THE RIVER DEE. 
541 
rate elevation. From this to Upper Banchory, 20 miles 
farther, its course is over an irregular plain, with hills at a 
considerable distance. The mountains converge again at 
Banchory ; and from thence to the sea the river is bounded 
by hills and rising grounds of less elevation. 
The description of the Elora of a river might be com- 
menced at either of its extremities ; but the Dee having so 
much of an alpine character, it will be more convenient to 
begin with the alpine part of the vegetation, and trace it as 
it mingles with that of the valleys, and latterly of the sea- 
coast. 
A magnificent, but sterile and desolate range of granite 
mountains, stretches from Ben Vrotan to the Pass of Tul- 
loch, forming the most elevated ground in Scotland, and 
containing several of its highest summits, as Ben-na-muic- 
dui, which is about the height of Ben-nevis, Ben-na-buird, 
and Ben-avain. On the rounded summits of these huge 
masses, covered with fragments of disintegrated granite, 
gravel, and sand, we find in the highest situation, Salia; her- 
bacea^ Luzula spicata, Gnaphalium supinum, Festuca vi- 
vipara, J uncus trifidus. Car ex rigida, Silene acaulis, and 
Statice Armeria. Luzula arcuata has been found on the 
summit of Ben-na-muic-dui, by Drs Greville and Graham. 
These plants always occupy the highest parts, and are al- 
most the only phenogamic ones that occur on the summits 
of Ben Vrotan and Ben-na-buird, where a kind of sward is 
formed by the Juncus trifidus. Such is the depressing na- 
ture of this elevated situation, that Statice Armeria is ge- 
nerally not higher than from 2 to 3 inches, Salix herbacea 
is scarcely elevated an inch above the ground, and Silene 
acaulis very little more. The highest mountains in Scot- 
land do not reach the snow hne, and though this situation 
is central, and some of the mountains upwards of 4000 feet 
high, the snow lies only in small patches in a few places, 
