140 Mr. Prestwich on the Structure of 



Extent and Surface*. 

 The Bay of Gamrie is about nine miles east of Banff. The country is hilly, 

 bleak, almost destitute of trees, and unenclosed. The extensive slaty districts, 

 where not overlaid by drift, generally form moors covered with heather and 

 furze ; but where partially cultivated, they yield scanty crops of herbage ; 

 while the red sandstone, conglomerate, and drift constitute the arable lands. 

 High and picturesque cliffs of slate rocks skirt the shore, forming numerous 

 small headlands ; between two of which, namely, Gamrie and Trouphead, is the 

 small fishing hamlet of Gamrie or Garmstone (PI. X. Map and Sec. No. 2.). 

 The breadth of the bay is about one mile and a half, and its depth half a mile. 

 The promontories by which it is formed, consist of high and craggy cliffs of 

 micaceous and argillaceous schists, dipping rapidly south and south-west, whilst 

 the centre of the bay displays a rough and broken range of red sandstone and 

 conglomerates t ; the bright vermilion colour of the former giving to the cliffs 

 a singular and beautiful appearance. The slates and red conglomerates attain 

 an altitude J: of about 400 feet and the red sandstone of about 200 feet. The 

 slates of Gamrie Head stretch inland and form a continuous range, intersected 

 by a few ravines and small valleys ; and are separated from the old red sand- 

 stone by a wild ravine, which ranges nearly due south. Along part of the east- 

 ern side of the ravine the red sandstone appears; wiiilst on the western side is 

 an escarpment of slate rocks, and at the further end of it, are the bold and pre- 

 cipitous crags of the red conglomerate. The red sandstones form an abruptly 

 undulating tract, much less elevated than those composed of the slates or the 

 red conglomerates, the last attaining, at Findon, an altitude nearly equal to that 

 of the encircling slate ranges, or about 600 feet above the level of the sea. Here 

 and there are small outliers of superficial or drift clay and sand, the former 

 containing lias fossils. To the south-west of Gamrie, is a small conical hill of 

 this dark blue clay, resting upon the red sandstone ; and another small similar 

 tract, rests upon the slate rocks above Crovie. The streams take their rise 

 either in the upper marls of the conglomerates, or in the overlying clay, and 

 run through numerous ravines into the sea. 



Schistose Rocks. 

 Describing the strata in the ascending order, I shall briefly allude to these 



* Map and Sections, Plate X. 



f The section being nearly at right angles to the dip, tl;e strata appear to a spectator facing the 

 clifFto be nearly horizontal. 



X Not having had the instruments necessary to ascertain correctly the height of the hills, I can 

 offer merely a rough approximation, founded upon a level taken from the coast up the bed of 

 the rivulet to Findon. 



