The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 9 



bouring hills is there, fo far as I could obferve, the fmalleft ap- 

 pearance of that kind. 



The vitrified matter on the fummit of this rock is, therefore, 

 the only circumftance which pofitively vindicates the efFecft of 

 fire ; and this 1 ihall now proceed to examine. 



The Society have already had before them fpecimens of this 

 burnt or vitrified matter. I (liall, therefore, fuppofe, that they 

 are fufEciently acquainted with its appearance. It will be re- 

 colleded, that in none of the fpecimens which were produced, 

 was there any thing like a total fufion of the materials. Some 

 parts of the mafs feemed to be portions of argillaceous and un- 

 vitriable ftone ; others of ftones of which a part had been in 

 fufion, while the reft remained in its natural ftate. Thefe cir- 

 cumftances, of themfelves, are fufiicient to diftinguifli this fub- 

 ftance from volcanic lava, which is an uniform homogeneous 

 mafs, of which every part has been in- a ftate of fufion. Nei- 

 ther has this vitrified fubftance the appearance of thofe fcoria 

 thrown iip from volcanos, which are probably the fcum of the 

 lava, or fuch parts of the materials as either never were fufible, 

 or have loft their fufibility and principle of inflaminability : 

 For the burnt fubftance on the top of Craig-Phadrick is rather 

 a mixture of fufible with unfufible fubftances ; many parts ap- 

 pearing to have been in the moft perfedl fufion, while others 

 have remained in their natural ftate. 



Bar the circumftance which, in my apprehenfion, evinces, 

 in the moft fatisfactory manner, that thofe appearances of the 

 effe6l of fire on the fummit of this hill, are not the operation of 

 nature, but of art, is the regular order and difpofition of thofe 

 materials, the form of the ground, and the various traces of 

 Ikill and contrivance which are yet plainly difcernible, though 

 confiderably defaced, either by external violence, or by the ob- 

 literating hand of time. To proceed regularly in examining 

 thofe appearances of artificial contrivance, I return to that 

 winding road I before mentioned, which is evidently cut 



YQL..1L B through. 



