418 NOTES ON THE FLORA OF BRAEMAR. [-^^^^ 



Braeriach is little more than two miles, and yet there is a yawn- 

 ing chasm between them 2000 feet in depth. The height of 

 the Wells of Dee is computed at 4000 feet, and before the 

 stream which issues from them has proceeded half a mile it 

 has leapt down at least 1800 feet; yet the fall during the next 

 twenty miles of its course, from its junction with the Garachary 

 to Castleton, is only 5 70 feet ; — thus illustrating in a remarkable 

 manner the peculiar character of all the valleys in the Gram- 

 pians, — comparatively level through by far the gi'eater part of^ 

 their course, and then terminating abruptly in an almost per- 

 pendicular precipice. 



2. Corry of the Dhuloch, Ben-na-buird. — About five miles to 

 the east of Ben-na-muic-dhui, and connected with it by a suc- 

 cession of granitic ridges, rises the noble mountain of Ben-na- 

 buird. It consists of two ridges of nearly equal elevation, se- 

 parated by a valley of some depth; and on its eastern side, 

 embosomed in rugged precipices, lies a small round lake, called, 

 like many other similar ones in the Grampians, the Dhuloch, 

 from the dark-blue colom- of its still waters. Here, in the 

 crevices of the massive rock, grow many of the rarities that we 

 have found on Cairntoul, as Saxifraga rivularis and Cerastium 

 trigynum, also C. alpinum, Veronica alpina, Phleum commuta- 

 tum, and several others, but they have to be well searched for, 

 being much more sparingly distributed here than in some of the 

 other localities. The corry of the Dhuloch is best approached 

 from Castleton by way of the Sluggan ; — the keeper^s cottage, 

 which stands at the head of this latter valley, looks right upon 

 the south-east shoulder of Ben-na-buird, and the corry lies close 

 behind the cmious rocky prominence called " Cioch,^^ or " the 

 breast,'' — of a somewhat similar character to the huge natural 

 cairns which crown the summit-ridge of Ben Avon, and form 

 such conspicuous objects in every distant view of the range. 



3. Little Craig- an- dal. — This mountain, if it is worthy of 

 being so designated, is remarkable solely in a botanical point of 

 view, there being nothing in its outline or geological character 

 to distinguish it from the other mountains round. It was first 

 rendered famous by the discovery of Astragalus alpinus upon it 

 by^Messrs. Babihgton and Balfour, some twenty years ago, for 

 the second time in Great Britain ; — and has since been found to 

 produce several other rare species, especially Carex rupestris and 



