308 APPENDIX. 



lucent, ultramarine blue of the lakes near Durness, as 

 well as the thick coating of lime encrusted upon the iron 

 kettles and domestic pots and pans, not to speak of the 

 delicious white-fleshed, crustacea-fed trout of the burns, 

 all speak to the great beds of calcareous formation which 

 underlie the gneiss, and crop out at various points in the 

 west and north, and which, near the farm and shooting- 

 box of Ledbeg, and again near Loch Alsh, harden and 

 whiten into a very pure and white marble, long known 

 and worked as Assynt marble. 



This limestone is a very marked feature in the land- 

 scape, and a not unimportant factor in the zoological con- 

 ditions. Amongst these clear streams there is a rich 

 crustacean fauna and other lower forms of animal life. 

 We consider that the limestone of Durness has even left 

 its impress upon the Salmonidae of its streams and lakes. 



The wild and rugged scenery of the west of Sutherland 

 is not, however, due entirely to the vast masses of moun- 

 tain, nor even to their peculiar shapes and isolated 

 positions, though undoubtedly these are very important 

 factors. Besides the greater majesty of the hills, there 

 are many wild and sinuous valleys and picturesquely- 

 grouped combinations of lesser elevations, which introduce 

 a charm which one might look for in vain if the hills stood 

 alone in all their nakedness. There are wooded lakes and 

 birch-clad hollows, heathery knolls and gray lichen-covered 

 boulders, sparkling rivers and cascades ; arid there are the 

 quaint, and quiet, and "bonny" peat-reek shealings, and 

 closely-nestling crofts and cabins abundant scope for the 

 artist, who complains of the vastness of the subjects 

 presented by the higher mountains and wider valleys. 



Yet, again, we find bleak, water -sodden moors, with 

 sedgy-margined lakes the home of the dunlin and the 

 golden plover, and haunted by the weird shriek of the 

 rain-bird or red- throated diver (Oolymbus septentrionalis) 



Festuca orata, Triticum actitum, Lolium perenne. Of all these 

 plants and grasses the following are found on Eilean Garbh : 

 Cochlearia domica, Armeria maritima, Rumex (spec. ?) Alriplex 

 hastata, Plantago maritima, and a thin maritime grass. 



