BUTE. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 445 



BUTE.* INCHMARNOCH. 



THE geographical chasm by which Bute is sepa- 

 rated from the promontories of Argyllshire among which 

 it lies, is so small, and the general correspondence of 

 character between the two so accurate, that neither in the 

 map, nor in viewing it from the surrounding country, 

 is it easy to distinguish it from the mainland. Together 

 with this general resemblance, it corresponds so inti- 

 mately with the adjoining district in geological structure, 

 that the description of its rocks will equally serve for 

 that of the neighbouring tracts, even throughout a con- 

 siderable space. Independently of the numerous interest- 

 ing circumstances which Bute presents, it is also of material 

 assistance in uniting by a common bond the geological 

 history of the islands of the Clyde, and in connecting their 

 structure with that of the continent ; combining together 

 a variety of scattered, and apparently insulated facts, into 

 one general whole. It is also peculiarly valuable in eluci- 

 dating some parts of the history of Arran, which are 

 rendered obscure, as much by the local irregularities so 

 conspicuous in that island, as by its more distant position 

 from the mainland, and by those peculiarities of structure 

 in which it differs from all the surrounding country. 



The length of Bute is about eighteen miles, and its 

 general breadth may be taken at four, exceeding or falling 

 short of this occasionally by one mile ; the two sides, one 

 of which faces the north-east, and the other the south- 



* According to Shaw, Buta signifies a ridge. His dictionary however 

 is compounded from all the dialects of the Celtic, and the Highlanders 

 assert that Buta is not Gaelic. That need not vitiate a local etymology 

 like this; as names of places are to be found in Scotland formed of that 

 Celtic which was the common parent of the Welsh and Gaelic dialects; 

 although these words are no longer in use in the Highlands as parts of 

 the current language of the day. See the Map of Bute, 



