294 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY REORGANISED CHAP, ix 



before that time to obtain young men who gave pro- 

 mise of becoming efficient surveyors. But, as Ramsay 

 had contended, it was extremely difficult to procure 

 the required number at once, and some time had 

 passed before he could announce that his comple- 

 ment was complete, and a still longer time before 

 he was able to replace the incompetent new-comers 

 and make his corps efficient. There was much dis- 

 agreeable detail to be attended to before all these pre- 

 liminaries were settled, and his letters show that it 

 gave him a good deal of vexation. But his gaiety of 

 spirit made even these worries sometimes a subject of 

 merriment. His letters to myself were at this time 

 more frequent than usual. A few of them are inserted 

 here : 



LUNNUN, $th February 1867. 



MY DEAR BELL-THE-CAT * We must have a pro- 

 found talk over the colouring of Ayrshire, for there 

 will be plenty of fault-finders ; and as it belongs to my 

 reign (old Saturn), and as my aged eyes may never 

 see the Empyrean (Auchendrane 2 ) again, we must settle 

 it among us, while yet, like the Centurion, I may say 

 to James (the Caledonian apostle), Come, and he 

 cometh. Let him come, then, with all his maps, and 

 that will do for the blooming Peach's as well, and all 

 will be settled before the Jovial times begin. If need 

 be, Bone in a day will draw in the lines (in pleasant 

 places) on a clean copy, and we will decide and colour 

 the rest. 



1 It will have been seen how playfully Ramsay used to vary the names of 

 his colleagues when he wrote to them. The Christian name of his correspondent 

 on this occasion suggested the well-known sobriquet that was given to the great 

 Earl of Angus at the end of the fifteenth century. 



2 See the reference ante, p. 248. 



