STRATA of the GRAM PIANS. 
_ ing there impeded, in its eaftern direction, by fome of the hills 
forming the bafis of that mountain, it then changes its courfe, 
almoft at a right angle, and from thence flows in a due fouth di- 
rection. In this laft direction, it opens a way for itfelf through 
the fouth lateral range, and enters the plains of Kincardine, and 
- Forfar fhires, where it immediately becomes the line of divifion 
of thofe two counties. It leaves thofe plains by a hollow betwixt 
the two low hills of Garvoke and Pert, and after a courfe of near- 
ly thirty miles from its fource, it joins the fea fomewhat to the 
eaftward of the town of Montrofe. It is in the bed of this river 
that I have examined the ftrata of the Grampians of which I am 
now to give a defcription. The feGtion extends about fix miles, 
from the horizontal grit or fand{tone in the plain, to the granite 
of Mount Battoc, which is one of the mountains in the central 
range, and one of the higheft of the chain in that part of the 
country. My direction, in this examination, is about due north, 
piercing through, almoft at right angles, the {trata of the moun- 
tains, which are here nearly in a vertical pofition. 
In this fhort ftretch of fix miles, a great deal of matter highly 
interefting to geology prefents itfelf. In it, we pafs from the fe- 
condary horizontal {trata of the neweft formation, to the verti- 
cal, contorted, primary ftrata of the oldeft date, and terminate 
with granite, the primitive rock in the conception of many geo- 
logifts. Thus, it embraces a complete range of the foflil objects, 
which in this part of Scotland intervene between that which is 
deemed the oldeft and what is accounted the moft recent in point 
of formation. From the various {trata ftanding in a pofition 
vertical, or nearly fo, and the river North Efk, cutting acrofs 
thefe ftrata, at right angles, the fucceffion is uncommonly 
well exhibited to view, and a fair difplay of the ftru@ure of 
this country, and of the materials compofing it to a great 
. depth, is open to the attentive obferver. In addition to this fine 
difplay of the fucceflion of ftrata, the arrangement of them will 
be 
