NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF EAST LOTHIAN AND BERWlCKSHinE, 



197 



their contortions. All along the coast from Siccar to St. Abb's^ a distance 

 of about ten miles, these flexures are most distinct; and the nature of the 

 curve into which the schists are bent cannot be misinterpreted, seeing that 

 besides transverse sections from north to south, the deep indentures which the 

 sea has made, and the projecting points of rock exhibit many longitudinal 

 sections in a direction from east to west. 



St. Abb's Head takes its name from Abbe, or Ebba, sister to Oswj, King 

 of Northumberland, Abbess of the Nunnery of Coldingham, which is said to 

 have been the oldest in Scotland; it is mentioned as early as 6G1, and at 

 this period she was at the head of it. It is said she came to this solitary 

 headland to perform her devotions, and it was at all times her favorite 

 resort for meditation. 



But to return to their still older history. The rocks are the same with 

 those at Siccar point;* they consist principally of a bluish slate, and they 

 frequently bear a ripple-marked surface. The undulations of the beds reach 

 from the top to the bottom of cliffs, from two hundred to three hundred 

 feet in height, and there are sixteen distinct bondings in the course of about 

 six miles, the curvatures being alternately concave and convex upwards. 



Cliffs at St. Abb's. Curved strata of slate, height, three hundred feet. 



For the sake of future remarks I may mention here, that since I came 

 home, I have learned the fact of the occurrence of a large mass of real granite 

 in the vicinity of the village of Priestlaw, in Lammermuir. I will now detail 

 the rest of our trip before I pass on to any hypothetical conclusions by way 

 of explaining the phenomena which have passed under review. 



After leaving Siccar we retraced our steps — in the face of a biting north 

 wind, accompanied by two sharp showers of hail — to Cockburns-path, and 

 struck off by another road which brought us to the Cove, so called, I presume, 



* These rocks stretch across the country to Ayrshire, and forai the prevailing rock of the 

 whole of the south of Scotland. They run in a straight line south-west from Siccar point to 

 Girvan, constitute the rocks of the whole of the south of Ayrshire, Wigtonsliirc, Kirkcudbright, 

 Dumfries, Peebles, and Selkirkshires, and the northern portion of Berwickshire.' Sir Koderick 

 ilurchison has examined them at Girvan and Dumfries, and has, I believe, identified them with 

 the Caradoc and Llandeillo flags, or the lower Silurian rocks. 



