NRLF 
 
 B M 31M 
 
 
e. 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
^pVO A 
 
 BOTANICAL TOUR 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 
 
 BY W. P. AND A. I. 
 
 [Reprinted from ' The PhytologistJ''] 
 
 ' The rugged mountain's scanty cloak 
 Was dwarfish shrubs of Birch and Oak, 
 With shingles bare and cliffs between, 
 And patches bright of Bracken green; 
 And Heather black, that waved so high, 
 It held the copse in rivalry." Scott. 
 
 ! Sweet smells the Birk, green grows the grass, 
 
 Yellow on Yarrow's banks the Gowan j 
 Fair hangs the Apple frae the rock, 
 
 Sweet the wave o' Yarrow flowan." Old Ballad. 
 
 ' O green, said I, are Yarrow's Holms, 
 
 And sweet is Yarrow flowing ; 
 Fair hangs the Apple frae the rock, 
 But we will leave it growing." Wordsworth. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WILLIAM PAMPLIN, 45, FEITH STEEET, SOHO SQTJAEE. 
 
 1857. 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, 
 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 
 

 TO THE 
 
 FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS 
 
 THE PHYTOLOGIST 
 
 THIS BRIEF ACCOUNT OF A VERY PLEASANT PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION 
 
 itopectfullg 
 
 BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANTS, 
 
 THE AUTHORS. 
 
 M363434 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE short Tour of which the following is but a short account, 
 was undertaken without any professional or artistic intentions ; 
 neither to see fine scenery nor rare plants ; neither to geologize 
 nor to moralize. The primary object of the pedestrians was 
 fresh air and exercise, combined with relaxation from care and 
 labour. A secondary object was to seek 
 
 " The hills of the North, 
 
 The land of blue mountains, the birth-place of worth ; 
 Those mountains where Freedom has fixed her abode, 
 Those wide-spreading glens where no slave ever trod, 
 Where bloom the red Heather and Thistle so green." 
 
 As part of the amiable fraternity who bear the vasculum and 
 handle the spud, we may confess to a rather ardent desire of 
 seeing, not merely the 
 
 " Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 
 Land of the mountain and the flood," 
 
 but also of collecting and admiring 
 
 " The bonnie flowers of Scotland, 
 AU others that excel." 
 
 " The glowing Furze, the e bonny Broom,' 
 The Thistle and the Heather, 
 The Bluebell and the Gowan fair, 
 Which childhood loves to gather." 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 The season of spring, late though it was in 1856, had left us, 
 and leafy June was in the wane. The spring flowers of Scot- 
 land were nearly all numbered with the dead, and her summer 
 beauties had been nipped by the norlan blast. The time had 
 
 " When blooms the Lily by the bank, 
 
 The Primrose down the brae ; 
 The Hawthorn's budding in the glen, 
 And milk-white is the Slae." 
 
 We were in the Highlands at that season celebrated by the 
 great minstrel of Scotland thus : 
 
 " When summer smiled on sweet Bow Hill, 
 And July's eve, with balmy breath, 
 Waved the Bluebells on Newark Heath ; 
 When throstles sang on Harehead Shaw, 
 And corn waved green on Carter Haugh, 
 And flourished broad Blackandro's Oak," etc. 
 
 Summer however rather frowned than smiled upon us. We 
 saw the "Bluebells" indeed, and many other flowers equally 
 beautiful ; but we heard little of the throstle's song, and saw but 
 little of the waving green corn. 
 
 But we did not go to Scotland to hear the birds sing, nor to 
 see fair fields of either green or yellow crops. We could have 
 seen and enjoyed all these at less expense much nearer our own 
 hearths and homes. Our motives for peregrmizmg were, as has 
 been said, neither botanical nor pictorial; we went neither in 
 search of plants nor of the picturesque : our objects were of a 
 mixed nature : but enough, and perhaps too much, has already 
 been said about them. As we have a page to fill up with some- 
 what, we beg to inform our readers (we mean the readers of the 
 ' Phytologist') that their patience will not again be so severely- 
 taxed. They will not henceforth be treated with "cauld kail 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 het agen;" Crambe non bis sed septies repetita. Botanical 
 rambles or excursions will still have a place in the Magazine; 
 indeed of papers in extenso we have none else of a similar length 
 equally readable. But we hope to have no more series of papers 
 on the same subject ; a subject which becomes rather stale when 
 it runs through the curriculum of seven of the twelve months. 
 We hope to mend, better than sour ale in summer, and confine 
 our excursions within moderate limits. There is one contribu- 
 tion also from Scotland in our number for December 1856, 
 which we consider a good model, both as to the extent and style 
 of a magazine article. On Irish botany we have several articles, 
 which may be conscientiously recommended as being exactly 
 what we like, and which we hope will be pleasing and instruc- 
 tive to our readers. 
 
 We do not expect new discoveries from tourists : they seldom 
 have inclination to remain long enough in one place to be able 
 to discover or to collect new facts. Resident botanists who 
 have worked the ground over and over in all seasons and for 
 many years, are the only men to whom we look for discoveries, 
 either of plants new to their district or of any information in 
 reference to the range and habitats of species already known to 
 occupy their ground. Unhappily there are but few who would 
 not rather contribute an entire Flora of their neighbourhood 
 than a few facts about the extent and altitude of certain species, 
 their rarity, or frequency, or entire absence. Yet such facts 
 would generally be more acceptable* to readers of botanical pe- 
 riodicals than long lists of plants generally are. As we have a 
 few pages filled with what are called smaller-type articles, it is 
 hoped that no one who has a fact to communicate will be de- 
 terred from sending it because it is incapable of being drawn 
 out into a lengthy communication. Like the entire community 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 that lives on the bounty of others, our practice is "to receive 
 thankfully the smallest contribution." Would that the disco- 
 verers of single facts valued their discoveries as highly as we do ; 
 then we should have many contributions, more notes, and fewer 
 lengthy articles. There is one special subject on which we are 
 very desirous of receiving communications, that is, on the trees 
 in churchyards. The sepulchral Yew is not the only tree planted 
 among the narrow mansions of the dead. The gloomy Cypress 
 is common enough in the modern cemeteries, with many other 
 trees and shrubs and plants which are the usual ornaments of 
 lawns and gardens. We do not intend however to catalogue 
 these. Genuine ancient churchyard Yews, and such trees as 
 may in certain instances supply their place, are the objects about 
 which we solicit information. 
 
 But our paper is done ; and it is better to leave off before the 
 good-humour and patience of our readers be entirely done also. 
 
BOTANICAL TOUR 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EDINBURGH. AETHTJE'S SEAT. ST. LEONAED'S CEAGS. EOSLIN CASTLE, EOSLIN 
 CHAPEL. HAWTHOENDEN. THE FOBTH. STIELING-. STIELING CASTLE. 
 KING'S PAEK. DUNBLANE. 
 
 WE left King's Cross, the Terminus of the Great Northern Bail- 
 way, London, on the last day of June, 1856, at half-past eight 
 o'clock in the evening, and arrived at Edinburgh by eleven 
 o'clock next morning. The day began to dawn before we reached 
 York, and when near Darlington we had a view of Penyghent, 
 near Settle, the scene of former botanical explorations. About 
 Edinburgh the vegetation appeared to us remarkably scanty. 
 We hope our readers will not accuse us of drawing general con- 
 clusions from partial premises. Our visit to Edina was a short 
 one, but we made good use both of our time and eyes. We 
 strolled to the west by Bruntfield Links, the West Park, etc., 
 and saw luxuriant grass grazed by the cows which supply the 
 inhabitants with milk, and in which localities the portly and fair 
 blanchisseuses both Avash and bleach the linen of the citizens, but 
 of interesting plants we saw no trace. The shore by Portobello 
 was visited with similar success. The only plant of interest we 
 noticed was Geranium pyrenaicum. Large-flowered specimens of 
 Geum urbanum abounded, and we speculated about the probability 
 of their being G. intermedium. But if these Scottish specimens 
 
2 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 be this presumed species, where is G. urbanum to be found in 
 Scotland ? All the examples observed appeared to belong to one 
 common type ; and if so, either G. urbanum or G. intermedium 
 is absent in those parts of Scotland which we traversed, or per- 
 haps, with a modest conviction of our own somewhat lax obser- 
 vations, it should be said that we did not see well-marked examples 
 of the two supposed species. Our account of the botany of the 
 King's Park, inclusive of Arthur's Seat, St. Leonard's Crags, 
 must be of the same negative character. As the park is distin- 
 guished by the singular absence of trees, so the rocks appeared 
 to be as bare of vegetation. Several plants of Dianthus deltoides 
 were collected, but all were of the common or usual form ; the 
 var. D. glauca was not visible. We cannot say that we were 
 unsuccessful in our hunt after Asplenium septentrionale, for we 
 did not look for it, prudently judging that we should lose our 
 time and get wet feet "to the bargain/' (We visited the park 
 twice, and the second time was early in the morning, when the 
 dew lay thick on the grass.) Plenty of Geranium pyrenaicwn 
 was observed in a very elevated part of St. Leonard's or Salisbury 
 Crags, the part next to the palace (we are not quite clear about 
 the nomenclature of these far-famed localities) . On going up to 
 the summit of Arthur's Seat we collected a few stunted and de- 
 formed examples of Astragalus hypoglottis. I believe this is the 
 entire result of our botanizing in the King's Park; yet this locality, 
 though rugged enough to please a hunter for the picturesque, is 
 far from being a barren tract. The turf is close, and the herbage 
 is as green " as grass can be," and the colour is a sufficient proof 
 of the succulency of the pasturage. Yet the whole has, to eyes 
 accustomed to the luxuriancy of the sweet south, a desolate, 
 bare, and unpleasing aspect. That trees would grow here is 
 very evident; for just outside the park wall, where the locality is 
 more exposed to the unfriendly effects of the sea-breezes, there 
 is a belt of thriving wood. A few trees scattered here and there 
 would improve the landscape. They would break the long rigid 
 lines of frowning, beetling rocks, and hide the somewhat dreary 
 aspect of the bare hills. The greatest of Scotia's poets petitioned 
 for trees to clothe the naked wildness of Bruar Falls. He gave 
 utterance to what Bruar water might have said through its 
 water sprite, if gifted with a sense of the beautiful and endued 
 with the gift of song. Would that he, the poet, had petitioned in 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 3 
 
 behalf of Arthur's Seat,, which is seen by hundreds of thousands 
 who never heard of Bruar and its grand Falls ! 
 
 We next visited Roslin Castle and Chapel, together with Haw- 
 thornden, places eminent in the early history and classical re- 
 miniscences of this ancient kingdom. The very names of these 
 places will cause life's current to swell in the hearts of all lovers 
 of Scottish melody, song, and poetry. But our business is with 
 the botany; and the antiquities and the poetical associations 
 connected with this spot must be left untold, as here they would 
 be as much out of place as trees are out of the King's Park at 
 Edinburgh. If we were disappointed in realizing our botanical 
 expectations about Auld Reekie, the woods of Roslin and groves 
 of Hawthornden made ample amends for the meagre results of 
 the earlier part of the day. The Roslin railway-station is within 
 less than half a mile of the woods, and not a mile from the 
 Chapel, which is one of the celebrities of Scotland's metropolis. 
 We reached the ground about twelve o'clock, and had six or 
 seven hours to spend in botanizing. 
 
 The plants of the greatest interest to us Southrons were Gera- 
 nium sylvaticum and others, unknown in the extreme south of 
 England. Even in the Craven district, where we had previously 
 seen this fine species, it did not reach the luxuriance and beauty 
 it attains in the Scottish woods. The size of the flowers, their 
 ever-varying shades of brilliant colours, from bluish-purple to 
 red, exceeded the finest cultivated or wild examples which we had 
 seen. This beautiful plant adorned our path through all Perth- 
 shire till we had reached the culminating point of our tour; 
 then it gradually gave place to its usually more lovely relative, 
 G. pratense. May the readers of thii and the succeeding papers 
 on this subject have only as much pleasure in accompanying us, 
 as we had enjoyment of the lovely Wood Geranium, which we 
 met for the first time this season in the woods of Roslin ! The 
 Ferns here were magnificent in size, beautiful in form, and of 
 the most lovely colours; but as no rarities in this Order were 
 noticed, we pass them over. Equisetum sylvaticum, one of the 
 handsomest of the genus, was observed in profusion. Luzulas 
 were also in abundance and very luxuriant. On the old castle, 
 a very fine ruin, if a ruin can be fine, situated in a charming 
 spot, and a place of considerable strength in the olden times, 
 several mural plants were collected as mementos of a day's bo- 
 
4 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 tanizing, such as rarely occurs. Among these may be noticed 
 Hieracium murorum, in full flower at this early period, Chei- 
 ranthus Cheiri, and Scolopendrium vulgare, a Fern which is by 
 no means general in Scotland. ' 
 
 After paying our respects to Roslin Chapel, a marvel of ar- 
 tistic beauty, and of almost infinite variety in detail, " sed his 
 non est locus" we wandered into the classic shades of Haw- 
 thornden, and luxuriated among Ashes, Yews, Hollies, and other 
 trees, many of them probably planted by the poet whose name 
 and sonnets have conferred a world-wide renown on this place, 
 so richly gifted 'by the hand of nature. The first plant we no- 
 ticed was Anchusa sempervirens ; but the locality is not unques- 
 tionable. This plant however retains the power of self- propagation 
 for many years, we had almost said generations. The localities 
 noticed by Ray did lately, and probably do still, produce the plant, 
 It had all the appearance of being coeval with the wood where it 
 was growing, and the wood may be coeval with Fergus, the first 
 King of Scotland, who was a contemporary of the mythic heroes 
 of Greece. Stellaria nemorum, Campanula latifolia, Vinca minor, 
 Myosotis sylvatica, with its large and handsome flowers, Polygonum 
 Bistorta, with Equisetum Telmateia and the elegant E. sylvaticum, 
 rewarded our further search in these densely shady woods. By the 
 roadside, near to Roslin Inn, several fine plants of Myrrhis odorata 
 were observed, partly growing on the bank and partly in the 
 cornfield. This plant is a common occupant of Scottish gardens 
 of the humbler classes, and hence probably the botanical demur 
 to its taking rank as a genuine native of our British soil. To 
 this however it is unquestionably entitled : not on the authority 
 of a few scattered plants in Scotland, in no part of which, so far 
 as known to us, would we venture to pronounce it wild, as wild 
 is usually understood in these our critical days ; but on the au- 
 thority of thousands of plants which fringe with their elegant 
 foliage, or large umbels of erect fruit, the borders of the moun- 
 tain streams in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In the adjoining 
 cornfield, Lithospermum arvense, Stachys arvensis, Viola arvensis, 
 var. (?), Papaver Argemone, and two at least of the annual Fu- 
 marias, with several other more common cornfield plants, were 
 growing very plentifully. 
 
 As a finale to our first day's botanizing in Scotland, and a 
 very agreeable and successful one it was in all respects, the sta- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 5 
 
 tion-master showed us some of his botanical rarities, which were 
 no rarities to us. We exhibited some of our captures from Haw- 
 thornden woods, but found that he knew less about them than 
 we did previously to our leaving London. Our knowledge of 
 the vegetation of Mid- Lothian was far ahead of his, though we 
 had botanized there only a single day and he had lived there all 
 his days. There is this to be said in his behalf, that his days 
 have been but few and ours have been many. And we are too 
 often met by the conceited cui bono race of men, who sneer at 
 our humble and amiable pursuits, not to feel gratified when a 
 young man in the responsible situation of a station-master does 
 not disdain to look into the collecting-box of an amateur. The 
 arrival of the train which was to convey us back to the city, in- 
 terrupted our agreeable tete-a-tete, and hindered our seeing the 
 herbarium as well as getting a sly peep into the knowledge-box 
 of our recently acquired and obliging friend. 
 
 Between Edinburgh and Stirling there is a steam-boat which 
 plies twice a day in summer on the upper part of the Frith. 
 By this means of transit the passenger enjoys the beautiful views 
 alongshore on both sides of the Forth, from its mouth, where it 
 is maoy miles wide, to the point where its banks are united by a 
 bridge, not larger than the bridge of Kingston-on-Thames. Our 
 object is not pictorial nor antiquarian ; if it were, the luxuriant 
 woods which fringe both sides of the estuary would be noticed, 
 with the grand mansions, seats, and residences of Scotland's titled 
 and untitled aristocracy, which peep out every now and then from 
 the bosoms of the dense masses of trees, beautiful as a leafy and 
 moist June can make and keep them. Several unostentatious little 
 towns dot the shores of the Frith. These are the hives of busy 
 industry; and the most notable are the North and South Queens- 
 ferry, Charleston, Culross, Borrowstowness (pronounced Bo'ness), 
 Kincardine, Alloa, celebrated all over Scotland for its ales, and 
 Carron, still more celebrated all over the world for its grates, 
 hot-air stoves, and many things of a less harmless nature than 
 cooking utensils. Blackness Castle, 011 the southern shore, is 
 one of the few fortresses which Scotland jealously stipulated, at 
 the Union, to be preserved as garrisoned places. Cambus Ken- 
 neth Abbey, or rather a part of it, still stands as a monument of 
 the religious grandeur of Scotland, now no more. 
 
 Scotland has but few remnants of ecclesiastical edifices to 
 
O BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 show ; but to make up for these she has castles, fortalices, towers, 
 and spences innumerable, and of all sorts and sizes, from the 
 princely edifices of Taymouth, Dunrobin, etc., down to the less 
 extensive but not less characteristic baronial erections of Castle 
 Fyvie, Castle Eraser, and the Castle of Cluny. The genuine 
 Scottish castles do not exist on the shores of the Forth, nor on 
 those of the Tay either. Strathdon, the Straths of Dee, the 
 banks of the Ury, Ythan, Ugie, etc., in the Garioch arid Buchan 
 districts of the north and east of Scotland, contain the most 
 renowned castles of the Middle Ages ; but modern refinements 
 and the necessities of a more civilized age have, even in these, 
 made innovations that impair their ancient characters. 
 
 But as we did not go to Scotland to look for a castle, as our 
 great lexicographer went to look for a tree, we did not pay our 
 respects to many of the baronial residences that lay in our way. 
 To make amends for this the grand features of Scotland, her 
 hills and streams, came in for a full share of our notice and ad- 
 miration. In sailing up the Frith, the first grand object that 
 attracts the notice of the lover of nature, is the Ochil Hills on 
 the north side of the Forth, and the Fintry hills on the southern 
 side : these hills do not form the basin of the Frith. The Ochils 
 meet the Forth at or near Stirling, but are far distant from the 
 river at its lower portion. The Fintry hills form a continuation 
 of that great chain of hills of which Ben Lomond is the facile 
 princeps, and which towers above them as the Lombardy Poplar 
 springs up among, and far above, the humbler Birches and Alders. 
 The windings of this river have ever been famed since Words- 
 worth wrote and published that exquisite morsel of pretty poetry, 
 f To Yarrow Unvisited'/ Who that has read this charming 
 production does not long to feel somewhat of the poet's raptures 
 who sang so sweetly one of Scotland's most renowned classic 
 streams ? 
 
 " From Stirling Castle we had seen 
 
 The mazy Forth unravelled ; 
 Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay, 
 And down the Tweed had travelled." 
 
 The views from the ramparts of Stirling Castle are very exten- 
 sive and imposing : to the east there is a remarkable hill, called 
 the Abbey Craig, which looks for all the world as if it had been 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 7 
 
 shorn through the centre, and one-half carried away no one 
 knows whither : though 
 
 " The words that cleft the Eildon hills in three. 
 And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone," 
 
 could have had no more difficulty in carrying away the hills than 
 they had in separating them. It is proposed to erect on the re- 
 maining half of the Abbey Crag a memorial to one of Scotland's 
 greatest patriots and the valiantest and stoutest of her sons. 
 The blood flows rapidly in every true Scotsman's veins whenever 
 he hears the soul-stirring and simple melody of " Scots wha hae 
 wi' Wallace bled." The nobility, gentry, and commons of Scot- 
 land have erected several monuments to him who has as high a 
 place among the poets as the subject of the song quoted above 
 has among her warriors : both occupy the foremost places. 
 The reproach of Scotland's having no monument to commemo- 
 rate her greatest warrior is now to be removed. Better late than 
 never ; but the warrior's and patriot's noblest monument is the 
 memories and feelings, the minds and hearts, of his countrymen, 
 wherein he is, and ever will be, enshrined. 
 
 From the west-side ramparts of the castle there is a good 
 prospect of Ben Lomond, and, a little nearer and to the right 
 appear Benvenue and Ben-an, the two sentinels which guard 
 the Trosachs, the pass to Loch Katrine. Still further on the 
 right is Ben Ledi, the highest portion of the mountain barrier 
 that divides the Highlands from the level plains of Menteith, 
 Stratherne, and the other upper parts of the Perthshire Low- 
 lands. Ben Voirlich and Ben Cruachan, the former near Loch 
 Erne and the latter near Loch Awe in Argyleshire, are also 
 visible from Stirling Castle. 
 
 Stirling is an interesting ancient town. The important events 
 connected with it are neither few nor unimportant. The great 
 battle of Stirling, in which Wallace baffled the most heroic and 
 sagacious of England's kings, was fought in a field which is 
 within half a mile of Stirling bridge ; and the great battle of 
 Bannockburn, the result of which was the independence of Scot- 
 land, was fought a few miles from the town on the south ; Sau- 
 chieburn, a stain upon Scotland's fair fame, was also fought in a 
 valley upon the west, within a mile or two of the town. 
 
 The ecclesiastical and some other buildings of Stirling are in- 
 
8 BOTANICAL TOtR IN THE 
 
 teresting memorials of bygone times. The situation of the town 
 is commanding, scarcely yielding to that of Edinburgh itself. 
 The botanical objects of interest about Stirling are not very nu- 
 merous, but they are not quite absent. In the churchyard of 
 the High Church (which, like several other large sacred edifices 
 in Scotland, accommodates two congregations), there is abundance 
 of Myrrhis odorata. This plant is as plentiful here as the gout- 
 weed, dEgopodium Podagraria, is about most towns and villages 
 in Scotland : this latter is the commonest of Scotland's umbel- 
 liferous urban or wayside plants, as Bunium flexuosum is the 
 common umbellifer of her fields and woods. On the ramparts of 
 the castle a solitary example of Vicia lathyroides was gathered ; 
 Tanacetum vulgare, Echium vulgare, and Rumex pulcher, near the 
 old bridge, this Dock is by no means general in Scotland, so far 
 as our observation extends. A few other suburban plants were 
 noticed. 
 
