on the Kildon Hills. 213 
support the opinion of their having been caused by the action 
of water, unless corroborated by being at corresponding levels 
with the terraces. I assume, however, on Mr. Kemp’s au- 
thority, that such is the case. But as the terraces are believed 
to have been formed by tidal action, that cause, if it produced 
any effect at all upon the hard greywacke ridges, must have 
cut away those parts which appear as indentations (see the 
diagram), and which must therefore be considered as success- 
ively the actual lines of beach; whereas Mr. Kemp states, “that 
the protuberances correspond in their respective levels with 
the terraces on the neighbouring hills.” Again, the broad 
inclined slopes between the elevated ridges, are covered with 
green sward, and form inclined planes with pretty uniform 
surfaces. Though I could nowhere cut through the sward 
to the rock below, I think it probable that these inclined 
hollows do “indicate the situation of softer intermediate beds 
which the action of the sea has washed away, leaving the 
harder beds comparatively bold and prominent*.” But here 
another difficulty meets us: if the tidal action was sufficient 
to produce so marked an effect upon the projecting hard 
greywacke ridges, the softer intermediate beds must have 
been washed away to a much greater extent than they have 
been, and would have shown greater inequalities of surface ; 
whereas they are generally smooth and uniform, and but a 
few feet below the ridges. 
Again, wherever, either on the terraces or the intermediate 
slopes, fragments of the rock were exposed, they were angular 
and rough, with sharp edges, and did not show the least ap- 
pearance of having been rounded or acted on by water. I 
could not find on Williamlaw, or on-either of the EHildons, a 
single pebble, or gravel, or sand of any kind, indicative of the 
former presence of water. All were sharp angular pieces of 
the same rock as that of the hills respectively, to the exclu- 
sion of all foreign material. Now, if the water remained long 
enough at any single level to have left manifest and perma- 
nent indentations upon the hard ridges, it must have had 
ample time to convert the loose angular fragments which 
_ * In a little quarry above the road, at the foot of these inclined hollows, 
the hard greywacke is divided in different directions by a system of joints, 
one set of which inclines from 6 to 8 degrees to W.S.W., coinciding with 
the dip and direction of the hollows. This made me think at first that their 
surfaces might have been modelled by these joints ; but they are too uniform 
and continuous, and other appearances do not support this view. In an- 
other adjoining quarry the dip is 80 N.N.W., with a W.S.W. and E.N.E. 
strike, which nearly coincides with that of the inclined hollows. This can 
only be seen in one spot, where a few thin beds of soft shale intervene, the 
bulk of the rock being a coarse greywacke without bedding or cleavage, but 
with strong joints, and assuming here and there a rude columnar structure. 
