116 MR DAVID MILNE HOME: MEMOIR ON THE 
sea, a theory suggested by Darwin, and supported by CHAMBERS and NIcoL, 
had a certain amount of truth to rest on. So also the theory of glaciers ;—(for 
the production of ice barriers,) was very naturally adopted, when rocks smoothed 
and striated were seen to occur in the district. Both of these theories were 
started, before all the facts necessary for a full representation of the question had 
been discovered. Confessedly, much has been ascertained since these theories 
were started. The facts so discovered suggest objections to the marine and 
glacier theories which, had these facts been known, probably would have 
prevented their adoption ;—whilst other facts recently discovered seem (to me 
at least) to add greatly to the strength of the evidence on which the detrital 
theory rests. 
ACP PEN DPX: 
Note A (p. 102.) 
When at Lochalsh last September, I learnt that the innkeeper there, of Balmacara Hotel, Mr 
MacponaLp, had formerly been a residenter at Spean Bridge. In the course of conversation about the 
_ Parallel Roads, he expressed an opinion that they were sea-beaches. On asking his reason for think- 
ing so, I was told by him that, when making drains, he had found in the land, under the peat, beds 
of sea-shells. 
Not having time to take a note of this conversation, I requested the schoolmaster of the parish, Mr 
Duncan Sincuair, who was present, to make a written memorandum of it, and send it to me. ‘The 
following letter was the result:— 
“ ScaootHouse, Locuarsy, 20th Sept. 1876. 
‘Dear Str,—I have seen Mr Macponaxp, and his answers to your queries are— 
“1. Year of finding shells ?—About 35 years ago. 
“2. What field found in :—‘ Acha-na-bo-ban’ (White Cow field), about 14 mile from Spean Hotel. 
‘“*3. Kind of shells ?—Two or three kinds of wilks or periwinkles. 
“He says that they were longer and more tapering than the ordinary edible sort, and of a bluish 
colour. 
“4. He cannot give the name of any particular person who was along with him at the time of the 
shells being turned up.. He says his companions of that period are mostly all dead, or abroad now.” 
After my conversation with Mr Macponatp, but before receiving Mr Sincuainr’s letter, I visited 
Lochaber, and saw the Rev. Mr Camzron, minister of the parish. He stated that he knew Mr 
MacponaLp personally, and that he was an intelligent and trustworthy person. 
I asked Mr Camuron to make inquiry among the persons now residing at Spean Bridge, whether 
they had ever heard of sea-shells having been found in the neighbourhood. 
After inquiry, Mr Cameron reported to me that he had seen several persons who had heard a 
report to that effect, and that he had found one person, a respectable shopkeeper at Spean Bridge, 
who had seen the shells in a drain near the upper part of Unachan Moor, at a height of about 600 
feet above the sea. : 
On my return home, I received Mr Sincxair’s letter. I transmitted it to Mr Camron, who returned 
it with the following answer:— 
“Buatr-our, Kineussiz, 13th Oct. 1876. 
“Dear Mr Mitne Homs,—Ach-na-bo-ban is close on two miles from Spean Bridge, on the road to 
Fort-William. Peats have been cut all over the locality, and I should say the elevation of it is 20 
feet higher than Spean Bridge, which is 211 feet above the sea. 
“Prrer M‘Faruane, the shopkeeper at Spean Bridge, declares that he himself had in his hands 
the shells seen on the top of Unachan hill, and was quite satisfied that they were sea-shells.” 

