NORTH UIST. SAND. 139 



Such are the appearances of the coasts, and such the 

 nature of the revolutions which seem to have taken place 

 on this shore. These changes appear, in an agricultural 

 view, to counterpoise each other. By the progress of 

 the sand into the interior, new surfaces of peat are ren- 

 dered productive, and the arable extent of territory is on 

 the whole increased. It is true that the advantages may 

 be transferred from one set of tenants to another, since 

 that sand which in its diffused progress fertilizes the 

 more distant soil, may by its abundance suffocate the 

 intermediate land over which it passes. The proprietor 

 however gains, since the extent of reclaimed land will 

 prove much more considerable than that of the injured, 

 when we reflect that the predominance of water in the 

 interior soil, renders useful that sand which, in the flatter 

 and arid shores, is condemned to almost hopeless sterility. 

 I have been thus particular in attempting to elucidate this 

 matter, because it is a phenomenon of common occur- 

 rence, the right understanding of which may often be 

 of considerable importance in agriculture. It is important 

 also to show that the transference of sand, although 

 in some cases destructive, is in others attended with 

 advantage, particularly when, as in this instance, it con- 

 sists of fragments of shells. It is also necessary in a 

 geological view to attend to all those changes by which 

 the state of the surface is altered ; of which changes none 

 have been liable to more misapprehension than those 

 which occur on sea shores. 



I have suggested the possibility of such accumulations 

 of sand being ultimately convertible into marie, or even 

 into limestone. There is in fact no apparent reason why the 

 consolidation of such materials should not take place under 

 the soil as in the sea. No appearances, I believe, have 

 as yet occurred to geologists which either require, or 

 would admit of such an explanation ; but such cases 

 n>ay be imagined, and it is in the mean time useful to 

 register all those facts which may ultimately tend, even 



