64 REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1899 



the vast expanse of Porphyrite extending northwards and 

 eastwards of the fault already mentioned — all attest the 

 widespread igneous eruptions to which this locality had once 

 been subject. 



Whilst the denudation of the softer Sedimentary Strata 

 laid bare the intrusive Felstone Micatrap forming the sum- 

 mits of the EildoQS, the same agency exposed the Basaltic 

 Hill known as Penielheugh, the Felstone Masses forming 

 the White and Black Hills of Earlston, and the Porphyritic 

 ridge crowned by Smailholm Tower. Indeed, but for the 

 volcanic activity and denudation of the past, the frequent 

 conjunction of crag and gorge, which imparts such romantic 

 beauty to the scenery of this district, would not have existed 

 at all. The geology of the Scottish Border has thus a 

 direct connection with its literature and romance ; for what, 

 for instance, would such a district as this have been, in 

 literature and historic annals, without its '' Eildons three," 

 its lofty Oowdenknowes, its rock-bound Bemersyde, its craggy 

 Smailholm, its picturesque Makerstoun, — all distinctive features 

 in the landscape, and products of those mysterious forces of 

 Nature which have impressed upon the locality its present 

 configuration, so renowned in Border legend, romance, and 

 song ? 



I 



