Achanarras Revisited. 281 
quarries at the base of the somewhat higher Hill of Spital is 
rather more than a mile in an easterly direction. Here we 
are just over the border-line which separates the more or 
less cultivated region of the north-east of Caithness from the 
bare moorland of the south-west; and the accompanying 
sketch (Fig. 1), from the pencil of my friend Mr W. Smith, 
elves a vivid idea of the appearance of the district between 
Achanarras and the Morven Mountains on the borders of 
Sutherland. Of these the high one on the right is the well- 
known Morven itself, and the distance from the quarry to 
its base is not less than 18 miles, yet it is hard to imagine 
a scene of more monotonous desolation than that which the 
low flat stretch of intervening country presents to the eye. 
Nearly all is Old Red Sandstone; even the summit of 
Morven is composed of the lowermost conglomerate of the 
Caithness series, though its base consists of crystalline 
rocks. 
From Mr Shearer, of the Bank of Scotland, Thurso, I 
learn that the quarry was first opened about the year 1870, 
by Mr James Munro, farmer at Achanarras, for the purpose 
of obtaining stones for fencing and farm buildings; but 
shortly afterwards it passed into the hands of the Thurso 
Flagstone Quarrying Company, which a few years ago was 
reconstituted as the Caithness Flagstone Company, the 
present lessees. It has never been worked for the purpose 
of obtaining street paving-stone, as the flags into which the 
rock divides are far too thin. For roofing-slate the stone is 
also too hard and refractory—difficult to cut, and impossible 
to “hole.” Achanarras slates must therefore, if used, be 
notched on either side, and fastened each with two nails 
instead of with a single one, as in ordinary cases. 
The vertical thickness of rock exposed in the part of the 
quarry which I saw in working operation amounts to a little 
over 84 feet, and the beds, which dip so gently to the east as 
to be nearly horizontal, may be indicated in the accompany- 
ing diagrammatic section (Fig. 2). 
The uppermost bed (A), about 4 feet in thickness, is much 
weathered, and divides into comparatively thin lamine, each 
+ to + inch in thickness, the partings being very ochreous. 
