PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



45 



about half-way up the glen, on the south side, an isolated peak 

 stands out almost entirely bare of vegetation, with one or two 

 sharp-peaked ridges in the vicinity, all of which, when seen on a 

 misty or dark day, have an appearance of greater height than they 

 really possess. The trees, many of them well grown, form a 

 tangled mass on the sides, the bottom, however, being fairly open 

 and covered with short grass, through which runs a clear little 

 burn. A road, overhung on each side by trees, runs along the 

 edge of the ravine, but it is only in one or two places that the full 

 beauty of the glen can be seen, and at one of these we noticed that 

 the trees had been cut down apparently with the object of opening 

 up the view. 



For such a large self-contained area there is probably no larger 

 district in the north of Scotland that has been so utterly changed 

 by man. Probably, like the rest of the north, it was at one time 

 thickly wooded by naturally grown trees, to which succeeded the 

 heather, and consequently the Grouse. Now this has gone, not 

 altogether, as heather may be seen in patches here and there, but 

 in too small quantities to be of any avail for the muir-fowl. 



Cultivation and plantations now occupy almost the whole area 

 of the Black Isle, and although the land, especially in parts of the 

 south and west, is very light, still in others it is very good, and 

 yields large returns. On some of the larger estates the fields are 

 very extensive, and do away with any idea of the wildness of 

 the Highlands : turnips are not conducive to romantic scenery. 



Although the present woods of Scots firs are all planted by 

 man, and most of these are of recent date, ugly and rectilinear in 

 their outline, still many of the older ones are beginning to lose 

 their stiff rigidity of outline. Various causes — such as the partial 

 cutting down of the best trees and leaving the others still growing, 

 replanting an old area and leaving the older trees still standing, 

 seedlings springing up on these old plantations, when the space is 

 again fenced in from sheep and cattle — conduce to this. Along the 

 road to Cromarty we noticed in several places the seedlings spring- 

 ing up in quantities along the open spaces by the unprotected road- 

 side, where evidently plantations had existed before, or at least in 

 close proximity to those now standing, the fresh grass showing 