 After a very agreeable stroll of three hours' duration about the 
 King's Park, the banks of the Forth, the bridges and environs 
 of Stirling, we went by rail to Dunblane, famous for being once 
 the See of the pious and liberal Bishop Leighton, whose memory 
 has entirely perished in the scene of his ministerial labours. An 
 interesting chapter might be written about Dunblane and its 
 ecclesiastical divisions ; but our business here is with the unities 
 and beauties of Nature, and therefore we forbear to enlarge upon 
 the disagreeable themes of civil and religious strife, of which this 
 little city has been the passive witness for centuries. 
 
 As we commenced, strictly speaking, our botanical tour at 
 Dunblane > for here we first used, on air extensive scale, the 
 conveyance wherewith Nature bountifully provided us, our 
 readers may look for a more detailed account of our proceedings 
 on our onward progress. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DUNBLANE. DOTJNE. DOTJNE CASTLE. INN AT DOUNE. CALLANDEE. THE TBO- 
 SACHS. LOCH ZATEINE. POET MENTEITH. CALLANDEE CAMP. 
 
 ON the 4th of July, at six o'clock in the morning, our pedes- 
 trian tour actually commenced. A Gillie-truish-an-arnish (An- 
 glice, a baggage-carrier) was procured for us by our obliging host 
 of the Dunblane Arms, a most comfortable house, by the way, 
 where the fare is excellent and the charges moderate. Our Gillie 
 trudged along with the impedimenta (the impediments of travel- 
 ling) ; his clatter was interesting, for he knew the Highlands of 
 Perthshire, and the Lowlands too, it may be presumed. He was 
 able to point out the chief mountains of the former, and the posi- 
 tion and direction of the passes, lochs, and rivers of both. His 
 acquaintance with the prominent outlines of the country was 
 serviceable, for he knew all the towns of Perthshire, their dis- 
 tances and bearing from each other ; and being besides a person 
 of observant habits, he was pretty well qualified to aid those 
 who wished to be acquainted with the physical, moral, and reli- 
 gious condition of the occupants of the country, as well as to 
 see something of its picturesque beauties. From Dunblane to 
 Doune the country is open, and has a bare appearance, fringed 
 or dotted here arid there with woods, rather than adorned with 
 trees. The Scotch are a thrifty people. Trees are very useful as 
 shelter, but they are often detrimental to the operations of agri- 
 culture. The country however is not unenclosed ; but the fences 
 have more of a useful than of an ornamental character. The 
 road is of an up-hill and down-vale nature ; nothing hinders the 
 traveller from getting a glimpse of the scenery in all situations, 
 and generally a good view is obtainable. 
 
 Soon after seven o'clock we reached Doune, a half-highland, 
 half-lowland town, of no great pretensions either for its size or its 
 situation. Here the Teith, the most important tributary of the 
 Forth, is a fine and rapid river ; it sets in motion the immense 
 wheels of the celebrated Deanston cotton-mills. The castle of 
 
10 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 Doune stands on an elevated promontory at the confluence of the 
 Teith and Ardoch. It is a massive edifice, surmounted by a spa- 
 cious square tower, eighty feet in height, at one end of the front, 
 and by another on the opposite extremity; the whole forms a 
 large quadrangle. This ancient stronghold is an erection of 
 greater extent and strength than of beauty ; but it was once the 
 residence of one of Scotland's earls, and the locality where the 
 tragical event of the murder of the "Bonnie Earl of Moray" 
 occurred, a tragedy which is the subject of one of the beautiful 
 songs and melodies of Scotland. 
 
 The Botany from Dunblane to Doune is like the country 
 not very interesting. In agricultural districts the botanical rari- 
 ties are chiefly annuals. Scotland possesses but few of these, 
 much fewer than England. Annuals are however on the increase 
 in both kingdoms. Only Scleranthus annuus and Chrysanthemum 
 segetum were collected in our morning's walk between Dunblane 
 and Doune, the latter not in flower. By the margin of the Teith, 
 between Doune Inn and the Castle, we noticed Geum rivale, 
 CEnanthe crocata, and jffigopodium Podagraria, a plant constantly 
 present about hedges and waysides ; also several Ferns ; but no- 
 thing interesting was collected here. 
 
 Doune, as has been already stated, is only four miles from 
 Dunblane and eight miles from Callander. The road to Cal- 
 lander lies along the left bank of the Teith, and passes through 
 natural scenery which is passably pretty, much more so than 
 that between Stirling and Doune. But the weather was very 
 unfavourable: only a few drops fell before six o'clock, but by 
 eight o'clock the rain commenced in right earnest, and there 
 were no tokens of its abatement. We might have remained at 
 Doune, but the inn where we breakfasted had no attractions even 
 on a rainy day. A rainy day at an inn, even if a comfortable 
 inn, is one of the disagreeables which pedestrians sometimes 
 experience. This inn at Doune was as uncomfortable as the 
 weather. This, we can say from experience, is " the exception, 
 not the rule." The inns in Scotland are as comfortable as 
 the hosts are courteous. We say nothing about their charges : 
 every man should live by his calling, and summer is the time 
 when inns are most needed, because in this season travellers 
 abound ; it is the time of the innkeepers' profit, and a rainy season 
 to them is like rain in harvest. It might be^ unsafe to publish a 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 11 
 
 catalogue of the miseries of an inn of the bad sort, and yet it 
 would be cruel to wish even our enemy to learn them experimen- 
 tally ; therefore let those who wish to know what Highland inns 
 were less than fifty years ago, read Dr. M'Culloeh's account of 
 the inn at Callander which he visited sometime in the first quarter 
 of the current century. The inns at Callander have fully kept 
 pace with the advancing civilization, conveniences, and elegances 
 of the country in general, and of the Highlands in particular ; 
 but the inn at Doune still remains, to convince the incredulous 
 Southrons that the Doctor was a faithful narrator of what he saw 
 and what he suffered. It exists, it is to be hoped, as the solitary 
 evidence that the accounts given of the Highlands, not more 
 than thirty or forty years ago, were neither caricatures nor exag- 
 gerations. 
 
 A pitiless rain, which never ceased till several hours after we 
 reached Callander, frustrated all our botanical expectations. This 
 was however no great disappointment, because all the plants 
 occurring between Doune and Callander^ and many more than 
 these, were seen over and over again in the course of our peregri- 
 nations. The most prominent plants, seen from the road, were 
 Iris Pseudacorus (just coming into flower) and Habenaria bifolia, 
 with her taller sister, H. chlorantha, which had been in flower for 
 some time. 
 
 Our first walk from Callander, which was the centre of our opera- 
 tions for several days, was along the Lochearn road to Kilmahog, 
 a hamlet adjoining the Pass of Leiiy, which we did not visit at 
 this time, reserving it for a future opportunity. The road to Ben 
 Lawers by Lochearn Head and Killin, passes through this Pass 
 and along the northern shore of Loch Lubnaig, one of the finest 
 walks in the Highlands of Perthshire. Although our object was 
 chiefly to observe the vegetation of the Central Highlands, yet to 
 pass by the celebrated picturesque objects which attract annually 
 thousands of tourists of all grades, from the man of title and 
 property, with his escutcheoned chariot, to the humble pedestrian 
 with his knapsack and on his legs, would have evinced want of 
 taste and curiosity both. In the summer season two or more 
 coaches leave Stirling for the Trosachs daily ; in fine weather the 
 number of visitors is increased manifold. Such celebrities as 
 the Trosachs, the Brig o' Turk, Benvenue, and Loch Katrine, 
 being only nine or ten miles distant, could net be passed by un- 
 
12 BOTANICAL TOl^R IN THE 
 
 visited, and especially as an opportunity for botanizing would be 
 afforded along the shores of Loch Vennachar, Loch Achray, and 
 through the Trosachs. 
 
 Our short walk along the road from Callander to Kilmahog, 
 only between two and three miles, did not yield much. The 
 beauty and luxuriance of Rosa villosa, the common Red Rose 
 of Scotland, got some considerable share of our admiration, and 
 also its near connection, R. tomentosa, with white flowers, which 
 have usually a slight tinge of pink. These are the common 
 hedge Roses of the parts of Scotland which we visited. There 
 was noticed besides these, a smooth and shining-leaved Rose, not 
 then in flower, which might probably belong to the genuine Dog- 
 rose series of this genus. Spiraea salicifolia appeared frequently 
 in the hedgerows and in other bushy, shady places. That it was 
 truly wild in every station where it grew, is not affirmed ; but it 
 does not appear likely that it was ever planted for a hedge-plant, 
 for which purpose it is worthless. It is also certain that the roads 
 and the hedges too are of a very recent origin, though much of 
 the hedge- stuff may be as ancient as the forests or woods through 
 which these roads pass. These vales and passes were surely co- 
 vered with woods, as they are still, except in spots that have been 
 cleared for cultivation and for roads ; consequently we may look 
 for, and expect to see in the hedges, representatives of all the 
 ligneous vegetation of the locality or district through which the 
 road with its double hedge passes. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous plants in these parts is Corydalis 
 claviculata, the white climbing Fumitory. This species, which 
 with us in the south of England is an insignificant, humble ob- 
 ject, imparting no character whatever to the scenery around, here 
 covers the thatched roofs of cottages, creeps over ruins and rocks, 
 somewhat like Ivy, and oftentimes completely covers, with its 
 elegant foliage and its graceful flowers, large spaces of several 
 square yards' extent. Galium boreale and several Hieracia, few 
 of them as yet in blossom, fringed the margin of the beautiful 
 and rapid stream which issues from Loch Lubnaig, " where Lub- 
 naig's loch supplies the Teith." This river flows, or rather falls 
 and rushes, through the Pass of Leny, and meets the western 
 branch of the Teith which comes from Loch Katrine through the 
 Lochs Achray and Vennachar. These two fine streams unite a 
 little above Callander, and in their fork enclose, on two sides, a 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 13 
 
 beautiful meadow and some very fertile fields. The base of the 
 famous mountain Ben Ledi, which is bounded by Loch Ven- 
 nachar on the south and by Loch Lubnaig on the north and 
 north-east, is washed as well as bounded by these two branches, 
 which, by their union, form the Teith. 
 
 In the evening we walked out across the Teith on the cow- 
 pasture lying to the west of Callander, between the road which 
 is the nearest way to the Trosachs but not the coach-road 
 and the road to Port Menteith. In the boggy places here, we 
 collected Pinguicula vulgaris, Narthecium ossifragum, not yet in 
 flower (4th of July), Gymnadenia conopsea, the most fragrant of 
 our native Orchids, especially in a moist or dewy evening, and 
 the Cotton Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), a plant famous in 
 Celtic poetry : 
 
 " Oh, what is fairer than the Canna, waving in the breeze, 
 When summer laughs in flowery pride, and verdure clothes the trees ?" 
 
 A greater minstrel than the author of these neat lines notices the 
 Canna in another state, 
 
 " Still is the Canna's hoary beard." 
 
 On the banks and along the bottom of a small rill adjoining, 
 Mimulus luteus was well established ; it was also observed in the 
 ditch by the side of the Menteith road, but not so plentiful 
 as in the above-mentioned locality, the little drain through the 
 meadow. 
 
 Another very interesting walk from Callander is along the 
 Comrie road, which leaves the village on the east and slants up 
 the base of the hill which is crowned by Callander crags. This 
 road crosses the Keltic burn, and passes through Glen Artney, 
 having Ben Voirlich on the left and the Braes of Doune on the 
 right. This is a very desolate tract, of great extent, but of a stern 
 and inhospitable aspect. Peat-mosses, wide moors, bluff, round, 
 heathery hills, and miles of very rough pasturage, comprise the 
 scenery of this uninviting landscape. In this direction there is 
 no cultivation visible. A very few Rowan-trees (Mountain Ash) 
 skirt the kailyards of the few dwellings of the herdsmen ; every- 
 where else, in this region, trees are as rare as they are in the 
 King's Park at Edinburgh. On the Callander side of the hill, 
 Habenaria bifolia and //. chlorantha were collected, the former 
 in great force, the latter only sparingly ; witk these, Orchis ma- 
 
14 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 culata and O. latifolia abounded. Of all the Orchids none was 
 so plentiful and beautiful as Gymnadenia conopsea ; in an evening 
 and early in the morning, the perfume of a bundle of these plants 
 is exquisite. Gymnadenia albida here began to appear, but not 
 so plentiful as the other above-mentioned members of this family. 
 Near the Falls of Bracklin, a single specimen of Habenaria vi- 
 ridis was gathered in a pasture-field; this was the sole repre- 
 sentative of the species noticed about Callander j it did not occur 
 in great plenty anywhere. There occurred fewer examples of 
 this Orchis than of any of the others which are common in Scot- 
 land. The variety of this genus, called H. chlorantha, was not very 
 common ; the rest were all about equally common : only Orchis 
 latifolia did not perhaps attain a vertical range equal to that of 
 O. maculata and Gymnadenia conopsea. 
 
 On the 5th we set out to walk to the Trosachs by the west or 
 lower roadj which crosses the Teith about the centre of the vil- 
 lage, and, leaving the road to Menteith on the left, walked along 
 the Coilantogle road. The botanical aspect of the vegetation on 
 the wayside, tempted us into a wood about half a mile from 
 Callander, and about midway between the bridge of Callander 
 and the bridge near Coilantogle. In this wood, among other 
 things of some interest, were collected Trollius europteus, some in 
 flower but most in fruit ; also Trientalis europaus, now very nearly 
 out of flower, and Vaccinium Vitis-Idaa. Vinca minor was col- 
 lected at Callander, but the reporter is not quite sure that it was 
 observed in this wood. A very fine Rulus was observed here and 
 in many other parts of Perthshire. The blossoms were pure 
 white, and the erect habit of the plant, with its large flowers, 
 rendered it there a very ornamental object. The common Orchids 
 abounded here, as they did all along the roadsides from Callan- 
 der to Loch Katrine. One of the most remarkable, not for its 
 rarity, for it occurred plentifully, but for its singularity, in having 
 but a single flower at the extremity of the 'stem, was a variety 
 of Orchis maculata, which variety might be called var. uniflora. 
 Plenty of the more common forms grew in the same spots, some 
 with larger, some with smaller spikes. 
 
 After spending half an hour in botanizing among the trees, we 
 rejoined the road and travelled onwards, crossing the western 
 branch of the Teith by the bridge near Coilantogle, and, a little 
 further on, met the coach-road to Loch Katrine by Kilmahog, 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 15 
 
 the northern and most picturesque of the two roads leading from 
 Callander to this celebrated locality. The northern road was 
 not new to us, and the one we chose was not only so, but it 
 shortened our journey two miles. The road skirted along the 
 eastern shore of Loch Vennachar, and we were induced to look 
 into the lake for aquatics. None however were visible, except a 
 few plants of Littorella lacustris. On the roadside, where the 
 road impinges on the wooded hill, a solitary plant of Hypericum 
 Andros&mum was observed, the only example of this fine species 
 noticed by us in all our walks onward and aside, forwards and 
 backwards, and these amounted, on a rough calculation, to up- 
 wards of 250 miles. 
 
 The absence of wayside (viatical) plants, which abound in the 
 south of England, was one of the singular features of all our walks 
 in Scotland. A botanist could scarcely walk twenty miles in 
 England without seeing some examples of Hypericumperforatum, 
 the most common of tne genus in the midland and southern 
 counties. Hypericum pulchrum, in Scotland, takes the place 
 which H. perforatum holds in England. H. pulchrum is not un- 
 common in the south and centre of our island, but the localities 
 where it is found, heathy, bushy, open places, are the exception 
 and not the rule in England. In travelling from London to the 
 south and south-west, where heaths abound, Hypericum pulchrum 
 also abounds ; but in travelling from London to the north and 
 east, the same plant is scarce, because heathy places are so. H. 
 perforatum is not uncommon in the east of Scotland; yet in 
 Perthshire it was so uncommon that a single example was not 
 seen in walks amounting in all to 250 miles, as has been already 
 stated. Again, an Orchis by the wayside in England is about 
 as rare as a white crow : this phenomenon is occasionally seen 
 in chalk- districts ; but to meet with half-a-dozen species of this 
 Order in Scotland, either on the roadside or in the adjoining 
 pastures, within a few yards of the road, is as common an occur- 
 rence as blackberries in September. 
 
 The Brig o' Turk (by the way, there are two Brigs o j Turk, like 
 the Twa Brigs of Ayr and the two bridges of Stirling, the an- 
 cient and the modern one, we stick to the former), the Trosachs, 
 and Loch Katrine are classical objects, scenes that have been 
 described by the greatest master of descriptive poetry ; our puny 
 attempts at description would be an impertinence, or something 
 
16 BOTANICAL TCFUR IN THE 
 
 worse. But our readers may be told that the guide-books are in 
 error when they tell us, that " near the east end of Loch Ach- 
 ray the road (to Loch Katrine) crosses, by the Bridge o' Turk, a 
 stream which issues from the vale of Glenfinlas, a desolate tract 
 of ten miles in extent." But there are two Brigs o' Turk, as there 
 are two Simon Pures in the Play, "A bold Stroke, etc.," and the 
 ancient one, which crosses the river not far from the Brig o' Turk 
 Inn, is the real one. This inn has for its sign a representation of 
 the headmost hunter, and the two well-known lines as a motto, 
 
 " And ere the Brig o' Turk was won, 
 The headmost horseman rode alone." 
 
 And there he is represented, as John Gilpin is before the Bell at 
 Edmonton, while performing his equally celebrated ride to Ware. 
 This road and this bridge, mentioned by the guide, were not when 
 Sir Walter wrote his famous epic, which incited so many admi- 
 rers of picturesque scenery to visit the spot, so romantic natu- 
 rally, and rendered still more interesting as the imaginary scene 
 of the spirit-stirring deeds and descriptions of that fascinating 
 invention, " The Lady of the Lake." The Brig o* Turk, won by 
 the venturous headmost horseman who rode alone, is the old 
 bridge which unites the banks of the stream which issues from 
 Loch Latrine, flows through Loch Achray, and enters the upper 
 end of Loch Vennachar below this ancient bridge. The Bridge 
 of Turk of the guide-books is of course not older than the road 
 to Loch Katrine, and this road was not made for several years 
 after Loch Katrine had attained all its celebrity. Guides are 
 not always to be trusted. But we saw the Old Brig, not its 
 representation at the inn only, and " seeing is believing." 
 
 Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond may be, at little expense of 
 toil and money, both visited in a day. A steam-boat sails from 
 the lower or Trosachs end of Loch Katrine, to the upper end at 
 Stronachlocher, where there is a landing-place and an inn ; this 
 voyage is accomplished in about an hour. The steamer waits 
 here about a quarter of an hour and then returns. This little 
 trip affords the tourist, from the boat's deck, a very comfortable 
 view of Ellen's Isle, the noble conical elevations of " the bold 
 Cliffs of Benvenue," on the south or left-hand side, when the 
 spectator is looking up towards the upper or western end of the 
 Lake, 
 
 " While on the north, in middle air, 
 Ben-an heaved high his forehead bare," 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. "17 
 
 In the distant west, the Alps of Arroquhar, beyond the lofty Ben 
 Lomond, form a grand termination to the view; whilst close 
 at hand, among the cliffs and denies of Benvenue, are seen the 
 Pass of Beal-an-Duine, where Fitz- James lost his "gallant grey;" 
 and the Cor-nan-uriskin, "the Goblin's Den," in which Douglas 
 concealed his daughter when he went to yield himself to his so- 
 vereign. On the right, stretching along the lake, are the Braes 
 of Strathgartney, grazed by hundreds of cattle and thousands of 
 sheep, a peaceful scene. 
 
 From the inn at Stronachlocher, by the Pass of Inversnaid, 
 through which a good road passes, and on which there are now, 
 in the season, vehicles of many descriptions, Loch Lomond may 
 be reached in an hour. Here there is a steam-boat waiting to 
 take on board the tourists from Loch Katrine. These may pro- 
 ceed to Glasgow or ascend Ben Lomond, visit the celebrated 
 pass and village of Aberfoyle, the scenes of Baillie Nicol Jarvie's 
 exploits with his fair cousin, Helen McGregor, or return to the 
 Trosachs or Brig o' Turk inns. As we had walked from Cal- 
 lander, a distance of nine or ten miles, and had to return by the 
 same simple conveyance, we were contented with a view of the 
 fine mountains that skirt both sides of Loch Lomond at its upper 
 or northern end, and returned in our steamer to the Trosachs, 
 and remeasured back our way to Callander. The botany of this 
 episodical tour, " in search of the picturesque," was not of a very- 
 interesting nature, with the exception of the first mile of our way, 
 when we diverged to our left into the wood that skirts the way 
 between Callander and Coilantogle bridge. 
 
 In the evening, a visit to Callander Crags was not much more 
 productive. It is true, fine views of Ben Ledi, Loch Vennachar, 
 Cambusmore, the vales of Forth, Teith, Stirling, etc., were ob- 
 tainable. Some Hieracia and a Potentilla, which we fondly fancied 
 might be P. opaca, were the only spoils which we bore away from 
 the base of these barren rocks. A walk along the eastern branch 
 of the Teith, and through the cornfields below Bochastle, yielded 
 a few plants of some interest, viz. Crepis paludosa, Galium boreale, 
 Galeopsis versicolor, and our old acquaintance Myrrhis odorata, 
 in abundance. 
 
