D. Milne Home — Olaciation of the Shetlands. 207 



Sir Eoderick Murcliison, examined tlie Shetlands as regarded tlieir 

 glaciation, and had made a special report thereon to the British 

 Association in 1864. Now, nothing can be more distinct and decided 

 than Mr. Peach's observations on the striations and corresponding 

 transport of drift in Unst. As I did not in my Address deem it 

 necessary to quote all that Mr. Peach stated, I hope I may be 

 allowed to do so now. He says that, "in Haroldswick Bay (on the 

 East Coast of Unst), he found a thick deposit of clay, in which 

 polished and striated stones were plentiful. Part of the deposit had 

 recently slipped off the rock, and here the markings were so splendidly 

 shown, as if the grating masses had passed over it only a few days 

 before. The direction of the strice ivas nearly W.N. W. and E.S.E." 

 Mr. Peach then goes on to say, that he " ascended Heog Hill, which, 

 sloped up from the spot just mentioned, to the height of 500 feet," 

 and there, as before, he found " the W.N. W. end, vertical and polished 

 to the depth of at least 150 feet." "The hills to the north of Heog 

 Hill slope down towards it; and down these, no doubt, the crushing 

 agents came. The vertical and storm side of Heog Hill had 

 evidently resisted a portion of the destroyer, and turned the greater 

 part on its western flank, and thus the main body passed down the 

 valley towards Haroldswick, as evinced by the greater destruction 

 there than on the eastern side." 



This statement by Mr. Peach, senior, these gentlemen seem to 

 have felt to be so serious a contradiction of their statements, that, 

 after seeing my reference to it, they applied to Mr. Peach, and 

 obtained from him a letter, dated November, 1880, which they 

 embody in their answers, and which, they say, "enables us to account 

 for the discordance between the recorded observations of Mr. C. W. 

 Peacb and ourselves." I confess I cannot see how this letter accounts 

 for the discordance. On the contrary, it only proves the discordance, 

 and shows it to be unaccountable. Mr. Peach, in his letter, says, 

 " I send you a copy of my paper on Shetland, in which I stated that 

 the striae on the Heog Hill, Unst, run nearly W.N.W. and E.S.E. 

 In the closing sentence of that paper, I also stated that my bearings 

 are by compass, no allowance having been made for variation. Since 

 I wrote that paper, having seen much more of the glaciation of 

 Scotland, and thought more about it, I have seen cause to alter my 

 opinion as to the direction of the drift .... I now feel quite satisfied 

 that, although I noticed the bearings of the strice right, I was wrong 

 as to the direction of the drift." 



Messrs. Peach, and Home, commenting on this letter, obsei've, 

 that when allowance is made for magnetic variation, Mr. Peach's 

 bearings would be, not W.N.W., as stated by him, but "nearly E. 

 and W., as noted by us." This remark I don't understand; for, as 

 the compass in Shetland, in the year 1864, stood 24" to the west of 

 true north, Mr. Peach's observation, by true bearing, indicate N.W., 

 and not due E. and W. 



But the more material point is this — Messrs. Home and Peach, 

 judging by the stri^ in Unst, stated that the Ice-movement was 

 from the eastward. Mr. Peach, senior, on the other hand, saw that 



