Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BENMORE-COIGACH
Benmore-Coigach, a mountain in Lochbroom parish,
Koss-shire, flanking the central part of the N side of
Loch Broom. It rises to an altitude of 2435 feet above
sea-level ; shows peculiar tints and a very striking con-
tour ; and is one of the most remarkable mountains in
the Highlands.
Ben Hluich Dhui. See Ben Macdhui.
Bennabourd. See Benaboued.
Ben-na Cailleach, a mountain in the S of the Isle
of Skye, Inverness-shire, 3 miles W by S of Broadford.
It is shaped somewhat like Vesuvius, and has a peaked
summit.
Bennachie. See Bennochie.
Bennamhiaii. See Beneveian.
Bennan. See Benan.
Ben-nan-Aighean, a mountain in Ardchattan parish,
Argyllshire, almost wholly encircled by the Kinglass
and its affluent, the Allt Hallater, and culminating at
3141 feet above the upper waters of Loch Etive, 3$ miles
to the W. Though bearing a name which signifies ' the
mountain of the heifers,' it yields but indifferent pasture
even on its lower acclivities, and is almost entirely bare
over all its upper half. It consists chiefly of granite,
and contains a few fine rock crystals.
Bennarty. See Benaety.
Ben Nevis, a mountain in Kilmalie parish, Inverness-
shire, immediately SE of Loch Eil at Fort William, and
accessible from that town by a new carriage drive of 7
miles to the head of Glen Nevis, opened to traffic in
Sept. 1880. It starts abruptly from the plain adjacent
to Fort William ; is well defined round all its circuit ;
attains an altitude of 4406 feet above sea-level ; and is
the highest mountain in Great Britain. Two profound
glens, Treig on the E, and Nevis on the S and SW, cut
down large portions of its skirts ; and deep depressions,
hollows, or plains on the other sides separate the rest
of it from the neighbouring heights. Its base measures
fully 24 miles in circuit; its mass looks like one moun-
tain superimposed on another— Ossa piled upon Pelion ;
its summit is not peaked, but flattened ; and its entire
bulk, from skirt to crown, stands well revealed to the
eye, exhibiting its proportions with continuity and clear-
ness. The lower mountain is an oblong mass, about
3000 feet high, and terminates in a plateau containing a
tarn or alpine lakelet ; and the upper mountain springs
from the southern extremity of the lower one, and has
the form of a vast prism. The northern front makes two
grand acclivitous ascents, terminating in terraces ; and
the north-eastern side shrinks into a broad tremendous
precipice, not less than 1500 feet deep. The rock of the
basement portion is gneiss alternating with mica slate ;
the rock thence upward to the summit of the lower
mountain is granite, newer than the gneiss ; and the
rock of the upper mountain is porphyritic greenstone,
more recent still than the granite. The rocks, however,
include diversities, each kind within itself ; and, at once
by their superpositions, by their several diversities, and
by their respective minerals, they form a grand study to
geologists. The ascent of Ben Nevis is usually made on
the W side, from Fort "William or Banavie, and occupies
3 J hours ; but it cannot be made without considerable diffi-
culty and some danger, and ought never to be attempted by
a stranger without a guide. The view from the summit
is both extensive and sublime. The astonished spectator,
who has been so fortunate as to reach it free of its fre-
quent robe of clouds, descries, toward the S and E, the
blue mountains of Ben Cruachan, Ben Lomond, Benmore,
Ben Lawers, Schiehallion, and Cairngorm, with a thousand
intermediate and less aspiring peaks. On the other sides,
his eye wanders from the distant hills of Caithness to the
remote and scarcely discernible mountains of the Outer
Hebrides. Numerous glens and valleys lie to the S, but
they are hidden from observation ; and to the utmost
verge of the horizon, countless mountains of all sizes
and shapes, heathy, rocky, and tempest-worn, extend
before the eye, as if the waves of a troubled ocean had
suddenly been turned to stone. Looking towards the
other points of the compass, we meet with more variety,
— the silvery waters of Lochs Eil, Linnhe, and Lochy,
BENSHITH
of the Atlantic and German oceans, rendering the vast
prospect more cheerful and brilliant. In May 1881 an
observatory of the Scottish Meteorological Society was
established on Ben Nevis. — Ord. Sur., sh. 53, 1877.
