on the Eildon Hills. 3 209 
of the whole group. The eastern hill is for the most part 
covered with sward to the summit; so is the lower half of the 
middle one, the upper portion being nearly all naked rock. 
On the ascent to the uneven plain, or shoulder that connects 
the eastern with the middle hill, above mid-height, I per- 
ceived two-or three of the terraces* upon the face of a great 
spur that shoots out from the latter above the beautiful ruin 
of Melrose Abbey. They seemed to range at about equal 
distances from each other, and to be from 80 to 100 yards 
wide; the upper being about three-fourths of a mile long, 
and nearly of equal width throughout. As I successively 
reached the level of each, I found the surface to be covered 
with vegetation. and to be far too uneven to have been formed 
or modelled by water. On attaining the plain or connecting 
shoulder just alluded to (which I took to be No. 10 of Mr. 
Kemp’s series), I found the same inequality of surface, and 
also an evident general slope, not outwards from the hill to- 
wards the valley, but at right angles to that direction, and 
from a horizontal line that would have formed the beach when 
the water stood at that level. 
On ascending the eastern hill the terraces between it and 
the middle hill were so obscure and broken up, and the inter- 
mediate slopes so irregular, that I could not trace them for 
any distance, or even in some places satisfy myself that they 
existed at all. It appeared (admitting they had once been 
there) that portions of them had subsequently slipped down, 
dividing horizontally into two or three, and then had rested 
in irregular and slanting positions on the intermediate spaces. 
The average slope of the hill here was 30 to 35 degrees, and’ 
the average deviation of the surfaces of these detached por- 
tions from the horizontal line, about 5 degrees; but this de- 
viation was sometimes in one direction and sometimes in 
another; so that supposing a person were to walk along 
them, he would sometimes ascend, and sometimes descend. 
The diameter of the surface was also uneven, generally 
sloping outwards, but in one place inwards, the width being 
various, mostly from ten to twenty yards. In no one spot is 
the surface horizontal; yet, at the same time, it is necessary 
to say that, viewing them as a whole, they seem too uniform 
and regular to be accidental slips of detritus from above, and 
at first sight appear more like the remains of rude earthen 
entrenchments than the effect of any great natural cause. It 
* I adopt this word for the whole series, though some of them are more 
properly shelves, or slight projections ; and are so obscure, that Mr. Kemp - 
told me he only discovered one half of them by turning the spirit level to 
those places on the opposite hills where he expected to find them. 
Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Nov. 1840. P 
