lcolm II. came to the throne of Scotia, having defeated
and slain his rival Kenneth Duff or Don--Kenneth, the swarthy--"at a
place where two valleys meet." Many battles have been fought out in the
Strath, for it must always have been a rich prize; but this one has a
special historical interest, inasmuch as it connects us with one of the
great tragedies in our annals, in which the genius of Shakespeare found
material for one of his masterly delineations of the strange workings of
human passion. It is said that Fraoch, wife of Macbeth Maormor of Moray,
had a good claim to the throne as the grand-daughter of this Kenneth
Duff, and, prompted by ambition and revenge, instigated her husband to
the murder of his Sovereign and guest--the gracious Duncan, grandson of
Malcolm II., at Bothgowan, near Elgin. Loch Turret lies in the gorge
that separates Benchonrie from the Blue Craig. It is likely enough that
the descendants of the wild fowl that Robert Burns scared on the occasion
of his visit to Ochtertyre still nest and pair in the solitude.

To the left of Turleum is a wider expanse, that carries the eye to the
Moor of Orchill, which overlooks the plain of Ardoch--the Lindum of the
Romans--traditional scene of the battle of Mons Grampus. Some miles away
Stirling finds shelter under its rock,--not visible to us, however, where
we stand, and only audible across the intervening twenty-two miles when
birthday and other honours are paid to Royalty.

The Ochil range--memorial of fierce volcanic action when the lower old
red sandstone was being deposited in the inland lake which stretched from
east to west across the Lowlands of Scotland, and away southward without
a break to the southern uplands, close to the border of England;--this
Ochil range, which means high ground, as Glenogle means high glen, bounds
our view to the south-east. It has no towering peaks, but Bencleuch and
its neighbour, King Seat, command magnificent panoramic views to north
and south from an elevation of 2000 feet. The gap before us is
Gleneagles,--Glen-eccles--Kirk glen--one of the passes into the Lowlands
of Fife and Kinross, by which, it may be, Agricola found his way into
Strathearn after the conquest of Fife. In the very heart of the Ochils
its name changes from Gleneagles to Glendevon. Here again we are upon
classic ground--in the vale of the clear winding Devon, which more than
any other stream recalls Yarrow with its hills green to the top and it