CHAP. xv. DIP OF CAITHNESS ROCKS. 219 



to find the Caithness rocks dipping in every airt* of the 

 compass, whereas it is stated in geological books that 

 they dip in only one direction ! " 



Kobert Dick was not afraid of correcting Hugh 

 Miller himself. In one of his letters he says : " You 

 have fallen into error in your Old Red Sandstone. You 

 have described Caithness as a vast pyramid rising per- 

 pendicularly from the bases furnished by the primary 

 rocks of Sutherland, and presenting newer beds and 

 strata as we ascend, until we reach the apex. 



" Now, Mr. Miller, this is not only incorrect but cal- 

 culated to deceive. But you are not to blame. It is the 

 getters-up of the geological maps who are to blame. 

 You work by the geological maps. Geological maps and 

 treatises are got up by men in red-hot haste, on data 

 proved to be erroneous years ago. New books, with 

 nothing new in them but the paper and ink! The 

 public are gulled, and the poor student, panting for 

 knowledge, fills his belly with husks, and by and by he 

 regards his new books with derision ! 



" I am working very hard sometimes seeking new 

 fossils but finding none ; sometimes rambling far over 

 the hills and finding a junction of the Old Eed very 

 different indeed from the respectable ' authorities ' in 

 Edinburgh. As for the maps, I have handed them over 

 to the devil as the most detestable pieces of imposture 

 ever obtruded on a discerning public. 'Discerning' 

 indeed ! 



* Direction." Of a' the airts the wind can blaw, 

 I dearly lo'e the west." Burns. 



