The Deveron partakes of the character of the Dee and the character of the Don. It is neither so sparkling and rapid as the one nor so slow and muddy as the other. Around Huntly and in the locality of Turriff and Eden, where it is the boundary between the counties, it has some charmingly beautiful reaches. Along its banks is a succession of stately manor-houses, embosomed in trees, and these highly embellished demesnes enhance its natural charms. [Illustration: Brig o’ Balgownie, Aberdeen] Lakes are few in Aberdeenshire, and such as exist are not specially remarkable. The most interesting historically are the Deeside Lochs Kinnord and Davan which are held by antiquarians to be the seat of an ancient city Devana—the town of the two lakes. In pre-historic times there dwelt on the shores of these lakes as also in the valleys that converge upon them a tribe of people who built forts, and lake retreats, made oak canoes, and by means of palisades of the same material created artificial islands. The canoes which have been recovered from the bed of the loch are hollowed logs thirty feet in length. Other relics—a bronze vessel and a bronze spearhead, together with many beams of oak—have been fished up, all proving the existence of an early Pictish settlement. [Illustration: Loch Muick, near Ballater] Besides these, there is in the same district—but south-east of Loch-na-gar, another and larger lake called Loch Muick. From it flows the small river Muick—a tributary of the Dee, which it joins above Ballater. South-west of Loch-na-gar is Loch Callater, which drains into the Clunie, another Dee tributary, which joins the main river at Castleton of Braemar. On the lower reaches of the Dee are the Loch of Park or Drum, and the Loch of Skene, both of which drain into the Dee. Both are much frequented by water-fowl of various kinds. The Loch of Strathbeg, which lies on the east coast not far from Rattray Head, is a brackish loch of some interest. Two hundred years ago, we are told, it was in direct communication with the sea and small vessels were able to enter it. In a single night a furious easterly gale blew away a sand-hill between the Castle-hill of Rattray and the sea, with the result that the wind-driven sand formed a sand-bar where formerly there was a clear [Illustration: Loch Callater, Braemar] water-way. Since that day the loch has been land-locked and though still slightly brackish may be regarded as an inland loch. 6. Geology.