MR MILNE ON THE MID-LOTHIAN AND EAST-LOTHIAN COAL-FIELDS. 



327 



There is a remarkable accumulation of sand and gravel in the quarry of 

 Blackford Hill, which I think must be referred to the deposit I am now describing. 

 AB is the cliflf or precipitous face of Blackford Hill, which has been extensively 

 quarried. It is about 130 feet in height. 

 The rock is chiefly clinkstone, — in some parts 

 a fine-grained greenstone. At the base of 

 the cliff, e, there is an accumulation of gravel, 

 consisting chiefly of felspar, but containing 

 also pieces of coal-sandstone, not much round- 

 ed. Above the gravel is a bed of sand, d, 

 which is in contact with the overhanging face 

 of the rock. The upper part of the sand, 

 next to the rock, contains numerous pieces of 

 shale and coal. It is proper to add, that, on 

 clearing away the sand, I found the face of 

 the cliflf very much rutted and scratched. 

 The direction of the scratches is nearly east 

 and west. About 30 feet up the chflf, there 

 is another deposit of gravel, c, including pieces 

 of coal-sandstone. I learnt from a labourer 

 who had worked in the quarry for fifteen 

 years, that this deposit of sand and gravel, 

 when it was discovered, extended in an east 

 and west direction, — i. e. along the face of 

 the cliflf about 120 yards, and in a north and 

 south direction, or from the face of the cliflf 

 about 50 yards. 



The base of this cliflf is about 320 feet 

 above the sea. 



It appears to me, that the gravel and sand in the above locality, must have 

 been brought from the eastward. 





II. Inferences or eaiplanations suggested hy the foregoing phenomena. 



I have now detailed all the facts, which have come under my observation, 

 regarding the superficial deposits of the Lothians. Though I have attempted to 

 present these facts in a certain form or order of arrangement, I have in doing so 

 endeavoured to abstain as much as possible, even in my own mind, from theo- 

 rizing regarding them. The advantage of following this course is, that it not only 

 enables myself, by reviewing the whole phenomena together, to draw inferences of 