 The 6th of July was the day of rest, and we attended divine 
 service in both the churches of Callander, viz. the National or 
 Established Church in the morning, and the Free Church in the 
 
18 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 afternoon. Monday the 7th was a rainy day, a day of Highland 
 rain, so well described by Dr. M'Culloch, who recommends the 
 tourist in the Highlands, if he carries an umbrella, always to 
 carry it open ; for if he does not, he will be wetted to the skin 
 by a sudden plash or sheet of water before he has time to undo 
 the loop of his parapluie. In the Doctor's time umbrellas were 
 folded up in a ring, not by a loop and button as now, and the 
 time of slipping up the ring would not, at an average, be one- 
 tenth of that required for detaching the loop from the button; 
 yet in that short interval of time, a Highland shower found its 
 way through all the ordinary protective media, and reduced the 
 hapless pedestrian to the uncomfortable condition of " a hen in 
 a rainy day." For the benefit of future botanical tourists, we 
 subjoin the Doctor's rather exaggerated account of a Highland 
 shower.* 
 
 In the evening we lectured on Botany to the boys and girls 
 of the school, and to one or two good-natured people who con- 
 descended to listen to what was expressly adapted to the capa- 
 city of a juvenile audience. On the 8th we paid another visit to 
 Loch Katrine, wandered along the shores of the lake an hour or 
 so, and retraced our steps to- Callander. The next day, which 
 was to be our last day at Callander, an expedition to Menteith 
 was both planned and executed by a walk over the hills, as nearly 
 as possible, in a south-westerly direction. The distance to the vil- 
 lage and Loch of Menteith from Callander is seven miles; half of 
 this distance was walked, before we saw either the lake or the 
 church, across a trackless, high, moory waste, with here and there 
 only a. sheep-track to guide us. From these hills we had very 
 extensive and some very interesting views. The chief of these 
 were the Ochils, the Fintry Hills, Stirling and its romantic 
 Castle, the Forth (with its widened expanse of water), glittering 
 
 * Highland Rain. "I thought that I had known Highland rain in all its forms 
 and mixtures and varieties in Skye, Mull, at Trillin ? on the top of Ben Lawers ; but 
 nothing like the rain on Ben Ledi did I ever behold before or since. In an instant, 
 and without warning or preparation, the showers descended in one broad stream, 
 like a cascade from the clouds, and in an instant they ceased again. If the low- 
 lander carries an umbrella, it may be useful for him to know, that if there is a but- 
 ton to undo or a ring to slip off he will often be wet through before either can be 
 effected. There is an interval of fair weather ; even the cloud which is to produce 
 the rain is not very obvious, when, in an instant, and without a sprinkling or even 
 a harbinger drop, the whole is let go on your head as if a bucket had been emptied 
 on it." 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 19 
 
 under the sun-beams, Alloa, famous for its ale, Carron, for its 
 cooking-stoves, and Kippen, celebrated for its facetious and home- 
 draughting king. We reached Menteith, after a toilsome walk 
 " through the moors, among the heather," in about three hours. 
 The Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) was the sole interesting no- 
 velty of this long walk ; but we lighted on some ornithological 
 specimens, and in particular upon a covey of the birds that feed 
 on the berries of this plant. The poor little things had not long 
 left the shell. 
 
 By the churchyard of Menteith, opposite to the inn (an inn 
 is an important house in the Highlands, for there inns are few 
 and far between), we noticed some plants of Valeriana pyrenaica, 
 which had no appearance of being natural 'in that spot, although, 
 as reported, it may exist in some of the many woods with which 
 that neighbourhood abounds. By a wall in the village Malva 
 moschata was observed. This plant must be placed in the same 
 class as the Valerian above mentioned, " not wild in Scotland, so 
 far as known to us." Several plants of Malva sylvestris were 
 seen in gardens, or where they had been certainly planted ; but 
 a single example of any wild Mallow never occurred to us in 
 Scotland. We know that our common Mallows, viz. M. sylves- 
 tris, M. moschata, and M. rotundifolia, are registered as the 
 spontaneous productions of the country about Edinburgh, Glas- 
 gow, and Aberdeen ; but we did not see any of- them except 
 those above mentioned, and they were evidently stragglers, if 
 not the descendants of the formerly-cultivated individuals. Our 
 time at Edinburgh was very short ; but large and striking plants, 
 like those of the Malvaceous Order, could not have been passed 
 by unnoticed, if they existed there as they, or two of them at 
 least, do about every town and village in the south of England. 
 In Perthshire we ignore the Mallows entirely, because we believe 
 Nature ignores them ; and in reference to the Valerian of Men- 
 teith, we may bring in the verdict which a Scotch jury is allowed 
 to give when the evidence is conflicting or unsatisfactory, viz. that 
 the claims of Valeriana pyrenaica, as a wild plant in Scotland, 
 are " not proven " by the evidence which we have to offer. In 
 a meadow adjoining one of the cottages at Port Menteith, fine 
 specimens of Sedum Telephium were collected. This plant is pro- 
 bably wild, though it is often kept in cottage gardens : its vul- 
 nerary or sanative virtues are perpetuated in its vernacular name, 
 
20 BOTANICAL TOtlR IN THE 
 
 "Live-Long,"* which may have been conferred on it because of 
 its life-prolonging properties. As our intention was to start the 
 next day for Killin, we made the best of our way homewards by 
 the road, in order to rest ourselves,, and prepare for a longer 
 walk than any of our previous walks since leaving Edinburgh. 
 
 One of the last and pleasantest walks we had about this town 
 was to a place not half a mile below the bridge of Callander, 
 called the Camp. A camp it may well have been in the olden 
 times : its rampart and fosse still exist as memorials of a warlike 
 age, but the interior is like a lawn. Many plants grow here, 
 though we only noticed the following : Geranium sylvaticum, as 
 usual very fine; Hieracium prenanthoides, not yet in flower; and 
 Meconopsis cambrica. We were delighted to recognize this old 
 acquaintance, which we had observed in the days of " auld lang 
 syne/' when we ran about the Braes of Cowie, Feteresso, and 
 Dunnottar, and in our simplicity did not know that this rare 
 plant was not as common as the White Saxifrage (S. granulata) 
 or the Red Campion. In the camp at Callander it was growing 
 at the very bottom of the fosse (ditch) . We would not venture 
 to say that it is what is generally understood by " truly wild," 
 but it was certainly naturalized and well established. We have 
 seen it in Whales, where it certainly is wild, and it is probably so 
 in Devon and Cornwall. Why not in Scotland? The evidence 
 is not entirely satisfactory. 
 
 * A correspondent suggests that this title is rather indicative of the vitality of 
 the plant itself, than of its ability to confer longevity on those who employ it as a 
 specific. We have heard of its repute either as a vulnerary or a medicinal herb. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 21 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 
 CALLANDER. PASS OF LENY (LENIE). LOCH LTJBNAIG. STEATHIEE. ZING'S 
 HOUSE INN. BALQTJHIDDER. LOCHEARN HEAD. GLEN OGLE. GLEN DO- 
 CHART. KILLIN. 
 
 ON the 10th of July, a beautiful morning, but rather chilly, 
 for there had been a sharp frost, not an unusal occurrence in 
 these mountainous localities, we started at four o'clock. The 
 sun was already up, and shining on the head and shoulders of 
 Ben Ledi, "that raised its ridge in air;" but the genial effects 
 of solar heat were unfelt in the valley where we were, and the 
 benumbing effects of the chilling, damp, frosty atmosphere were 
 felt at our finger-ends. The great length of daylight, even at 
 Edinburgh, was one of the phenomena not unobserved. In the 
 beginning of July the light at nearly eleven o'clock in the evening 
 was quite equal or greater than the light at nine P.M. in London. 
 The sun, after setting, is several degrees nearer the horizon in 
 Scotland, than in the south of England. The sun's dip under the 
 horizon is as much less in the Scottish capital, as the latitude of 
 London is less than that of the former ; or, in other terms, the 
 difference of latitude will be the difference of the sun's horizontal 
 depression in the two places respectively. But there is another 
 minor cause of the excess of the twilight in Scotland above that 
 of London, viz. the greater purity of the atmosphere. The 
 causes of greater atmospheric purity are not so simple as the 
 above-stated cause of long twilight; but the facts are well 
 known. 
 
 The road lies along the left bank of the eastern branch of the 
 Teith, by the little hamlet of Kilmahog, where the celebrated 
 Pass of Leny commences. This Pass is formed by a spur of Ben 
 Ledi on the West, and a similar spur of Benvoirlich on the east. 
 The river rather rushes than runs through this defile. It forms 
 a series of rapids, or a succession of abrupt falls, for the space of 
 about a mile : where it issues from the lake it is as placid as the 
 Loch itself. The road is a good one, as all the Highland roads 
 
22 BOTANICAL TOtlR IN THE 
 
 are, thanks to General Wade, who made these good roads, or in- 
 structed the Highlanders in the art of road-making, an art in 
 which they have ever since excelled. After emerging from the 
 Pass, the lake, or at least the larger half of it, displays its loveli- 
 ness to the traveller, who here has a grand view of the lofty Ben 
 Ledi, from its base, washed by the lake, to its summit. On 
 this side the elevation is abrupt and steep, and it is along this, the 
 eastern side of the lake, that the road is made. On the east, the 
 view is bounded by the long grassy slopes of the chain of Benvoir- 
 lich. Trees are rather scanty, especially on the Ben Ledi side of the 
 Loch ; but notwithstanding the somewhat bare aspect of the shores, 
 the scenery here is very admirable. It combines many of the ele- 
 ments of beauty and some of sublimity. The mighty mass of 
 the chain of mountains on the west, and the extensive views on 
 the east, partake of the latter character the sublime ; while the 
 beautiful is well supported by the placidity of the unruffled sur- 
 face of the fine lake reflecting the beams of the morning sun, by 
 the quiet pastoral beauty of the Benvoirlich side, by the cottages 
 and small farms, few and far between, and by the hanging woods 
 that fringe the mountains at the upper end of the view. These, 
 combined into one whole, formed a prospect not readily effaced 
 from the recollection of those who had the pleasure of seeing it ; 
 especially when accompanied with other agreeables, such as good 
 companionship, fine weather, the pleasure of past recollections, 
 and the future anticipations. 
 
 After passing the bend of the lake, the road enters a dense 
 forest of Pines, Oaks, Birches, Beeches, and other trees, which 
 clothe the south-western brow of the huge Benvoirlich. Here 
 the Loch contracts ; and here we had the pleasure of collecting, 
 or rather of beholding (for they are awkward species to collect, 
 and burdensome to carry), both the White and Yellow Water- 
 lilies, which ornament several parts of Loch Lubnaig. When 
 in leaf only, these two fine aquatics may be distinguished by the 
 shapes of the foliage and by the position of the posterior lobes 
 of their leaves. In the White Water-lily the leaf is rounded- 
 ovate (egg- shaped) , usually purplish below (on the under sur- 
 face), the lobes at the base are almost parallel, and the leafstalk 
 is cylindrical. The leaves of the Yellow Water-lily (the floating 
 leaves) are ovate, rather pointed at the apex, and having the 
 basal lobes slightly divergent ; the petiole is rather angular than 
 cylindrical, especially in the upper part. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 23 
 
 During this morning's walk we had the pleasure of seeing 
 Saxifraga aizoides, for the first time during this tour. It ap- 
 peared in the bottoms and on the banks of all the little rills and 
 brooklets that flowed downwards from the mountains into the 
 rivers and lochs of the vales. This was an additional new fea- 
 ture to the roadside scenery. Geranium sylvaticum had been 
 our constant attendant in all our walks about Callander, and the 
 Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris, ornamented every wayside. 
 On the borders of Loch Lubnaig we were greeted by this other 
 beauty, the Yellow Saxifrage, which cheered us on our way, as 
 an earnest of the rich prizes that awaited us on reaching the 
 culminating point of our journey. 
 
 The country here is solely pastoral and woodland. The moun- 
 tain of Ben Ledi is far too steep for cultivation ; and its base is 
 but very thinly furnished with trees. On the Benvoirlich side 
 there is much natural and plantation wood, both in the Pass of 
 Leny and further on, on the brows overhanging the upper end 
 of the lake. And the green mountain-side, sloping upwards 
 from the road on the right, is quite open, and supplies pasturage 
 to immense herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Numerous rills 
 and streams descend, crossing the road, and flow into the lake, 
 
 It was past six o'clock by the cottage chronometers, ere the poor 
 village or hamlet of Strathire was reached ; and our alimentary 
 organs reminded us that we had not yet breakfasted. There are 
 two public-houses here ; but neither of them had a sufficiently 
 inviting aspect to induce us to break our fast in them. So we 
 walked on, two or three miles further, to the King's House, on 
 the Braes of Balquhidder, and there rested and refreshed. This 
 inn, which has been lately rebuilt and enlarged, was erected ori- 
 ginally by General Wade. And as the military, or the King's 
 servants, were the sole travellers needing refreshment on that 
 road, it got the appropriate name of the King's House, because 
 built at his expense and for the accommodation of his servants. 
 
 This inn is situated near the summit of the Pass, a couple of 
 miles from the church of Balquhidder, where, in the church- 
 yard, the celebrated Rob Roy is buried. It is ten miles from 
 Callander, four from Lochearn Head, and twelve from Killin. 
 The views from this elevated station are much admired. Close 
 at hand are the green Braes of Balquhidder, so celebrated in 
 Scottish song, and not less deserving of celebrity tor their excellent 
 
24 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 pastures and numerous herds of Highland slots and queys that 
 graze thereon. The conical-peaked mountains of Ben-ean and 
 Ben More were very remarkable objects in the direction of north- 
 west. The views in the direction of Loch Lomond and Argyle- 
 shire are very extensive and grand. The road for a mile or two 
 passes along a kind of table-land commanding very wide and beau- 
 tiful prospects,, and then the declivity to Lochearn Head begins, 
 and the direction of the hills which bound Lochearn opens out,, 
 and the lake itself expands in all the quiet, secluded beauty of a 
 Highland loch. 
 
 Lochearn is the apex of the fine fertile vale of Strathearn, one 
 of the richest straths* in Scotland. There is not much fertility 
 on the north-west end of the lake, where we were. The ground 
 capable of bearing any profitable alimentary produce, is very 
 limited only a narrow fringe along the borders of the Loch and 
 at the margin of the little stream that feeds it. The husbandry 
 is not superior to the soil. Luxuriant specimens of vegetation 
 we did not see, but we saw noble specimens of humanity. A 
 brawny native, in full Highland costume, nobly displayed the 
 physical qualities of the Celtic race. It is however more than 
 doubtful if the dominant portion of the inhabitants of the High- 
 lands be Celts. There may be some Celtic blood in their arteries 
 and veins, as there is British blood mingling with the vital fluid 
 in the circulatory system of the Sassenach of South Britain. 
 But the Campbells, the Stewarts, the Grahams, the Murrays, 
 the Menzies, and probably the heads of most of the powerful 
 families in the Highlands, are of the Saxon race : originally not 
 Celts at all, but who speak the Celtic language, wear the dress, 
 and practise many of the customs of this ancient race. From 
 these considerations it was inferred that the fine example of the 
 
 * The term Strath properly signifies a valley of considerable width and length 
 through which a river flows ; in modern phrase it is called a river-basin. It is said 
 to be derived from the Celtic Strath, a country confined by hill's and on both sides 
 of a river. Strath may have some relation to the Latin stratum, whence is derived 
 our word street, a way or thoroughfare ; ways or roads being usually constructed 
 along the banks of rivers. Strathmore, the great vale at the foot of the Grampians 
 on the east, is a compound word signifying the Great Strath ; mor, in Celtic, is great. 
 Glen is a narrower vale. Correi is a very narrow ravine, but usually wide enough 
 to afford a way up and across the mountains. Correi is from the same root as 
 the Latin cwrro, " I run," either because water runs in it, or it may afford a space for 
 walking on or climbing in ; for it would in some cases be dangerous to run in High- 
 land Corveis. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 25 
 
 species Highlander, that we saw at Lochearn Head, was originally 
 of the Saxon race. The genuine Highlander is a sparer man, with 
 less muscular development, than his Saxon lord; he is also cha- 
 racterized by more agility of body, and by a more expressive and 
 intellectual countenance. As our object was botanical, and not 
 ethnological, these disquisitions are tabooed. Retournons a nos 
 moutons : or, in plain English, let us ' ' stick to our text." 
 
 We had been conversing with the postmaster of Lochearn 
 Head about the common Carvi of Scotland (Carum Carui). This 
 obliging official was assuring us that it did not grow wild in his 
 vicinity (it was observed in his garden), and we were talking on 
 the general subject of the wildness of species in general, when 
 the gigantic Highlander above-mentioned put an end to our 
 discussion. 
 
 It is a widely-spread opinion that all cultivated plants, whether 
 they be of a nutritious, medicinal, or other useful character, were 
 originally wild ; and, like all domestic or domesticated animals, 
 did originally exist no otherwise than in a wild state, growing 
 spontaneously and being Capable of self-propagation, without the 
 agency or labour of man. The origin of this opinion is unknown 
 to us, but we know that we do not hold it, because it is untenable, 
 incapable of proof, and unphilosophical : we know the effects, but 
 not the causes of vegetation. We have food-producing plants as 
 well as useful domestic animals, and we believe that they were cre- 
 ated by God for the sustenance and the accommodation of man ; 
 and it is believed that no cause is assignable for their existence, but 
 the creative wisdom of the Almighty and All-wise Creator. God 
 gave man, on his creation, the seeds of herbs and the fruit of trees 
 for his subsistence ; He gave man a place wherein these food- 
 bearing plants might be produced, with a charge " to keep and 
 dress" the same. If our cereal Grasses had had to be reclaimed 
 from the wild species of Triticum, Hordeum, Avena, Secale, etc. 
 (from the wild Grasses of our hedges, woods, and fields), and 
 our fruit-trees, from the Sloe and Crab-trees of our woods and 
 hedges, the human race would have perished long ere these re- 
 claimed species could have supplied them with necessary food. 
 Let the supporters of this popular opinion experiment on the 
 Wild Carrot and Wild Parsnip of our fields and waysides, and 
 tell us how many years elapsed ere they had an edible Carrot or 
 Parsnip from that source. We know that domesticated plants 
 
26 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 as well as domestic animals may be improved, yet their dis- 
 tinctive natural characters remain the same. It may be sub- 
 mitted that there is no evidence that domestic animals and cul- 
 tivated plants ever existed, or could exist, without the aid of man. 
 Cereal plants could not long exist unless the soil were kept clear 
 of weeds ; they would soon be choked by the myriads of hardier 
 plants which, in their turn, would be superseded by other forms 
 of vegetation. Few garden flowers grow wild in a neglected 
 garden. How long would the capercailzies and pheasants of 
 our lowland woods, and the hares and rabbits of our hills, exist, 
 if the vermin (the beasts and birds of prey) were not kept under 
 by the establishments of game-keepers and trappers which are 
 everywhere maintained by the owners of the soil and the pro- 
 tectors of the game ? It is not to be gainsaid that wild plants 
 (plants naturally wild) are transferred to gardens, and do become 
 useful and ornamental objects of cultivation. But, on the other 
 hand, it is firmly asserted that the vulgar notion that all our fine 
 flowering plants were originally wildings, and that all our Cereal, 
 Leguminiferous, and esculent plants, 'of whatever sort they be, 
 were, at some remote period, only existent in a wild or natural 
 state, is not only unsupported by any reliable evidence, but is 
 now incapable of satisfactory proof. 
 
 We had now zigzagged about two- thirds of our way to Killin. 
 Our way from Callander to the Braes of Balquhidder was in a 
 nearly direct course north-west. Beyond this the road bends 
 north-east to Lochearn Head. From this point our course up 
 Glen Ogle to the summit of the Pass was north-west. When this 
 was reached, our way again turned in a north-easterly direction to 
 Lix, where the great road from Stirling to Fort William branches 
 off to the left ; and our course was then about north-east, follow- 
 ing the line of Glen Dochart, which forms a continuation of the 
 vale of Loch Tay. 
 
 On the roadside through the Pass of Glen Ogle, another acqui- 
 sition was made : Alchemilla alpina was noticed here for the first 
 time. On the table-land at the summit of the Pass we came 
 upon a small alpine loch, of which the name has escaped us. 
 Here, and in the brook which issues from the said lake and flows 
 into the Dochart, we looked for alpine aquatics, but without success. 
 
 The Pass of Glen Ogle is remarkable only for its great extent. 
 It contains of course a brook or stream, one of the never-failing 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 27 
 
 characters of a Highland pass. The vegetation and the general 
 aspect of the surface are in perfect keeping with the desolation 
 and sterility of the whole scene. At the Lochearn end of the 
 Pass there are a few fields, and the brook is fringed with some 
 green meadows and inches ; but long ere the summit is reached 
 brown Heath and barren rocks are almost the sole produce of 
 this vast wilderness. Our road, by a very steep declivity, 
 descended into Glen Dochart, which we entered at Lix toll-bar, 
 where the Fort William road goes up the Glen to the west, and 
 the Killin road down by the river-side to Loch Tay. On the 
 banks of the Dochart, a large and rapid river, the road leads the 
 traveller to Killin, which is only between two and three miles 
 distant from Lix. Carduus heterophyllus, a beautiful object, with 
 leaves at least a foot long, and large purple blossoms, orna- 
 mented the banks of this beautiful stream. Galium boreale, Ge- 
 ranium sylvaticum, Petasites vulgaris, Valeriana officinalis, Geum 
 rivale, and many other more common species, abounded by the 
 waysides ; and our never-failing companion, the Yellow Saxifrage, 
 fringed the little mossy banks, and carpeted the bottoms of all 
 the rills and brooklets that trickled or trotted down from the 
 heathy, hilly wastes on our right. Killin, the extent of our 
 journey for this day, was reached about two o'clock. 
 
 After refreshment and rest, we went out and surveyed the pic- 
 turesque situation, and the grand surrounding scenery of Killin. 
 This place, justly celebrated by all tourists, is built on both sides 
 of the Dochart, which, at this village, has a considerable resem- 
 blance to the Dee at Llangollen in North Wales. Here the 
 river passes over a series of ledges of rock, and just under the 
 bridge there is a considerable fall and. rapid. Here the river 
 encloses the burial-place of the Lairds of Macnab, a clan once 
 celebrated about Killin, but who are all now located in Upper 
 Canada, where the representative of the family has been of late 
 years conspicuous for his loyalty and patriotism. Their ancient 
 patrimony about Killin, Kinnell, Auchmore, and Acharn, has con- 
 tributed to augment the immense possessions of the Marquis 
 of Breadalbane, who is now lord paramount round Loch Tay. 
 
 Killin occupies the spit of land between the rivers Dochart and 
 Lochay, which bound it on the south and north, arid between 
 the lofty hill Shroineach Lochan on the west, and the two rivers, 
 which unite before entering the lake, on the east. The hill im- 
 
28 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 mediately above the village ou the west is clothed with a dense 
 wood, which reaches nearly to its summit on the eastern side; 
 and the woods of Finlarig and Auchmore clothe the bases of the 
 hills which skirt Loch Tay on both sides of this its upper end. 
 The grand chain of the mountains of which Ben Lawers is facile 
 princeps, the most eminent, bounds the left or north-eastern 
 bank of Loch Tay; the mountain-range on the opposite or south- 
 eastern side is represented by Ben Chonzie. The distance from 
 the bridge of Dochart on the south to the bridge of Lochay on 
 the north is about a mile ; and this is the extent of the village, 
 which is rather open, for in this space there are several places 
 where there are no houses. 
 
 On a meadowy margin of the river Dochart, before it receives 
 the Lochay, Plantago maritima was observed in considerable 
 quantity, also Polygonum viviparum, the latter very luxuriant On 
 the mountains this plant is plentiful, but generally very small, 
 seldom exceeding a few inches in height; here it was between 
 one and two feet high, and leafy in proportion, with a very long 
 spike. By the side of the stream Geranium pratense was also 
 observed for the first time. This fine plant we subsequently 
 found in abundance in Glen Lochay. 
 
