Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1935-12-26

abruptly from the sea are loLIy
rocky cliffs, from whose heights one
has splendid view Of the sea and
surrounding country.
We drove through the lake dis
tricts, across the moorlands, where
one sees nothing for miles except
small lakes and fields of purple
heather, the only sign of life being
wild game, such as grouse, pheas-
ant and deer. You can easily believe
that there is no monotony in the
travellers journey through that
land, as the scenery is quite varied
in the course of few miles.
| We enjoyed several pleasant
drives up Deerside, past Balmoral
castle, the summer dwelling of the
king and queen. This beautiful old
converted into residence, is sit
uated on the banks of the river
Dee, the grounds extending to the
waters edge. We visited Crathie
church, close by Balmoral, where
the members of royalty worship
i
to which place they are driven in
the royal carriage, drawn by four
white horses. We sometimes took
our afternoon tea in sight of Bal
moral, along the banks of the river.
There are many other lovely cas-
ties up Deeside, some in ruins, 9TH
ers the center of large estates own
ed and inhabited by other royal
| families and the gentry, or wealth
| ier class. The Prince of Wales has
a most imposing summer home
| few miles distant from Balmoral.
Although the Deeside, with it's fa-
nous old castles is most interesting,
| it is no more beautiful than the
broad, fertile valleys of the Don
river where our Scotch relatives
| live, and where we spent most OF
our vacation
We took one trip which stands
out more vividly in my memory and
impressed me more keenly than all
the others, and that was the one
down the Caledonian canal, which
covered a period of several days.
The canal comprises three natural
| lakes or lochs, as they are called,
| joined by canals with locks. or
these lakes, Loeb Ness is the larg-
est and most picturesque, being rs
miles in length and as wide as the
Ohio river The highway, over
which we travelled along it's edge,
| is wonderful feat of engineering,
| having been cut through the hard
red rock Of the mountains in some
places. On each side of these lakes
are the lofty and awe-inspiring
ranges of the Grampian mountains.
There are several ranges towering
one above the other, some of the
highest being snow-capped, others
green with grass and evergreen
trees, while still another lower one
| is blanketed with purple heather.
The lake and mountain scenery
cannot adequately be described, nor
can it be successfully photographed.
| 1t is in this Loeb Ness that the sea-
| monster, about which we nave
| heard so much recently, makes his
| home. Many reliable Scotch folks
have vouched for the veracity Of
| this strange story of the monster.
A certain old Scotchman related,
| in all seriousness, his story OF hav-
| ing viewed the creature and
added that he 'had had ma
one wee drappie" either. 1 wonder?
| NAL, Or monster, or whatever it is
supposed to be, during the full rs
| miles Of the journey, so we are un-
able to verify the truth of this
story.
These lochs, which form the
canal, are fed by the mountain
streams, which come rushing down
from the summit of the mountains,
| with a mad roar, and which make
a very sublime picture.
On this particular trip to the
canal we visited the old battle
grounds where the famous battle
of Culloden was fought in the year
l1746, in which battle "Charming
Prince Charlie and his gallant
| Highlanders bravely fought and
met their defeat, almost every man
having been killed The graves OF
the various clansmen are marked
! by monuments erected of stones.
This battle ground is situated IN
| the moorlandS where one sees no
signs of vegetation except the
heather, and having heard the
| legend that heather will not and
never has grown over these graves,
we were curious to know how much
truth there was in this assertion.
1t seemed strange to us, as 1T does
to others, that there wasn't even
one heather plant on any OF the
numerous graves, although it grew
everywhere surrounding the graves.
1t grows right up to the very edges
Of the graves, however, and it is
fact that many times the evergreen
heather plants have been placed
upon the graves only to quickly
wither and die.
| We continued our journey to the
city of Inverness, situated on Loeb
| Ness, near where it enters Moray
Firth at the northeast end of the
| Caledonian canal. This city is sur
rounded by picturesque wooded
| gIens and hills. 1t is quite a his
torical place and is near where the
battle of Culloden was fought. In
verness takes great pride in the pur-
L ity of it's English, the people speak