44 DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYSICAL FEATURES 
it were round the rim of this great brown saucer, break the utter 
monotony, or a few dhu-lochs glance in the heat-haze. Such is 
Caithness, except where the encircling area of cultivated meadows 
and farm-lands push inland, by the sides of the principal rivers, or 
again where far to the south-eastward the bold and remarkable 
peaks of the mountains in the Duke of Portland's deer-forest — 
Morven, the hills of Scarrabhen, and the Maiden Pap — break the 
sky-line with startling distinctness. These pyramidal peaks and 
fantastic mountain-tops are visible from almost any slightly 
elevated land anywhere along the whole north coast of Caithness ; 
and indeed the view of the whole county from almost any of the 
lower elevations, whether in the north or east, is almost precisely 
the same. 
Hot until several miles are covered by the iron horse does the 
traveller find much to relieve the eye except the few desolate 
" tarns," " brulochans," or " dhu-lochans," which lie amongst 
the depressions of the flows and peat-hags. When at last the 
gentle slopes which form the valley of the river Thurso are 
entered upon, patches of heather and cultivation alternate on the 
higher ground, but the former giving way entirely to large areas 
of cropped lands and scattered houses or crofts and farms lower 
down. From this point a glimpse of a large loch — Loch Calder — 
is obtained on the left, whence the water-supply of the town 
of Thurso is drawn. Beyond the verdant drainage area of the 
Thurso valley, once more vast levels of peat or half-cultivated 
lands and reclaimed grass stretch eastward, over which at one 
time no doubt the flows had full sway. The soil laid bare beneath 
is clay and marl intermixed with shaly stone, the upper crust of 
the great Caithness pavements. The traveller crosses the Thurso 
river at the town of Halkirk, close to Brawl Castle — a name no 
doubt dear to many an ardent fisherman and sportsman. Dotted 
all over a large area in this district, and continuing by the shores 
of Loch Watten and down the Wick river to Wick on the east 
coast, are crofts and cots and farms, each with a few stunted 
alder-trees in their gardens, the only trace of wooded areas visible. 
Looking back as the train descends towards Thurso, a singular view 
