RAMBLES OF A GEOLOGIST. 239 



the point settled by a woman of middle age, marked by a 

 hard, manly countenance, who was coming up towards me, 

 bound apparently for the Banff or Macduff market, and stoop- 

 ing under a load of dairy produce. She too, apparently, had 

 her purpose to serve or point to settle ; for as we met, she 

 was the first to stand ; and, sharply scanning my appearance 

 and aspect at a glance, she abruptly addressed me. " Honest 

 man," she said, "do you see yon house wi' the chirnla?* 

 " That house with the farm-steadings and stacks beside it T 

 I replied. " Yes." " Then Id be obleeged if ye wald just 

 stap in as ye'r gaing east the gate, and tell our folk that the 

 stirk has gat fra her tether, an' 'ill brak on the wat clover. 

 Tell them to sen' for her that minute." I undertook the 

 commission ; and, passing the endangered stirk, that seemed 

 luxuriating, undisturbed by any presentiment of impending 

 peril, amid the rich swathe of a late clover crop, still damp 

 with the dews of the morning frost, I tapped at the door of 

 the farm-house, and delivered my message to a young good- 

 looking girl, in nearly the words of the woman : " The gude- 

 wife bade me tell them" I said, " to send that instant for the 

 stirk, for she had gat fra her tether, and would brak on the 

 wat clover." The girl blushed just a very little, and thanked 

 me; and then, after obliging me, in turn, by laying down 

 for me my proper route, for I had left the question of the 

 forked road to be determined at the farm-house, she set off 

 at high speed, to rescue the unconscious stirk. A walk of 

 rather less than two hours brought me abreast of the Bay of 

 Gamrie, a picturesque indentation of the coast, in the for- 

 mation of which the agency of the old denuding forces, ope- 

 rating on deposits of unequal solidity, may be distinctly traced. 

 The surrounding country is composed chiefly of Silurian 

 schists, in which there is deeply inlaid a detached strip of moul- 

 dering Old Red Sandstone, considerably more than twenty 

 miles in length, and that varies from two to three miles in 



