152 GEOLOGY OF THE LOTHIANS. 



Proceeding from the village of New Galloway, down the 

 western bank of Loch Ken, the greywacke strata are found 

 ranging in a vertical position S. W. and N. E., a position 

 which they preserve very generally over this country. 



About a quarter of a mile to the south of the ancient 

 castle of Kenmore we meet for the first time with the granite 

 of the Ken district. It is here a compound of brick-red 

 felspar, quartz, and mica, and for a considerable way the 

 loch is skirted by a narrow band of the transition rocks. 

 With the exception, however, of the junction of the Windy 

 Shoulder, which has been described in the volume we have 

 referred to, we only noticed one on the bank of the loch, and 

 this is not traceable for more than a foot or a foot and a 

 half. The greywacke, which, at a distance from the granite, 

 is perfectly characteristic and similar to that of other quar- 

 ters in the south of Scotland, acquires, on approaching it, 

 the aspect of an indurated felspathic sandstone, containing 

 a few very minute scales of mica ; at the junctional planes 

 it exhibits a tendency to pass into the granite, in a manner 

 evincing, however, no greater or more remarkable changes 

 than those which are often found attending junctions of 

 trap-rocks with sandstones and shales. 



The other point where we had an opportunity of exami- 

 ning junctional relations, was at the east end of Loch Stroan, 

 and at this point the nature of the ground renders these more 

 apparent. Near that part of the loch, from which the Black 

 Water of Dee rushes, a vein of granite traverses the grey- 

 wacke : it is not found in union with the principal mass, 

 though its joining it near this is probable from the circum- 

 stance of the granite forming the bed of the loch here. The 

 visible length of this granite vein is thirty feet, being at its 

 greatest breadth one foot, from which it gradually diminishes 

 until at last it terminates in a mere thread. Very generally a 

 layer of massive quartz intervenes bet ween the granite and the 



