MILLEE NORTHERN HIGHLANDS. 581 



those limits it rises into several lofty elevations of 1000, 1200, and 

 even 1500 feet above the level of the sea. Along the eastern 

 side of the deposit, so far as I have been able to observe, it dips 

 gently to the east or south-east. From, the sea on the north to the 

 neighbourhood of the Eerry-house, on the west side of the Kyle 

 of Duirness, it is overlaid by the quartzite. This junction of the two 

 formations, as alluded to by Professor Nicol, can be clearly seen on 

 the road-side within half a mile of Dall, and is very distinct. From 

 the Ferry-house southwards the gneiss juts out until the quartz- 

 ite reappears as the superior rock beside the road on the north- 

 eastern flank of Ben Farvel. From this point southwards to the 

 rivulet of Achriesgill the junction of the sandstone with the gneiss 

 and quartzite of Ben Spinnue and Finaven is covered over by moss 

 and heather; but it is evidently overlaid by the latter of those two 

 moimtain-ranges on the east, as, wherever the sandstone is visible 

 south of Gualin House, it dips to the east at an angle which runs 

 directly under the base of Finaven, particularly on the east side of 

 Loch Taravie. But the most convincing proof that the purple sand- 

 stones of Cape Wrath dip under and are older than the quartzites and 

 the great central gneiss deposit of the Highlands, and must therefore 

 be regarded as Cambrian and not Devonian, is to be obtained from 

 the various sections in the bed of the rivulet of Achriesgill within a 

 hundred yards of the road, where the sandstone is distinctly seen 

 dipping to the east and passing into and under the gneiss of Craig- 

 more, which, notwithstanding its confused and rugged aspect, can 

 also be seen dipping to the east. 



Quartzite. — As I have stated in the foregoing section, the quartzite 

 succeeds and overlies the Cape Wrath sandstone, and on the west side 

 of the Kyle of Duirness it passes into gneiss so frequently that it is 

 difficult to define its limits. Between Dall and the Ferry-house it dips 

 to the east. On the east side of the Kyle of Duirness it reappears at 

 Lerinmore Bay; its junction at this point with the limestone is 

 covered over by earth and debris and cannot be well seen ; it con- 

 tinues along the shore eastward to the gneiss of Ben Keannaben ; it 

 is seen in Klourig Island at the mouth of Loch Erriboll, appears on 

 the western shore of Loch ErriboU about four miles from Eispond, 

 extends from this point southwards until it meets the gneiss of 

 Craig na fielin at the' south end of Loch Erriboll, reappears at the 

 mouth of the Eiver of Hope, on the east side of Loch Erriboll, runs 

 northwards to "Whiten Head, and into and under the gneiss on the 

 eastern side of that noble promontory. 



Limestone. — The limestone is first seen in Garve Island and in 

 the mainland nearly opposite, on the north-west side of the Kyle of 

 Duirness ; but as it is here of minor importance, I did not pay it a visit. 

 The principal portion of the deposit is on the east side of the Kyle, 

 and extends southwards from a point north-east of Bahiakiel House 

 to the Bridge of Grudy, and westwards from the River of Grudy for 

 about a mile round the Head of the Kyle ; its extreme length may be 

 seven miles and its breadth about three miles in its widest part, ex- 

 tending from the shores of the Kyle to the mountain-range of Meal 

 Meannach. This extraordinary ridge of vertical gneiss rises out of 



