ISH.] Mincralogical Olservallons in Galloicay. 423 



and greywacke slate are to be seen very near to each other (u itliin 

 the distance of two or three feet) ; but 1 could not say that I was 

 able to tell exactly where they met. The strata are in a direction 

 N.E. by N., and are nearly vertical. There is no granite within a 

 mile of this place. 



It niav be proper to mention that Strone Loch is a lake about 

 half a mile long, and three quarters of th.at in breadth, through 

 which the river Dee passes. The scenery around is of the wildest 

 and most barren aspect, presenting nothing towards the north, the 

 west, and the south, but granite mountains, some of them rising 

 to the height of more than 1500 feet, and exhibiting a great deal 

 of bare rock, liotli in rolled |iieccs, and large faces of the rock i/i 

 si/;/, without any covering of soil. Where this does exist, heatli is 

 almost the only vegetable that in a general view niay be said to 

 strike the eye. Tiie jiatches of green are few ; and only two or 

 three human dwellings, and these of the very humblest kind, are to 

 be seen in the whole valley. The banks of the lake itself, however, 

 are in general flat, and in many jdaces soft, witli a sort of alluvial 

 or meadow ground, extending a little way (say 40 or 50 \'ards) from 

 the water's edge, in some places, when this is at the lowest. In the 

 lake grow many aquatic plants, as the common bulrush, scirj)ii<t 

 paliistrli ; pond-weed, fiolainoqcton natans ; wiilte and yellow water 

 lilies, as they are called, nymplucu alia and vymphcpa lidca. ; 

 horsetail, equlse/i/ni ; and many others. It contains five species of 

 fish : salmon, pike, eels, trout, and perch, 1 had no means of 

 ascertaining its depth; but that cannot he great, as it readily freezes 

 over by a night's frost or two. The river Dee, as l)eforc mentioned, 

 falls into this lake on the west, and issues from it on tiic east, and 

 very near the ])lace where the granite and stratified rock are seen to 

 join. Strone Loch lies south from the Louran. 



Leaving this lake 1 proceeded up the banks of tlie river Dee for 

 four miles till I came to the High Bridge, along which the jjieat 

 road pji'^scs from New Galloway to Newtonstewart. No rock but 

 granite is to be seen along the bed of the river from the east end of 

 Stron<; Loch to this place ; but, as mentioned by Sir Jauics Uall, 

 there is here a junction of the granite and the stratified rock to the 

 west. On this quarter a district of transition country of consider- 

 able extent (pruljal)ly six or eight miles broad) divides the granite 

 mass of the Dee from that of the Doon, or most westerly of the 

 three granite districts of Gallowav. The granite of the Dee district 

 does not present much variety of either colour or size of grain; and 

 the ingredients seem to be in general also united nearly in the same 

 proportion. The colour of the quart/ is generally greyish white, 

 of the fclsj)ar greyish white or reddish, sometlnies approaching 

 Ik'sh-red, and of the mica black or brownish black. The grain 

 of the granite is not of a large size, nor yet very small. In general 

 the crystals of quartz and felspar may not exceed a quarter of an 

 inch dianjeter; liut at times they occur very large. lit some varieties 

 'chorl appears, and in others iiornljleiide. 



