BEN-NEVIS. 323 



rises immediately from the level of the ocean, to 

 the perpendicular altitude of 4350 feet. The as- 

 cent, accordingly, even of the base on the north- 

 west, is extremely steep, till we reach the height 

 of 1 100, or 1200 feet ; after which, a gentler slope 

 for a mile or more, brings us, at the elevation of 

 about 1600, or 1800 feet, to a kind of irregular 

 stage or platform, with a rising ground on each 

 side. This plain inclines upwards, to the right 

 hand ; and across it, at some chance, stands the 

 acclivity of the mountain. 



At the foot of the acclivity there is a hollow 

 containing a small lake, around which we still find 

 a covering of moss and spongy soil. But soon 

 after beginning to mount up on the left, we find 

 ourselves clambering over naked fragments of 

 rock, with hardly a vestige of vegetation ; so that 

 even the lichen is at length no longer discerned. 

 The part of the ascent or face of Ben-Nevis, to 

 which this description applies, is probably from 

 two to three miles of the way to the summit ; and 

 the whole distance from the lowest to the highest 

 point, as the ascent from Fort-William is usually 

 performed, may be estimated with tolerable exact- 

 ness, at somewhat more than five miles. 



On the eastern side, which we shall call the 

 back of the mountain, it is encircled by a high 

 ridge, which, after sweeping around the interme- 

 diate hollow, joins Ben-Nevis on the south, at the 

 height of nearly 1000 feet below the summit. 

 The mountain, therefore, in this direction, is by 

 no means so precisely defined, as on the opposite 



