INVERCAULD. 301 



Garbh* is on the extreme east point, and Bein-a-bour, and 

 Bein-avon guards it on the west and north. The river Dee 

 divides it, flowing from west to east, and its numerous small 

 tributaries afford abundance of the finest water for the 

 animals grazing within the range. The house of Inver- 

 cauld is nearly in the centre of the sport, and may be said 

 to be surrounded by the forest ; as through the spring and 

 winter months the deer may daily be seen browsing about 

 almost within gun-shot of it, and the destruction they do to 

 the numerous plantations shows they are at no great 

 distance during the rest of the year. With a glass they 

 can be viewed at any time from the windows on the hills 

 around. The extreme length of this forest from east to 

 west is eighteen miles; the breadth varies from two to five ; 

 it is equal to thirty -four square miles ; the circumference is 

 forty-two miles, and it contains 22,186 acres. Within this 

 extent you find every description of ground, from the bold 

 rocky mountains of 4000 feet in height (on which have 

 been found many stones of the topaz and beryl kind), to 

 the table land of the district 1,100 feet above the level of 

 the sea. The pasture varies from the finest natural grasses 

 to the lichen and pure white or grey fog on the summit of 

 the hills ; but the heather and ling predominate, and these 

 latter are from time to time renewed by burning. With 

 abundant shelter from the woods and plantations, and such 

 excellent pasture, no situation can be more favourable for 

 the protection of deer. The junction with the Marr Lodge 

 forest on the west increases greatly the value of both ; that 

 again joining with the Atholl forest, which latter is con- 

 tiguous to Gawick, forms altogether a greater extent of 

 connected surface, kept expressly for deer, than is to be 

 found elsewhere in Britain. A glen, joining the Invercauld 

 forest on the east of Loch-na-Garbh, called Glen Gelder, has 

 lately been reserved for deer by Sir Robert Gordon, which, 

 from the increased extent of ground, and protection it 

 affords them, must prove an advantage to both parties. 



* The height of Loch-na Garbh, according to the proprietor, is 3,824 

 feet ; that of Beinn-a-bourd 4,039. Beinn-avon has 3,967 ; and Beinn a- 

 muich-dui, also in the forest, is represented by him as the highest mountain 

 in Scotland, being 20 feet higher than Ben-Nevis. The wild character of 

 the country may be easily divined from these majestic features. 