 Our first expedition from Killin was up the left side of the 
 river Dochart for a mile or two ; and here we thought we detected 
 Alisma natans, neither in flower nor in fruit : hence this point 
 must be regarded as uncertain. If it was this plant, it was the 
 only interesting alpine aquatic observed in our Highland tour. 
 From the bank of the river we ascended the very steep hill of 
 Shroineach Loch an, but noticed scarcely anything which we had 
 not previously observed. On the high rocks grew in luxuriant 
 patches Epilobium angustifolium, which had not yet (the llth of 
 July) expanded its bright purple blossoms. A fine object it is, 
 on these alpine craigs, when it is in full flower, which is about a 
 month later than the period when we observed it here. 
 
 The views from the summit of this mountain were very exten- 
 sive, embracing the greater portion of Loch Tay, its bounding 
 mountain-chains, Glens Dochart and Lochay, Ben More, and 
 the far more distant hills of Athol and of the West Highlands. 
 The descent from the summit was not easily accomplished, nor 
 without some slight injury to our muscles. The road for there 
 is a cart-road leading over the mountain to the peat-moss is a 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 29 
 
 zigzag, like that at Clifton, magna componereparvis. The English 
 zigzag has the advantage in breadth and smoothness, but its 
 Scottish rival excels in extent. The distance from the table-land 
 to the summit of Clifton high rocks may be about 300 feet : to 
 the summit of Shroineach Lochan the altitude is probably nearly 
 ten times as much. 
 
 The distance from the summit of this hill to the village of 
 Killin is probably a mile, but as steep as the ascent to Twll-du 
 in Caernarvonshire. The zigzag road is at least three times as 
 long, and not remarkable for the equality of its surface. The 
 zigzag road from the summit of Clifton Downs is wide and level; 
 a coach-and-six may be driven on it with safety. The zigzag 
 road near Killin is narrow, rutty, and rough. The hill is worth 
 ascending, for the sake of the ample view obtained from its top. 
 The botanist need not trouble himself with a vasculum, for it is 
 not a rich botanical locality. 
 
 On the 13th, Boreland Falls, on the Lochay, about two miles 
 from Killin, were visited. Along the roadside which leads up 
 the Glen several examples of Geranium pratense were observed, and 
 G. sylvaticum did not occur so frequently nor so abundantly as 
 it had heretofore. A very large and old stock of Ribes rubrum 
 was also noticed. During the whole course of our walks through 
 the parts of Perthshire already visited, or which we subsequently 
 visited, no Ribes occurred so frequently and in so considerable 
 quantities as R. Grossularia. This species, as a British plant, is 
 ignored by most botanists. Judging however from what we saw, 
 it is very much more common than any British species of the 
 genus. Ribes rubrum and its varieties are occasionally met in 
 upland woods ; but R. Grossularia was nearly, but not quite, so 
 common as Rubus idaus, the common Raspberry, and in Scot- 
 land this plant is as plentiful as blackberries are in England. 
 
 After visiting the Falls and emerging from the plantation in 
 which they are, we rejoined the road, and walked along it as far 
 as the open pastures, a mile or so beyond the Falls. Here we di- 
 verged to the right, up the sloping side of Craig Chaillach, which 
 bounds one side of Glen Lochay, as Shroineach Lochan bounds 
 the other ; and we kept ascending till we were probably about a 
 thousand feet above the bed of the river. In marshy places at 
 this altitude plenty of Tofieldia palustris was growing, a new 
 acquisition, which gave us much pleasure. 
 
30 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 Our nearest way home led us through a very dense and steep 
 pine-wood, in which we indulged ourselves with the vain hope of 
 collecting Linnaa borealis, which does grow in fir-woods, or 
 rather in a fir-wood, at Finlarig. A soaking rain however soon 
 compelled us to abandon all our expectations, and we reached 
 home in a non-enviable plight. Woe betide the imprudent 
 wight who ventures into the Highlands without a good supply of 
 warm clothing, considerably more than he can comfortably wear 
 at one time ! The trouble, and eke the expense, of conveying an 
 important part of the contents of an ordinary wardrobe, are no 
 slight impediments to travelling. Anciently, in military phrase, 
 these and other necessaries were called, and properly called, im- 
 pediments (impedimenta), because they hindered or impeded the 
 movements of the army. But the comfort of dry and warm 
 clothing, a change of raiment from the feet up to the head, from 
 the subecula, the innermost tegument, to the tunica, the outer- 
 most, is cheaply purchased at the cost of a few shillings. Some 
 pedestrians are seen there with their well-assorted packs, which 
 are conveniently and comfortably disposed between their shoul- 
 ders ; and these trudge along as independently as if their baggage 
 was no impediment to them, but a part of themselves. Pedes- 
 trians however who have seen sixty summers can rarely spare so 
 much corporeal strength as is requisite for burden-carrying, and 
 therefore are fain to ease their backs and shoulders at the ex- 
 pense of their pockets. During our three or four weeks' tour in 
 the Highlands we were often wet, sometimes soaked through ; yet 
 we never suffered perceptibly from colds and rheumatism, which 
 often follow these involuntary applications of the hydropathic 
 system. If the tourist have no change of clothes, or only an in- 
 adequate change (which is next-door to none at all), let him take 
 our advice, which is, to go to bed, and there remain till all his 
 things are completely dry. If the weather clears up, one may 
 walk in his wet toggery till quite dry, without any risk. But 
 sitting in wet clothes, either with or without a fire, is fraught 
 with peril to the health of the tourist. 
 
 The 13th was Sunday, and we rested and attended divine ser- 
 vice in the churches of Killin. 
 
 We spent three Sundays in Scotland, not in populous towns, 
 but in large country villages, and remarked that this holyday was 
 uniformly observed with great solemnity. People accustomed to 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 31 
 
 the more imposing ecclesiastical observances and usages of other 
 countries might find the services of divine worship in this country 
 rather meagre, abrupt, and conducted with perhaps too little re- 
 verence. No one can complain of breaches of the fourth com- 
 mandment in Scotland. The day is reverenced ; all work is sus- 
 pended, and all the proprieties are strictly observed. Most of 
 the people attended service in one or other of the churches. It 
 was very interesting to see the small companies, all well attired, 
 coming down the glens to church. Many came from a great 
 distance. The parish of Killin is about thirty miles long, and 
 from eight to ten miles wide, consequently some are nine or ten 
 miles distant from their place of worship. There are two ser- 
 vices in the middle of the day, without any interval. The first is 
 in English, the second in Gaelic. The latter is the language of 
 poetry as well as of religion, and it is deeply rooted in the affec- 
 tions of the people. A large proportion of the people understand 
 English, and they come to the first service. The exclusively 
 Gaelic people, or those who know both languages, attend the 
 second service. In the afternoon all return home as devoutly as 
 they assembled. It is rare to see people idling about the streets 
 or in the fields, or to notice children playing, on the Lord's day. 
 In the remote parts of Scotland, Sunday is strictly a Sabbath, a 
 day of total cessation of labour. How they employ the day 
 withindoors, we venerate the sanctity of the domestic hearth too 
 highly to venture to surmise. It may be said, and truly, that 
 the public solemnities of the day were reverentially kept ; and 
 further, that there were no external indications of what might be 
 justly deemed inconsistent with these strict religious observances. 
 The term Sabbath is as common here as that of Sunday is in 
 England. To the majority of the people it is a Sabbath, a day 
 of rest. To the majority of the English it is a Sunday, a plea- 
 sure-holiday. 
 
 In populous places in England, thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands seek recreation in the country, to which access is now easy 
 by railways and navigable rivers. Probably an equal number 
 stay at home, to cook and eat a hot, heavy dinner. And many 
 of the latter class spend their afternoons and evenings in the 
 public-houses ; not a few of them unwashed, unshaved, and un- 
 shifted. Probably our Scottish neighbours are over-strict in 
 their religious observances, and probably we are too lax. It may 
 
32 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 be observed that neither they nor we ourselves apply the proper 
 term to this sacred day, for sacred it is : its sacred character is 
 sanctioned and established both by the laws of the Church and 
 the laws of the land. Yet it is not the Sabbath, which is still 
 observed by our Jewish brethren, and which is equivalent to our 
 Saturday: its proper Christian name is the Lord's day. Sun- 
 day is its heathen name, the name by which it was known before 
 the introduction of Christianity. It is to be feared that, as its 
 proper name is now disused both by the Sabbatarians and by their 
 antagonists, so its proper nature and purpose are also misap- 
 prehended. Sed non nostrum est tantas componere lites : " we 
 will not judge between the contending parties." 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KILLIN. GLEN LOCTTAY. FINLARIG. BORELAND FALLS. SHROINEACH LOCHAX. 
 KINNELL. BEN LAWEES INN. BEN LAWERS. 
 
 THE 14th of July was fine ; and in the morning we started to go 
 up Glen Lochay in quest of the rare Cystopteris montana, a plant 
 only recently known as a British species. Breadalbane is the 
 only district in Scotland where it is known to occur, and its col- 
 lection is still interesting. Its locality was previously ascertained 
 as accurately as possible. One or several of the numerous ra- 
 vines or correis that intersect the mountain at right angles to 
 Glen Lochay, are said to produce this rare Fern. These correis, 
 or correys, are all watercourses, or the beds of torrents that some- 
 times, in summer,, contain but little water. The term, which is 
 Gaelic, is evidently from the same root as the French courir, 
 to run, which is from the Latin curro, I run. 
 
 This word run is truly characteristic of the streams here, whe- 
 ther they be great or small. In the south of England there are 
 rivers with a current so slow that it is occasionally impossible to 
 tell which way the water flows ; for this fluid seldom runs in the 
 south and east of our island. But in Scotland it is never difficult 
 to ascertain the course of rivers ; for they always flow, often run, 
 and sometimes rush with headlong impetuosity. Csesar, in his 
 Commentaries on the Wars in Gaul, informs his readers that 
 the Arar is so sluggish in its motions that it is impossible to tell 
 by the eye in what direction it flows (in utramque partem fluaf) . 
 We were once in the same predicament about the course of the 
 Mcdway, between Edeiibridge and Ashurst, in Kent. A straw 
 dropped into the stream from the bridge, in a brief space indi- 
 cated the course of the stream, and ours also. 
 
 These correys extend from Glen Lochay up the hill which sepa- 
 rates this Glen from Glen Dochart ; and by following them up to 
 the ridge, and descending on the other side, Glen Dochart may 
 be reached. 
 
 This rare Fern has certainly been found in the correys that 
 
34 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 are at right angles to, arid on the right bank of, the river Lochay ; 
 but it may be, and probably has been, found on the Ben Lawers 
 side of this glen. It is found on Ben Lawers. The rain com- 
 pelled us to retrace our steps, and hindered our seeing it in the 
 correys of Glen Lochay. The same day one of us visited the old 
 fir-wood of Finlarig ; an equally fruitless visit, for our search for 
 Linn&a borealis was in vain. Though we were disappointed in 
 the chief object of our long walk up the glen, a few novelties re- 
 warded our perseverance. 
 
 Meum athamanticum, " the Highlander's Tobacco," was one of 
 our captures. The Highlanders, however, disowned " the soft 
 impeachment;" they recognized the plant, but ignored the 
 name. The search for Linntea in the woods of Finlarig resulted 
 in our gathering of Oxyria reniformis and Saxifraga oppositifolia, 
 just out of flower. There is a fine burn rushing through the wood 
 with many a rapid and cascade, and on its green banks the bonnie 
 flowers are plentiful. Whether Linnaea borealis be of the number 
 or not, it was then rather too early to see. But if any botanist 
 goes to look for the plant in the upper part of this wood, we re- 
 commend the right side of the burn, not above a stone's throw 
 below its entrance into the enclosure. If he has more definite 
 instructions for the Linncea, and consequently no occasion to use 
 these, he may still find in this spot something interesting to a 
 botanist ; and if not, he will, in the ceaseless roar of the head- 
 long, rushing brook, in the beauty of the scene, and in its peace- 
 ful seclusion, find something exceedingly pleasing to a lover of 
 nature. This lovely spot is but a very short distance from Killin : 
 not above two miles. 
 
 On this day (14th July) Campanula rotundifolia was observed 
 in flower for the first time. It was barely in flower about Killin 
 on the 17th; but on the 19th, when we went to Kenmore, it was 
 found in full flower. This little fact shows that the temperature 
 about Killin is less favourable to early vegetation than that of 
 the other end of the lake is. The appearance of the crops at the 
 upper and at the lower end of Loch Tay, showed us that pro- 
 ductions of more importance were affected by the same causes, 
 whatever they may be, which influenced the flowering of the 
 Blue-beU of Scotland. 
 
 The 15th, St. S within' s, was, as usual, a rainy day. This su- 
 perstition is not prevalent in Scotland. In that ancient king- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 35 
 
 dom the Saints are quite forgotten ; and the days on which they 
 are commemorated in England, and in Christendom generally, 
 are there neither religiously nor superstitiously regarded. In the 
 Highlands of Perthshire, neither St. Panl nor St. Swithin rule 
 the clouds and winds, as they are vulgarly supposed to do here. 
 There, all the influences of the Saints are attributed to the moon. 
 That this luminary plays an important part in the regulation of 
 the temperature, the rain, the wind, and other atmospheric agen- 
 cies, is as seriously believed in Scotland as the jus divinum of 
 Presbytery is by a true-blue Presbyterian. 
 
 The 16th was like its predecessor, but not quite so unfavour- 
 able. We were able in the afternoon to visit the ruins of the 
 ancient castle of the Campbells, and the mausoleum of the re- 
 mote and more recent members of that ancient and noble family. 
 We of course heard the account of its being burnt down ; and 
 the present erection, with provident foresight, has been built 
 fire-proof. The remains of the illustrious dead are disposed in 
 suitable catacombs, which are bricked up when the bodies are 
 interred. We did not linger long among the narrow " mansions 
 of the dead ;" and, as the subject is a sombre one, no more need 
 be said about it. But Finlarig Castle and the Marquis's Mau- 
 soleum are the chief lions of Killin ; and here it would be con- 
 sidered disrespectful, and a grievous offence, to leave them un- 
 visited. The grave of Fingal and the burial-place of the Macnabs 
 are invested with a poetic and sacred interest, and strike sympa- 
 thetic chords in the heart of a believer in Ossian and in a genuine 
 descendant of the Macnabs. The Campbells and their retainers 
 in like manner venerate the very burial-place of their chiefs. At 
 Finlarig we collected Mcehringia Irinervia, Clair. (Arenaria tri- 
 ncrvis, Sm.), a plant not of common occurrence in these parts. 
 
 As our botanical discoveries at Killin were not very important, 
 the following subjoined list is given as the result of better observa- 
 tion than ours, or at least of more successful researches : Draba 
 rupestris, Stellaria cerastoides, Dryas octopetala, Epilobmm alsi- 
 nifolium, Sedum villosum, Saxifraga cernua, S. rivularis, Linntea 
 borealis, Erigeron alpinus, Saussurea alpina, Azalea procumbens, 
 Gentiana nivalis, Veronica alpina, V.fruticulosa, Listera cordata. 
 Several of these we know grow near the summit of Ben Lawers ; 
 others probably may be collected on Craigchailleach, Craig-na- 
 hain, and on other rocks on this chain nearer *to Killin. These 
 
36 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 plants are deservedly of great interest, but they do not occupy so 
 prominent a position in the landscape of the region where they 
 grow as they do in the estimation of the botanist. In the evening 
 we lectured to the pupils of the Parochial School, and the clergy- 
 man honoured the occasion by courteously presiding. 
 
 On the 17th, a fine morning, we took leave of Killin, having 
 been there just a week. It is true, we did not do much in the 
 botanical way, but we learned much that was interesting about 
 the physical, moral, and religious condition of the population. 
 The walk along the left bank of Loch Tay from Killin is not very 
 picturesque, at least for the first four or five miles : plantations 
 circumscribe the prospect rather more than is agreeable. Near 
 Killin a view of the lake is to be enjoyed only here and there, where 
 there is a break in the woods which surround its sides. Two 
 or three miles from Lawers the road passes over an open coun- 
 try, and the scenery improves. The people, in little companies, 
 were going to church, and this very much increased the interest 
 of the walk. In Scotland the Thursday before the administra- 
 tion of the holy sacrament is a day of preparation. In the church 
 of Lawers this ordinance was to be celebrated next Sunday. This 
 is the sole grand festival of the Scottish Church, and it is hallowed 
 by two days' preparation, Thursday and Saturday; on the former 
 of which all work is suspended, as it is on the Lord's-day, and 
 on Saturday all attend Divine service in the middle of the day; 
 and, as the following Monday is a day of thanksgiving, many 
 such solemnities would be exceedingly inconvenient. Yet when 
 it is considered how eagerly old and young avail themselves of 
 this solitary opportunity of testifying their obedience and their 
 love to the sacred Author of this holy rite, it does appear to be 
 a subject of regret that this can only be done once in the long 
 period of twelve months. Here we enjoyed an extensive view of 
 Loch Tay, which was on our right, and of the majestic Ben Lawers, 
 which was on our left, with its massive roots extending across our 
 road, and terminating in the shore of the lake. Ben Lawers Inn 
 was reached about eleven o'clock, after a pleasant walk of about 
 three hours. 
 
 On the roadside we observed Habenaria viridis, Gentiana cam- 
 pestriSj and Sedum anglicum, with many other interesting species 
 noticed before. 
 
 Ben Lawers might have been ascended from Killin with some- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 37 
 
 what less walking than we incurred. There is a road to Glen 
 Lyon branching off the Killin and Lawers road, about two or 
 three miles from the former place. By walking along the Glen 
 Lyon road till opposite the summit of Ben Lawers, the mountain 
 would have been reached in less time than we spent in walking 
 to Lawers from Killin. The Glen Lyon road may be compared 
 to the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle, and we should have 
 walked by this line instead of by the two sides of the same : it is 
 a mathematical axiom that any two sides of a triangle are greater 
 than the third side, and consequently the way from Killin by 
 Lawers to the mountain is somewhat longer than that by the 
 Glen Lyon road : quod erat demonstrandum. But as few roads 
 are made as straight as mathematical lines (no Highland roads 
 are so), it is not easy to calculate the distance that might be saved 
 by adopting any assumed line of travel. Time is the sole prac- 
 ticable measurement of distance where there are no roads, or only 
 defective or partial ones ; and as we did not go the Glen Lyon, 
 but the Lawers road, the saving which would have been the re- 
 sult of going straight from Killin to Ben Lawers cannot be truly 
 stated. While at the former place we heard that it was no un- 
 usual feat to walk from Killin to Ben Lawers and back again in 
 a day : women did it. We did not hear if botanists did it. The 
 distance is said to be eight or nine miles ; but as the Scotch, like 
 the Irish, give good measure of distances, especially when the 
 quality of the road is but indifferent, we will estimate the dis- 
 tance from Killin to the summit of Ben Lawers at ten miles. 
 This distance and back we could easily have accomplished ; but 
 our object, of course, was somewhat more comprehensive than 
 the reaching of the summit, and trying to see Edinburgh and 
 Stirling, and the German Ocean and Aberdeen, and Ben Nevis 
 and the Islands of the far West. 
 
 About ten hours would have been requisite for botanical purposes, 
 and in that space of time we should have walked about twenty miles 
 more. This, with the journey back to Killin, would have required 
 more muscular exertion than we could safely undertake, and more 
 time than even a summer's day could supply. The ascent from 
 the inn at Lawers is not perhaps the nearest (shortest) course 
 that could be selected from the road. There is a point, a mile or 
 so on the Killin side of Lawers, which appears to be nearer to the 
 summit than the inn is ; but here there is no resting-place for 
 
38 BOTANICAL TOtTR IN THE 
 
 the traveller. The ascent might be easily made from the other, 
 or Kenmore end of Loch Tay. In summer there is a coach by 
 Aberfeldie, Kenmore, Killin, Tyndrum, Inveraven, etc., to the 
 head of Loch Lomond. This coach passes Lawers in going to 
 Killin, etc., about ten o'clock. The traveller might have his 
 breakfast comfortably at Kenmore, and come within three or 
 four miles of the top of Ben Lawers by ten o' clock, leaving him 
 a good long day for his botanical pursuits. Clever, clean-limbed 
 youths from the adjoining cottages are said to reach the summit 
 of the mountain in an hour ; but suppose the ascent to occupy an 
 hour and a half, there are still eight or nine hours for botanizing. 
 The botanist will do well to secure his quarters for the night at 
 Lawers Inn, from which, if his time and the weather permit, he 
 may ascend the mountain ad libitum. If he has once fairly seen 
 the mountain, its appendages and approaches, in a moderately 
 clear day, he may ascend it alone without any apprehensions of 
 either losing his way or coming on steep, rocky precipices down 
 which it might be impossible to descend. But for botanizing on 
 Ben Lawers at the least expenditure of time, exertion, and money, 
 we prefer a plan broached by one of our Scottish correspondents, 
 and published in the 302nd page of the ' Phytologist' for 1856. 
 The outlines of the plan proposed, but not yet carried out, so far 
 as we know, was to associate a certain number of active botanists, 
 who were to be provided with a portable tent, supplying suffi- 
 cient accommodation for passing the night on the mountain. 
 
 When we returned homewards by Aberfeldie, we called upon a 
 botanical friend, who told us that he and some others passed a 
 night on Ben Lawers, with no protection from the cold but what 
 a projecting rock might have afforded. This is a sacrifice of com- 
 fort which only a very ardent botanist can make. But with a 
 small tent, which a stout youth could carry up to or near to the 
 summit, and with a supply of provisions and a little fuel, the 
 night, or even several nights, might be passed on this inhospit- 
 able-looking locality. Many sheltered nooks, or cavities, are to 
 be found, dry enough for spreading a heather-bed on, and the 
 protection of a tent would suffice to preserve several persons from 
 the effects of the cold, which at that altitude is very intense. In 
 this latitude and in summer the nights are very short ; properly 
 speaking, there is no night there during several weeks, and the 
 cold before sun-rising, though severe, is but of short duration. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 39 
 
 A still more comfortable method of ascent might be devised, 
 though not so efficient for botanical purposes, as the nocturnal 
 bivouac on the mountain. A horse and cart, with a driver to 
 take care of the quadruped during the ascent of those parts in- 
 accessible to any kind of carriage, might be obtained at Killin for 
 ten shillings. Provisions, with a kettle for boiling water (an Eng- 
 lishman cannot travel without a teakettle, this is a necessary part 
 of his equipage), some fuel, and other trimmings, might be all 
 conveyed in the cart, which would also supply conveyance for the 
 weaker members of the fraternity. If the party were to start 
 about one o' clock on a fine summer morning, they would be in 
 time to see the sun rise from the summit, and would have all the 
 day before them for botanizing ; but for the solitary botanist we 
 do not know any more independent and pleasant way of realizing 
 a day's recreation on this, the prince of botanical localities, than 
 that which has been pointed out above, viz. to get as near the 
 mountain as possible by coach, ascend, botanize, and descend to 
 E'en Lawers Inn, and to start, after a night's rest, on a fresh ex- 
 pedition, either up the hill again or along its ridge, in the direc- 
 tion of Glen Lochay and Killin. 
 
