CHAP. xiir. IVART HILL. 183 



and found the underlying strata Hood-red 



Most likely it was a continuation of Duncansby Head 



' square, red, and ugly ;' so Maculloch says. 



" But what took me into the chasm was to examine 

 the debris lying over the rock. I found it nine or ten 

 feet thick. In its upper portion it seemed a mixture of 

 blue clay and red sand, and the upper portions were 

 very distinctly stratified. The lower portion was red, 

 like the sandstone on which they lay. I found no 

 shells, nor shell crumbs. The stuff contained many 

 fragments of rubbed sandstones. There were a few 

 pieces of quartz and granite. ... A flood of water un- 

 doubtedly brought this red debris to the south side of 

 Wart Hill. Has Duncansby Head felt the 'plaguey 

 knocks ' of icebergs too ? 



" Walking on a little farther, I stood on the little 

 bridge over the Freswick burn, with the fine sections I 

 have come in search of, in all their glory. The burn 

 was in flood, rushing down towards the sea. It washed 

 the base of the section. There was no mode of getting 

 near it, but through the water. 



" ' Darest thou, Cassias, now 

 Leap in with me into this angry flood, 

 And swim to yonder point 1 ' 



Na ! na ! like the Duke o' Buccleuch, we can neither 

 ' flee nor soom ! ' and as for sinking, like Csesar, I find it 

 good stiff clay at the bottom, and just hurdie deep. So 

 in I go, and wade along the base of the section, though 

 indeed the rush of the snow water was very cold at first ] 

 and now ' we get auld stanes in store.' 



