CHAPTER XV 



SUNRISE FROM SGOR AN LOCHAN UAINE 



1YING a little to the north-west of Cairn Toul, and reaching 

 an elevation of just under 4,000 feet, is the wild and 

 storm-scarred point known in the Gaelic as Sgor an 

 Lochan Uaine, or the Cliff of the Small Green Tarn. 



Eastwards, the ground dips sheer to the Garbh Choire 

 beneath ; westwards the land flows away gradually, and two 

 hill burns have their birth in the hollows known as Clais 

 an t' Sabhaill and Clais Luineag respectively. A wild and 

 barren peak is this, which gives a home to no bird or beast ; 

 to few plants even can the exposed rocks offer a foothold. 

 At times an eagle, sailing across from Mar perhaps, or from 

 Rothiemurchus, may alight for awhile on its stony summit, 

 or a ptarmigan may shelter behind the rocks on its leeward 

 face should the wind blow strong and cold from the Garbh 

 Choire beneath, but still it is a place altogether desolate, and 

 given over to the storms and to the hurrying mists. 



But when^ fine June weather comes to the hills, and when 

 the sun shines full on ridge and corrie, the grim sternness 

 of this weather-beaten point is softened somewhat, and 

 amongst its granite rocks plants of Silene acaulis burst into 

 life and carpet the ground with a profusion of beautiful 

 flowers of crimson or pink, while in the crannies parsley ferns 

 gradually uncurl their fronds of softest green. 



It was early one afternoon of June that a companion and 

 I left the shores of Loch Einich — that fine hill loch lying 

 beneath the dark rocks and green corries of Sgoran Dubh — 

 and made our way over Coire Dhondail to the wild expanse 

 of high and comparatively level ground stretching away to 



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