40 BOTANICAL TOfrR IN THE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BEX LAWEES. 
 
 FROM Ben Lawers Inn the easiest route up the mountain is, 
 first, the high-road near the turnpike (toll-bar), and there turn 
 to the left taking the peat-road which leads up the hill in a direc- 
 tion parallel with the Den of Lawers. There is a path somewhat 
 shorter than along the high-road, viz. across some fields, passing 
 by two or three straggling cottages on the Killin side of the Den. 
 The Den may be entered near the wood about a mile from Lawers 
 Inn. But walking by the side of the brawling torrent is often 
 difficult, and sometimes dangerous ; for the rocks often impinge 
 upon the space between the steep brae and the stream, leaving in 
 some parts but scanty footing for the adventurous pedestrians, in 
 others entirely blocking up the way, and rendering a retrograde 
 movement necessary for those who think ' ' discretion the better 
 part of valour/' We dipped into the Den, and traversed a part 
 of it, but finding it both a tedious and toilsome medium of ad- 
 vance, we quitted it, and clambering up the steep wooded side, 
 took r to the moory, heathy ground on the left, a dreary and de- 
 solate scene, but a very suitable approach to the mighty Ben 
 Lawers, an appropriate foreground to the scenery before us, a 
 magnificent propylseum into one of the most august of Nature's 
 temples. 
 
 After scouring through this long heath, and leaping over many 
 a peat hag, and trusting to many treacherous bogs, which some- 
 times gave way and spattered us with black, cold, miry sludge, 
 we got a glimpse of the dark waters of Loch-na-Gat, which we 
 soon found to consist of two lakes, the outer one smaller than 
 the inner, and both connected by a short, narrow strait. Hound 
 about the head of this lake or lakes stand the majestic heads and 
 peaks, the massive buttresses of Ben Lawers. There flows into 
 the upper end of Loch-na-Gat a rather large stream, which has 
 its source in the north-east side of Ben Lawers : this we crossed, 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 41 
 
 and, leaving the loch behind us, struck straight onwards to 
 Stoich-an-Lochan, an eminence nearer to the Lake than the real 
 Ben Lawers, and bearing the reputation of one of " the richest 
 botanical fields in Breadalbane." 
 
 In passing over the wide peaty heath we had already collected 
 several rarities, not rare here, but rare to dwellers in the fertile 
 South, some of them quite new to us freshmen who botanized here 
 for the first time. The more interesting of these were Rubus 
 Chamamorus, not in fruit nor in flower, but just in the transition 
 state, with its calyxes quite empty, the petals, like the last rose 
 of summer, " all faded and gone." A rarer and more interesting 
 species was noticed, not in great quantities nor of a large size, 
 viz. Cornus suecica, a plant which reminded us of the hills of 
 Forbes, near the old castle of Kildrummy in Aberdeenshire, where, 
 in 1820, we first observed this charming little object. There the 
 plants were more plentiful and of a larger size than those we 
 picked from the extensive table-lands which skirt the summits of 
 Ben Lawers. Another acquisition was Gnaphalium supinum, 
 which grew profusely on bare, turfy, or earthy spots, or on dry 
 places, as stated by the late Wm. Gardiner. Saxifraga stellaris 
 did not make its appearance till we had reached at least the alti- 
 tude of the lake. Solitary individuals of this species were occa- 
 sionally found near the bases of the mountains, probably washed 
 down by the strong currents which rush violently along the hol- 
 lows or drains in the upper parts, where it grows ; but its home 
 is far above that of the pretty yellow Saxifrage, the S. aizoides, 
 which grows at the very bases of the hills and mountains. The 
 latter ornaments the glens. Wherever there is a plashy, springy 
 place, a drain, a ditch, or a mountain-rill, there is this pretty 
 plant, its green, shining, fleshy leaves contrasting beautifully with 
 its deep yellow flowers. 
 
 Eriophorum vaginatum, E. angustifolium, with its variety E. 
 gracile, Juncus castaneus, and some other Junci, not yet deter- 
 mined, were collected. Vaccinium uliginosum, which we expected 
 to find in these wet, moory spots, did not occur ; it should have 
 been in fruit when we were there, about the middle of July. 
 
 On approaching the steep rocks a little above the base of 
 Stoich-an-Lochan, the lofty eminence nearest to Loch-na-Gat, 
 we were conscious of being in a spot where the vegetation was 
 not only different from what we had hitherto *been, but was as 
 
42 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 abundant as it was rare and beautiful. Cerastium alpinum, in 
 two very dissimilar and apparently distinct forms, covered the 
 green grassy sward with which the stones and rocks, the debris 
 of the mountain, are surrounded or partly covered. One of these 
 forms is bushy in its habit, of a hoary aspect, densely invested 
 with a shaggy or woolly covering, rather dwarfish in stature, and 
 bearing on the erect stalks one or two large white flowers. The 
 other forms, except in the magnitude of the flowers, differed but 
 little from C. triviale, which also abounds there. The capsules 
 were not far enough advanced to enable us to detect any distinc- 
 tive character in this organ. The leaves had the same shape, and 
 the stems the same erect, slender, and unbranched habit, which 
 often characterizes C. triviale. The flowers alone obviously dis- 
 tinguished it from that species. About the stones and hollows 
 in the little craggy places which environ the base of this immense 
 almost perpendicular rock, Polystichum Lonchitis, Poly podium 
 Dryopteris, and Cystopteris fragilis abounded. The latter Fern 
 appeared in almost every possible variety of form and size, from 
 an inch to above a foot high, from a large, dilated, luxuriant 
 frond to a stunted size, somewhat resembling Woodsia hyperborea 
 in substance and outline. Of P. Lonchitis there were no very 
 luxuriant specimens at this early period; the longest of them 
 were only about a foot long. Though we have often seen larger 
 fronds, we have never seen them in greater profusion than they 
 are here. 
 
 Higher up, on the ledges and in the crevices of the lofty rocks, 
 several old acquaintances were recognized. One of the most con- 
 spicuous for its foliage, and which gives a character to this savage 
 landscape, is Sedum Rhodiola, only some of it in flower, seated 
 often on inaccessible cliffs, and enjoying the dripping moisture 
 which abounds on these crags. The last time we saw this plant, 
 growing wild, was on the Foalfoot of Ingleborough. There the 
 plant had long passed its prime (we saw it in September) ; here it 
 appeared in all the loveliness of its early bloom. 
 
 But the most showy flowers of these cliffy rocks were those of 
 the Trollius europaus, a plant which had shed its flowers in most 
 localities of a moderate altitude, and was now in fruit. Here 
 however its yellow blossoms, of extraordinary size and brilliancy 
 of colour, remained to remind us of the great elevation to which 
 we had reached, and the much lower temperature of the atmo- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 43 
 
 sphere by which we were surrounded. Humbler situations at the 
 foot of these crags reminded us of the same facts. Here the 
 Wood Anemone, the Wood Sorrel, and the Golden Saxifrage 
 (Chrysosplenium op.) were still, at this late period, in full flower, 
 though in a more southern latitude and at a lower elevation the 
 two former had been long decayed. Several plants of a very 
 common character were growing cheek-by-jowl with the lofty and 
 rare occupants of these awful precipices, just as is sometimes 
 noticed in every-day life, or on certain occasions, Mr. Snob pre- 
 sumes to ' rub shoulders ' with Mr. Swell, and even assumes to be 
 on familiar terms with him. 
 
 We observed the Tussilago of our clay-fields sheltering with 
 her ample leaves the large, pure white blossoms of Our Lady's 
 Cushion (Saxifraga hypnoides), and the common Wild Angelica 
 (A. sylvestris) shooting up its tall stem, and overhanging the 
 beautiful velvety masses of Silene acaulis. The great Cow Pars- 
 nip or Hog-weed, the rank and common plant of our meadows 
 and hedges, was associated on these rocks with the elegant silvery 
 foliage of the Alpine Lady's Mantle. We were very much gra- 
 tified by finding upon these rocky heights Adoxa Moschatellina, 
 a plant which had hitherto in our reminiscences been associated 
 with the beautiful rural scenes of England. Here it was flourish- 
 ing in as great perfection as we had ever seen it in the months of 
 March and April under hedges and copses in Surrey and Essex. 
 
 But the most charming occupants of these awfully wild cliffs 
 are Veronica saxatilis and Myosotis suaveolens (M. alpestris). 
 The intense and lovely colour of these floral beauties cannot be 
 described. We had seen them in cultivation; but "quantse 
 mutatse ab istis !" " how degenerated !" Some enthusiasts say 
 that it "is well worth a long day's journey to get but a look at 
 the large, brilliant blue," but very delicate flowers, of the Alpine 
 Veronica. This season it was pretty plentiful. It does not dry 
 satisfactorily, and consequently makes but a poor object in the 
 herbarium. The Myosotis is quite as pleasant to look at. It 
 has also a larger mass of flowers, and is generally more plentiful. 
 Its home is on the mould that scantily covers the tops of the 
 rocks. The Veronica creeps along on the slanting sides or on 
 the debris which everywhere abounds. The Alpine Mouse-ear 
 (Myosotis) dries very well, and would make no contemptible 
 figure in a lady's album. 
 
44 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 The tufts of Silene acaulis, with its green cushions of matted 
 leaves spread over the face of the rock, and its brilliant pink blos- 
 soms, form about as charming an object as can well be imagined. 
 Saxifraya oppositifolia hangs in larger festoon-like patches on 
 and over the rocks ; but at our visit the flowers were nearly all 
 gone, and the fruit had succeeded. In this state they have lost 
 all their charms. Saxifraga stellaris of various sizes, from an 
 inch to six inches high, still abounded at this altitude, and the 
 rarer S. nivalis was soon collected. This species has white flowers, 
 but the petals are smaller than in S. stellaris, and they are of a 
 slightly different shape. They want the yellow spots at the base, 
 and the plant has larger and more rounded radical leaves. The 
 stem is leafless in S. nivalis ; in S. stellaris this organ is leafy. 
 Draba incana also abounded on these rocks, and so did Arabis 
 hirsuta. We believe Draba muralis grows on the same place. 
 We thought we had captured a specimen of Arabis petraa, but 
 on inspection it turned out to be Cardamine hirsuta, without 
 hairs and of very slender habit. C. hirsuta of the common form 
 and C. pratensis were also observed, but the latter not so high 
 up the mountain as the former. One of the showiest species of 
 this Alpine Flora was Cochlearia grcenlandica. This plant usually 
 affected damp, sheltered places, where it was almost covered by 
 the upper and impending crags. It was often seen in open 
 exposed parts, but not in such luxuriance and beauty as when 
 nestled in these cozy crannies and corners among the surround- 
 ing rocks. Sagina saxatilis, Wimm. (Spergula saginoides, Sin.), 
 a plant which does not differ much from S. procumbent, was not 
 uncommon on the rocky fragments that abound everywhere 
 under and between the impending precipices. Thalictrum alpi- 
 num, not more than two or three inches high, was plentiful every- 
 where on the rocks and on their debris. 
 
 By this time the evening was beginning to draw near ; the 
 shadows, when the sun favoured us with a gleam, began to 
 lengthen. This and our own feelings admonished us that it was 
 time to seek a place of repose. We had, in the morning, when 
 we arrived at Lawers, engaged our beds at our inn, and now we 
 made up our minds to take our ease at it for the night. We 
 descended to the base of the mountain, or rather to the borders 
 of the lake, and went along its margin and along the course of 
 the stream which issues from it until we reached the village of 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 45 
 
 Lawers. The descent even from the upper end of the lake 
 was not accomplished in less than an hour. It may have 
 cost us more time than this. But we got down well, and were 
 thankful. 
 
 In the dusk of the evening Chaerophyllum temulum and Carum 
 Carui were collected in the churchyard of Lawers. The same 
 evening one of us went to the station of Vicia sylvatica, which 
 abounds in the lower part of the Den of Lawers, not far from 
 the mill. Specimens were brought for the herbarium rather as 
 a memorial of our visit to Lawers than because the species 
 was not already adequately represented in our collection. Hy- 
 menophyllum Wilsoni has been gathered below the falls near the 
 station of the beautiful Wood Vetch. This we did not see. 
 
 The night was drizzly, and the next morning chilly and uncom- 
 fortable ; but about seven o'clock the fog cleared away from the 
 summit of the mountain, and we determined then to pay it an- 
 other visit. From what we saw on the afternoon and evening of 
 the 17th we rightly concluded that we had broken the neck of 
 our undertaking, or, in other words, we had seen nearly all the 
 plants that we were likely to see in Scotland this turn ; yet the 
 desire of picking up only the gleanings from so exuberant a field 
 induced us to breast the hill and brave the inclemencies of the 
 atmosphere a second time. 
 
 On the morning of the 18th of July, about eight o'clock, we 
 started again from Lawers Inn, and, profiting by yesterday's expe- 
 rience, followed the stream, or walked on the peat-road as far as 
 it went ; then followed the stream and the shores of the lake, till 
 we reached the upper end of Loch-na-Gat. We gradually worked 
 our way upwards under the lee-side of the rocks which sheltered 
 us from the driving rain and the high wind, which blew keen and 
 cold from the north-west. 
 
 Geum rivale, Geranium pratense, and G. sylvaticum reach a 
 high elevation on these rocks, along with several species neither 
 prized for beauty nor rarity. Among these latter ignobles, Leon- 
 todon Taraxacum was very conspicuous. The Hieracia noticed 
 by us were neither numerous nor recherches. H. holosericeum of 
 Backhouse's monograph was secured, and, on an inaccessible cliff, 
 what was probably H, cerinthoides was seen ; but neither the spe- 
 cimen which we did secure nor the one seen which we could not 
 
46 BOTANICAL TOtJR IN THE 
 
 reach was in flower, and hence it would require the aid of one 
 better skilled in the diagnostics of the genus than we are to come 
 to a satisfactory decision about them. 
 
 Rubus saxatilis was gathered, or rather the root-leaves of the 
 plant; for those we saw had no stems. We were rather sur- 
 prised at this, for the plant, both in flower and in fruit, abounds 
 about Gordale and Malham, Yorkshire, among the stony debris 
 of the limestone rocks. Alsine Cherleri, Fenzl, Cherleria sedoides, 
 Lin., and Sibbaldia procumbens (Potentilla Sibbaldi) abounded, 
 the former in rather extensive patches on the hanging rocks, 
 the latter was widely scattered over the bare, stony parts of the 
 mountain. Epilobium alpinum was but sparingly collected on the 
 borders of these alpine rills, and none of the specimens were 
 more than a very few inches high. 
 
 Solidago Virgaurea, with lanceolate leaves, abounded ; so did 
 the large-flowered prostrate variety of Veronica serpyllifolia. 
 Polygonum viviparum, Oxyria reniformis, and several species of 
 Juncacea, Cyperacea, and Graminea were noticed. We have not 
 yet had time to identify them all, but Juncus castanew, Luzula 
 spicata, Carex atrata, and Sesleria c&rulea were among the 
 number. Very high up the mountain a solitary specimen of 
 Habenaria bifolia occurred. We did not observe any other 
 Orchid at this elevation. Beyond the ridge, and down a rather 
 steep descent, there is a bog abounding in Cotton-grasses and 
 Sedges. Here plenty of Salix herbacea, which we did not observe 
 before, was collected. This minute Willow is not more herba- 
 ceous than S. repens or any of the minute forms of the genus 
 that abound on our own open heaths. There is scarcely any 
 ligneous plant that could ripen wood on any of the summits of the 
 Ben Lawers ridge. All the Willows would become herbaceous 
 at this height, or, what is the same thing, their stems would perish 
 annually, which is the character of an herbaceous plant. 
 
 By this time the day was more than half gone, and the highest 
 head of Ben Lawers was still more than half covered with its 
 misty cap. The wind and the rain were gradually increasing as 
 we ascended, and there was no prospect of any abatement of their 
 violence. The state of the weather and other considerations in- 
 duced us to relinquish the pleasure of threading the rocky pas- 
 sages on and near the summit of the mountain, which pleasure we 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIEE. 47 
 
 reserved for another time. We can adopt Wordsworth's beautiful 
 language, full as it is of exquisite poetic feeling and truthful ex- 
 pression, merely changing Yarrow into Ben Lawers : 
 
 " If care with freezing years shall come, 
 
 And wandering seem but folly, 
 Should we be loath to stir from home, 
 
 And yet be melancholy, 
 Should life be dull and spirits low, 
 
 'T will soothe us in our sorrow, 
 That earth has something yet to show 
 
 The bonny holms of Yarrow." 
 
 For the bonny holms of Yarrow let " the views from proud Ben 
 Lawers " be substituted. But we believe naturalists are not often 
 troubled with the megrims or vapours. They need not go to Ben 
 Lawers nor to any other remote locality to dissipate their melan- 
 choly. Wimbledon Common, Roehampton and Putney Heaths, 
 even the Isle of Dogs, Woolwich and Plumstead Marshes, have 
 charms for the fraternity. Botanists have excitements of a 
 simple nature, capable of curing any attack of dullness or 
 " spirits low." 
 
 It was certainly to be regretted that time did not permit us to 
 remain longer, for the next day was clear and fine too, from 
 end to end; but as arrangements had been made for our re- 
 turning, return we did, every now and then looking back and 
 regretting that the weather was not so propitious during our stay 
 as it was on our departure. We had however the pleasure of 
 learning, on authority which we have no permission to state, 
 but in which we have the fullest confidence, that this very season 
 Alsine rubella, Saxifraga cernua, Gentiana nivalis, and Dryas 
 octopetala had all been collected on Ben Lawers, and in flower. 
 From the same authority a more important item of intelligence 
 was derived, viz. that Veronica fruticulosa had been rediscovered 
 on Ben Lawers. 
 
 This fact, which we hope duly to announce, will render the fol- 
 lowing extract from the first volume of the ' English Flora/ 
 p. 18, deeply interesting to British botanists: " V. fruticulosa, 
 Lin., etc. On the mountains of Scotland and in wet places. 
 Gathered on Ben Cruachan, in Argyleshire, by the Rev. Dr. 
 Walker, from whose original plant, cultivated in his garden, I 
 have specimens. Mr. R. Brown, whose accuracy is also beyond 
 
48 BOTANICAL TtftTR IN THE 
 
 all doubt or ' supposition/ told me he found this plant on Ben 
 Lawers. I trust no further confirmation is necessary to esta- 
 blish it a native." 
 
 Most of us are aware of the generally prevalent presumption 
 that Hierochloe borealis had never really been found wild in Scot- 
 land ; yet this plant was,, only about a couple of years ago,, redis- 
 covered at a great distance from its first-announced Scottish loca- 
 lity. The particulars of this more recent rediscovery of a Scottish 
 native is expected with some impatience. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LOCH TAY. KENMOEE. TAYMOTJTH. FOETINGAL, FALLS OF ACHAEN. ABEE- 
 FELDIE. DUNKELD. PEETH. 
 
 AFTER breakfasting, on the morning of the 19th, we set out on 
 our homeward route. Ben Lawers, a classical spot in the annals 
 of British Botany, had now been traversed ; and though our suc- 
 cess had been but moderate, we could look back with pleasure on 
 a locality celebrated by many eminent men, who had visited this 
 mountain-range not once in their lives, but several times every 
 summer. This was the culminating point of our journey, and 
 when we had reached it the grand object of our short Scottish 
 tour was accomplished. It was both the furthest extent from our 
 home and the greatest elevation above the coast-line that we had 
 attained. About three weeks had been now spent in the High- 
 lands, and spent very agreeably and not un profitably. We had 
 passed through a country of great interest and beauty, celebrated 
 by poets, painters, sportsmen, and men of science. We did not 
 enjoy much of what is called Highland hospitality ; yet we are 
 able to testify from experience that the ancient reputation of the 
 inhabitants is not a myth. Hospitality is still one of the High- 
 land virtues. Kind treatment, civility and courtesy, may be ex- 
 pected from the genuine Celt. Deference, politeness, readiness 
 to give information to strangers, and quickness in anticipating 
 their wants, are characteristic of a genuine descendant of the 
 ancient Gael. 
 
 But our hearths and homes now began to exert their influence 
 over our affections, and the charms of novelty had lost their fas- 
 cinating power. The sounds of water and waterfalls were not 
 so pleasing now as they were when first heard and seen. Rivers 
 rushing over their rocky channels, lakes either calm or ruffled, 
 mountain defiles, fringed with wood, or terrible with impending 
 rocks, were now comparatively common objects; and they began 
 to be objects of as much indifference as the sounds and sights of 
 London are to the thorough-bred Londoner, who, intent on 
 
 JJ 
 
50 BOTANICAL TOUR IX THE 
 
 ness or absorbed in social or personal cares, exhibits a passive in- 
 difference to what he meets while passing through the busy bustle 
 of the crowded, noisy, shoppy thoroughfares of his native city. 
 We began to be home-sick. Our relatives, our connections, our 
 occupations, our domestic and social ties began to engross our af- 
 fections and to exercise a more stringent influence on us than all 
 the attractions of natural scenery and of natural science united. 
 In a word, we were not sorry to turn our backs on Ben Lawers 
 and all its beauties. 
 
 The road along the lower end of Loch Tay, from Lawers to Tay- 
 mouth, is exceedingly pleasant. The character of the country im- 
 proves with the slightly more favourable temperature. The gay 
 agrarial annuals which were not even beginning to blossom about 
 Lochearn Head and at the upper end of Loch Tay, were here 
 flowering in profusion. The most showy were the Corn-flower or 
 Blawart (Centaurea Cyanus), or Guille as it is called in Aberdeen 
 and Moray shires ( Chrysanthemum segetum), and the large-flowered 
 Hemp-Nettle (Galeopsis versicolor). We did not see any ex- 
 amples of the Corn Cockle (Lychnis Githago), though we passed 
 by several wheat-fields. We suspect it is not one of Scotland's 
 common plants. We remember its first appearance in our native 
 parish some time about 1812. The Poppies were not remarkably 
 plentiful : yet we saw two species at least in the fields or by the 
 waysides. But the genuine wild flowers of Scotland were plentiful 
 and lovely as flowers can be. Scotland's Bell-flower, rivalling the 
 English C. patula in size, and, in the intensity of its colour, the 
 blue of Scotland's sky, and of her far distant mountains, when 
 the evaporation is dancing in the sunbeams. 
 
