464 RAMBLES OF A GEOLOGIST. 



would of itself be sufficient in a very few ages to people the 

 world. 



We returned, taking in our way the cliffs of Marwick Head, 

 in which I detected a few scattered plates and scales, and 

 which, like nine-tenths of the rocks of Orkney, belong to the 

 great flagstone division of the formation. I found the dry- 

 stone fences on Mr Garson's property still richer in detached 

 fossil fragments than the cliffs ; but there are few erections 

 in the island that do not inclose in their walls portions of the 

 organic. We find ichthyolite remains in the flagstones laid 

 bare along the wayside, in every heap of road-metal, in 

 the bottom of every stream, in almost every cottage and 

 fence. Orkney is a land of defunct fishes, and contains in its 

 rocky folds more individuals of the waning ganoid family than 

 are now to be found in all the existing seas, lakes, and rivers 

 of the world. I enjoyed in a snug upper room a delectable 

 night's rest, after a day of prime exercise, prolonged till it 

 just touched on toil, and again experienced, on looking out 

 in the morning on the wide flat basin around, a feeling some- 

 what akin to wonder, that Orkney should possess a scene at 

 once so extensive and so exclusively inland. 



Towards mid-day I walked on to the parish manse of Sand- 

 wick, armed with a letter of introduction to its inmate, the 

 Rev. Charles Clouston, a gentleman whose descriptions of 

 the Orkneys, in the very complete and tastefully written Guide- 

 Book of the Messrs Anderson of Inverness, and of his own 

 parish in the " Statistical Account of Scotland," had, both 

 from the high literary ability and the amount of scientific ac- 

 quirement which they exhibit, rendered me desirous to see. 

 I was politely received, though my visit must have been, as 

 I afterwards ascertained, at a rather inconvenient time. It 

 was now late in the week, and the coming Sabbath was that 

 of the communion in the parish ; but Mr Clouston obligingly 

 devoted to me at least an hour, and I found it a very profit- 



