corrie, and a pine wood extending 

 from it. But that all on that side may be excluded 

 from the scene, we turn from it. 



There is a sprinkling of birch in the lower parts of 

 the forest, and here and there along the hills ; but pines, 

 stately and solemn, rear their columnar stems around, 

 some of giant stature, but the greater number of ordinary 

 size ; all, however, healthy and vigorous. Here, in the 

 wood, the sunbeams glance upon us ; for there is no 

 continuous obscuration of the sky by the foliage ; but 

 far up the valley, and along the hills, the trees seem 

 crowded into masses of dark verdure. The breezes, as 

 they sweep over the woods, sound like the noise of the 

 ocean- wave, as they dash upon a distant rock. Suddenly 

 a rushing sound is heard coming from afar. It advances, 

 and, as it passes by, resembles the roar of a mighty flood. 

 A blast from the mountain -pass has swept over the 

 forest, bending the stiff tops of the lofty pines. Were 

 a hurricane, or even a winter tempest, to invade the 

 valley, rending off the massy limbs, and prostrating the 

 old trunks, the scene would be terrific. We may fancy, 

 too, the magnificence of a protracted thunder-storm 

 impenetrable gloom over all the forests, lightnings 

 blazing, and thunders crashing ; but I have never found 

 imaginary scenes so instructive as real occurrences, and 

 that chiefly because they are radically unreal, and one 



