PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



123 



of sympathy in the face of one of the men : had he been alone 

 we would have drowned our grief together in the contents of 

 our flask, but seven strong fishermen would have made small play, 

 if we had produced it in public, so we kept it dark. 



We cannot pass on without, in some slight measure, referring 

 to the extraordinary floods to which all the rivers north of the 

 Grampians have been subjected, especially those of 1829. But we 

 cannot afford space for more than the passing remark, as the whole 

 subject has been so eminently well done, in what may be termed 

 the classic work by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder.^ 



The Forests, treated in their relationship to the still 

 VASTER Pine-woods of Scotland. 



The following article does not in the least claim to exhaust so 

 vast a subject, nor are we aware that any real attempt has ever 

 been made to do so. A complete history, step by step, chrono- 

 logically arranged, with all the historical and natural side-lights 

 thrown upon every successive stage, could not fail to prove of 

 absorbing interest to many readers. The materials for such are 

 at hand, or not far to search for, should any one be disposed to 

 go thoroughly into the subject. 



It is not necessary in this place to go into full proof of the wide 

 extent of pine- and oak-woods which at one time covered great 

 portions of Scotland, because much has already been recorded in 

 numerous previous volumes. Suffice it to say, as regards Scotland 

 generally, that even at the present day evidence can be found 

 of pine and oak forests in almost all the old peat-mosses; and 

 beyond the present limits of the dry land, submerged remains of 

 forest growth still appear within view in many parts of Scotland, 

 as, for instance, in the shallow water between Findhorn and 

 Burghead. Evidence of these woods is still in existence, high 



^ And we may add that we had many of the extraordinary pranks which the 

 river Spey had played amongst these islands of its delta during that historic 

 period pointed out to us. 



