Geological Origin of the Fresait Scenery of Scotland i 7 



which now rises above the sea-level is only a small fragment of 

 what it originally was, and that more of the rock has been worn 

 away than has been left behind, for the valleys are longer, wider, 

 and deeper than the mountains. 



It would be tedious to multiply illustrations of the great fact, so 

 manifest on all sides, that from every part of the surface of the 

 country, a mass of solid rock has been removed by denudation. 

 If now we put together the different propositions discussed in the 



Fig. 6. — View of Ben More, Mull, from the south. 

 A pyramidal mountain of horizontal trapbeds, nearly 3200 feet high. 



previous pages, we are led to see that the reason why hard rocks 

 form hills, is that they are better able to resist those processes of 

 decay which out of the softer rocks form valleys ; that the moun- 

 tains and hills are not due to mere upheavings, nor the valleys to 

 mere depressions of the strata below ; that the ravines and river- 

 gorges are not simply open fissures or rents ; that in every case 

 hill, valley, and ravine bear witness to the removal of solid materials 

 from their site; that the whole surface of the country has been de- 

 nuded; and that in fine it is to the variations in the nature and pro- 



TRAVEL. B 



