Burns ide. 8 5 



the beautiful wavy cotton grass, with its fleecy masses float- 

 ing in the air, is a certain signal that all is not what it 

 seems. Above, leaping over the rocks, is the torrent which 

 has formed this bog ; not sufficiently powerful or permanent 

 to cut a path for itself to the base of the mountain, it has 

 collected here in a hollow basin of schist, and given rise to 

 a morass, which is not at all easy to negotiate. Round the 

 edge of the bog we pass, and soon reach a steep ridge, where 

 rock-climbing becomes necessary, and from which we can see 

 how large a part of the ascent the road enabled us to cover 

 this morning. As we sit on a rock to rest, " The Cobbler " 

 attracts our attention, whilst Ben Arthur and The Brack 

 look quite near ; the barrenness of Glencroe is, if possible, 

 even more strongly accentuated, its steep rocky banks being 

 entirely unrelieved even by a suspicion of wood to take off 

 the lonely and weird appearance. 



As we sit here we notice that a change is occurring in 

 the weather ; round the tops of the mountains fleecy films of 

 cloud begin to appear ; their lower surfaces, as yet, however, 

 are bathed in sunshine. What makes the clouds collect 

 about the tops of the hills, whilst the lower parts are clear ? 

 The clouds are formed bv the passage up the mountain sides 

 of vapour-laden air, which is cooled on its upward journey. 

 This cooling is due not to the contact of the air with the 

 surface of the ground, but to the expansion of the air itself 

 as it rises higher and higher up the slope. As the air cools 

 it cannot retain so much watery vapour in its meshes as it 

 did when it, was warmer, and the excess is exhibited in the 

 shape of exceedingly minute drops of water, which assume 

 the appearance of mist if we are in the middle of them, of 

 clouds if we are a little distance from them. At the summit 



