6 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 
to cross North America, Asia, and part of Europe before he came to, 
or passed to the south of, a town as large as that which lay at his feet. 
Only when he reached the shores of the Baltic would he find Leningrad, 
Stockholm, and a few other towns lying in or beyond the latitude of 
Aberdeen, and equalling or surpassing it in importance. 
This almost unique position attained by Aberdeen naturally directs 
attention to the region in which it lies. If our visitor turned to the south 
he would, on looking across the valley of the Dee, see in the near distance 
the last spurs of the Grampians, the southern limits of the region of which 
Aberdeen is, if not the centre, at least the capital. ‘The attractive force 
of the city rapidly decreases to the south of that gap which lies between 
the hills and the sea, and by which road and railway alike leave for the 
south. It is to the north and west that the true hinterland of Aberdeen 
is to be found, and the city, lying just to the north of what may be termed 
the Stonehaven Gap, is by good fortune situated where it can best serve 
the varied interests of that hinterland. Nevertheless an explanation of 
Aberdeen in terms of its environment is by no means as simple as might 
at first sight appear. 
Within the area under consideration several well-marked physical 
regions may be recognised. ‘The high massifs of Lochnagar and the 
Cairngorms in the south-west are replaced farther east by the lower 
valleys of the Dee and the Don, while to the north of the Don lies the 
well-worn peneplain which includes Buchan and some of the lands 
adjacent to it. In the north, that part of the Highlands which lies beyond 
the Cairngorms and is drained by the Deveron and the Spey falls away 
to the lowlands bordering the Moray Firth. But on the whole these 
regions possess few geographical advantages. It was only with difficulty 
that even the most suitable areas could be made fit for cultivation. The 
glaciated lands had first of all to be cleared of their boulders, the ground 
drained, and the peat-mosses reduced in size. Moreover, the soils which 
are the product of the glacial period have not yet undergone complete 
chemical weathering, and, though not infertile, are seldom. rich; the 
climate, as will be seen later, is somewhat harsh, and the mineral 
wealth, apart from granite, is inconsiderable. The economic activities of 
the people are mainly concerned with agriculture, except along the coasts, 
where various towns and villages have become the local centres of one of 
the chief fishing areas in the country. 
DerstpE.—The Dee for a great part of its course flows between the 
great granitic massifs of Lochnagar and Mount Battock in the south and 
the Cairngorms with their eastern extensions in the north. Its valley 
which runs from west to east is in that respect anomalous, as most High- 
land valleys run either from north-west to south-east or from north-east 
to south-west, and may be a tectonic hollow produced by the upwelling 
of the granitic masses to the north and south. From its source high on 
the slopes of Braeriach, the Dee falls nearly 2,000 ft. to reach the Linn of 
Dee. During this part of its course it flows through wild and uninhabited 
highland country, but below the Linn it enters an alluvial flat, the fertility 
of which may have contributed to the growth of Braemar, though the 
precise position of that village was fixed at the meeting place of two 