 The Geraniums, the Orchids, the Roses, the Lady's-finger, the 
 CrawVtaes, and many of less note adorned the grassy banks, 
 burn-sides, and green nooks of many a field and headland. The 
 Honeysuckle in the hedge, the Hawthorn in the copse, and the 
 stately Foxglove, gave dignity as well as brilliancy to the scene. 
 But the wavy Ferns that spread far and wide over the shaded braes 
 were the most exquisitely lovely rural sights we had ever seen. 
 The exceeding gracefulness of the plants, especially when in broad 
 masses, their elegant often pensile foliage, and the various shades 
 of green which are reflected from the leaves of the different species 
 can hardly be imagined by those who have not seen them in 
 similar situations. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 51 
 
 About midway between Lawers and Taymouth the road ap- 
 proaches the shores of the lake. Here we looked into the water 
 for aquatic plants, but as usual without success. Either the sea- 
 son was ungenial or the roll or motion of the water hindered their 
 growth. Whatever the cause may have been, few alpine aquatic 
 plants fell in our way. Small quantities of a fine metallic-like 
 sand were observed here and there in little heaps, or spread out 
 in shallow baskets or on coarse cloths. On inquiry at a wayside 
 cottage we learned that this sand had recently been collected and 
 exported to Birmingham, where it was employed in certain manu- 
 factorial processes, which the simple natives were unable to de- 
 scribe. They were able to tell us that the export of the sand had 
 been forbidden by the noble Marquis, and also that the small 
 parcels which we observed were used for making whet ting-boards 
 on which scythes, reaping-hooks, etc. were sharpened. 
 
 The road passes over the extremities of Drummond Hill, which 
 is clothed with wood on its eastern and southern sides. Here 
 it has all the appearance of a forest. The gardens of Tay- 
 mouth lie under this hill, having the road on the upper side and 
 the lake on the lower ; they are very extensive. After having 
 passed along the garden wall, which was on our right, we got a 
 view of the Tay issuing from its parent lake and spanned by a 
 noble bridge not more than 40 or 50 yards from the source of 
 the river. 
 
 Judging by the eye, not always an accurate measurer of distance 
 or magnitude, we should think that the river here is about as wide 
 as the Thames at Kew or Richmond. But judging by the ra- 
 pidity of the current in the Scottish river, about twice as much 
 water may pass under the bridge at Taymouth as passes under 
 the bridges of Richmond or Kew, if the tidal water is deducted 
 from the Thames. We were once near giving offence by hinting 
 that the channel of the Seine held as much water as that of the 
 Thames at low water. The former drains a larger area than the 
 latter. But this is not always a sound criterion for estimating 
 the amount of water in a given channel. A hundred square miles 
 in the Highlands will supply more than twice the quantity of 
 water which an equal area in England can : first, because the 
 rain is double as much, and second, because the evaporation is 
 not half so much as it is in the south of England. Before the 
 Tay leaves the domain of the lord of its source it is augmented 
 
52 BOTANICAL TOR IN THE 
 
 by the Lyon, another very considerable river, which rises in a 
 lake of the same name far up among the hills on the north side 
 of Glen Lochay. 
 
 Kenmore, which is just over the bridge on the right bank of 
 the Tay, is an assemblage of small white cottages, forming, with 
 its old-fashioned inn, two sides of a square. The upper side of 
 the square is bounded by the church and churchyard, and the 
 lower side by the wall and gateway to Taymouth Castle. About 
 half-a-dozen cottages and the Free Church are built on both sides 
 of the road to Aberfeldie : these, with the aforesaid square, con- 
 stitute the village of Kenmore. Every place here is an appen- 
 dage to the Marquis's lordly mansion. It is everything ; and 
 every one here is a retainer, a dependant, or a servant of the noble 
 owner. We ought to except the clergy, the schoolmaster, and 
 the innkeeper. The Marquis has the reputation of bearing his 
 honours gently. 
 
 From Kenmore we walked along the park, under Drummond 
 Hill to Glen Goldie and Fortingal, the latter celebrated for an 
 immense yew-tree, -which, if entire, would have a circumference 
 of 56 feet, but only a portion of the circle remains, the deficient 
 parts being either decayed or existing in a fragmentary state. 
 The yew is still alive, though sadly mutilated, and is now likely 
 to survive many more generations of men, for it is protected by 
 an iron palisading to prevent future depredations. On this road, 
 about halfway between the bridge of Tay and the Glen Goldie 
 gate of the park, stands a cottage very much admired, it is said, 
 by Royalty when Royalty condescended to honour Taymouth with 
 its presence. Those who wish to peruse an account of this and 
 other celebrities of Taymouth should read Sir T. Dick Lander's 
 account of the royal progresses in Scotland. 
 
 About three miles from Kenmore there is a ferry over the Lyon, 
 and at the end of the ferry-house there is an old castle or forta- 
 lice, all covered with ivy. The road winds round the base of the 
 hill, and leads along the right bank of the Lyon up to Fortingal. 
 In the middle of this Glen, before coming to the entrance of Glen 
 Lyon, stands Garth Castle, the residence of Col. Stewart, a gen- 
 tleman famed for his knowledge of Celtic history, manners, etc. 
 We found, opposite to this Highland mansion, a charming though 
 rather steep footpath over the hill to Kenmore. From the emi- 
 nence we had views of Ben Lawers, Schehallion, Glen Lyon, 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 53 
 
 etc., on the one side, and on the other charming peeps, through 
 the trees which clothe the east side of the hill, of Taymouth 
 Castle and grounds, Kenmore, Aberfeldie, the braes of Dull, 
 etc. etc. 
 
 In the evening we walked along the Aberfeldie road, which skirts 
 another side of the park, and visited the battery opposite to the 
 castle. This has the fame of affording one of the finest views in 
 Scotland : it is worth seeing. On this platform there are mounted 
 several guns, not for the protection of the castle, but to announce 
 great events. Happily the guns are now only employed on festive 
 occasions. Here there is a very complete museum, where speci- 
 mens of all the quadrupeds and birds, or portions of them, that 
 have been killed on the estate are preserved. The wild cats are 
 large and singularly handsome. Of the birds, the eagles, caper- 
 cailzies, etc. are the most interesting. The floor is very appro- 
 priately carpeted with skins of divers kinds of beasts killed on 
 the Marquis's estate. 
 
 The next day, the 20th, was the day of rest, and we attended 
 Divine service in the parish church of Kenmore. There is a 
 zigzag road leading up the steep hill to Grief. From some of 
 the angles of this road exquisite views of the Lake and of Tay- 
 mouth' s noble halls, fine trees and extensive park, are to be had. 
 This road leads over an immense tract of table-land at a con- 
 siderable elevation above the vale. About four miles from Ken- 
 more the summit is attained, where there is nothing to be seen 
 but barren wilds of immense extent, and dreary waste, abound- 
 ing in moor game and little flocks of timid sheep, and here and 
 there a few red deer. The distance between Kenmore and Grief 
 is above twenty miles. 
 
 The greater part of the 21st was devoted to the park and gar- 
 dens of Taymouth : both are very extensive. But we did not go 
 to the Highlands to see parks and gardens; although, to say 
 the truth, few more magnificent parks than Taymouth are to be 
 seen : environed on all sides by lofty hills, clothed to their sum- 
 mits with thriving woods, watered by two grand rivers, the Tay 
 and the Lyon, and possessing as much variety in level lawn, 
 sloping banks, and swelling hills as fall to the general lot even of 
 parks ; and the whole is ornamented with the noblest specimens 
 of Beech, Chestnut, Oak, Fir, Birch, and other trees. There is 
 a celebrated avenue of Limes, a mile long. The extent of Tay- 
 
54 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 mouth Park is said to be thirteen miles in circumference. But the 
 attractions of home were more powerful than the attractions of 
 Taymouth, and therefore in the evening we packed up all our 
 traps and acquisitions of every sort and kind, in readiness for the 
 Perth carrier, who leaves Acharn for Perth once a week, calling 
 at Kenmore about six o' clock every Tuesday morning. In the 
 morning we saw our baggage safely deposited on his cart, went 
 to breakfast, and were on the road to Dunkeld before eight o' clock. 
 Before taking our final leave of Kenmore we have to notice 
 another scene, one of the most interesting of its kind, viz. the 
 Falls of Acharn. About two miles from Kenmore, on the right 
 or south-east side of Loch Tay, is a large hamlet or group of 
 cottages recently erected in a rather pretentious style, but suf- 
 ficiently in character to harmonize well with the fine scenery. 
 No church is here : Kenmore is the parish, where are two churches, 
 although one would hold all the people, if they were all of one 
 mind on certain minor points, neither affecting doctrine, disci- 
 pline, nor mode of worship; but the less the difference, the 
 greater the animosity of the dissentients. This hamlet contains 
 however a mill, a smithy, a carpenter's shop, and a good school. 
 On the stream above this latter and recent erection there is a her- 
 mitage without a hermit, and a waterfall not without water, like 
 the cascades of the Leasowes, Shenstone's famous folly. The 
 water here has worn for itself a channel of awful depth, and strong 
 are the nerves and cool should be the head of him that ventures 
 to look down through the shading foliage upon the dark linns. 
 About half a mile up the hill is the lower and most imposing of 
 the falls of Acharn, with its hermitage built opposite, where, 
 through a glass door or window, the cascade is viewed very much 
 to the ease and even comfort of the spectator, who is furnished 
 with a chair, a Claude Lorraine glass, a prism, and sundry et- 
 ceteras, artfully contrived to draw the coin from his pockets. 
 Milk and honey flow abundantly from the lips of the genuine 
 Celtic cicerone; and hard-hearted must the Sassenach be who 
 does not feel the effects of the soft sawder in the most sensitive 
 part of his person, his breeches-pocket. This however is a scene 
 well worth seeing; and specimens of Poly podium Dryopteris, grow- 
 ing within reach of the spray from one of the falls, may be had in 
 any ordinary quantity, and of any ordinary or even extraordinary 
 dimensions. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 55 
 
 The guide to the natural and artificial notabilities of the locality 
 informed us that Burns visited this hermitage and cascade, and 
 that the following lines, part of those written over the chimney- 
 piece in the parlour of the inn at Kenmore, have an especial re- 
 ference to this scene : 
 
 " Poetic ardours in my bosom swell, 
 Lone wandering by the hermit's mossy cell : 
 The sweeping theatre of hanging woods, 
 The incessant roar of headlong, tumbling floods. 
 
 * # * # * 
 
 Here poesy might wake her heaven-taught lyre, 
 And look through nature with creative fire." 
 
 Both thought and expression are good, but there is little, if any 
 individuality, contained in the poetry : it might serve for any other 
 waterfall just as well as for this, if the said fall had the accessories 
 of wood and a mossy cell. This great poet does not shine in the 
 kind of poetic composition called descriptive ; he had a far higher 
 calling than this ; he describes but too truly, as well as forcibly, the 
 sorrows, the sufferings, and the wrongs of humanity ; the loves, the 
 joys, the pleasures, the toils, the cares, the fears, and the hopes 
 of men and women generally, and in particular of those of his 
 own class. His descriptions of nature are sometimes, as in the 
 above quoted passage, generalities, and therefore touch few sym- 
 pathetic chords in the human heart. His poetry is not an expo- 
 nent of nature, but of natural feeling. 
 
 The following list of Kenmore plants is from the ' Statistical 
 Account of Scotland/ vol. for Perthshire, 475. It ought to be 
 observed that we did not see any of them, but we enter them on, 
 the authority of the reverend gentleman who drew up the account 
 of the parish. Scirpus sylvaticus, Bromus asper and B. gigan- 
 teuSj Anchusa sempervirens, Lysimachia vulgaris, Reseda Luteola, 
 Geranium sanguineum, Astragalus glycyphyllus,Eupatorium can- 
 nabinum, Car ex pendula. In woods and hedges : Convallaria 
 majalis, etc., Campanula latifolia, Rosa spinosa, R. involuta, R. 
 casia. Marshes : Hippuris vulgaris, Lysimachia Nummularia, 
 Radiola Millegrana, Scrophularia aquatica, Hypericum Elodes. 
 In lakes : Potamogeton heterophyllum, perfoliatum, densum, lu- 
 cens, crispum, pusillum, Lobelia Dortmanna, (Enanthe fistulosa, 
 Cicuta virosa, Littorella lacustris, Subularia aquatica, Jasione 
 montana, Sanicula europaa, Allium ursinum, A. vineale, Pyrola 
 
56 BOTANICAL TOtJR IN THE 
 
 rotundifolia, P. secunda, Saxifraga granulata, tridactylites, Orni- 
 thopus perpusillus, Epipactis palusiris. 
 
 The way to Dunkeld is along the right bank of the Tay, having 
 the river on our left, and the high grounds of Aberfeldie and 
 Moness on our right. The distance of Aberfeldie from Kenmore 
 is five miles. This village (Aberfeldie) is one of the largest and 
 neatest which we had seen in the Highlands. It is rather larger 
 than Callander, and contains several better houses than the latter 
 can boast of; but the surrounding scenery of Callander is finer 
 than that of Aberfeldie. The latter has the Tay, the finest of 
 Scotland's rivers of British rivers? We have not seen the 
 Shannon. Callander has the Teith ; but it has also Ben Ledi, 
 and the Pass of Leny, and Lubnaig, and the Crags of Callander, 
 which surpass every scene about Aberfeldie, except its Falls ; but 
 Aberfeldie is a very enjoyable place, and Killiecrankie is within 
 a moderate distance, and Tay mouth only the distance of a walk 
 before breakfast. Dull, celebrated in the ancient ecclesiastical 
 history of Scotland, is near, and accessible by a bridge, which 
 connects Aberfeldie with Weem, on the left bank of the Tay. 
 
 We rested an hour at this agreeable place, and then walked on- 
 wards by Grandtully Castle, and, passing several other places of less 
 note, reached Dunkeld, nearly twenty-three miles from Kenmore, 
 about five o'clock. Our road was very pleasant, being never far 
 from the river, often on its very brink. At Logierait the united 
 rivers of the Tummel and the Garry combine their floods with 
 the Tay, which is now enlarged to at least double of its original 
 size. The distance from this point to Dunkeld is about eight 
 miles, and the road along the south side of the river is about as 
 beautiful as can well be conceived. We did not increase the 
 botanical department much during this walk, but we increased 
 our knowledge of the Tay and its banks, and were as enthusiastic 
 in its commendations as ever was a gentle knight in the praises 
 of his lady-love. 
 
 Near to Dunkeld the scenery became much more imposing ; 
 the steep hanging woods and the abrupt cliffy hills presented 
 views such as we had never seen. We had seen higher and more 
 romantic cliffs ; but we had never seen any with so many pleas- 
 ing adjuncts, as trees, green meadows of the richest soil and the 
 liveliest colour, the waters of a noble river, the distant hills, some 
 of them clothed with wood to their very summits, some in all the 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 57 
 
 wildness of native greatness, without a tree to mitigate the savage 
 aspect of the scene. Dunkeld has been very fortunate in being 
 noticed both by artists and descriptive historians ; many eloquent 
 and ready writers have celebrated its attractions. It has been 
 lauded, strangers might fancy, far beyond all the bounds of mo- 
 deration and truth. Some have entitled it the gem of Scottish 
 landscape ; others, the cynosure of Highland beauty, etc. This is 
 unquestionably high praise; yet we do not say that it is too 
 much. We had now seen the celebrities of Perthshire ; Bridge 
 of Allan, Callander, the Trosachs, the Pass of Leny, Lochearn, 
 and Killin, and last, but by no means least, Taymouth. After 
 seeing the aforesaid celebrities, we give the preference to Dun- 
 keld. We will not say that one word written in its praise is ex- 
 travagant. 
 
 But this charming spot reminds us of the havoc that time, 
 experience, and observation make in the hoard of long-treasured 
 notions and ideas, or imaginary pictures of celebrated places. 
 We had of course pictured to ourselves a mental representation 
 of Dunkeld, and with pensive feelings we now note how unlike 
 the dreams of bygone times are the existing realities. We knew 
 there was a bridge and a river at Dunkeld, the remains of a 
 cathedral, and fine hills and trees, besides the rumbling bridge, 
 the falls, etc. This is all true. There is a river in Macedonia 
 and there is a river in Wales ; there is a river in Monmouth as 
 there is one at Dunkeld ; but that the river might be all enclosed, 
 the cathedral and churchyard shut up, even the very hills tabooed, 
 never entered into the composition of our long-cherished imagi- 
 nary picture. We never felt so keenly the force and truthfulness, 
 as well as the beauty, of a stanza in Wordsworth's ' Yarrow Un- 
 visited/ viz,, 
 
 " The treasured dreams of times long past, 
 
 We'll keep them winsome marrow ; 
 For when we're there, although 'tis fair, 
 'Twill prove another Yarrow." 
 
 Dunkeld proved indeed different from the city of our imagina- 
 tion. Our treasured dreams of bygone times were dissipated by 
 the stern reality. From the aforesaid fact a useful lesson might 
 be deduced, if this were the place for moralizing. 
 
 A moralist would say, " the reality is always exceeded by the 
 anticipation." Perhaps so. Most people can testify from expe- 
 
58 BOTANICAL Tot'K IN THE 
 
 rience that their real enjoyment of a scene is often much less than 
 their anticipations were. It is not our wish to run a muck against 
 his Grace of Athol, but we think it is a shabby thing to shut up 
 Craigie Barnes, Birnam Wood, etc. ; yet it is defensible on the 
 principle pleaded long ago by another duke, " Is it not lawful for 
 me to do what I will with mine own ?" 
 
 We walked about Dunkeld for an hour or two, and then went 
 to rest ; and if we were disappointed on finding every place in 
 and about this ancient city shut against us, except the high-roads, 
 the shops, and hotels, we were not disappointed in the enjoyment 
 of a good night's rest. This we needed after a long walk, and 
 with another walk not very short awaiting us. 
 
 The most remarkable buildings about Dunkeld are the hotels ; 
 these are not notable for anything striking in their architecture, 
 but merely for their immense size. It may be said the hotel at 
 Paddington, at the terminus of the Great Western Railway, is as 
 large as either of the Dunkeld establishments. Perhaps it may be 
 so ; but the inhabitants of London are between two millions and 
 three millions: those of Dunkeld only a few hundreds. The Duke's 
 residence is very small ; and possibly his Grace, who has the re- 
 putation of an economist, has caused ample provision to be made 
 in the town for those who might expect an entree into the ducal 
 mansion in the park. 
 
 On the 23rd, we were on the bridge of Dunkeld at five by the 
 cathedral clock, intending to walk to Perth to breakfast. This 
 we accomplished without distressing ourselves. The Dunkeld 
 end of the road is interesting enough, especially the celebrated 
 pass between Birnam Hill on the right bank of the Tay, and the 
 elevation near Caputh, on the other or left bank. Birnam Wood 
 is said by Dr. Macculloch to be still suffering from the effects of 
 its march to Dunsinane in the days of Macbeth, but we think it 
 has recovered some of its leafy attractions since the doctor's day. 
 
 With the exception of the first three miles from Dunkeld, there 
 is nothing in the scenery of the remaining fifteen miles to repay 
 a pedestrian for the tear and wear of shoes^ muscular exertion, 
 and time. As lovers of the picturesque we would have preferred 
 the north side of the river, but we were told there was no road, 
 and we had not time to improvise a new track for ourselves. 
 
 The plants noticed on this portion (the last one) of our walk 
 were not numerous, but more so than the acquisitions of the pre- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 59 
 
 vious day. On the 22nd we walked in the Highlands, but most 
 of our last morning' s walk was in the Lowlands. 
 
 On the roadside, not far from Scone, Pyrola media was ga- 
 thered in fruit. We had on the previous Saturday seen two fine 
 examples of this species in full flower, on the summit or near the 
 summit of Drummond Hill, at Taymouth. This specimen, col- 
 lected near Perth, showed that the temperature of the lowlands 
 of Perthshire was considerably higher than that of the highlands ; 
 for though the distance be only thirty miles, yet the difference 
 in elevation is considerable, probably three hundred yards. The 
 highland specimens were in full flower, the lowland examples 
 were in fruit. We observed the following species for the first 
 time in Scotland : Linaria vulgaris, a rare plant in Perthshire ; 
 also Veronica Anagallis, which is a rarity in other parts of the 
 British Isles, as well as here. The other two rarer Sinapides, in 
 addition to S. arvensis, were collected, viz. 8. alba and 8. nigra 
 both struggling for an establishment in this northern latitude. 
 
 In waste places about Perth we also saw Dipsacus sylvestris. 
 This is the last botanical rarity we have to register. 
 
 Perth is a fine city, situated on a fertile plain on the right bank 
 of the Tay, and partly surrounded by hills of no great elevation, 
 and at some distance from the town. The country in its vicinity 
 is very fertile, and the scenery good. The spurs of the Ochil 
 Hills are the most conspicuous objects in the landscape. The 
 Tay and its bridge, and the beautiful Inch, are the most attrac- 
 tive features of Perth. One of the churches, St. John's, is the 
 finest church we saw in Scotland, a country not remarkable for 
 the grandeur of its ecclesiastical edifices. The bridge of Perth 
 is probably the best in Scotland ; but Scotland is more remark- 
 able for its rivers than for its bridges, for natural rather than 
 for artificial beauties. It is said that the legions of Agricola, 
 on their march northwards, when they came within sight of the 
 Tay, exclaimed, Ecce Tiberim ! They might easily have paid a 
 shabbier compliment to their native river. Pe.ople generally ex- 
 aggerate the qualities of what is their own. To the Cockney no 
 river is like the Thames ; to the badaud of Paris the Seine is the 
 fairest river in the world ; and a true Roman loved the yellow 
 Tiber. The Tay, though large and beautiful, has very few bridges 
 to boast of. London and Paris have each many more than this 
 river, which is larger than both of the rivers which flow through 
 
60 BOTANICAL TOlfll IN THE 
 
 the celebrated capitals of England and France. We know only 
 four, which unite the banks of the fairest British stream, viz. the 
 bridges of Taymouth, Aberfeldie, Dunkeld, and Perth. There are 
 also two in the domain at Taymouth Park, but they are private 
 property ; so is the bridge of Dunkeld, though the public may 
 use it on payment of a fixed toll. There is a good ferry at Logie- 
 rait ; yet a few more bridges would be convenient. The distance 
 from Taymouth to Perth is thirty-seven miles, and allowing for 
 the bendings of the river, not very considerable, the distance may 
 be forty miles. Four bridges for this extent is rather a short 
 allowance. The distance between London and Windsor is about 
 twenty miles, and the number of bridges is nearly as many. The 
 population on the banks of the Thames above London Bridge is 
 probably one hundred times as many as the inhabitants of an 
 equal length of the Tay. 
 
