34 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of 



Glacial Phenomena on Loch Long and Loch Ech 



At my former visit I had seen marks of abrasion on the 

 rocks at the upper part of Loch Long (M, Fig. 5), but no dis- 

 tinct striae. On this occasion I found well-marked striae in 

 the lower part of the loch (L, Fig. 5), at a hamlet called Let- 

 ter (c), nearly opposite Ardentinny, and within the high-water 

 mark. They were upon a very compact rock, and ran south 

 and north, or parallel with the sides of the valley. There 

 was one groove four feet long, three-quarters of an inch wide, 

 and rigidly straight. There were several others parallel to 

 it, and deeper, but shorter, and among them one three inches 

 wide. Abraded and smoothed rocks were seen abundantly 

 elsewhere, but their texture was too coarse to exhibit striae. 

 A friend of mine saw similar striae on the west side, at some 

 distance south from b. 



In a journey along Loch Eck (E in Fig. 5), I met with 

 magnificent specimens of abraded, or, to use Sir James Hall's 

 term, dressed rocks. The numerous little eminences at the 

 foot of the lofty ridge of mica-slate n o, have their angles and 

 projecting points ground off, and their surfaces smoothed and 

 rounded, in a' manner which must strike even persons unac- 

 customed to geological speculations. These hillocks present 

 fine examples of the domes arrondis and roches mouton- 

 nees, or smoothed and rounded knolls, found in the glacier val- 

 leys of Switzerland, and which are admirably represented in 

 the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 15th plates of Agassiz's work. One side 

 of these hillocks, however, frequently remains in the rough 

 state, namely the south, and this shews that the motion of 

 the abrading agent (the glacier) was from the north. The 

 polishing on the sides of the mountain is easily seen to the 

 height of 500 feet, but it no doubt extends much higher. I 

 examined the surface of one of the roches moiitonnees, which 

 was about fifty feet high, in the hope of finding striae, but 

 saw none. The texture of the rock, however, was coarse 

 and partially decomposed. On more compact specimens I 

 have no doubt that striae may be discovered, and that they 

 will point south and north. 



Li my article of 1st October 1845, I remarked that the 



