Burnside. 105 



and some four or five inches in thickness, which proves to 

 be a parasitical fungus, called Polyporus. This has obtained 

 its nourishment from the decaying tissues of the tree. In 

 texture it is elastic and cork-like, and inside its colour is of 

 a beautiful pure white ; indeed, so white and so firm is it that 

 it is frequently used for the purpose of cutting small models, 

 but it has not yet been put to any other useful service. 



Should we not give the birch a good word for its robust- 

 ness and hardihood ? Not only does it add beauty and grace 

 to many a rugged scene on our highest British mountains, 

 but high up in Alpine solitudes, beyond the farthest limits of 

 the oak and fir, and in the far North, where arctic snows and 

 bitter cold hold sway during a great part of the year, the 

 birch redeems many acres of iron-bound land from the curse 

 of absolute and utter barrenness. Does it not deserve a 

 good word, too, for the moral effect which it has undoubtedly 

 had on successive generations of boys and youths ? Has it 



not been styled 



" Afflictive birch, 

 Curse of unlettered, idle youth " ? 



Long may the lovely birch and its richly scented companion, 

 the hawthorn, remain to beautify our highland landscapes ! 

 Long may we hear 



"How sweetly bloomed the gay green birk ! 



How rich the hawthorn's blossom ! " 



Here is a footpath used by the shepherds ; notice how it 

 winds in and out as it passes through the brakes. We follow 

 it, knowing that its course, though tortuous, is the only safe 

 one ; soon we are descending very rapidly, slipping, sliding 

 and clinging, then to a tough bracken stem, now to a mass of 

 heather, to steady our downward career. A few moments of 

 this rough-and-ready method of travelling suffice to bring us 