 The Perth, Dunkeld, and Blair of Athol railway will probably 
 increase the population of this beautiful and fertile tract ; at all 
 events it will supply the means of transporting the natural pro- 
 ductions of the country, viz. timber, cattle, sheep, horses, dairy 
 and agricultural produce, to remote parts of the kingdom, where 
 there is a good market for these necessaries. Instead of a carrier 
 conveying goods once a week, and a post-cart conveying letters 
 every other day, there will be daily intercourse established with 
 all the great marts of the South ; provisions will be as plentiful 
 and cheap in the Highlands as in Glasgow and Perth, and the 
 tide of population will flow upwards and onwards till the High- 
 land glens are as populous as the Carse of Gowrie. 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 61 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY, OR RESULTS OP OUR TOUR IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 THE impressions or recollections of the scenes already noticed 
 and partly described, the general features of the country, and the 
 aspects of its vegetation, only remain to be briefly stated. 
 
 We had now travelled nearly 400 miles in Scotland ; the half 
 of this distance on foot : we had crossed Scotland's most cele- 
 brated rivers, the Tweed, the Forth, the Tay, and the Clyde ; had 
 paid our respects to the sites of Scotland's ancient renown, Ber- 
 wick, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Perth. The general results of 
 the whole are now to be deduced and offered to our readers. 
 
 On the eastern Borders, from Berwick to Edinburgh, along 
 the coast for the railways generally select the flattest parts of 
 every country the landscape is by no means interesting. It is 
 far more fertile at least after we crossed the Tweed the crops 
 were better than on the southern side of that river, and the 
 country was not quite so tame, bleak, and cheerless, as it is in 
 Northumberland along the coast ; but this is not high praise. 
 The belt of fertile land between the Lammermuir Hills and the 
 coast is well cultivated, and this year (1856) at least gave promise 
 of an ample return to its cultivators. The hills beyond were 
 " in pastures green," as all the hills of the south-west parts of 
 Scotland are, and grazed by both cattle and sheep. 
 
 There were seen abundant proofs of human labour, but of the 
 inhabitants and their dwellings little was visible from the railway. 
 The road passes through a rich and well-tilled country ; but few 
 villages and no towns were in sight till we reached Dalkeith, near 
 Edinburgh. Here and there a park was observed, well sheltered 
 and ornamented with trees, and now and then there was a narrow 
 ravine, the sides of which were too steep for cultivation ; these 
 were fringed with plantations; otherwise, where the land was 
 convertible into tillage fields, few trees were visible. The country 
 upon the whole has rather a bare, uniform, and unpicturesque 
 
62 BOTANICAL TOlhl IN THE 
 
 appearance. On approaching the capital, Arthur's Seat, the 
 Berwick Law, and the hills of Fife give relief to the uniformity 
 of the scene ; but these elevations are as bare of everything save 
 grass as the sea-shore, or as the summit of Ben-mac-dui. Craig- 
 miller Woods on the left, though at a distance, give an aspect of 
 richness to the scenery. 
 
 The general bare and barren-like appearance which prevails 
 about the metropolis has been already noticed. But the barrenness 
 is only in appearance, the rich succulent green herbage, though 
 closely cropped, evinces the natural fertility of the soil ; but there 
 is a striking absence of trees on the south and east of Edinburgh. 
 The trees on the west of Edinburgh, or on the south side of the 
 Frith, between Leith and Hopeton House, " only serve to remind 
 us," as Dr. Macculloch well said, " of the millions that are want- 
 ing." The environs of Edinburgh on the south and east are 
 singularly romantic : the Calton Hill is now pretty well occupied 
 with monumental and other erections, all more or less of an or- 
 namental kind ; but Arthur's Seat, the noblest and most pictu- 
 resque of all Edina's natural features, does not possess a single 
 tree to soften the rugged aspect of the scene. The rocky peak 
 of the hill, and the long mural- like frowning rocks of St. Leonard's, 
 contrast rather singularly with the architectural appearances of 
 the new town of Edinburgh. Trees might be judiciously em- 
 ployed even to enhance the pictorial effect of Arthur's Seat. 
 But if the citizens have not ornamented Arthur's Seat, they have 
 abstained from spoiling it ; and this is no mean praise in times 
 when a taste for artificial beauty and landscape ornamenta- 
 tion is so prevalent. From Edinburgh to Stirling, the aspect 
 of both shores of the Forth forms a very favourable contrast 
 with that of the country between Berwick and Edinburgh. 
 Here both wood and water are the rule; there they are the 
 exception. 
 
 Agriculture and grazing are the prominent occupations of the 
 people on the south of Edinburgh, on the eastern or coast line. 
 From Edinburgh to Stirling the country verging on the shores 
 of the lower part of the Frith appears about equally divided be- 
 tween the noble and opulent classes and the hardy races who toil 
 in quarries and mines. The little towns that skirt the shores 
 are all more or less engaged in the maritime trade of this thri- 
 ving part of the kingdom, or are supported by the quarrying or 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 63 
 
 mining branches of industry, or by some other of the useful pro- 
 ducts derived from the adjacent hills. 
 
 The Frith of Forth, about half-a-dozen miles from Stirling, 
 contracts within the dimensions of an ordinary-sized river; but 
 what it loses in breadth it gains in length ; for the windings or 
 doublings of the stream are so many and extravagant, that the 
 six miles from Alloa to Stirling by land becomes about twenty by 
 water : this is probably an extravagant estimate, yet the wind- 
 ings of the Forth, both above and below Stirling, are very re- 
 markable, and are now celebrated. The vegetation here is about 
 as rich as a fertile soil can produce, and a mild and moist cli- 
 mate can maintain in a state of verdure unknown in less favour- 
 able parts. 
 
 The fine chain of hills, called the Ochils, on the right, and 
 the rather less elevated range, called the Fintry Hills, on the left 
 of the voyageur from Edinburgh to Stirling, with the imposing 
 masses of Highland mountains in front, contribute to render 
 this extensive prospect one of the most beautiful and imposing 
 of Scotland's grand scenes. Distance both softens and "lends 
 enchantment to the view." The tourist has no wish but to push 
 onwards, except it may be the prudent one to enjoy the present, 
 and to try to fix its grand features indelibly on his memory. 
 
 Stirling is built on a commanding site. The distant view 
 promises much, and the interior of the town does not baulk 
 the visitor's expectation. It still contains much of its ancient 
 aspect and character: the streets are not so wide nor so long 
 as they are in Edinburgh, but the churches, and above all the 
 Castle, vie with the metropolitan edifices, if not in extent, cer- 
 tainly in situation and architecture. The views, as have been 
 already stated, are nearly as fine as from Edinburgh Castle, we 
 preferred them. The metropolis has a fine view of the sea and 
 of the Pentland Hills. Stirling has a proximate view of the 
 Highland Hills, which are about four times the altitude of the 
 Pentlands. 
 
 There is far more variety in the environs of Stirling than in 
 the country about Edinburgh; only in the old town of Edin- 
 burgh, the noble High Street is a charming picture by itself, 
 the houses of Edinburgh enhance even the picturesque interest 
 of its fine situation. But Stirling is well worth a visit, both for 
 its own intrinsic merit and perhaps still more from its being in 
 
64 BOTANICAL TqUR IN THE 
 
 the vicinity of places justly celebrated in the historical annals of 
 the kingdom. Most visitors will look with greater pleasure on 
 the hills near Dollar, on Abbey Crag, and on the beautiful mo- 
 dern village of Bridge of Allan, than on the fields of the battle 
 of Stirling, the old bridge, Bannockburn, and Sauchie; but 
 de gustibus nil disputandum ; the lover of the picturesque, as 
 well as the historical antiquary, will find something to admire 
 in this view, especially if taken from the ramparts, with one of 
 the fine old bombardiers for a cicerone, one who will deliver 
 his historical, pictorial, and traditional lore, with the precision 
 and dignity of a man who fully comprehends his subject, and 
 appreciates its importance. 
 
 Stirling is enlarging its bounds, many houses and handsome 
 villas have been built in it and round about it since the railway 
 system was developed in the south and west of Scotland. This 
 cannot be said of the capital in the summer of 1856; Edinburgh 
 was then stationary. Princes Street, the Railway-stations, the 
 Castle, the Piers of Leith, and the Fish Market were the only 
 places that exhibited any signs of industry or even of vitality. 
 New erections in Edinburgh would appear to be quite superfluous, 
 and in all our walks about it we saw none in progress. 
 
 The Bridge of Allan is the most popular watering-place (a 
 strange term) in Scotland. Scotland is celebrated for its Spas 
 (a word used chiefly in Scotland), and the owners of them gene- 
 rally make arrangements for the convenience of the public who 
 come to drink the water. Among the neighbouring nations 
 Scotland is more celebrated for its beautiful natural scenery than 
 for its medicinal springs ; and it was with some surprise that we 
 heard of a London patient resorting to the Bridge of Allan as 
 many do now to Montpelier, Naples, and the Islands of Madeira. 
 
 Stirling, like Edinburgh, is not rich in its botanical productions ; 
 and even if it produced more rarities than'it does, these would 
 hardly induce a botanist to tarry here who had the intention of 
 visiting the interesting mountains of Breadalbane. At Callander 
 a day or two might be well spent, not only in observing the rare 
 plants in that neighbourhood, but in contrasting the progress of 
 vegetation with that of England on the one hand, and with the 
 upper parts of Perthshire on the other. 
 
 Probably there are but few plants about Callander which are 
 not also growing about Killin, but there is a considerable differ- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 65 
 
 ence in their condition; for example, Trientalis europcea and 
 Trollius europaeus were in fruit when we were at Callander, no 
 example of either of them was seen in flower. Here the flowering 
 season of these had passed. At Killin, quite a week later in the 
 season, both these plants were collected with unfaded blossoms. 
 The botany of Callander, upon the whole, occupies a more pro- 
 minent position in the surrounding landscape than it does in the 
 estimation of the botanist. The vales, with few exceptions, are 
 well wooded, and the Sycamores, the Maples, and especially the 
 Ashes, are very fine. 
 
 The common Elm in Scotland is Ulmus montana ; the usual 
 English form of this tree, U. campestris } we never saw as a 
 hedge-shrub, which it frequently is in England. The Scottish 
 Pine is often a grand and picturesque object where it has ample 
 room for development; but the loveliest of Scotland's trees is 
 the pendulous or weeping Birch. This tree, as an element in 
 the picturesque, is seen to the greatest advantage both in the 
 Trosachs and about Taymouth. 
 
 It is said that the Pine is the monarch of the Scottish woods, 
 as the Oak is of the English ; yet the Oak is not absent in Scot- 
 land ; and the Wallace Oak at Ellerslie, the native place of Sir 
 William Wallace, with many other celebrated trees of this kind, 
 is not unworthy of mention among the more famous Oaks of 
 England. Some of the Pines of Scotland are picturesque ; and 
 the dark masses of Pine forests and plantations always harmonize 
 well with the sombre hue of Highland scenery. But the Birch 
 is a lovely object, whether seen individually or collectively, and 
 it harmonizes well with the scrubby Oak abounding in the cop- 
 pices which clothe the abrupt elevations that enclose the Scot- 
 tish glens. 
 
 As a botanical station, Ben Ledi, close to Callander, is de- 
 spised or ignored by botanists in general. Its name does not 
 once occur in the annals of British plants, numerous though 
 they be. Yet it is not quite barren. A couple of specimens, 
 which would confer celebrity upon any mountain in England, 
 were in the possession of the post-mistress of Callander : Polysti- 
 chum Lonchitis and Buxbaumia aphylla are the plants intended. 
 
 The beginning of July is rather too early a period for seeing 
 the beauty of the Scottish Flora or for collecting its gems. This 
 time of the year nearly corresponds with midsummer in the south 
 
 K 
 
66 BOTANICAL TCXJR IN THE 
 
 of England, and midsummer is too early for seeing the floral 
 treasures of the mountainous parts of the south and south-west 
 parts of the British Isles. The most experienced of Scottish 
 botanists recommend the summer from the middle of July to the 
 middle of August as the best time for seeing the greatest number 
 of Scottish alpines in flower. Every experienced botanist knows 
 that a district or locality must be visited several times in a sea- 
 son, viz. from March to September inclusive, before a tolerably 
 exact estimate of its vegetation can be formed. Ben Lawers 
 would be rather a formidable ascent in the month of March, 
 when in most seasons it is invested in its robe of spotless snow. 
 But doubtless the enterprising muscologist would then find se- 
 veral rarities to repay him for his toil and suffering. 
 
 The beginning of August would however be preferable, on 
 many accounts. The weather is milder than in early spring, the 
 days are longer, and the fairest objects of an alpine flora are in 
 their prime. But we would with due deference recommend a 
 botanical route totally different from that which we ourselves 
 adopted. It is not to be expected that strangers would venture 
 to dictate even to the uninitiated. Yet it is to be wished that 
 young, energetic, and enterprising botanists would strike out a 
 new track for themselves, and not be contented to follow the steps 
 of scientific veterans, and continue to hunt in the same ground that 
 has for so many years been the scenes of the explorations of Don, 
 Graham, Greville, Hooker, Balfour, and their pupils and com- 
 panions. We should like to explore the hills further west, by Ben 
 More, Ben Ean, and some other of the Argyleshire mountains, be- 
 sides Ben Cruachan, the only one of these- popularly known. It 
 has been stated on good authority, that the number of species de- 
 creases as the explorer advances towards the west from the east. 
 This, we have little doubt, is the case in the southern part of the 
 island of Great Britain ; and it is probably the same in Scotland, 
 from the Tweed to the Moray Frith. The agrarial annuals, or 
 colonists, as they are mostly denominated in the ' Cybele Bri- 
 tannica/ decrease rather rapidly towards the west, because culti- 
 vation decreases. We should like to hear if the perennial her- 
 baceous plants, which do not depend on agriculture for their per- 
 manence, are affected by longitude ; and if so, what are the pro- 
 bable causes of this decrease. 
 
 The rivers of the Highlands have a pretty general uniformity 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 67 
 
 of character. The rocky bed, the eddying pool, and the scrubby 
 or meadowy banks, are common characteristics. Of course they 
 vary in breadth, and in the quantity of water which they contain. 
 But in this even most of the Highland rivers preserve a consi- 
 derable uniformity. The lakes in which they usually originate 
 have a tendency to preserve this equality of flood. It takes se- 
 veral days' rain to raise perceptibly the surface of Loch Tay, and 
 indeed of all large lochs; and the floods in the Dochart and 
 Lochay, or other feeders of lakes, are some time before they have 
 a perceptible effect on the Tay or on the rivers that issue from 
 Highland lochs. The Tay will gradually increase after heavy 
 rains for several days after the floods which flow into its loch 
 have subsided. A river with a long, wide, shingly beach, is a 
 rarity in the Highlands. The channel, if not always quite full, 
 is never reduced to a slender thread of water in the centre, and 
 where the water-worn pebbles are almost the sole indications 
 that water is there at certain seasons. 
 
 But the extent and diversity of the lakes make ample amends 
 for the uniformity of the rivers. Loch Vennachar, the lowest of 
 a chain of lakes of which Loch Katrine is the uppermost, is not 
 very remarkable, either for its extent or the beauty of its en- 
 virons. Ben Ledi slopes down very gradually to its shores, and 
 the hills on its other or southern side are of no great altitude. 
 Loch Achray is very prettily surrounded by the undulating 
 grounds of the Trosachs, which are ornamented by the Tro- 
 sachs Inn and a little church and manse, all recent erections, and 
 in a peculiar style, which is not ill adapted to the striking scenery 
 with which it (the lake) is surrounded. Loch Katrine, the queen 
 of Scottish lakes (we saw not a fairer in all fair Scotland), is not 
 to be described here. Poets and painters have exhausted all the 
 resources of their respective arts in vain attempts to transfer 
 some of its beauties into their pages or on to their bits of 
 canvas, but without success. Loch Katrine must be seen, and it 
 will bear looking at. The Scots however have an eye for the 
 useful as well as for the picturesque. The blue waters of this 
 fine lake are now on their way to Glasgow, to subserve the com- 
 mon necessities of humanity. " To what vile uses may we turn, 
 Horatio !" We can recommend it on the crede experto prin- 
 ciple. It may be used without filtration, if the pipes, cisterns, 
 and water-butts be kept clean. Scotland however, and even 
 
68 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 Perthshire, possess lakes of no mean pretensions, but which have 
 not reached the fame of the scene of ( The Lady of the Lake/ 
 Among these Loch Lubnaig, on the north side of Ben Ledi, 
 deserves honourable mention. It is not a counterpart of Loch 
 Katrine, nor of any Scottish lake whatever. The north shore 
 has a gentle slope, which extends far away to Benvoirlich's head, 
 a pastoral region; the other, or south side, is bounded by the 
 majestic cliffs of Ben Ledi. The lower part of the lake is orna- 
 mented by the woods of the celebrated pass of Leny (Lenie), and 
 the upper by the fine forest which separates this district from 
 Strathire. Dr. Macculloch, whose eye for the picturesque was 
 equal to his descriptive pen, says of this lake, " Loch Lubnaig 
 is utterly unlike every Scottish lake, by the dissimilarities of its 
 two boundaries ; the one flat and open, the other a solid wall of 
 mountain, formed by the steep and rocky declivities of Ben Ledi." 
 Some of the little Scottish lakes on the summits of the table- 
 lands have an expanse of only a few acres : their extent is not to 
 be measured by miles, but by perches or acres. But the very 
 smallest of them give rise to good- sized burns or rivulets, which 
 enhance the interest of the bleak, widely-extended moors in 
 which the peaks of the higher mountains have their base. These 
 lochs would be termed tarns in the north of England. Loch- 
 earn is a fine lake, and the upper end (Lochearn Head) affords 
 fine scenes. Like Loch Tay, it is a long, narrow lake; but 
 where we saw it, the banks are finer than those of its rival. Of 
 Loch Tay Dr. Macculloch says that "it scarcely affords one 
 landscape, from Kenmore to near Killin. Nor do I know," he 
 adds, " any place in Scotland which with so much promise pro- 
 duces so much disappointment." Loch Tay, viewed from the 
 summit of Shroine-ach-Lochan, is a fine object in the picture. 
 Its two feeders, the Dochart and the Lochay, are seen to unite 
 and enter it on the spit of land below Killin ; and both sides of 
 the lake are for two or three miles fringed with the ancient 
 woods of Finlarig on the left, and by the woods of Kinnell and 
 Auchmore on the right hand. 
 
 There is another lake which we visited, and which, both in 
 outline and in scenic character, is quite distinct from any of the 
 aforenamed lakes. The Loch of Meiiteith, or Monteith, has a 
 roundish outline, and is surrounded by quite flat shores on all 
 sides except on the north-west or Aberfoyle side. This lake is a 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 69 
 
 beautiful sheet of water, plentifully fringed by ancient woods 
 and with two small islands, on the larger of which was a priory, 
 founded by one of the ancient Kings of Scotland. The other 
 islet contains the remains of the castle of the Grahams, Earls of 
 Menteith, a name detested by Scottish patriots, because borne 
 by the betrayer of one of Scotland's most heroic and disinterested 
 warriors. This race has been long extinct. 
 
 The most celebrated passes visited by us were the two at Dun- 
 keld ; the western one between Iiiver and Craigie Barnes, and 
 the eastern between Birnam and Caputh Hills. The former is 
 the most celebrated, and deservedly. Another noticeable pass is 
 that of Leny (Lenie), near Callander. Concerning the latter 
 Dr. Macculloch writes: "No one who has seen the pass of 
 Leny (Lenie) will ever forget it ; but he who has seen it will 
 forget the rest of Strathire, Kilmahog, and all: the river is 
 broad and majestic, while rapid, and rocky, and fringed with 
 wood suited to the breadth and elevation of the noble precipices 
 of Ben Ledi," etc. (vol. i. p. 149). Strathire is not much altered 
 since the Doctor wrote, and Kilmahog (Kilmaig) is probably in 
 the same neglected or forgotten state. But when the railway is 
 extended to Callander from Stirling, the pass of Leny, Loch 
 Lubnaig, Kilmaig, Strathire, and all, may attract some of the at- 
 tentions and admiration now exclusively lavished on the Tro- 
 sachs and Loch Katrine. 
 
 On our homeward journey from Perth to Carlisle, we passed 
 through one of the most fertile districts in Scotland : Stratherne, 
 which is bounded by the Highland Hills on the north-west, and by 
 the Ochils, or by spurs of them, on the south-east, and which is 
 watered by the Erne, yields in productiveness to few straths of 
 Scotland. Long ere we reached the Border, the darkness pre- 
 vented our viewing the scenery. The only scenes very conspicu- 
 ous were the furnaces and fires of the smelting-houses, of which 
 there are many between Glasgow and Carlisle. 
 
 The absence in Scotland of the common wayside plants of the 
 south and centre of England, is a feature which arrests the atten- 
 tion of the wayfarer in the northern districts of Britain. There 
 are, even in Surrey and Hants, tracts as dreary and barren as 
 the moors of Hannoch and Breadalbane ; and the vegetation is 
 very scanty on such places, both in Devon and Perthshire, and 
 there the difference is not very obvious. But about the streams 
 
70 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE 
 
 and near villages the number of plants begins to increase, and 
 then the botanical pedestrian in the North is reminded that he is 
 not in England. In passing through a Scottish village, he fails 
 to see our two common Mallows, M. sylvestris and M. rotundi- 
 folia : Ballota nigra and Lamium album are also absent. The 
 common climbing hedge-plants of England, both the Bryonies, 
 the white and the black, the large white Convolvulus, the Sola- 
 num Dulcamara (Woody Nightshade), and the more permanent or 
 durable plants, the Honeysuckles and the Clematis, are absent 
 or very scarce species in Scotland. Galium Mollugo, Convolvulus 
 arvensis, and several crucifers, umbellifers, and ranunculaceous 
 plants, are not observable in the corn-fields. Scotland does pro- 
 duce species peculiar to herself and to other similar mountainous 
 or northern regions ; but these are not agricultural weeds, nor 
 such annuals as we now term colonists, nor such as are called 
 viatical (wayside species), nor sylvan, nor septal plants. The 
 sylvan and septal species of Scotland are probably the remains 
 of the ancient original forests, through which roads have been 
 formed, and the original vegetation left as a protection to the 
 fields. The Elm, Oak, and Hazel are not so common in the 
 Scottish as in the English hedges ; the Viburnum, the Euonymus, 
 the Rhamnus, are not natives of Scotland; and the Ivy is 
 but rarely seen, probably because there are but few or no Elms 
 in the hedgerows. It loves to cling to the Elm; and though 
 not a parasite, it helps to kill that from which it derives its sup- 
 port. The Cornel-tree and the White Beam-tree (Pyrus Aria) 
 are entirely absent from Scotland. The luxuriance and pictorial 
 beauty of an English unclipt hedge is missed in Scotland. Yet 
 the hedge-trees of England, when planted in Scotland, attain 
 enormous magnitudes for these trees. We observed at Killin a 
 Hawthorn-tree which had reached the dimensions of an ordinary 
 English Elm; and as it was but comparatively a young tree 
 (under 200 years of age), and was quite healthy, it bids fair to 
 rival some of Scotland's largest forest-trees. We have already 
 noticed an enormous specimen of Acer campestre, or Field Maple ; 
 and many other examples are recorded. 
 
