MURKLE BA Y. 117 



" On leaving Sandy Bay and moving eastward in the 

 direction of Murkle Bay, the strata continue to dip 

 northerly. We shortly come upon a fault, when a total 

 change in the direction of the dip takes place. It is 

 now nearly due west We tread upon their upturned 

 edges, and are soon involved in the mazes of a wilder- 

 ness of broken rocks. Stones of every shape, size, and 

 description are lying around, as if a multitude of men 

 had been at work with sledge hammers, and left the 

 place a scene of the rudest confusion. 



" The truth is, the sea rolling in winter and summer 

 across the strata, in placid or in sullen majesty, or in 

 whirling or dashing storms, has broken but not removed 

 this mass of stony wreck. It is, nevertheless, a noted 

 phenomenon of the scenery. 



" Murkle Bay owes its existence to a noted fault, and, 

 in my opinion, every little inlet or bay along the coast 

 is due to the same cause. In moving round the sandy 

 shore, the explorer has time to muse on the sandstone 

 cliffs of Dunnet, now distinctly visible across the waters ; 

 and the dip of the yellow cliffs can be seen to have the 

 same general strike as the calcareous, and the other beds 

 of clay he has just left. 



" At the eastern inner angle of Murkle Bay the strata 

 are in great confusion bent, twisted, contorted, and 

 dipping in various directions. Moving on a little 

 farther, they assume the usual appearance of dipping 

 away in the direction of Dunnet Head ; and here, for the 

 last time in this direction, the explorer detects a bed of 

 bituminous calcareous slates, full of organic remains. 



