200 EXTRACTS FROM HIS WORKS [ch. yii. 
In one direction a vast livid mass hung over the 
ridges of a mountain, its lower fringed margin 
beautifully tinged with deep crimson. In another 
place the white vapour which clung to the summits 
of the mountains assumed, where opposed to the 
sunbeams, a roseate hue of the greatest delicacy. 
From a small lake in a rocky corrie, five or six 
miles distant, a white streamlet poured down an 
Alpine valley bounded by precipitous crags. In 
the west, through an opening of the clouds, was 
seen a range of lofty mountains, rising behind each 
other, the most distant being probably fifty miles 
off. To the west and north-west the mountains 
continued undiminished in size as far as the eye 
could reach, but to the east they rapidly diminished. 
The desolate ranges of Braemar have a solemn 
grandeur independently of atmospheric drapery, 
but partially enveloped in massy clouds, or over¬ 
hung with a wavy curtain of gorgeously tinted 
vapour, their glories are superbly enhanced. But 
by degrees the purple and burnished gold and 
roseate hues faded away into dull bluish grey, 
dimness crept over the mountains, and my home 
was eight miles distant. — Natural History of 
Deeside , p. 124. 
28.— Aged Birch Trees. 
In ascending a valley towards the higher 
grounds, and after passing through a birch wood, 
you come upon scattered trees, having an aged 
