m]& 
re^d 
THE BOTANICAL FEATURES OF THE SIDES OF LOCH NESS. 
S9 
MM 
i 
if taken fi-om Dr. Johnson, be at all calculated to remove 
that dread of vegetable death, which the first sight of the 
cold Celtic hills is apt to impress on the traveller who jour- 
neys from the South. It is not to be denied that 
the character of our Caledonian mountains is, in •• 
general, that of bleakness and sterility, and it i:. 
rather to be wondered at, how, with this pre- / 
vaUing barrenness, spots should be found, and 
sunny braes and winding valleys should 
present themselves, clothed with the most , / -,'. 
enlivening and luxurious vegetation. As c' ; 
men, I believe we can easily understand 
why, to the lonely shepherd, 
"Dear must his cot be to which his soul 
conforms. 
And dear ^e hill thatlifts him to the storms ;" 
but as natui-alists, admitting the increased 
warmth of the sun's rays in deep seques- 
tered glens, and fine-lying hillocks, it is 
stiU not so easy to account for the vast 
multiplicity of forms, and the beauty and 
closeness of the " bonny, wee, crimson- 
tipped flowers" that everywhere bedeck 
then' surface. 
Though torn by wintry rains, and 
stunted by early snows, I believe ever\' 
one who has wandered among them, and 
contemplated the sweet-scented flowcis of 
the AVild Thyme and the wa^ mg Hcathei 
in its bloom, or followed, with the enthu- 
siasm that I have done, the haunts of the 
dun deer and the roe, ^\lll be tempted to 
apply to them, with but a small change 
of words, the expressions of the eabtein 
poet, — 
' Our rocks 
The Acacia waves 
Lonely and sweet. 
For bloomin] 
g^ 
