216 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1902 



The sky was changeful, and the weather at first prone to 

 showers, though not continuously rainy. It had been intended 

 that walking parties should be formed, by those who wished, 

 to visit the Simonside Hills, Whitton Dene, and Lordinshaws 

 Hill, to examine the very perfect remains of an ancient 

 camp, some incised stones, burial-mounds, and hut-circles ; 

 the Pele Tower at Great Tosson, and the "Burgh" Camp. 

 But all these, and the botanizing in their neighbouring runnels, 

 are postponed to another day and year; such was the decision 

 brought by the rain at 11 o'clock to the assembled members, 

 who thereupon devoted the whole period of their visit to 

 the demesne of Cragside, for here was shelter to be found. 

 They followed the guidance of Mr Bertram, who has been 

 connected with the estate since its first formation by the 

 late Lord Armstrong, and no better guidance could have 

 been obtained, as they followed him through flower gardens 

 and spacious conservatories, on the high ground to the west 

 of the Dene. Here they saw a finely varied collection of 

 flowers, plants, and trees, from temperate to tropical, carefully 

 tended ; some shielded by vertical glass screens, others enclosed 

 in rotating glass cylinders ; amongst them fig, peach, and 

 other fruit trees, and an especially admirable Datura. 



As the rain ceased and the sky cleared, a move was steeply 

 made downhill, and brought us past a fine Pinus Nord- 

 manniana, and more than one example of Nohilis, Douglas, and 

 Wellingtonia, to the bridge which spans the narrow chasm. 

 From this bridge we have a fine view of the upper stream, 

 which, in its lower course, runs through a densely-wooded 

 glen, to join the Coquet from Eothbury. 



Beyond the bridge the pathway led up-hill by a steep 

 stairway, each step a large stone slab, with Alpine plants 

 and flowering shrubs on either side, including Erica, Gaultheria, 

 and Cotoneaster ; this was in all respects like some Swiss 

 mountain jiathway, and it led us to the house, where, from 

 the terrace, walled around, were to be seen, quite near us, 

 on the sloping hillside, six pine trees of differing species, 

 each one a fine example of its own. Thence along a roadway, 

 at times horizontal, at times slightly downward, we walked 

 by the left bank of Coquet's tributary stream, but high above 

 its prattling water, through a rhododendron- azalea forest, above 



