CHAPTER XI. 
Geological Lhys'ognomy.—Scenery of the Primary Formations; 
Gneiss, Miva Schist, Quartz Rock. — Of the Secondary; the Chalk 
Formations, the Oolite, the New Red Sandstone, the Coal Measures. 
— Scenery in the Neighborhood of Edinburgh.— Aspect of the 
Trap Rocks. — The Disturbing and Denuding Agencies. — Distinc- 
tive Features of the Old Red Sandstone. — Of the Great Conglom- 
erate. — Of the Ichthyolite Beds. — The Burn of Eathie.— The 
Upper Old Red Sandstones. — Scene in Moray. 
PuysioGNomy is no idle or doubtful science in connection 
with Geology. The physiognomy of a country indicates, 
almost invariably, its geological character. There is scarce a 
rock among the more ancient groups that does not affect its 
peculiar form of hill and valley. Each has its style of land- 
scape; and as the vegetation of a district depends often on 
the nature of the underlying deposits, not only are the main 
outlines regulated by the mineralogy of the formations which 
they define, but also in many cases the manner in which these 
outlines are filled up. The coloring of the landscape is well 
nigh as intimately connected with its Geology as the drawing. 
The traveller passes through a mountainous region of gneiss. 
The hills, which, though bulky, are shapeless, raise their huge 
backs so high over the brown, dreary moors, which, unvaried 
by precipice or ravine, stretch away for miles from their 
feet, that even amid the heats of midsummer the snow gleams 
in streaks and patches from their summits. And yet so vast is 
their extent of base, and their tops so truncated, that they 
seem but half-finished hills notwithstanding — hills interdicted 
somehow in the forming, and the work stopped ere the upper 
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