Mr Home o)i the Geology of the Island of Unst. 279 



the col cat the head of the valley, draining into Woodwick 

 Bay, on the west side of the island. Near the farmhouse 

 west of the head of Loch Cliff, a triangular-shaped block of 

 this rock is met with, five feet long and three feet broad at 

 the base, and partly concealed. Again, on the hill face, on 

 the soutli side of this col, blocks of serpentine are found lying 

 on the surface. And so also on the hill slope west of Loch 

 Watlea, and on the ground west of the Belmont Lochs, I 

 observed similar boulders of serpentine. 



Lochs and Voes. — The chain of lochs which crosses the 

 island from Burra Fiord to Belmont has been already referred 

 to. The two lakes at Belmont and Loch Watlea are drift 

 dammed lochs, but the Loch of Cliff must have been at one time 

 connected, and must have formed a part of Burra Fiord. The 

 Loch of Cliff, which is about two miles long, is separated from 

 the Burra Fiord, which is about three miles long, by a narrow 

 patch of alluvium. Two little streams from the east and west 

 drain their waters from the hill slopes into the little alluvial 

 flat which has evidently been formed by the sand and gravel 

 brought down by the streams. The line of the old sea-cliff is 

 well marked on the east side of the alluvial flat, which tends 

 to confirm the supposition that Loch Cliff and Burra Voe have 

 been separated at no distant date. 



In the island of Unst we search in vain for the great series 

 of gravels which attain such a remarkable development in 

 Scotland. There is likewise no trace of the old sea-beaches 

 which indicate the rise of the land in recent geological times. 

 The drift slopes along the sides of the voes or sea-lochs in 

 Unst and the other Shetland Isles, are admirably adapted for 

 their preservation. It would appear, therefore, that the 

 Shetland Isles did not share in the same earth movements as 

 the mainland of Scotland which gave rise to those marine 

 terraces. 



We have seen that in the island of Unst the ice movement 

 took place from east to west, as indicated by the roches 

 moutonnees, striations, the stones in the boulder clay, and 

 erratic blocks. This seems to be a remarkable confirmation 

 of the conclusions of my colleague Dr CroU, to which he had 

 been led by a consideration of the size of the Scandinavian 



