ARRAN. ALLUVIA. 339 



from the contrast which it presents to the almost inva- 

 riably rapid rise of the land that constitutes the body 

 of the island. It offers a curious and interesting record 

 of the changes which have been gradually taking place in 

 the form and disposition of the land ; and, to those who 

 are pleased with speculations on futurity, may perhaps 

 present the additional gratification of enabling them to 

 look forward to a period when the destruction of the 

 mountains shall be accomplished, and the whole of the 

 island shall subside into one widely extended and level 

 plain. Partial accumulations of this nature are not rare, 

 but no instance has occurred in my experience on this 

 coast, of any so complete, so uniform, and so equally 

 distributed. The causes may be sought in the great 

 evenness of the coast of Arran and in its freedom from 

 indentation ; as well as in the equal action of the tides 

 and waves round it, and in the regular and small force 

 which they exert upon the shores. The progress of this 

 accumulation may be traced by comparing various points 

 of the coast; and the earliest traces are most visible 

 between the Sliddery and the Bennan head. Here, 

 wide shores of pebbles are to be seen, once rounded 

 by the action of the waves, but now overgrown 

 with lichens; while the sea, repelled to a distance by 

 the increasing accumulation, is exerting its power on 

 materials more remote, destined, in the same way, to 

 repel it still further from the mass of the island. Nearei 

 to the land, the clay and sand which fill the interstices 

 of the more ancient pebbles, give root to the maritime 

 plants, the Artemisia, Matricaria, Ligusticum, and the 

 beautiful Pulmonaria maritima ; which, decomposing in 

 their turn, form the soil that in the end becomes a smooth 

 and grassy plain. 



Another alluvium of peculiar character occurs on the 

 eastern side of Ben vearan, high up on the slope, and 

 indeed not far ben.eath the summit of the mountain. It 

 presents a deep coat of irregular materials, consisting 



