GEOLOGICAL FORMATION 59 



of any base to this enormously thick series of sediments." 

 Taking the harbour, therefore, as the most accessible though 

 perhaps not the most illustrative starting-point, and following 

 the road westwards past Machrins beyond the golf-links to 

 Dun Ghallain, some 3 miles distant, we may conveniently 

 take note of the principal series of strata of which the 

 island is composed as they occur on the way. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of Scalasaig there is a 

 mass of granitic rock quite different in structure and origin 

 from the surrounding sedimentary strata. On both sides of 

 the road, between the harbour and the hotel, it is seen 

 protruding through green patches of verdure in confused 

 heaps of angular, grey masses. Further notice of this rock is 

 deferred to a later paragraph dealing with igneous rocks, to 

 which class it properly belongs. 



The bed of limestone previously referred to skirts the 

 coast in a narrow strip from Balaromin-dubh until it passes 

 out to sea at Rudha-an-Dobhrain north of Scalasaig. It is 

 therefore to be seen both north and south of the harbour, 

 but close to the road it is covered by the granite. A good 

 exposure of it occurs at the monument. Dark phyllites, 

 which overlie the limestone, appear at Rudha-dubh and on 

 the east of Balaromin-dubh, between the outcrop of the lime- 

 stone and the shore. 



Kiloran flags, the strata underlying the limestone, form 

 most of the hilly land, north and south, from Dun Tealtaig 

 to Balaromin-dubh. The flanks of the Beannan above the 

 hotel, and the ridges eastward to Carn-mor, show much bare 

 rock through a scanty covering of heather and other dark 

 heathy vegetation often seen on this formation. The 

 western declivities of Cnoc-na-Faire, on which the monu- 

 ment stands, and the hills of Balaromin show less naked 

 rock. Associated with the limestone it also encircles Kiloran 

 Bay, rising into Carnan Eoin, the highest hill. Beinn-a- 

 Sgoltaire, Beinn-nan-Gudairean, and Cnoc-an-t-Samhlaidh are 



