CHAP. vin. THE SANDSTONE BEDS. 93 



Head. By far the greatest bulk is what I take to be a 

 yellow quartzose sand. In one place, and in one place 

 only, is the sand in any way red. In crossing Dunnet 

 sands we had not failed to notice little stones, standing 

 out here and there in the sand, left by the retiring tide, 

 and great was my surprise to find the same appearances 

 here. In some places, where the boulders are a little 

 asunder, the exact beds of the strata are to be seen, 

 walked over, handled, and hammered. I had seen sand- 

 stone beds with here and there a pebble, but they nevei 

 struck my imagination so forcibly as now, when I was 

 down upon my knees and busied in the work of extrac- 

 tion. 



" What a vast gathering of sand ! I was forced to 

 exclaim. Where did it all come from ? How long did 

 it take to pile up this heap in the silent depths of the 

 sea ? How long ? How many years ? These are perti- 

 nent questions, questions which enter one's very soul. 

 Then man feels instinctively his own littleness, and his 

 utter inadequacy to solve even the simplest of his 

 questionings. 



" But however amazed he may feel at this vast pile of 

 sand, it was at one time unquestionably much greater. 

 Looking across to the Orkneys, immediately opposite, 

 the spectator cannot fail to remark that they are of the 

 same material. Then, turning from the Orkneys to Hoi- 

 born Head, where a strong sea now rolls, one cannot help 

 looking back, and we are led to picture the time when 

 there was no sea between them, but only sandstone 

 beds, stretching continuously from shore to shore ! 



