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    176 RAMBLES NORTHWARD.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    We Will Take At Random Some Fifty People...

    rude carving's of men on horseback and on foot , some holding birds and animals in their hands , and with fine Runic knots and circles .

    The excursion from Forres _to-Dulsie Bridge , the road following * for the most part the wild and picturesque Findhorn , is one of the

    most beautiful that can be conceived in this or any other country . The Findhorn , one of the most dangerous , if not the most _dangerous

    river in Scotland , has its rise , as tlie guide book says , " among the lofty granite mountains of the southern division of Inverness-shire , "

    i . e . among the Grampian Mountains , of which the majestic Cairngorm is one . The great length of this river , extending from & ve

    to six hundred miles , and the narrow rocky nature of its bed , render it liable to sudden and violent floods , some of which have

    been of a most disastrous character , During the great flood of August 1829 the Findhorn rose at various points during the course

    of four- , and-twenty , hours , fifteen , _twenty , forty , and even ££ ty feet beyond its usual height , rolling along in its impetuous course masses

    of rock from six to eight tons burden , destroying bridges , fields , brid mills ge , houses of Findhorn , and , propert near Forres y of , every consisting kind along of three its massive banks . stone The

    arches , was , among * others , so entirely carried away that no traces . remained save a fragment at either end .

    In its holiday mood , however , there are few scenes at the same time so grandbeautiful , and picturesque , as the course of this river

    , furnishes , and those who have seen , it from the Heronry in the grounds of Altyre , at its junction with the Divie , and again at

    Dulsie Bridge , have seen wood , water , and rock in such perfection as can rarely be equalled , and never surpassed . The Heronry at

    Altyre is , we believe , one of the largest known , and affords this great advantage to the spectator , that instead of looking up at the

    bottoms of nests and imperfectly observing the habits of these queer gaunt birds , he stands upon the higher and opposite bank of

    the Findhorn , overlooking the colony , the noise of the rushing river between rendering the birds unconcious of his presence and in quiet

    pursuit of the day's avocations . Few fairer spots are there for a long summer's day lounge than

    this bank , or rather cliff , with the _„ thick shelter of its overhanging woods , the brawling torrent beneath , and the heron-tenanted trees

    opposite , gray and gaunt as the birds which inhabit them , the pungent guano destroying vegetation and stripping the trees even

    to the bark . Inverness , the capital o f the Highlands , is , with its immediate

    surroundings , too well known to the ordinary Highland tourist to need more than passing mention here , though to antiquarians we

    can tell of two objects of interest bufc little known and still more rarely visited .

    One , Craig Phaidrick , a vitrified fort of large dimensions , about a mile to the north of Inverness , whose massive foundation is plainly to

    be traced beneath the turf , and amidst the brambles and bushes which

    176 Rambles Northward.

    176 RAMBLES NORTHWARD .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1859, page 176, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111859/page/32/