190 Dr. Mac Culloch's Supplement to the 



nature, and the difficulty which will be found in giving an adequate 

 explanation of its origin. 



It is to be observed near Kylehaken, occupying a space of about 

 a mile on the shore, but not exceeding a few hundred yards in 

 breadth, terminating in one side on the elevated ground, as it does 

 in the sea on the other. It seems to be the remains of a plain once 

 much more extensive, since its boundary towards the sea consists of 

 a series of straight lines, the loose materials assuming the usual angle 

 and exhibiting precisely the same appearances which characterize 

 the terraces that line the alluvial vallies through which active rivers 

 have cut their way. The bar of Kylehaken harbour, and the 

 gravelly soundings of this shore, which render it an insecure an- 

 chorage, equally indicate an extent once more considerable, and 

 confirm the supposition produced by its straight edge and the angle 

 of its declivity. Its surface is about 60 or 70 feet above the level 

 of the sea. 



No rivers at present flow in the vicinity of this plain, nor is there, 

 from the form of the ground, any reason to suppose that they have 

 ever flowed so as to enable us to account for this deposit of loose 

 materials. The substances are nevertheless rounded, and consist ot 

 those rocks which are seen in the neighbourhood, presenting a large 

 proportion of the various hard sandstones, with some occasional 

 pebbles of gneiss and of hornblende slate. It might perhaps be 

 imagined that the ordinary fragments of the mountains which back 

 this little plain, descending to the sea and there rolled, might have 

 been rejected by the tides so as to form these banks, but this sup- 

 position is invalidated partly by the presence of gneiss and horn- 

 blende slate, which do not occur among these mountains, and 

 partly by the altitude of the banks above the present high-water 

 mark. It must doubtless be granted that if at some more ancient 



