EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND. 25 



North Queensferry to Fife Ness a great variety of 

 strata alternating with igneous rocks. Northwards 

 along the Forfarshire coast to Stonehaven, the 

 prevailing geological formation is that of the De- 

 vonian, appearing as a fine red sandstone, or as a 

 conglomerate intermingled in several instances 

 with trap, gneiss, and other primary rocks. Many 

 parts of the coast are in a high degree bold and 

 romantic. The precipitous cliffs are often from a 

 hundred to nearly two hundred feet in height, and 

 exhibit most picturesque forms. " The incessant 

 lashings of the sea," says Mr. Miller in a very elo- 

 quent and graphic passage, " have ground them 

 down into shapes the most fantastic. Huge stacks, 

 that stand up from amid the breakers, are here 

 and there perforated by round heavy-browed 

 arches, and cast the morning shadows inland 

 athwart the cavern-hollowed precipices behind. 

 The never-ceasing echoes reply, in long and gloomy 

 caves, to the wild tones of the sea. Here a bluff 

 promontory projects into the deep green water, 

 and the white foam, in times of tempest, dashes 

 up a hundred feet against its base. There a nar- 

 row strip of vegetation, spangled with wild flowers, 

 intervenes between the beach and the foot of the 

 cliffs that sweep along the bottom of some semi- 

 circular bay ; but we see from the rounded caves 

 by which they are studded, and the polish which 

 has blunted their lower x angularities, that at some 

 early period the breakers must have dashed for 

 ages against their bases." * 



* The Old Red Sandstone, p. 249. 



