108 1NISI1 CAPEL. GEOLOGY. 



INISH CAPEL.* 



IN proceeding to the particular description of the Schis- 

 tose islands, I have thought proper to commence with 

 Inish Capel, which, however insignificant in magnitude, 

 is not so in a geological view ; the comparative simplicity 

 of its structure rendering it easily understood, while it 

 forms a useful introduction to those which immediately 

 follow, and present features more complicated. The ex- 

 posure of the secondary strata which it displays, will 

 induce a geologist to search for them in Seil where 

 they might else escape his attention. It is not only 

 on this occasion that a small spot presents to the observer 

 the solution of difficulties with which he has been be- 

 wildered in the investigation of extensive tracts of 

 country. He who shall commence the examination of 

 the Schistose islands in the order in which they are here 

 described, not in that in which they were examined, 

 will find a smooth path before him instead of the in- 

 tricate one which so often obstructed my own progress ; 

 and will perceive, at the beginning of his labours, that 

 orderly arrangement which was only discovered at the 

 end of mine. 



The translated name of this spot, the Mare's island, 

 has been improperly applied in the maps to the Garvelach 

 isles : this island in the same maps being erroneously 

 denominated the Sheep's isle. It lies about a mile north 

 of the north-west angle of Seil, and is scarcely a mile 

 in circumference, being surrounded by an abrupt rocky 

 boundary of low cliffs. At its south-east angle, a suc- 

 cession of secondary strata appears at the water's edge. 

 These dip towards the west, and in this respect they 

 conform to the dip of the analogous strata already de- 



* Sec the Map of the Slate isles. 



