THE lllVEll DEE. 
551 
which these plants exhibit at their highest elevation are the 
following. Caltha palustris has its crenatures lengthened 
and sharpened, like those of C. radicans ; Ranunculus 
acris has become more slender and delicate, with fewer 
flowers ; Euphrasia officinalis has its flowers larger, and 
more deeply coloured ; Hieracium murorum and U. syl- 
vaticum^ have broader and shorter leaves, shorter stems, 
and fewer flowers ; and Lychnis dioica has become very 
shaggy. The other plants do not exhibit any very remark- 
able difl'erence. 
Several rare alpine plants, besides those mentioned, have 
been lately found by Dr Graham and others among the 
Braemar mountains. These I omit mentioning, lest I 
should unnecessarily interfere with discoveries, which their 
authors may find it more agreeable to communicate to the 
public in their own words. 
The granitic mountains of the Dee, although rounded 
and massy in their general form, frequently present mag- 
nificent ranges of precipices, most of which have a semicir- 
cular form. The slopes of debris, consisting of fragments 
of all sizes, from a diameter of several yards to the finest 
sand, form these semicircular cliffs into hollows, which by 
the natives are named corries (correi, in Gaelic, signifying 
a kettle), and which always contain a small and apparently 
very deep lake. It is at the base, in the ravines and fissures, 
and on the shelves of these rocks, and along the streamlets 
which descend from them, that the alpine plants are to be 
found in the greatest profusion and luxuriance. 
The streams from the Loch-na-gar group all run into 
the Dee, principally by the Kiver Muic, on which there is 
a fine fall, about five miles from Ballater. Another fall at 
the head of Loch Muic, in the savage glen of the Duloch, 
is also worthy of being visited. 
