on the Mountain Cruachan. 1£5 



mountains. I do not mean to say that this is likely to prove general, 

 but I merely point it out as an accompanying circumstance, to be 

 confirmed, or perhaps contradicted, by future and more numerous 

 observations. 



Having thus determined the nature of Cruachan itself, it will be 

 useful to trace its connection with the surrounding mountains, and 

 in defect of more satisfactory observations, to conjecture by their 

 external aspect and by analogy, the nature of their composition. It 

 forms the highest point of a complicated group, which to the south- 

 east is bounded by Loch Awe, to the south-west by Mid Lorn, and 

 to the north-west by Loch Etive, but which extends towards the 

 north-east in a continuous line, uniting itself with the ridges of Schi- 

 hallien and Ben Lawers. The part of this group which the great 

 elevation of Cruachan brings almost immediately under the eye, is 

 coextensive on the three quarters first enumerated with the boun- 

 daries there mentioned. To the north it does not extend further' 

 than Buachaille Etive, while it is in some measure separated from 

 the eastern mountains by the lower land of the Black Mount over 

 which the military road passes. Within this space the whole of the 

 mountains, including both boundaries of Loch Etive, appear to con- 

 sist of granite, and to be of the same composition with Cruachan j 

 there being no perceptible difference either to the naked eye, or 

 when seen through the telescope, between their general outline, 

 fracture, mode of disintegration, colour, or form. How far this 

 conjecture may be confirmed by actual examination, or to what 

 extent they may resemble it in the minor circumstances, the inter- 

 sections of porphyritic veins, can only be known by inspection of 

 the rocks themselves, a task not likely to be soon accomplished, 

 $ince it is scarcely possible to discover a mode of traversing this 



YOL. IV. R 



