AN ACCOUNT OF A DAT's EXCtESlON TO B0TE. 126 



mica slate is highly indurated, and in walking along the shore, one is naturally 

 struck with its contorted and curved appearance, and the variety of form which 

 it occasionally assumes. It is beautifully traversed, here and there, by veins 

 of compact quartz. This slate is sometimes used by the inhabitants for economic 

 purposes; many houses of an inferior grade being roofed with it. 



The parish church, towers pre-eminently from the centre of the village, 

 and forms a beautiful feature in the landscape. It is connected to the Castle- 

 hill by a mass of foliage, through which rises the elegant summer residence 

 of Mr. Eglinton. The Castle-hill is a green knoll formed of a very dark 

 greenstone, and a section of it is laid bare on the shore, where the protrusion 

 of the igneous rock through the clay slate is exhibited; the disturbance and 

 crystallization of the latter by the former, being perfectly manifest at the 

 point of contact, to the most careless observer. It is beautifully clothed with 

 verdure, and on the summit a small part of the ruin is still standing. As 

 we proceed southwards, the long range of clay slate mountains is discovered to 

 be nicely variegated with hill and valley, and Dunoon is observed to stand 

 upon a point of considerable prominence. There have been a great number 

 of stone coffins discovered here with the bones in a fine state of preservation, 

 each in its proper place: in other respects also, the district is not wanting in 

 antiquities of interest. 



Creeping along by the Cowal shore, we sail so near, that the mica slate 

 can be distinctly seen ranging from north north-east to south south-east, 

 with a dip to the south at an angle nearly vertical. It is amusing to contrast 

 the dingy little huts lying snugly in some sheltered spot half-way up the hill, 

 with the beautiful white-washed cottages at its base: they look like the dark 

 aborigines of America looking down upon the fair Europeans, who have taken 

 possession of their shores, and driven them far off into the back woods. On the 

 other side of the Frith, a new line of coast comes into sight, beyond the Cloch 

 lighthouse. Right in front lie the islands of the Great and Little Cumbrey, 

 but obscured by the thick ground haze, while the small coasting vessels are 

 looming in the distance, on the farthest verge of the horizon. 



Upon our right, we find we have now left the slaty region, and have come 

 upon the old red sandstone, which may be seen at the water's edge; the 

 colour of the houses," too, is altered; the white-washed greenstone having given 

 place to the dark red-colour of the sandstone, imposing a sombre look upon 

 the landscape; the very hill has changed its aspect, it no longer wears the 

 sharp and angular summit, and rugged side, but has acquired the gentle slope, 

 and rounded top; the barren and sterile rock, with the brown and dingy look 

 of the heather, have yielded to a richer soil, and a beautiful carpet of verdure. 

 We have now arrived at Toward lighthouse, which is situated upon the point 

 of a low peninsula, composed of a conglomerate of the old red; and immedi- 

 ately beyond, the lovely island of Bute lies luxuriating in the morning mist. 

 On rounding Toward point, the noble seat of the late Kirkman Finlay, Esq., 

 is seen rising over the bend of the hill; and just underneath the house, dykes 



