Rev. T. G. Bonney — Cirque in the Hills of Skye. 537 



tbe otlier in a mountain slightly behind it, the English name 

 of which would be the Ked Hill. Even at that distance I could see 

 that they had once been occupied by glaciers, and I determined on 

 the first opportunity to give them a closer examination. This 

 intention was not exactly carried out, for in the course of a devious 

 walk on Ben na Caillich, instituted with a view of such a visit, 

 I came upon the double cirque which forms the subject of this paper. 

 Fig. 1. — Eough. Sketch Diagram of Cirques. 





f;,ii»^fe;\ 



A. Cliffs and very steep screes. B. Ice-worn slopes of rock. C. Moraine. D. Burn. 

 E. Saddle. The arrow indicates the direction of the Summit of Ben-na-Caillich. 



It lies close to the head of a glen running behind Ben na Caillich, 

 which thus is only joined on to the general syenite massif by a 

 narrow saddle much lower than its summit. Heaps of moraine 

 matter strewn about the lower part of the glen showed that it had 

 once been occupied by a glacier; and presently we came upon a 

 well-marked lateral moraine on the flank of Ben na Caillich, which 

 could be traced to within two or three hundred yards of the head 

 of the glen. Facing Ben na Caillich, and thus on the right bank of 

 the glen, though very close to its head, were two small but very 

 clearly marked Cirques. Each is inclosed by steep cliifs ; the floor, 

 as we may call it (though in this case it is on a considerable slope), is 

 ice-worn in several places, and in the middle of each a tiny rill, all 

 but dry, trickles down to form, when united, the little burn which 

 drains the glen. Though on a small scale, they were true Cirques ; 

 and in many respects might have been models of those which I 

 described on the Surenen Pass (Fig. 2). 



Now here any nofi.on of a crater of upheaval was absurd; one 

 could not in this sequestered nook explain them by any wash 

 of ocean-waves ; to suppose that a glacier could have made them 

 was to endue it with a property of vertical excavation, that I 

 think the most ardent glacialist would hardly claim for it, and 



