PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



79 



miles from Elgio and the same from Pitgaveny. Old pine, beech, 

 and long heather were its surroundings, and its waters are famous 

 for the fine Lochleven trout which have been introduced by the 

 Duke of Fife. 



IX. THE PLAIN OK ' LAIGH ' OF MOKAY. 



Looking north from the narrow northern entrance of the Glen 

 of Rothes, one can see afar off the yellow sandhills of the coast 

 near Lossiemouth, and here and there, in a favourable light, the 

 gleam of occasional white breakers beating upon the rocky fringe 

 of coast outside. Nearer lies a great stretch of the lovely un- 

 dulating Plain of Moray, which, as a whole, may be taken as 

 stretching from the mouths of Spey in the east to the mouth of 

 Findhorn in the west. This vast plain covers an area of 20 miles 

 in length between Spey and Findhorn, and of some 8 or 10 miles 

 between the coast of the firth and the heathery slopes of the 

 Braes of Moray, or the hill- ground which forms the lowest north- 

 east extension of the foothills and moors of the Monadhliath 

 watersheds. Viewed from the plain, the land rises, by gentle 

 gradients, through stripes or acres in places of brilliant gorse in 

 bloom in May, or by long plantations, amidst grass and agricultural 

 land, until the higher rolling heathery ridges are reached. The 

 plain itself is undulating, or broken up into fertile haughs and 

 hollows by round-shaped hillocks clad in pine-trees, once sandhills 

 washed by ocean's verge, and the long ridge of the once bare, now 

 pine-clad, Heldon Hills, which protect Pluscardine from the bleak 

 north wind. 



Perhaps nowhere in Scotland is a more perfectly lovely pastoral 

 and richly varied agricultural expanse to be found, which, while 

 affording rich pasturage and crops, yet is at the same time so filled 

 with quiet, yet diversified, scenic beauties. 



The Glen of Piothes — mentioned as a point d^appui from whence 

 to view the eastern portion of the plain — cuts through the dividing 

 spur of hills, the drainage areas of which slope north and north- 



