74 THE CRUISE OF THE BETSEY ; OR, 



found it actually coloured as a patch of this ancient system. 

 The Old Red Sandstone is largely developed in the neigh- 

 bouring island of Hum, in the line of which the Ru-Stoir 

 seems to have a more direct bearing than any of the other 

 deposits of Eigg ; and yet the conclusion regarding this red 

 headland merely adds one proof more to the many furnished 

 already, of the inadequacy of mineralogical testimony, when 

 taken in evidence regarding the eras of the geologist. The 

 hard red beds of Ru-Stoir belong, as I was fortunate enough 

 this evening to ascertain, not to the ages of the Coccosteus 

 and Pterichthys, but to the far later ages of the Plesiosau- 

 rus and the fossil crocodile. I found them associated with 

 more reptilian remains, of a character more unequivocal, 

 than have been yet exhibited by any other deposit in Scot- 

 land. 



What first strikes the eye, in approaching the Ru-Stoir 

 from the west, is the columnar character of the stone. The 

 precipices rise immediately over the sea, in rude colonnades 

 of from thirty to fifty feet in height ; single pillars, that have 

 fallen from their places in the line, and exhibit a tenacity 

 rare among the trap-rocks, for they occur in unbroken 

 lengths of from ten to twelve feet, lie scattered below ; and 

 in several places where the waves have joined issue with the 

 precipices in the line on which the base of the columns rest, 

 and swept away the supporting foundation, the colonnades 

 open into roomy caverns, that resound to the dash of the sea. 

 Wherever the spray lashes, the pale red hue of the stone 

 prevails, and the angles of the polygonal shafts are rounded ; 

 while higher up all is sharp-edged, and the unweathered sur- 

 face is covered by a gray coat of lichens. The tenacity of 

 the prostrate columns first drew my attention. The builder 

 scant of materials would have experienced no difficulty in 

 finding among them sufficient lintels for apertures from eight 

 to twelve feet in width. I was next struck with the pecu- 



