142 GEOLOGY OF ARRAN. 



nowhere is metamorphic action more decided. The whole 

 neighbourhood, indeed, is well worthy of careful study. It 

 will be found very instructive to ascend the hill along the 

 plane of contact, and examine the various junctions. Many 

 appearances equally striking are also to be seen across the 

 hill-tops between this point and Glen Catacol, affording 

 ample scope for a separate walk. We may ascend from the 

 Torneadaneoin junction, and return from Catacol by the shore; 

 or first visit Catacol from Loch Ranza, examine the terraced 

 ridges at its mouth, and then ascend by the granite junction 

 at the north-east angle of the glen. The descent upon 

 Loch Rauza from the high platform is not difficult. The 

 walk affords many grand views, particularly late in the 

 afternoon. 



67. From the Torneadaneoin junction southwards the 

 walk is wholly on granite, and its chief interest, apart, of 

 course, from its picturesque attractions, consists in examin- 

 ing the two varieties, the coarse and fine-grained, their 

 relations and respective limits, and the dikes which traverse 

 them. Few walks, indeed, in Arran, are more delightful on 

 a fine day : the peaks and ridges are seen in new and grand 

 aspects, enhanced by the solemn stillness and desolate char- 

 acter of the scene. The silence is broken only by the wild 

 scream of the curlew roused from her nest, or the answering 

 call of her mate aloft, by the whirr of the startled wild-fowl, 

 or sudden bound of the red deer from his lair. From Loch 

 Ranza to Dougrie there is not a single human habitation, not 

 even a herd's shieling; and during the ramble of a long sum- 

 mer's day we shall meet only the wild denizens of the rock 

 or moor. The red deer seek chiefly the shelter of the lower 

 valley of the lorsa ; and it is thence, by the wild heights and 

 rocky knolls towards the watershed, that the sport of 

 " stalking" is occasionally followed. The deer are not very 

 numerous; but they have been put into some other covers, 

 and the small American species has lately been placed in the 

 woods about Brodick Castle. 



