47 



sculptured stones. The three symbols occur side-by-side 

 on the left wall of the most easterly of the two entrances 

 into the cave. There are a good many inscriptions, rang- 

 ing from 1653 downwards. One reads thus — " 12 of Mar. 

 1653. CVRSED BE TEY Yt PLINDERS." This cave 

 is also one of the many evidences round the coast of the 

 gradual elevation of the land. Its present position, high 

 and dry above all states of the tide, points to a time when 

 the ceaseless action of the mighty ocean excavated the 

 rock and formed the cave when at a considerably lower 

 level than at present. Not far from this there is a small 

 section of conglomerate which is worth seeing, but not 

 very accessible. It occupies what appears to have been 

 originally the entrance to a cave. This was afterwards 

 evidently filled up with boulders, shingle, and sand, and, 

 in the course of time, the whole had become a mass of 

 almost consolidated conglomerate. Beyond this, a con- 

 siderable distance along the coast, is the Clashach Quarry, 

 another of the places in which footprints have been found. 

 Here also traces of glacial action may occasionally be seen, 

 the surface of the sandstone being polished and striated. 

 It may be mentioned that the cherty rock both at Stotfield 

 and Inverugie is similarly polished and striated. 



On the way to Hopeman the most westerly of the 

 caves, called Helg's Hole, is reached, but it is better 

 kuown as Hell's Hole. It is a favourite haunt of tinkers 

 and other vagrants. It extends for a considerable distance 

 into the heart of the rock, and, to see it properly, lights 

 must be used. This cave, unlike the rest, has not been 

 formed by the action of the ocean, but is a fault in the 

 rock. The false stratification in the sandstone here is 

 very noticeable. A short distance inland from this, at 

 Inverugie and The Keam, is the patch of transported 

 boulders of oolite already referred to. Mr. A. Robertson 



