GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH-EAST 7 
routes across the Mounth. ‘To-day it owes its prosperity to its nearness 
to the Cairngorm country, Braeriach, Cairn Toul, and Ben Muichdhui— 
all over 4,000 ft.—being easily accessible from it. 
Below Braemar the valley of the Dee again becomes contracted and 
remains so until below Balmoral. It then gradually opens out to the 
alluvial plain on the edge of which Ballater stands. ‘This plain was once 
occupied by the ice-sheet, and the Pass of Ballater, through which the old 
Deeside road formerly went, is mainly due to glacial erosion. Ballater 
itself is the terminus of the Deeside railway and is a typical Highland 
summer resort. 
After Ballater the valley of the Dee opens out as the hills recede. Some 
of the more interesting features of its basin as far as Banchory may be 
noted. Loch Kinord, the site of old lake dwellings, lies to the north of 
the river and is believed to owe its origin to a mass of ice left stranded 
during the retreat of the valley glacier. The Muir of Dinnet, which was 
built up by outwash gravels from the glacier, is, when the heather is in 
bloom, one of the most beautiful spots on Deeside. ‘The old lake basin 
of Tarland has been drained and converted into good agricultural land, 
but the similar basin of Auchlossan, farther to the east, is again under 
water. ‘The erosion basin of the lower Feugh (which rises in the Mount 
Battock massif and joins the Dee at Banchory) shows abundant evidence 
of glaciation—severed spurs at Castle Hill, the esker at the Feughside Inn, 
kettle holes at Bogarn, and moraines in various places. 
Banchory, on a southward facing slope protected from cold northerly 
winds by the Hill of Fare, and at the junction of various hill routes with’ 
the main Deeside road, grew up as a market town, but has developed into 
a residential and health resort. Lower down, the basin of the Dee con- 
tracts as it becomes wedged in between the last outliers of the Grampians 
and the Dee-Don watershed. The river terraces which lie along the 
north side of the Dee for the last few miles of its course provide admirable 
sites for a long line of suburban residences. 
The economic resources of the whole region just described are limited. 
Agriculture is the chief pursuit of the inhabitants. To the west of 
Ballater sheep-rearing comes first in importance; to the east, arable 
farming becomes more general, oats and turnips are the principal crops, 
and cattle to some extent replace sheep. Below Banchory barley is a not 
unimportant crop. ‘There is little industrial life. Saw-milling at various 
places, paper-making at Culter and quarrying at Rubislaw about exhaust 
the list. Summer holiday traffic is an important source of income to 
the whole valley. 
Donsipe.—The basin of the Don falls into several well-marked divisions. 
In the north there is a highland region divided into two parts—an eastern 
and a western—by the Kildrummy basin. ‘The western consists of the 
Cabrach massif and the eastern of the Correen-Bennachie range. To 
the south of the Don another belt of upland country which forms the 
watershed between the Dee and the Don is more complicated ; in the 
west it contains the great conical mass of Morven, and in the east the long 
drawn-out Hill of Fare. The valley of the Don which lies between 
differs in various respects from that of the Dee. One of its most 
