202 
EXTRACTS FROM HIS WORKS [ch. vii. 
29. —The Wind in the Beallach-bhui Forest. 
Once more in the Beallach-bhui forest, I seat 
myself on a mossy bank and gaze around. I am 
in the middle of a seeming amphitheatre of hills, 
formed of ranges extending from Craig Clunie, on 
the right, up to the crags of Lochnaneun, on the 
shoulder of Lochnagar, and a ridge descending, on 
the left, from that mountain down to the Dee. 
Beyond the river, northward, is seen the rugged 
and partly wooded face of a brown hill, forming a 
kind of corrie, and a pine wood extending from it. 
But that all on. that side may be excluded from 
the scene, we turn from it. 
There is a sprinkling of birch in the lower parts 
of the forest, and here and there along the hills; 
but pines, stately and solemn, rear their columnar 
stems around, some of giant stature, but the 
greater number of ordinary size; all, however, 
healthy and vigorous. Here, in the wood, the 
sunbeams glance upon us; for there is no continu¬ 
ous obscuration of the sky by the foliage ; but far 
up the valley, and along the hills, the trees seem 
crowded into masses of dark verdure. The breezes, 
as they sweep over the woods, sound like the noise 
of the ocean-wave, as they dash upon a distant 
rock. Suddenly a rushing sound is heard, coming 
from afar. It advances, and, as it passes by, 
resembles the roar of a mighty flood. A blast 
from the mountain-pass has swept over the forest, 
