ed
by the force of their gushing. Soon after passing these "wells of Dee,"
we are at the head of the pass of Cairngorm, and join the waters which
run to the Spey. A path leads through the woods of Rothiemurchus to
Aviemore, on which the nearest house is, or used to be, that of a widow
named Mackenzie, who in that wide solitude extends her hospitality to
the wayfarer. Blessings on her! may her stoup never be dry, or her aumry
empty. It is needless to tell the traveller, that by this route he may
approach the scenery of the Cairngorm hills from Laggan, Rannoch, and
other places near Spey side.

The claims of the Garchary to the leadership are supported by that
respectable topographer Dr Skene Keith--probably on account of his own
adventurous ascent of that turbulent stream, which we shall give in his
own words, merely premising that we suspect he was mistaken in his
discovery that the well he saw is called "Well Dee."

"At two o'clock P.M. we set out to climb the mountain, still
keeping in sight of the river. In a few minutes we came to the foot
of a cataract, whose height we found to be one thousand feet, and
which contained about a fourth part of the water of which the
Garchary was now composed. In about half an hour after, we
perceived that the cataract came from a lake in the ridge of the
mountain of Cairn Toul, and that the summit of the mountain was
another thousand feet above the loch, which is called Loch na Youn,
or the Blue Lake. A short time after we saw the Dee (here called
the Garchary from this rocky bed, which signifies in Gaelic _the
rugged quarry_) tumbling in great majesty over the mountain down
another cataract; or as we afterwards found it, a chain of natural
cascades, above thirteen hundred feet high. It was in flood at this
time from the melting of the snow, and the late rains; and what was
most remarkable, an arch of snow covered the narrow glen from which
it tumbled over the rocks. We approached so near to the cataract as
to know that there was no other lake or stream; and then we had to
climb among huge rocks, varying from one to ten tons, and to catch
hold of the stones or fragments that projected, while we ascended
in an angle of seventy or eighty degrees. A little before four
o'clock we got to the top of the mountain, which I knew to be Brae
Riach, or the speckled mountain. Here we fou