4 DESCRIPTION of the 



chain, that is to fay, from weft to eaft : and I have obferved, 

 not unfrequently, that the weftern ends of thofe oblong moun- 

 tains are more bulky than their eaftern extremities, and that they 

 ilope and taper in fome degree towards this quarter. Their ge- 

 neral covering is that of a coarfe gravelly foil, produced by their 

 own decomposition ; and the produce of this foil is heath. But 

 upon fome of the heights in the central range, I have found beds 

 or layers of that fpecies of turf called Peat y from fifteen to twen- 

 ty feet in thicknefs. which repofe upon the gravelly foil that 

 there covers the native rock. 



At this eaftern part of the Grampians, where I am now about 

 to endeavour to give a defcription of the ftratification, the moun- 

 tains feldom ihow any confiderable extent of naked rock. 



In their courfe to the eaftward, as they approach the fea, they 

 begin to con trad: in breadth, and cover much lefs fpace of coun- 

 try ; and where they finifh their courfe at the fea, their height 

 will fcarcely entitle them to the appellation of hills : but although 

 they become fo diminutive in height and in breadth, yet the ma- 

 terials of which they are formed continue the fame as thofe 

 which compofe the ranges where they are in their greateft alti- 

 tude, and their exterior charaders, as to form and figure, alfo 

 continue the fame. 



Among the rivers which have their fource in the Grampians, 

 that of the North EJk is not the firft in rank as to fize, nor is it 

 the moft diminutive. At a confiderable diftance from the plains 

 in the interior of the mountains, a fmall lake called Loch Lee is 

 formed, in a rocky bafon, by a rivulet, and fome fprings and 

 rills flowing from marfhy grounds. From this lake the North Efk 

 iffues, not in a very confiderable flow, but, being foon joined by 

 other flreams and alpine torrents, it fwells to a confiderable fize, 

 and continues a courfe from this lake almoft due eaft, betwixt 

 the central and fouth lateral ranges of the mountains, for an ex- 

 tent of about feven miles : it then fkirts Mount-Battoc, and be- 

 ing 



