EXCURSION VI. 121 



boulders proved no more a mystery to its promptings than 

 do the bolts and bars of a prison house a faithful Arran 

 maiden, whose affections he had won, soon discovered his 

 place of concealment, ministered to him food and comfort, and 

 in a few days, forsaking her own people, escaped with him 

 in a fishing boat which had come from the mainland, and 

 was united to him on happier shores. 



We cross the Sannox burn by a rustic bridge, where 

 it comes flashing down along its bed of granite sand, among 

 wild copsewood, through green shadows and gleams of sun- 

 light. Our path is now by the farm-house on the shore; 

 but we must not pass so near the finest view of Glen 

 Sannox without stopping for a little to look upon it. This 

 point will be readily found upon the road towards North 

 Sannox house. "VVe look down \ipon a broken foreground, 

 sloping on both sides towards the stream. On the right 

 the glen is bounded by the long steep ridge of Suidhi-Fergus 

 and the Castles; on the left by that of Cioch-na-h'oighe 

 and the prolonged ridge of Goatfell. Cior-Mhor stands 

 proudly up, closing the long vista. We return to the shore. 

 The high ridge of ground dividing North and South Glen 

 Sannox terminates on the shore, in a precipice called the 

 Blue Rock, from a decomposition taking place upon it, 

 due to the presence of iron and manganese, acted on by 

 trickling streamlets. Here, and along the shore, the strata of 

 Old Red still retain their southern dip, at a small angle. But 

 when we cross the North Sannox Water, we find the inclination 

 southwards much less; and as we advance a little, the strata 

 become horizontal. Still advancing, we find them dipping 

 in the opposite direction, at angles gradually increasing, 

 till the original dip of 15 or 20 is reached, but now 

 directed N.N.W., instead of S.S.E. The line from which 

 these opposite dips are thus directed is called the Anticlinal 

 Axis ; it is nearly in the direction of North Sannox Glen, and 

 of a remarkable advance of the granite in an easterly 

 direction almost to the bridge in Glen Chalmadale, not a 



