MR MILNE ON THE PARALLEL ROADS OF LOCHABER: 417 
the one about 78 feet, and the other 50 feet, above the channel of the united 
streams of Don and Urie, which flow through the centre of the valley. The an- 
cient bottom of the lake has been cut up by rivulets at the sides of the valley 
into separate fragments, some of them of so unusual a form as to have suggested 
a notion that they are artificial; and, accordingly, in the guide-books, and even 
in the recent statistical accounts of the parish, they are so described. Two of 
these alleged remains of antiquity are known by the names of Bass and Konin 
Hillock; and are variously conjectured to have been formed for sepulchral or judi- 
cial purposes. A similar mistake has been made with the hills of Dunipace. 
near Falkirk, which are represented by historians as formed to celebrate and re- 
cord a peace between the Romans and the natives of Scotland. They are detri- 
tal remnants fashioned into conical shapes by the action of streams. 
(7.) In the valley of the Leader (Berwickshire), there will be found terraces on 
the hill sides, which clearly shew the action of water. Three very distinct mark- 
ings of this nature are traceable near Dodds’ Mill, at Hounslow, at Carfrae Mill. 
and at Annfield near Channelkirk. The terraces at these different places, judging 
by the sympiesometer, seem to be all very nearly on a level; and if, on a more 
minute survey, they really prove to be so, it would follow, that the whole of Lau- 
derdale had formerly been one vast lake, with a blockage at or near Chappel. 
The height of these shelves is about 800 feet above the sea. 
It is scarcely necessary to advert to the inland situation, and other circum- 
stances characteristic of the various beach-lines now mentioned, to shew that they 
could not have been formed by the sea, but must have been produced by lakes 
which filled the valleys, and which sunk at different periods,—in most cases, dis- 
appearing altogether. 
If, then, the existence of lake-beaches be so common in the valleys of Scot- 
land, there will be the less hesitation in ascribing the Lochaber shelves to the 
same cause,—established as that cause has been separately by local evidence. 
That the occurrence of lake-beaches in the valleys of Scotland should be fre- 
quent, is only what every geologist must be prepared to expect, who considers 
the proofs which may be adduced, of the gradual emergence of the land out of 
the sea. Some of these proofs, in so far as afforded by Scotland, I shall imme- 
diately notice; but assuming that Scotland was, to the depth of 1300 feet or 
more, submerged beneath the waters of the ocean,—as it rose out, there would be 
lakes in every inland hollow, each, of course, having its river to carry off to the 
sea, the rain falling on its surface and that of the adjoining mountains. The 
stream thus issuing, would gradually wear down the detritus whick formed a bar- 
rier at one end of the lake; and the cutting power of the stream would be gra- 
dually increased, as the elevation of the land proceeded ; so that in most cases 
the blockage of lakes would, in the course of time, be extensively undermined 