 Our impressions of the Scottish atmosphere are not very fa- 
 vourable to its fair fame. We never had more than three fine 
 days in succession, and that only twice. There a soft* day is the 
 
 * He who does not know the meaning of " a soft day" must go to Fort Wil- 
 
HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 71 
 
 rule, and not the exception. The weather in England is prover- 
 bially changeable. It is not so in the Highlands ; but there un- 
 happily the changes are generally from rain to snow, and from snow 
 to hard frost, or in other words, it rains all summer and snows 
 or freezes all winter. This we have heard ; ' ( but Fame, I ween, 
 says many things in sport." Sed crede experto : we were there 
 in summer, and can recommend top-coats, leggings, if waterproof 
 the better, flannel waistcoats, worsted stockings, thick shoes, and 
 more than two pairs, and the use of a good fire where it is pro- 
 curable, where it is not, a good allowance of blankets will do 
 quite as well. 
 
 " Fare ye well, ye spreading Mosses, 
 
 Waving with the Cana's plume ; t 
 
 Fare ye well, ye verdant meadows, 
 Speckled with the Daisy's bloom. 
 
 " Farewell, ye broomy elfin knowes, 
 
 Where Thyme and Harebells grow ; 
 Farewell, ye hoary haunted howes, 
 
 O'erhung with Birk and Sloe." Pringle. 
 
 Ham ; or he may go to Inverary, which will do as well. This is the usual friendly 
 salutation when it is raining what the Scots denominate an " even down-pour ;" 
 what the Americans call "stoning rain;" what the Cornish very expressively term 
 "lashing;" and what is vulgarly denominated "cats and dogs" On the other 
 hand, a good day is like angels' visits. 
 
ITINERARY TO THE TOUR IN THE HIGHLANDS 
 OF PERTHSHIRE. 
 
 From Berwick by rail to Edinburgh : 58 miles. 
 
 The sea is on the right-hand of the passenger to Edinburgh ; the Lammer- 
 muir and Pentland Hills on the left. 
 
 Edinburgh to Roslin : 10 miles. 
 
 Not far from Dalkeith there is a branch line to Melrose, Selkirk, Kelso, 
 and down Tweeddale to Berwick. This line passes through the Arcadia of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Edinburgh to Stirling by steam-boat : 50 miles. 
 
 On the left, Hampton House, etc., South Queensferry, Carron, etc. ; on the 
 right, North Queensferry, Alloa. 
 
 Stirling to Dunblane : 4 miles. 
 
 Dunblane to Doune : 4 miles. 
 
 Doune to Callander : 8 miles along the Vale of the Teith. 
 
 Callander to Loch Katrine : 10 miles. 
 
 Lower end of Loch Katrine to Stronachlocher by water : 10 miles. 
 
 Stronachlocher to Loch Lomond through Pass of Inversnaid : 
 
 5 miles. 
 
 Callander to Port Menteith : 7 miles. 
 Callander to Strathire : 7 miles. 
 
 Callander to King's House (Braes of Balquhidder) : 10 miles. 
 Callander to Lochearn Head : 14 miles. 
 Callander to Lix : 20 miles. 
 
 A road on the left to Tyndrum, up Glen Dochart. 
 
 Callander to Killin : 23 miles. 
 
 Killin to Lawers : 8 miles. 
 
 Killin to Taymouth : 15 miles. ^ 
 
 At Taymouth a road on right to Crief, twenty miles ; on left to Blair by 
 Loch Rannoch. 
 
 Taymouth to Aberfeldie : 5 miles. 
 
 Taymouth to Grand Tully, Castle and Inn : 9 miles. 
 
 Taymouth to opposite Logierait : 15 miles. 
 
 At Logierait there is a ferry, and the traveller may go to Dunkeld either on 
 the south or on the north bank of the Tay. The scenery on both roads is 
 good. 
 
 Taymouth to Dunkeld : 23 miles. 
 Dunkeld to Perth : 15 miles. 
 
 The only place of note between Dunkeld and Perth, exclusive of Birnam 
 Pass, is Auchtergaven, a large but not interesting village. The scenery along 
 this road is very flat, tame, and uninteresting after leaving the river, till the 
 road reaches near Scone, where there is a view of Perth, a welcome sight to 
 those who have walked from Dunkeld, especially before breaking their fast. 
 
 Perth to Carlisle by rail : 152 miles. 
 
73 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 " Life is like a summer FLOWEK, 
 
 Blowing but to wither." Seattle, ' Hermit. 
 " FLOWEBS tell of a season when men were not, 
 
 When earth was by angels trod;' 
 And leaves and flowers in every spot 
 
 Burst forth at the call of God ; 
 When spirits, singing their hymns at even, 
 
 Wandered by wood and glade ; 
 And the Lord looked down from the highest heaven, 
 
 And blessed what he had made." 
 
 Abbey Craig, 6, 7. 
 Aberfeldie, 53, 54, 56. 
 Acer campestre, 70. 
 Acbarn, Falls of, 54, 
 Adoxa Moschatellina, 43. 
 JEgopodium Podagraria, 8. 
 Agricola, 59. 
 Alchemilla alpina, 26. 
 
 vulgaris, 23. 
 
 Alisma natans, 28. 
 
 Anchusa sempervireus, 4. 
 
 Angelica sylvestris, 43. 
 
 Arthur's Seat, 2. 
 
 Asplenium septentrionale, 2. 
 
 Astragalus hypoglottis, 2. 
 
 Auchmore, 68. 
 
 August, month of, the best time for 
 
 seeing to advantage the botany of 
 
 Scotland, 66. 
 
 Ballota nigra, 70. 
 Balquhidder, 23. 
 
 Braes of, 23. 
 
 Bamiockburu, 7. 
 
 Beal-an-Duine, 17. 
 
 Bell-flower of Scotland, 50. 
 
 Ben-an, 7. 
 
 Ben Cruachan, 7. 
 
 Ben Chonzie, 28. 
 
 Ben-ean, 24. 
 
 Ben Lawers, 11, 40. 
 
 modes of botanizing on, 
 
 39. 
 
 passing the night on, 38. 
 
 Ben Ledi, 7, 21-23, 65. 
 
 Ben Lomond, 6, 7. 
 Ben More, 24. 
 
 Ben venue, 7. 
 
 Ben Yoirlich, 7, 21, 22. 
 
 Birch, 53. 
 
 " We sate us down, 
 
 Amid the fragrance of the Yellow Broom, 
 While o'er our heads the weeping BiscH-tree 
 
 streamed, 
 Its branches arching like a fountain-shower. 
 
 Wilson. 
 
 Birnam Hill, 58. 
 
 Birnam Wood, 58. - 
 
 Till Birnam Wood shall come to Dunuinane. ' 
 
 Blackness Castle, 5. 
 
 Boreland Falls, 29. 
 
 Bridge of Allan, 64. 
 
 Brig o' Turk, 11. 
 
 " And ere the Brig o' Turk was won, ^ 
 The headmost horseman rode alone. 
 
 Bruar Water, 2, 
 
 Falls, 2. 
 
 Bruntfield Links, 1. 
 Bunium flexuosum, 8. 
 Burns, the poet, 55. 
 Buxbaumia aphylla, 65. 
 
 Callander Crags, 10, 17, 64, 65. 
 
 inn, 11. 
 
 Camp, 20. 
 
 Cambusmore, 17. 
 
 Cambus Kenneth Abbey, 5. 
 
 Campanula latifolia, 4. 
 
 " Oh that I was where BMTE-BEHS grow, 
 
 On Koxburgh's ferny lea, 
 Where Gowans glent and Crow-flowers blow 
 
 Beneath the trysting-tree ! "Pringle. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Campanula rotuudifolia, 34. 
 " The glowing Furze, the bonny Broom, 
 
 The Thistle and the Heather, 
 The BLUE-BELL and the Gowau fair, 
 Which childhood loves to gather." 
 
 Campbells, mausoleum of, 35. 
 Caiina or Cana, 13. 
 Caputh, 58. 
 Cardamine liirsuta, 44. 
 
 pratensis, 44. 
 
 " This mayden, in a morn betinie, 
 Went forth, when May was in her prime, 
 
 To get sweet Cetywall (Zedorium) ; 
 The Honeysuckle and the Harlock, 
 The Lilly and the LADY SMOCKE, 
 To deck her summer hall." 
 
 Carduus heterophyllus, 27. 
 
 "Old Scotland's ' symbol dear,' which he, the 
 
 Bard 
 
 Of Coila, hath immortalized, and spared 
 The inspiring emblem waving in the breeze, 
 I love to mark." 
 
 Carex atrata, 46. 
 
 "The Forget-me-not on the water's edge 
 
 Reveals her lovely hue, 
 Where the broken bank between the SEDGE 
 Is embroidered with her blue." Noel. 
 
 Carse of Gowrie, 60. 
 Carum Carui, 45. 
 Centaurea Cyanus, 50. 
 
 " The blue CYANUS we '11 not forget 
 'T is the gem of the harvest coronet." 
 
 Cerastium alpinum, 42. 
 
 triviale, 42. 
 
 Chserophyllum temulurn, 45. 
 Cheirantmis Cheiri, 4. 
 
 " Why loves my flower, the sweetest flower 
 
 That swells the golden breast of May, 
 Thrown rudely o'er this ruined tower, 
 To waste her solitary day?" 
 
 Cherleria sedoides, 46. 
 Chrysanthemum segetum, 10, 50. 
 " A flower there is that shineth bright, 
 
 Some call it MARYGOLD-H ; 
 And he that wold not when he might, 
 He shall not when he wold-a." 
 
 Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, 43. 
 Churches of Perth, 59. 
 Coilantogle, 14. 
 Cor-nan-uriskin, 17. 
 Cornus suecica, 41. 
 Correi or Correy, 33. 
 Corydalis claviculata, 11. 
 Oaigie Barnes, 58. 
 Craigmiller Woods, 62. 
 Crepis paludosa, 17. 
 Cystopteris fragilis, 42. 
 montana, 33. 
 
 Deanston, 9. 
 Dianthus deltoides, 2. 
 
 glaucus, 2. 
 
 Dipsacus sylvestris, 59. 
 
 Doune, 9. 
 
 Castle, 9, 10, 
 
 inn, 10. 
 
 Draba incana, 44. 
 Drummond Hill, 51. 
 Dunblane, 8. 
 Dunkeld, 56-7-8. 
 
 inns at, 58. 
 
 Dunsinane, 58. 
 
 Echium vulgare, 8. 
 Edinburgh, 1, 63, 64. 
 Empetrum nigrum, 19. 
 Epilobium alpinum, 46. 
 
 angustifolium, 28. 
 
 Equisetum sylvaticum, 3. 
 
 Telemateia, 4. 
 
 Eriophorum vagina-turn, 41. 
 
 angustifolium, 13, 41. 
 
 gracile, 41, 
 
 Erne, 69. 
 Euonymus, 70. 
 
 Fingal's grave, 35. 
 Finlarig Woods, 34. 
 
 Castle, 35. 
 
 Fintry Hills, 6. 
 Forth, 5. 
 
 small towns on, 5. 
 
 Fortingal, 52. 
 Foxglove, 50. 
 
 "I've lingered oft by rocky dells, 
 
 Where streamlets wind with murmuring 
 
 din, 
 
 And marked the FOXGLOVE'S purple bells 
 Hang nodding o'er the dimpled kn." Anon . 
 
 Graleopsis versicolor, 7, 50. 
 Galium boreale, 11, 17, 27. 
 
 Mollugo, 70. 
 
 Garth Castle, 52. 
 
 Geranium pratense and G. sylvaticum. 
 
 3, 23, 27, 28, 29, 45. 
 Geranium pyrenaicum, 1. 
 Geum urbanum, 1. 
 
 intermedium, 1. 
 
 rivale, 10. 
 
 Glen Dochart, 27. 
 Glenfinlas, 16. 
 Glen Goldie, 52. 
 Glen Lochay, 29. 
 Glen Lyon, 37, 52. 
 Glen Ogle, 26. 
 
 pass of, 26. 
 
 Gnaphalium supinum, 41. 
 Grand Tully Castle, 56. 
 Gymnadenia conopsea, 13, 14. 
 albida, 14. 
 
 Habenaria chlorantha, 11, 13. 
 bifolia, 11, 13, 46. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 75 
 
 Hawthorn, 50. 
 " There 's beauty in the Violet's eat, 
 
 There 'a honey in the HAW, 
 There's dew within the Rose's breast, 
 
 The fairest of them a'. 
 The sun will rise and set again, 
 The rainbow bend out owre the plain, 
 
 Sae lovely to the ken ; 
 But lovelier far my bonny lass, 
 
 That wons in yonder glen." Hogg. 
 
 Hawthornden, 3. 
 Hieracium cerinthoides, 45. 
 
 holosericeum, 45. 
 
 murorum, 4. 
 
 prenanthoides, 20. 
 
 "See HIEEACIUM'S various tribes 
 
 Of plumy seed and radiant flowers ; 
 The course of time their bloom describes, 
 
 And wake or sleep appointed hours." 
 
 C. Smith. 
 
 Hierochloe borealis, 48. 
 Highland hospitality, 49. 
 
 rain, 18, note. 
 
 Hypericum Androssemum, 15. 
 
 dubium, 50. 
 
 perforatum, 15. 
 
 pulchrum, 15. 
 
 quadrangulum, 50. 
 
 Inver, 69. 
 
 Inversnaid, 17. 
 
 Iris Pseudacorus, 11. 
 
 July, month of, rather too early for 
 
 seeing the Flora of Scotland, 65. 
 Juncus castaneus, 46. 
 
 squarrosus, 41. 
 
 " They lighted high on Otterburne, 
 
 Upon the BENT sae brown ; 
 They lighted high on Otterburne, 
 And threw their pallions down." 
 "As she skift o'er the BENTT knowes 
 Gawn to the bught to milk the ewes." 
 
 Kenmore, 51-53. 
 
 list of plants near, 55-56. 
 
 Ellin, 11, 27-31. 
 Kilmahog, 11, 21, 69. 
 King's House, 23. 
 King's Park, 2. 
 King's Park, Stirling, 8. 
 Kippen, King of, 19. 
 
 Lakes, Highland, character of, 67. 
 
 Lammermuir Hills, 61. 
 
 Lawers, 37 ; inn, 38 ; Den of, 40. 
 
 Leighton, Bishop, 8. 
 
 Leontodon Taraxacum, 45. 
 
 " DANDELION with a globe of down, 
 The schoolboy's clock in every town, 
 Which the truant puffs amain 
 To conjure lost hours back again." 
 
 W. Howitt. 
 
 Linnaea borealis, 30. 
 
 Linaria vulgaris, 59. 
 
 Lithospermum arvense, 4. 
 
 Littorella lacustris, 15. 
 
 Lix, 27. 
 
 Loch Achray, 67. 
 
 Loch Katrine, 7, 11, 12, 67. 
 
 Loch Awe, 7. 
 
 Lochearn, 24, 68. 
 
 Loch Lubnaig, 11-13, 23, 68. 
 
 Loch Menteith, 68. 
 
 Loch-na-gat, 40, 41. 
 
 Loch Tay, 28, 36, 50, 68. 
 
 Loch Vennachar, 11, 15, 16. 
 
 Logierait, 56. 
 
 Luzulse, 3. 
 
 Luzula spicata, 46. 
 
 Lychnis Githago, 50. 
 
 Lyon, 51, 52. 
 
 Mallows indigenous in Scotland ? 69. 
 Malva moschata, 19. 
 
 sylvestris, 19. 
 
 M'Culloch, Dr., 58. 
 M'Nabs, burial-place of the, 35. 
 Meconopsis cambrica, 20. 
 Menteith, 8 ; Port of, 18. 
 Meum athamanticuin, 34. 
 Mimulus luteus, 13. 
 Moahringia trinervis, 35. 
 Myosotis suaveolens, 43. 
 sylvatica, 4. 
 
 palustris, 29. 
 
 " Where flows the fountain silently 
 
 It blooms a lovely flower ; 
 Blue as the beauty of the sky, 
 It speaks like kind fidelity, 
 
 Through fortune's sun and shower." 
 
 Myrrhis odorata, 4, -8, 17. 
 
 Narthecium ossifragum, 13. 
 New Scottish botanical routes suggested, 
 66. 
 
 Oak, 65. 
 
 Wallace, 65. 
 
 Ochil Hills, 6, 18, 63. 
 GEnanthe crocata, 10. 
 Orchis latifolia, 14. 
 
 maculata, 14. 
 
 yar. uniflora, 14. 
 
 Oxyria reniformis, 34, 46. 
 
 Papaver Argemone, 4. 
 
 Pass of Leny, 11, 21. 
 
 Passes in the Highlands, 69. 
 
 Penyghent, 1. 
 
 Perth, 59. 
 
 Petasites vulgaris, 27. 
 
 Pine, Scottish, 65. 
 
 Pinguicula vulgaris, 13. 
 
 Plantago maritima, 28. 
 
 Plants, common, absent in Scotland, 69. 
 
76 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Plants of Killin, 35. 
 
 seen on Ben Lawers, 47, 
 
 Polygonum Bistorta, 4. 
 
 viviparum, 28, 46. 
 
 Polypodium Dryopteris, 42, 54. 
 Polystichum Lonchitis, 42, 65. 
 Portobello, 1. 
 Pyrus Aria, 70. 
 Pyrola media, 59. 
 
 Railway to Blair, 60. 
 Rhamnus, 70. 
 Ribes rubrum, 29. 
 
 Gbrossularia, 29. 
 
 Rivers, Highland character of, 66, 67. 
 "For we may gather lovely flowers 
 For miles along the EIVEK side, 
 And far amidst the landscape wild 
 
 Wander the scenes of beauty o'er, 
 Now lingering in the Violet glen, 
 Now roaming on the Thymy moor." 
 
 Rosa villosa, 11. 
 
 tomentosa, 11. 
 
 Roslin Castle, 3 ; Chapel, 3. 
 
 Rowan-tree, 13. 
 
 Rubus Chamaemorus, 41. 
 
 saxatilis, 46. 
 
 sp,, 14. 
 
 Idseus, 29. 
 
 Rumex pulcher, 8. 
 
 Sacrament, holy, administration of, in 
 
 Scotland, 36.' 
 Sabbath, 31, 32. 
 Sagina saxatilis, 44. 
 Salix herbacea, 46. 
 Sauchie Burn, 7. 
 Saxifraga aizoides, 23, 41. 
 
 hypnoides, 43. 
 
 nivalis, 44. 
 
 oppositifoHa, 34, 44. 
 
 stellaris, 41, 44. 
 
 Schehalh'on, 52. 
 Scleranthus annuus, 10. 
 Scolopendriuin vulgare, 4. 
 Sedum Rhodiola, 42. 
 
 Telephium, 19. 
 
 Services in the churches, 30, 31. 
 
 Sesleria caerulea, 46. 
 
 Settle, 1. 
 
 Shroine-ach-lochan, 29. 
 
 Sibbaldia procumbens, 46. 
 
 Silene acaulis, 43. 
 
 Sinapis alba and S. nigra, 59. 
 
 Soft day, meaning of, 70, note. 
 
 Solanum Dulcamara, 70. 
 
 Solidago Virgaurea, 46. 
 
 Species decrease toward the west ? 66. 
 
 Spiraea salicifolia, 11. 
 
 St. Leonard's Crags, 2. 
 St. Swithin's, 34, 35. 
 Stachys arvensis, 4. 
 Stage-coach, 38. 
 Stellaria nemorum, 4. 
 Stirling, 5, 64. 
 Strath, 24, note. " 
 
 etymology of, 24. 
 
 Stratherne, 69. 
 Strathire, 69. 
 Strathgartney, 17. 
 Stronachlocher, 16, 17. 
 Sunday in Scotland, 31-2. 
 
 Tanacetum vulgare, 8. 
 
 Tay, 51. 
 
 Taymouth, 51 ; Castle, 53. 
 
 Teith, 9, 12, 13, 21. 
 
 Thalictrum alpinum, 44. 
 
 Tofieldia palustris, 29. 
 
 Trees about Edinburgh, 61. 
 
 Trientalis europaea, 14, 65. 
 
 Trifolium medium, 14. 
 
 Trollius enropseus, 14, 65. 
 
 " When the Blewart (Eye-bright) bears a pearl, 
 
 And the Daisy turns a pea, 
 And the bonnie LUCKBN GOWAN (Trollius 
 
 europaeus) 
 
 Has faulded up her ee, 
 Then the Lavrock frae the blue lift, 
 
 Draps down and thinks nae shame 
 To woo bis bonnie lassie 
 
 When the kye comes harne." Hogg. 
 
 Trosachs, 11, 14, 15, 16. 
 Tumrnel, 56. 
 Tussilago Farfara, 43. 
 
 Ulrnus campesti*is, 65. 
 montana, 65. 
 
 Vaccinium uliginosum, 41.. 
 
 Vitis-Idjea, 14. 
 
 Valeriana officinalis, 27. 
 Veronica Anagallis, 59. 
 
 montana, 4. 
 
 fruticulosa, 47. 
 
 saxatilis, 43. 
 
 serpyllifolia var., 46. 
 
 Viburnum Lantana, 70. 
 Vicia lathyroides, 8. 
 
 sylvatica, 45. 
 
 Vinca minor, 4. 
 Viola arvensis, 4. 
 
 Water-lily, white, 22 ; yellow, 22. 
 Waters of Loch Katrine conveyed to 
 
 Glasgow, 67. 
 Wordsworth, 57. 
 
 Yew, ancient, at Fortingal, 52. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ISP