SUN SEEMS TO SMILE A GOOD-NIGHT 207 
the hill on which we stand. The long shadows 
cast upon the grey and brown moors by the many 
prominences of the Lochnagar group have a singular 
and rather perplexing effect; for they give the well- 
known tract an aspect different from any under 
which we have contemplated it, whether in the 
sunshine of noontide, the diffused light of a cloudy 
day, or when the summits, involved in vapouis, hid 
themselves from our view, and the bases of the 
mountains seemed more massy than they ever do 
when their entire forms are disclosed. 
But now, over the ridge of Ben Aun, creeps a 
thin and flaky mass of vapour, glowing on its 
northern side with a roseate tint; purplish rays 
diverge from behind the brown hill to our light, 
the white summit of Mona-Chuine has assumed 
a roseate hue, and Lochnagar is tinged with a pale 
purplish blue. Beautifully delicate are the tints of 
the few fleecy cloudlets that rise in the north-west; 
but the setting sun assumes no imposing glory, and 
as he passes on seems to smile a gentle good-night 
on the brown moors of Glen Gairn. 
The red grouse call to each other on the hill¬ 
side; here, a solitary grey hare bounds quietly 
among the short heather, stops to listen and look 
around, then pursues its way; some hooded crows, 
that have been prowling about, are flying down the 
little valley ; dimness envelops the low grounds, 
then the bases of the hills, creeping upwards, 
slowly, imperceptibly, but surely, like age and 
time, ever moving onward, and involving all things 
