ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND. 229 



its rocks, tufted here and there with Rhodiola rosea, Angelica sylvestris, and Saliz 

 aquatica, we reach the summit of the mountain, where a strange prospect opens 

 on every side ; undulated ridges, with uniform rounded protuberances, stretching 

 along in all directions as far as the sight can reach. The Solway Firth, the 

 German Ocean, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Cheviots, form part of the 

 view, which yet is by no means so striking as that from Ben Lomond, Ben-na- 

 muc-dui in Braemar, Clisheim in Harris, or many other points in the northern 

 and western parts of Scotland; its principal character being that of dull uniformity, 

 the eye finding nothing to arrest it among the lines of rounded heaps that pre- 

 sent the idea of a tempestuous ocean suddenly fixed by congelation. 



This mass of elevated land has an undulated summit about three miles in 

 length, and is broken into on its eastern sides, first by the corry at the head of 

 Loch Skene, then by a narrow ravine, and again by two great semicircular bends. 

 Its principal summits are named Loch Craighead, Middle Craig, and White Coom. 

 Although the elevation exceeds that of Hartfell, which lies to the south-west, at 

 the distance of a few miles, and has been found to be 2,685 feet above the sea, 

 the general character of the vegetation is by no means Alpine, its very summit 

 being densely covered with a green sward composed of Scirpus ccespitosus, 

 Nardus stricta, Junci, Alchemilla vulgaris, Tormentilla officinalis, and many 

 pasture plants common to the lowest regions. I even observed some burrows of 

 the Mole on the summit of the Middle Craig. 



At the southern side of that ridge which overlooks Loch Skene, is a deep tor- 

 tuous chasm, with abrupt rocky sides, terminating towards the summit of the 

 mountain in a semicircular recess about a hundred feet in height, down which 

 flows a small stream. The rock here is generally slaty, more or less glistening, 

 of a dark grey or blackish colour. The strata are inclined in various degrees, but 

 are usually nearly vertical, and, as in other parts of the mountain, run from N.N.E. 

 to S.S.W. In some places they were intersected with veins of quartz, mixed with 

 calcareous spar and heavy-spar ; and in the bottom of the ravine I found a block 

 of decomposed green-stone containing crystals of olivine — the only appearance of 

 trap I observed in the whole district. 



The Alpine plants that occur in this chasm, and on the rocks around Loch 

 Skene, are : — Saxifraga hypnoides, S. oppositifolia, S. stellaris, Oxyria reniformis, 

 Rhodiola rosea, Silene maritima, Thalictrum alpinum, Cochlearia officinalis, 

 Poa glauca, Epilobium alpinum, E. alsinifolium, Saussurea alpina, Phleum 

 alpinum, Lycopodium alpinum, and L. selago. Along with these are numerous 

 species of plants that occur abundantly in lower stations, as — Epilobium angus- 

 tifolium, Luzula sylvatica, Angelica sylvestris, Oxalis acetosella, Cerastium 

 viscosum, Euphrasia officinalis, Vaccinium Vitis-idcca, V. myrtillus, Petasifes 

 rulgaris, Alchemilla cidgarie, Aira ccespitosa, Fcsluca vivipara, Rubies chamce- 



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