234 OX THE WOODS AND PLANTATIONS 



be successfully planted. The trees on the knolls would contri- 

 bute to the success of the plantations by forming a shelter, and 

 would conceal the more stunted growth of those on the mossy 

 parts. No district in Scotland is more capable of improvement, 

 and if the plantations were formed on a more extensive scale, and 

 carried out in a skilled manner, few would be more remunerative. 



I shall now refer briefly to the nature of the soil, before de- 

 scribing the trees and plantations. Geologists affirm that this 

 part of the district was during the glacial period one large loch. 

 The numerous hills ranging from 1160 to 1750 feet above the sea, 

 formed so many islands, the highest of which would be about 590 

 feet above this glacial loch at its highest level. Evidence of this 

 appears in the frequent accumulations of sand and clay found on 

 the plains and hill -sides. The parallel roads of Glenroy furnish a 

 still further proof. These singular witnesses of a past and totally 

 different state of the country, consist of three distinct and well- 

 marked lines, such as would be formed by the continuous beating 

 of waves upon the shore of a loch. They ran parallel to each 

 other along the sides of the high hills and around the summits of 

 the lower ones, and maintain a uniform height of 872, 1064, and 

 1150 feet respectively, above the present sea-level. These roads 

 or water-marks show that there were three distinct periods during 

 which the lake existed at different levels, and that the subsidence 

 from one level to the next below must have taken place suddenly, 

 so that those slopes on which sheep and cattle now browse were 

 once the haunts of aquatic tribes. 



I shall only refer to the consequences, leaving geologists to 

 determine the manner, the cause, and the dates of these remark- 

 able transformations. There are, as already stated, large accumu- 

 lations of clay, sand, and gravel, found in the valleys and for min g 

 terraces on every hill-side. Like the three parallel roads, thei-e 

 are three principal terraces, in some places subdivided into smaller 

 ones. The effect is picturesque from a distance, bike so many 

 steps leading up the hill-sides to a height of 300 to 500 feet above 

 the sea -level. During each subsidence, a great quantity of 

 detritus was probably drifted down the valley, which accumulated 

 and formed these terraces. They seem to have been formed as 

 each out-break took place, and the three terraces in the lower part 

 of the valleys seem to correspond with the three parallel roads on 

 the hills. These probably have been formed somewhat as may be 

 seen on a small scale when a dam of water is let off; the suction 