Bennochie (Gael. beinn-a-Chi, 'mountain of Che,' a
Caledonian deity), a mountain in Alford, Keig, Prem-
nay, Oyne, and Garioch parishes, Aberdeenshire, ex-
tending about 5 miles from E to W, about 3h from N to
S, and flanking the N side of the valley of the Don from
the neighbourhood of Alford village to the near neigh-
bourhood of Inverurie. It rises to an altitude of 1698
feet above sea-level ; it swells upward in graceful out-
line ; it has six summits in the form of peaks or rounded
pinnacles ; and it figures conspicuously in a great extent
of landscape, to distances of 30 or 40 miles, so as to be
an arresting object on the sky-line as seen from almost
every part of Buchan. Its summits are locally known
by distinctive names ; and the highest and largest is
called the Mither Tap. The principal rock of the moun-
tain is reddish granite, traversed from N to S by great
dykes of porphyry ; and it is extensively quarried.
Ben Nuis. See Bengnuis.
Ben Odhar, a mountain (2948 feet) on the mutual
border of Perth and Argyll shires, 2J miles N by E of
Tyndrum station.
Benormin. See Ben-an-Aemuinn.
Ben Pharlagain, a mountain in the W of Fortingal
parish, NW Perthshire, culminating at 2836 feet above
sea-level, 2| miles W of the foot of Loch Ericht.
Ben Katha, a hill in Reay parish, NW Caithness,
culminating 2i miles SSW of Reay village. It makes
a long slow ascent of upwards of 1 mile, attains an alti-
tude of 795 feet above sea-level, and is pierced with a
curious cave.
Ben Reithe. See Argyll's Bowling Green.
Ben Reoch, a mountain in Arrochar parish, Dumbar-
tonshire, situated midway between Loch Lomond and
Loch Long, and culminating If mile SE of Arrochar
village at 216S feet above sea-level.
Ben Resipol, a mountain in Sunart district, Argyll-
shire, overhanging the N side of Loch Sunart, and rising
to an altitude of 2774 feet above sea-level.
Ben Rinnes, a mountain in Aberlour and Inveraven
parishes, Banffshire, bounded E by the deep pass of Glack
Harness, which separates it from the Conval Mountains,
and westward extending to within 2J miles of the river
Spey below Ballindalloch. It rises from a base some 3
miles long and 2 miles broad to an elevation of 2755
feet above sea-level, and commands a view from Caith-
ness to the Grampians.
Ben Ruadh, a hill (S37 feet) on the mutual border of
Farr and Reay parishes, Sutherland, 4 miles S by E of
the head of Strathy Bay ; also another hill (608 feet) of
Reay parish, on the Caithness border, 2| miles WSW
of Reay village.
Ben Ruadh, a mountain in the Kilmun portion of Dun-
oon-Kilmun parish, Cowal, Argyllshire, culminating {
mile E of the lower waters of Loch Eck at 2178 feet
above sea-level.
Ben Ruisg, a mountain in Luss parish, Dumbartonshire,
2-| miles SW of Luss village. It has an altitude of 1939
feet above sea-level.
Ben Serial, a mountain in Glenelg parish, Inverness-
shire, flanking the northern shore of the lower part of
Loch Hourn, and rising 3196 feet above the sea.
Ben Sguliaird, a mountain in Ardchattan parish,
Lorn, Argyllshire, culminating 3 miles ENE of the
head of Loch Creran, at 305S feet above sea-level.
Benshalag, three tiny lochs on or near the mutual
border of Dallas and Knockando parishes, Elginshire.
Bensheasgarnich, a mountain in Fortingal parish,
Perthshire, one of the central Grampians, higher than
most of the neighbouring mountains, and rising to an
altitude of 3890 feet above sea-level.
Benshianta, a mountain summit in Jura island, Ar-
gyllshire, the northern one of the three summits called
the Paps of Jura.
Benshith, a lofty mountain on the eastern boundary
of Eddrachillis parish, Sutherland.
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