EXCURSION I. 61 



valley, and their union is marked by a very steep grassy 

 slope, encumbered with granite blocks projecting from the 

 soil in situ, or deeply imbedded in it, but free from the huge 

 flat and smooth sheets, along which it is difficult and dan- 

 gerous to cross. This depression or break is in the direction 

 of the head of the valley, and owes its origin to a basaltic 

 dike, which appears at the beginning of the ascent, and is 

 seen to enclose masses of granite, as in the case already men- 

 tioned. Its range is magnetic north and south, and width 

 about twelve feet. The situation of the Pass of Bealach-an- 

 Fhir-Bhogha, at the north base, to which we are now to 

 mount, and which is fully 1000 feet above us, is indicated 

 by a bold rocky point, a little in advance of Ben-Tarsuin, 

 2706 feet high, the last high summit of the Ben-Ghnuis 

 range. Marking its position by the compass, and then 

 pressing up the steep, we gain a wide and grand prospect 

 from the summit of the Pass. Clambering to the top 

 of the rocky point, we look down from a height of fully 

 2000 feet into a nook or recess of Glen Rosa on one side, and 

 into Glen lorsa on the other. The descent towards the 

 latter is easy; towards the former somewhat dangerous. 

 From the Garbh-Alt valley, in fact, the only safe access to 

 Glen Rosa is by the way we have come up. 



29. We are now at the southern extremity of the Ceims 

 (Kyims), which link on Cior-Mhor to the Ben-Ghnuis range. 

 This is the ridge whose sharp and rugged outline, seen from 

 the shores of Brodick Bay, is well known as bearing a strik- 

 ing resemblance to the profile of a late distinguished states- 

 man and writer. The ridge is formed by the edges of vast 

 tabular masses or sheets of granite, inclined towards Glen 

 lorsa at a considerable angle, and cut sharply down on the 

 side next Glen Rosa, so as to present towards it a continued 

 precipice, formed of successive tiers of granite sheets and 

 rhombic blocks. The jagged outline is due in part to the 

 irregular wearing of the coarse-grained granite, but still 

 more to the intersection of the ridge by a series of whin 



