276 RAMBLES OF A GEOLOGIST. 



the man in the red long coat was a stranger whom I had 

 never seen before. I inquired of him regarding Mr Joss, 

 one of perhaps the most remarkable mail-guards in Europe. 

 I have at least never heard of another who, like him, amuses 

 his leisure on the coach-top with the " Principia" of Newton, 

 and understands it. And the man, drawing his inference 

 from the interest in Mr Joss which my queries evinced, asked 

 me whether I myself was not a coach-guard. " No," I rather 

 thoughtlessly replied, " I am not a coach-guard." Half a 

 minute's consideration, however, led me to doubt whether I 

 had given the right answer. " I am not sure," I said to my- 

 self, on second thoughts, " but the 'man has cut pretty fairly 

 on the point ; I daresay / am a sort of coach-guard. I have 

 to mount my twice-a-week coach in all weathers, like any 

 mail-guard among them all ; I have to start at the appointed 

 hour, whether the vehicle be empty or full ; I have to keep 

 a sharp eye on the opposition coaches ; I am responsible, like 

 any other mail-guard, for all the parcels carried, however little 

 I may have had to do with the making of them up ; I have 

 always to keep my blunderbuss full charged to the muzzle, 

 not wishing harm to any one, but bound in duty to let 

 drive at all and sundry who would make war upon the pas- 

 sengers, or attempt running the conveyance off the road; 

 and, finally, as my friend Mr Joss takes the " Principia" to 

 his coach-top, I take pockets full of fossils to the top of mine, 

 and amuse myself in fine days by working out, as I best can, 

 the problems which they furnish. Yes, I rather think / 

 am a coach-guard." And so, taking my seat beside my red- 

 coated brother, who had guessed the true nature of my oc- 

 cupation so much more shrewdly than myself, I rode on to 

 Elgin, where I passed the night 



It is difficult to arrange in the mind the geologic forma- 

 tions of Banffshire in their character as a series of deposits. 

 The pages of the stony record which the county composes, like 



