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| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIVER DEE | River Dee River Dee River Dee River Dee |
Revd. [Reverend] John Allan, Parish Minister Manse of Peterculter, Aberdeen Mr. John Smith, Parochial Teacher & Registrar, Peterculter Mr. Arthur Stephen, Sub-Factor East Lodge Peterculter. Fullarton's Gazetteer of Scotland |
085 ; 086 | "A great river, partly of Kincardineshire, but chiefly of Aberdeenshire. The name signifies "a dark stream"; and as regards the gloom, and the savage sublimity of the upper part of this rivers course, though not as regards the colour of its waters, it is sufficiently descriptive. The sources of the Dee are much higher than those of any other river in Britain; they lie among the shoulders and near the summits of the Cairngorm mountains, a group immensely grand, and in many parts inaccessible, they appear, in some instances, judging from height and copiousness and constancy, to be fed in some wondrous manner which science has never yet been able to explain; and the nascent streams which flow from them are so entangled among precipices and tunnels as to baffle all attempts at close observation. Hence do the very shepherds in the vicinity dispute as to which is the head stream of the Dee; while very intelligent tourists, speaking very dogmatically, have, in several instances, placed all the sources a thousand feet or more below their true position. "Nearly as many misrepresentations," says Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, have been made of the source of the Dee as of the springs of the Nile; and it has been kept as great a mystery as the ongoings and outgoings of the Niger; yet it should be no great secret. The Summit of Benmacdhu has many charms in a clear summer day. It is the highest land in Britain, and is president over a convication of mountains*** The outlines of all Scotland, north of the Forth, come within the picture laid out around Benmacdhu, and there is no scene in all that vast extent of land more gloomy and terrific than those crags on its eastern side that rise around Lochaven. Two head-streams of the Dee are manifestly higher than all the others, and yet are so nearly equal to each other in at once height, length, and volume, that they may be best regarded as joint parents of the river. The one rises near the summit of Benmacdhu, and runs southward down the west flank of that mountain, chiefly beneath prodigious masses of debris which hide it, for a thousand feet or more of its descent, entirely from the view. The other [continued on page 66] |
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County of Aberdeen Parish of Peterculter 65 [at top of page]Transcribers who have contributed to this page.
CorrieBuidhe- Moderator, hastingleigh, Iain496
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