CHAPTER XIV. 

 THE ICEBERG PERIOD. 



ROBERT DICK continued, during the winter of 1848-9, 

 to investigate the boulder clay in the neighbourhood of 

 Thurso, and to communicate the results to his friend 

 Hugh Miller at Edinburgh. He became more and more 

 convinced of the action of icebergs in grinding down the 

 strata of the various rocks into clay and till. He found 

 bits of Morven mountain scattered over the county, and 

 the largest stones were the deepest grooved. 



Towards the end of December 1848, Dick writes to 

 Miller "Perhaps you are wondering at my silence, 

 though I have not been inattentive to the business in 

 hand. Dogs, you know, when closest in pursuit, give 

 little mouth. I have been as active as the very :vet 

 weather would permit, and owing to the shortness of the 

 days I have been obliged for the most part to confine 

 my explorations to this neighbourhood. Yesterday 

 evening, however, I returned from the last grand 

 boulder clay expedition of this season perhaps, with 

 me, the last for ever !" 



This expedition was to Dunbeath, almost due south 

 of Thurso, on the eastern coast of Caithness. Dick set 

 out a little after twelve o'clock at midnight. He walked 



