52 BOTANICAL EXCURSIONS MADE BY 
Mountains, Ben y Gloe, the Moray Firth, the sands of Culbin, 
the sea at Aberdeen, and the Spey, were seen distinctly. The 
Survey party had ascertained that Ben Nevis is higher than 
Ben na Mac Dhu by 70 or 80 feet. 
Dr. Thomson and his lady and the Messrs. M‘Tear left us at 
the summit and returned to Braemar, a conveyance meeting 
them at the Linn of Dee. Mrs. Thomson accomplished the 
walk easily, notwithstanding her fatigue in ascending Lochnagar 
the day before, and she was able next day to visit Little 
Craigendal. 
Our party now proceeded from Ben na Mac Dhu to Cairn- 
gorm, picking some interesting crystals among the granite. On 
the summit of Cairngorm we gathered Luzula arcuata,a plant 
met with on all the Braemar hills (as Ben na Mac Dhu, Cairn 
Toul, Lochnagar), and :— 
Silene acaulis Carex rigida 
Empetrum nigrum Aira alpina vivipara 
Salix herbacea Festuca vivipara 
Juncus trifidus Lycopodium Selago 
Luzula spicata Trichostomum lanuginosum 
The same plants were picked on the summit of Ben na Mac 
Dhu, and they may be looked upon as characterising the 
vegetation of the summits of the highest hills. With them may 
be associated also Azalea procumbens. We had a fine view from 
the summit of Cairngorm, and we descended by the rocky and 
precipitous banks of a mountain torrent to the dark Loch Avon. 
In its cold waters we bathed, but the temperature was such as to 
forbid our remaining longer than a few minutes in the water. 
The shelter-stone was visited—a large mass of rock which has 
fallen at some distant epoch, and lies slightly supported upon 
rocks so as to leave a large cave capable of containing a 
considerable party. Our party were easily accommodated under 
its shelter, and on several occasions parties have remained under 
it all night. Sparganium natans was picked in a pool, also 
various H/zeracia of the alpine form. 
e party ascended the cliffs on the west of Loch Avon, and 
wended their course by Loch Etchachan to the shoulder of 
Ben na Mac Dhu, reaching it just as the sun set. We were 
