EXCURSION I. 65 



in lower parts between, into spiry fantastic crests. The 

 craggy precipices and long steep fronts of naked rock have 

 an imposing expression of sternness and power. Crowning 

 the ridge of which they form the lateral supports, Goatfell 

 presents on this side its grandest aspect. The eye, from its 

 elevation, takes in, under a large visual angle, the entire 

 western steep, from the summit of the mountain to the 

 bottom of the glens. On the north side of Glen Sannox the 

 ridge of the Castles and Suidhe-Fergus starts up with little 

 less of suddenness and grandeur. Lying deep down at the 

 foot of these lofty ridges, and closed in on the south-west by 

 the high mountain on which we stand, Glen Sannox has an 

 air of singular loneliness and solemnity. The same breadth 

 of form and grand scale of parts are found nowhere else in 

 Arraii; the uniform and simple structure of the glen is its 

 greatest charm. The silver thread of its river, meandering 

 far out eastwards, leads to the world of life without ; and the 

 murmur of distant waters, stealing up from its sombre depths, 

 breaks pleasingly the awful stillness of the summer day on 

 these high peaks. 



32. We have attempted, in preceding paragraphs, to indi- 

 cate the successive steps of the process by which the moun- 

 tain nucleus acquired its actual conformation. From our 

 present commanding position we are better able to estimate 

 the amount of elevatory force required to raise the high 

 peaks and massive ridges around ; and the length of time 

 and intensity of erosive agents which the formation of the 

 long and deep chasm dividing the ranges demands. Fill up 

 this chasm and the other glens with solid granite masses, to 

 the level of the peaks and ridges, over all throw a mantle of 

 slate, continuous with the present circular boundary around 

 the nucleus, depress the area full three thousand feet, till the 

 ocean flows freely over all, and some measure will be ob- 

 tained both of the force and of the time through which the 

 present aspects were assumed. 



33. The sunbeam is the joy of this mountain wilderness. 



F 



