368 ON THE HIGHLANDS. 



very generally mixed with steatite, giving the 

 materials a tinge of green or greenish- white. 



BRAEMAR. 



After leaving Glen-Tilt, the tract by which we 

 are conducted through the mountains for many 

 miles in this direction, is so covered with soil and 

 debris, as to afford no field of mineralogical ex- 

 amination, before we arrive at the course of the 

 Dee : where the first remarkable substance that 

 meets the eye, is hornstone, with a colour inter- 

 mediate between greenish-grey, and yellow- 

 ish-grey, disposed in great beds, and forming 

 the eminences on the left, towards the forest 

 of Braemar. This substance is subordinate to 

 gneiss, and quartzy mica-slate ; which are soon 

 discovered as we advance along the course of the 

 stream. At what is called the Linn of Dee, the 

 rock consists of mica-slate ; and the "rolled frag- 

 ments which occur near it, shew the vicinity of 

 older granite, composing probably the great mass 

 of the mountain-ranges on both sides of the hol- 

 low in which the river flows. 



Above Marr-Lodge, we have quartzy mica- 

 slate, and beds of beautiful felspar-porphyry, 

 with crystals of quartz, as well as of felspar. 

 The same minerals continue to occur, till within 

 a mile and a half of Castleton, where a granular- 

 limestone makes its appearance, along with por- 



t 



