CHAP. x. THE DEWS BRIG. 123 



hollow. The bare rocks are through the soil on the hill- 

 top, immediately behind. Can it really be that those 

 hill-tops, now so insignificant, once towered above the 

 clouds, capped in snow, bound up in ice, and that they 

 have gradually mouldered away down to their present 

 elevation of a few hundred feet above the level of the 

 sea. 



"Low down, at the Coastguard house, beneath a 

 weight of clay, the strata crop out, and are at first 

 slightly charged with organisms. A little farther on I 

 find beds charged with warty bones ; and the strata dip 

 northerly. Then there is a fault, the strata are in 

 confusion, and dip westerly. They then become nearly 

 horizontal, and continue so until the extreme end of 

 Holborn Head ; where I find them slaty, and highly 

 calcareous, bituminous, and containing many remains of 

 fish. 



" There is a noted fault to be seen almost atop of the 

 point of the promontory. The strata slope in different 

 directions. They are bent, twisted, contorted, and in 

 great confusion. At one place, they are quite on end. 

 What a subterraneous convulsion there must have been 

 here at one time ! 



" We pass along, and walk over the Deil's Brig. The 

 sea washes underneath. It is one of the great goes, or 

 gyoes, which abound along the coast. In stormy 

 weather, the sea drives into it with overpowering force, 

 and sends clouds of spray far inland. The Brig clearly 

 shows the hard clay-flag of which the headland is 

 composed. 



