6 DESCRIPTION of the 



be found to offer fome very curious and important facls, parti- 

 cularly the gradual elevation, and the final perfect vertical por- 

 tion of the fandftone and puddingftone, as well as the rather un- 

 ufual manner in which the fecondary and the older ftrata meet 

 each other. 



In the feries here to be defcribed, the repeated occurrence of 

 rocks of the whin and of the porphyry formation, refpecling the 

 origin of which opinions are fo much divided, adds considerable 

 interefl ; efpecially when the form and fituation in which they 

 occur, and the condition of the contiguous rocks, are taken into 

 conlideration. 



In the account which I am now about to give, I fhall endea- 

 vour to lay down a fair reprefentation of the facls as Nature pre- 

 fents them, unbiaffed by any of the prevailing theories of cof- 

 mogony. I fhall avoid every geological difcuflion whatever, 

 leaving it to others to draw thofe conclufions, in relation to 

 their own fpeculations, which they fhall imagine the facls to 

 warrant. 



In that part of the plains of Kincardinefhire from which I 

 take my departure, the native rock confifts of Siliceous Grit or 

 Sandftone, which is here divided into an immenfe number of 

 beds or layers, of various thicknefTes, from one inch to four feet, 

 folid ftone. In many places, gravel of various fizes is found im- 

 bedded in this grit ; which gravel confifts moftly of water-worn 

 quartz, and fmall-grained granites. The colour of the general 

 tnafs of this grit is a dark-reddifh brown, and in fome few pla- 

 ces it fhows narrow lines and dots of a pearl- grey colour. The 

 component parts of this grit confift of fmall particles of quartz, 

 and ftill more minute particles of filvery-luftred mica : thefe owe 

 their cohefion in mafs to a martial argillaceous cement, to which 

 this rock alfo owes its colour. Thofe lines and dots of pearl- 

 grey colour, generally occur in the moft folid and thickeft beds 



o£ 



