322 PROCEEPIKGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jline 9, 



are Old-Red-Sandstone conglomerate. Striated boulders of brown 

 sandstone of great size lie scattered about the lower slopes ; and at 

 Kilaornan burn these brownish grits and argillaceous flags occur in 

 situ, and form the material of the neighbouring Pictish tower. The 

 next stream northward is Craggie burn. Here the flaggy gneissose 

 rocks reappear, dipping E.S.E. at a high angle, associated with thin 

 seams of the quartzo-felspathic rock c. Ko gold has been found in 

 Loth-beg Water, nor in the Kilaornan burn ; but Craggie burn has 

 proved auriferous. 



Strath Ullie. 



In the bed of the Ullie or Helmsdale, above the Crask bridge, 

 and near Kil-Donnan Lodge, flaggy micaceous and gneissose beds 

 are traversed by granite h, which is itself intersected by a dyke of 

 dark brown trap. This crosses the strata and associated crystalline 

 rock, but without afi'ecting the dip, which is here N.E. (fig. 3). 

 Further up stream the schistose rocks become harder and more 

 flaggy in character, and the dip changes slightly to the eastward, 

 unaffected apparently by the presence of the granitic rocks, which 

 occur as thick bands, throwing out veins in all directions, which 

 sometimes follow the seams, and suddenly cease when about an inch 

 thick (fig. 1). Very rich washings were found here in the rocky 

 pockets by the river-side, the overlying drift being particoloured 

 clay with white bands and blotches, covered with ferruginous gravel 

 and sand. 



Passing for the present the mouth of the Suisgill burn, which 

 flows into the Ullie from the north, about two miles from this point, 

 we reach the river Fri, flowing from the west. Here micaceous 

 and gneissose flags dip E.S.E. , with some intercalated granites. 

 These, generally large-grained and friable, become more numerous 

 as we proceed towards Achintoul, beyond which, in the Cnock- 

 fionn river, running from the N.E., they become very abundant. 

 Here the dip is still easterly and at a high angle. A little gold has 

 been found in the stream last mentioned. Hereaway the country 

 becomes deeply boggy, the first prominent rocks, about eight miles 

 to the north-west being the lofty twin mountains Beinn-Ghriam- 

 mor and Beinn-Ghriam-beg, isolated masses of Old Eed Sandstone, 

 dipping S.W., and furnishing most imposing evidence of immense 

 denudation. 



Returning from Achintoul by the Strath-Ullie road, five miles 

 bring us to Cinn-preas burn, a north-eastern tributary of the Ullie. 

 Here red granitiform rocks and flaggy beds occur, dipping east. A 

 small nugget, weighing 5 dwts., was found here, and a good deal of 

 granular gold. 



Suisgill, the next stream from the north-east, was early visited 

 by the diggers, and is still their favourite resort. The gold found 

 here is generally in larger pellicles, and has hitherto been sufiiciently 

 abundant to yield a very fair return for skilled labour. Flaggy 

 gneissose rocks, with a few micaceous beds, dip here E. and E.S.E. ; 

 but the feature of its lithology is the abundance of a binary com- 



