W. H. Hudleston — First Impressions of Assynt. 391 



the peaks of Na Touadhain, although we saw quartzite occupying the 

 heights on both sides, still for a long distance there was nothing 

 but " Logan " rock to walk upon except in one spot, where a large 

 mass of quartzite was aj)parently faulted on to it. At length having 

 arrived at an elevation of about 2500 feet, this everlasting " Logan " 

 rock gave place to a fragmental series of quartzo-felspathic grits, with 

 some beds of coarse conglomerate, having large and well-rounded 

 pebbles of vein quartz. This series, I was told, is regarded as con- 

 stituting the basement beds of the Upper Quartzite, which forms the 

 summits of the mountains hereabouts, including, besides those already 

 named, Ben Uarran, Ben Uie, etc., — a white and dazzling wilderness 

 of quartzite blocks. From this elevation of about 2600 feet we 

 descended rapidly to Inchnadamph, some 230 feet above sea-level. 



Local Topography, etc. — Inchnadamph, at the head of Loch 

 Assynt, is a centre from which several of the most critical sections 

 may be visited. It lies in what I may term a longitudinal hollow, 

 running north and south, between two mountain ranges. The 

 icestern range consists of a chain of disconnected heights, of which 

 Quinaig, Canisp, Suilven, and Coul More are the culminating points, 

 each separated by a deep lake-filled basin. This chain of heights, 

 though nowhere reaching an altitude of 3000 feet, is a terrible con- 

 denser of moisture, and the mysterious gloom of its almost ever- 

 clouded summits serves to exaggerate the altitude of these weird 

 precipices. The eastern range is far higher, and, instead of being 

 seamed by transverse valleys cut down to within two or three 

 hundred feet of the sea-level, presents a tolerably continuous series 

 of ridges, only separated by lofty passes (Beallochs). This 

 eastern range may roughly be described as extending from the 

 sea loch of Glen Coul on the north to the inland Loch Borrolan on 

 the south. The familiar names of Glasven, Ben Uie, Ben Uarran, 

 Coniveall, Ben More, and Breabag represent portions of the mass, 

 which may be regarded as the largest mountain group in Sutherland. 

 Ben More and Coniveall, which really are peaks of the same ridge, 

 attain elevations of 3273 feet and 3234 feet respectively. 



It is this eastern range, so massive, so rugged, and so lofty, which 

 causes the geology of Upper Assynt to be thus difficult of interpre- 

 tation beyond, one might almost say, any district in the North-West. 

 The complexity of folding to which this mountain group has been 

 subjected is surprising, and nothing but time and patience can 

 adequately unravel its mysteries. 



General Structure of the Western Range and Longitudinal Hollow. — 

 The geological structure of the western range is on the whole simple. 

 From the " dark tumbled sea " of Hebridian gneiss there rise the 

 deeply intersected masses of Torridon Sandstone, succeeded uncon- 

 formably, according to most observers, by a massive Quartzite 

 dipping to the eastward in regular sheets, which for large distances 

 are almost coincident with the easterly slope of the mountains them- 

 selves. This may be regarded as the normal state of things, and 

 may be seen by any one driving along the road from Loch Glen Coul, 

 opposite Quinaig, by way of the head of Loch Assynt and Stronch- 



