130 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



of Loch Ness, filling, in fact, the whole vast trough which may be 

 said to be bounded on the south by the stony tops of the Cairn- 

 gorms, and on the north interrupted only by the similar tops of 

 the Monadhliath. Old forgotten sentinels of the vast army of the 

 pines may still be seen standing out in dark and bold relief against 

 the sky along the ridges of the outlying spurs of these mountains. 

 Even the ramparts of the great Grampians were not proof against 

 the vast host at one time, for the Larig Ghruamach, the far upper 

 ballochs across the ridges. Glen Guisthach by the Wells of Dee, 

 and the ravines of the great Cairngorms show indisputable evidence 

 of the march ;past of the pine- woods. 



There can be no reasonable doubt, and present evidences 

 prove that the great old Caledonian Forest reached far beyond 

 the Great Glen and Loch Ness into Koss-shire, Sutherland, 

 and West Inverness-shire, spreading its ramifications far over 

 the passes, and even over the ' cols ' of the backbone of Scotland, 

 down the western slopes towards the Atlantic, joined hands 

 with the Blackwood of Eannoch, struggled across the dividing 

 ranges of Dee and Forfarshire, and penetrated eastward beyond 

 the Deveron into Buchan and North-East Aberdeenshire.^ As 

 viewed at the present day — say from the pass over the divid- 

 ing ridge between Dulnan and Spey, or from the round hill 

 behind Boat of Garten, or from the Gates of Badenoch and 

 Upper Craigellachie — some idea can be formed of what the 

 wooded area once was before the ruthless work of fire and saw 

 and axe wrought their havoc. 



Long ago the panoply of pine was almost unbroken. Pine 

 held undisputed sway, save where groves of birch and river- 

 side alders stood by the streams. At the present day, however, 

 the dark uniformity at many points is broken and relieved by 

 the lighter-foliaged larches, scattered as kindly nurses amongst 

 the newly-planted pines. 



1 Or, to put it more concisely, again quoting Mr. Nairn's article : ' Upper 

 Strathspey would, in remote times, form the centre of the great Caledonian 

 Forest, which is said to have extended from Glenlyon and Rannoch to Strathspey 

 and Strathglass, and from Glencoe eastward to the Braes of Mar' {loc. cit. 

 p. 192^, 



