EXCURSION I. 53 



of the old red formation. As this does not exist in many of 

 the localities where the stones now stand, we must conclude 

 that mechanical appliances of great power were brought to 

 bear in their transport; and therefore it is not wonderful 

 that, in a rude age, their erection was ascribed to the hands 

 of giants. In all ages the illiterate observe facts and pheno- 

 mena with tolerable accuracy ; but their explanations always 

 introduce the marvellous or the supernatural. The subject 

 will be again referred to. 



25. There are two paths to the entrance of Glen Rosa; we 

 take that which passes Brodick Church, and crosses the 

 opening of Glen Shirag. The church stands on a platform, 

 bounded northwards by a low cliff of sandstone, and over- 

 looking one of the most varied and pleasing views in Arran. 

 In this sandstone, underneath the north wall of the church 

 enclosure, there is a bed of carboniferous limestone in a ver- 

 tical position. It has been largely quarried, and a small 

 portion only is now visible. It contains fossils, of which the 

 most characteristic is the productus giganteus, completely 

 identifying this bed with the limestones of Corrie, the Salt 

 Pans, and Ben-leister Glen'; and enabling us, therefore, to 

 assign the sandstone also, without hesitation, to the age of the 

 coal formation. A little farther on, above a rustic bridge, 

 where the Shirag burn, rushing out from a winding rocky 

 gorge overhung with trees, forms a scene strikingly pic- 

 turesque, another bed of limestone occurs in the sandstone. 

 Thence to the entrance of Glen Rosa, we pass across the lower 

 beds of the carboniferous formation, which, however, are no- 

 where seen except in spots in the bed of the Rosa burn. 



We now reach the outer edge of the band of old red sand- 

 stone, which, ranging from the Corrie shore diagonally by 

 the flank of Goatfell, crosses the opening of the glen. It is 

 seen on rocky prominences by the side of the path, but no 

 junction is visible. The beds here exposed consist of a dark- 

 coloured, close-grained sandstone, with specks of mica, bits of 

 quartz, and small clay-galls, and are very characteristic of the 



