276 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW, 
appear. Later on, at a turn in the road, a wonderful sight comes 
into view. To use in part the words of Sir Archibald Geikie, and 
subsequently some ideas from Mr. Jamieson, of Ellon—‘ Before 
us lies the long deep glen,” bounded by bare hills, rising on one 
side to over 1,400 feet and on the other to over 2,000 feet above 
it. Along the declivities on each side run three peculiar bars, 
perfectly horizontal, “straight and distinct as if drawn with a 
ruler, yet winding into all the recesses of the steep slopes, and 
coming out again over the projecting parts without ever deviating 
from their parallelism.” The scene is impressive: there seems 
something mysterious in these peculiar bars, something too mathe- 
matically exact to be the work of nature. One does not wonder 
that a tradition existed among the older inhabitants of this 
district that these roads were made by Fingal as hunting roads 
for chasing the deer. In support of this it is stated that in the 
neighbourhood are the hills of Fingal, of Gaul, of Bran, and of 
Diarmid. Another tradition is that they were made for this 
purpose by the kings of Scotland, when Inverlochy Castle, near 
Fort-William, was a royal residence. 
The geologist’s explanation is quite as wonderful. The roads 
are narrow shelves or terraces, about 40 to 50 feet wide, sloping 
gently to the valley at a lower angle than the steep hillside. So 
level are they, that it was not till the Ordnance Surveyors had 
carried a line of spirit-levelling along them that it was discovered 
that the height varied a little. The heights are— 
Highest. Lowest. Average. Col. 
Feet. Feet. Feet. Feet. 
lt - 1,155 1,144 1,148 1,151 
is = OTT. 1,062 1,067 1,075 
TE, - 862 850 855 848 
From the continuous, horizontal, and parallel character of the 
shelving roads, it is evident that they have been formed by 
the action of water, but whether on the shores of the sea or of 
lakes has been much discussed; and if of lakes, what was the 
barrier that dammed back the water? The theory that has met 
with the greatest acceptance is that they were formed during the 
glacial period on the shores of lakes that were dammed back by 
glaciers, During that period of intense cold, the Ben Nevis 
