over there on Tomachastel was their home--a place famous then, and very
noticeable still, with its gleaming memorial obelisk to "oor Davie" of
Ferntower, the hardy soldier who overcame the fierce Tippoo Sahib at
Seringapatam. Beyond lie the Aberuchill Hills, with the flat pyramidal
face of Ben Voirlich filling up a gap, and sending its roots, on one
side, down into "lone Glenartney's hazel shade," and, on the other, into
Loch Earn--sixteen miles away. Further off, and only to be seen on rare
days, when the sun's rays are dancing to be dry after rain, are sturdy,
broad-shouldered Benmore, and slender, graceful Binnein, the twin
guardians of the enchanted region beyond, where Beauty lies in the lap of
Terror, and the Atlantic surf sings lullaby. There are the Monzievaird
hills to the right, rising in Benchonzie to the height of 3048 feet, and
to something under this figure in the Cairngorm or Blue Craig, upon which
you see the stone-heap of Cainnechin--memorial, as it is said, of a
battle fought within what are now the policies of Ochtertyre, and as the
result of which Malcolm 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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