4 DESCRIPTION of the 
chain, that is to fay, from weft to eaft: and I have obferved, 
not unfrequently, that the weftern ends of thofe oblong moun- 
tains are more bulky than their eaftern extremities, and that they 
flope and taper in fome degree towards this quarter. Their ge- 
neral covering is that of a coarfe gravelly foil, produced by their 
own decompofition ; and the produce of this foil is heath. But 
upon fome of the heights in the central range, I have found beds 
or layers of that fpecies of turf called Peat, from fifteen to twen- 
ty feet in thicknefs, which repofe upon the gravelly foil that 
there covers the native rock. 
Art this eaftern part of the Grampians, where I am now about 
to endeavour to give a defcription of the ftratification, the moun- 
tains feldom thow any confiderable extent of naked rock. 
In their courfe to the eaftward, as they approach the fea, they 
begin to contract in breadth, and cover much lefs {pace of coun- 
try; and where they finifh their courfe at the fea, their height 
will fcarcely entitle them to the appellation of hills : but although - 
they become fo diminutive in height and in breadth, yet the ma- 
terials of which they are formed continue the fame as thofe 
which compofe the ranges where they are in their greateft alti- 
tude, and their exterior characters, as to form and figure, alfo 
continue the fame. 
AmonG the rivers which have their fource in the Grampians, 
that of the North Efe is not the firft in rank as to fize, nor is it 
the moft diminutive. At a confiderable diftance from the plains 
in the interior of the mountains, a {mall lake called Loch Lee is 
formed, in a rocky bafon, by a rivulet, and fome fprings and 
rills flowing from marfhy grounds. From this lake the North Efk 
iffues, not in a very confiderable flow, but, being foon joined by 
other ftreams and alpine torrents, it {wells to a confiderable fize, 
and continues a courfe from this lake almoft due eaft, betwixt 
the central and fouth lateral ranges of the mountains, for an ex- 
tent of about feven miles: it then {kirts Mount-Battoc, and be- 
ing 
