176 AMONGST THE BOULDER CLAY. CHAP. xm. 



down I should have gone over the precipitous wall of red 

 sandstone down, down, to the sea-washed rocks below. 

 But not so fast ! I am not the man to break my neck 

 for auld-warld shells. No ! So, laying firm hold of the 

 grass, I deposited my legs downwards, quietly over each 

 other, and then slid softly down on my hunkers ! Now ! 



" I walked up to the foot of the little cascade, and 

 stood, and looked, and better looked. The boulder cliff 

 or brae on the west side, was about fifteen or twenty 

 feet high, and rested on polished red sandstone. It was 

 thickly charged with stone fragments, not of red sand- 

 stone, mind you, not one crumb ; but dark, bituminous, 

 claystone fragments, of small size, generally about the 

 size of the heads of harrow teeth, or of old nails in 

 cathedral doors. I found many 'barley mill' shell 

 crumbs, all small, not one large piece, and all of 

 Cyprina. 



" My dear friend Turritella was not there at alL I 

 examined the pieces of stone to see if I could find groov- 

 ing or scratching; but though they were all well polished, 

 1 detected no decided grooving. One or two of the 

 largest and broadest stones had fine scratchings, but not 

 at all so deep, or so continuous, as on the big stones I 

 found at Thurdystoft, on the Thurso river. 



"I brought away a piece of the bituminous clays, 

 and one stone, well polished, with a hollow depression 

 on one side. I took a few of the shell crumbs, but not 

 all. I purposely left a few for the CRITICS ! or the next 

 gentleman who may venture there. 



" There are moments when a real heartfelt pleasure 



