GENERAL WATERSHEDS. 



xxxiii 



Around the high and lone Loch nan Eun, beloved of Sea-gulls 

 (Larus camis), even at that altitude the hills partake of this Cam 

 character to the southward ; but to the north the main ranges rise, 

 as already stated, to the 3000-feet levels and peaks. lutheran More 

 and his lesser brother, lutheran Beg, to the west, rise beyond that 

 height, and break away in gigantic precipices and screes to the north 

 — or Dee — side of their watersheds. It is now many years since I 

 stood on a point of vantage above Loch nan Eun, and looked far 

 away south and south-east and south-west into Forfarshire and 

 Perthshire, and over the dim plain of Strathmore, under or through 

 a shimmering haze of warm amethystine hue. It was early morning 

 on the tops. Our party had climbed the rugged sides of the Alt 

 Ghleinn Thaitneich (0. S. sheet 65), which brattles away down 

 amongst giant boulders and chaosed screes of debris, and through 

 " 'pleasant " haughs of the glen ; and we had left behind, and far below 

 us, the Spittal of Glenshee. We were intent upon sampling the fine 

 pound trout for which Loch nan Eun was at that time famous. This 

 was in the early days of August. On the evening of our arrival it 

 was cold and chilly in the extreme. We occupied the old " bothy " or 

 boat-house, and were soon intent upon building a great fire, which 

 in a few minutes roared up the chimney of the almost ruinous habi- 

 tation. Our fuel was good. It consisted of the tarry fragments of 

 the old wrecked boat, which we had full permission to utilise, 

 along with a few peats which one of the gillies had " borrowed " 

 from a " bing " as we passed, and had hidden in the folds of his 

 plaid. 



The morning came in grey, and cold and misty. Even as the 

 sun rose the moisture-laden air refused to be warmed and vivified. 

 To the north and west lay long rolls of gloomy mist-wrack conceal- 

 ing the higher rounded ridges of Ben lutheran Beg. Once only did 

 we catch a momentary glimpse far down below the mist into the 

 long narrow tributary valleys of the Dee. But to the south and 

 south-east the haze became " shot " with sun-beams as the morning 

 advanced ; and if we did not command as perfect or as extensive a 

 panorama as we would have done under better auspices, at least we 

 saw enough to enable us to realise " the might have been." 



We saw the fertile winding valleys of the foot-hills, and their 

 encompassing cairns ; and beyond, far down through the filmy lower 



c 



