Ch. XV.] 



RIVER FLOODS IN SCOTLAND. 



349 



room 



as it approaches the 

 sea ; and thus the most valuable part of our continents, the 

 rich deltas and great alluvial plains, 

 being constantly under water. 



from 



floods 



Many remar 



moving 



heavy materials were afforded by the storm and floods which 

 occurred on the 3rd and 4th of August, 1829, in Aberdeen- 

 shire and other counties in Scotland. The 



elements 



this storm assumed all the characters which mark the 

 tropical hurricanes ; the wind blowing in sudden gusts and 

 whirlwinds, the lightning and thunder being such as is 

 rarely witnessed in our climate, and heavy rain falling 

 without intermission. The floods extended almost simulta- 

 neously, and with equal violence over that part of the north- 

 east of Scotland, which would be cut off by two lines drawn 

 from the head of Loch Eannoch flat. 56.40 N., long*. 4.26 



W 



one towards Inverness and the other to Stonehaven. 



The united line of the different rivers which were flooded 

 could not be less than from five to six hundred miles in 

 length ; and the whole of their courses were marked by the 

 destruction of bridges, roads, crops, and buildings. Sir T. 

 D. Lauder has recorded the destruction of thirty-eight 

 bridges, and the entire obliteration of a great number of 

 farms and hamlets. On the Nairn, a fragment of sandstone, 

 fourteen feet long by three feet wide and one foot thick, was 

 carried above 200 yards down the river. Some new ravines 

 were formed on the sides of mountains where no streams 

 had previously flowed, and ancient river channels, which had 

 never been filled from time immemorial, gave passage to a 

 copious flood."* 



over the Dee at Ballater consisted of five 

 arches, having upon the whole a water-way of 260 feet. 

 The bed of the river, on which the piers rested, was com- 

 posed of rolled pieces of granite and gneiss. The bridge was 

 built of granite, and had stood uninjured for twenty years ; 

 but the different parts were swept away in succession by the 



The bridge 



* Sir T. D. Lauder's Account of the Great Floods in Morayshire, August 1829. 



