120 GEOLOGY OF ARRAN. 



freestone quarry, another bed of limestone occurs ; that 

 under Maoldon has been noticed already (Art. 58). The 

 many interesting trap dikes have also been noticed; and 

 those curious irregular ridges on the surface of the sandstone 

 mentioned as occurring on the Corregills shore, are even 

 more remarkable here. They sometimes stand up six or 

 eight feet above the surface, and have very sharp jagged 

 edges. In most cases they are independent of whin dikes, 

 and consist of matter originally less liable to disintegrate 

 than the sandstone, and probably introduced into fissures in 

 this rock after it had consolidated. 



60. We return now to the contact of the carboniferous 

 rocks with the old red sandstone at the march of Achab 

 farm, and follow the latter rock northward along the coast. 

 Expanding inland, it rises into high cliffs. The forms 

 into which these have been moulded by the action of the 

 sea, the disposition of the natural wood upon them, and 

 the huge granite blocks which stand prominent by the 

 road-side, give a unique and most picturesque character 

 to this part of the coast. One of the largest blocks (on 

 the western edge of the road, among trees) we estimated 

 at above 200 tons; farther north on the eastern edge of 

 the road is another very large block standing upright on 

 its apex, perhaps let down so from a floating berg, or 

 originally imbedded in sandstone, afterwards worn away 

 as the tide ebbed and flowed around. The force exerted 

 by a strong man causes it to oscillate slightly as a rocking 

 stone. A romantic interest attaches to another boulder 

 south of the march of Achab farm. A garrison of eighty 

 men had been left in Brodick Castle by Cromwell ; against 

 these the natives became so irritated, on account of the 

 excesses of some of the soldiers, that when they were out 

 upon a foraging party in this direction, the Arran men 

 rose against them, and put them all to the sword, except one 

 young fellow who escaped, and hid under this stone. But 

 true love is ever fertile of expedients; and the Corrie 



