Ancient Moraines in Argyleshire. 193 



or embankments, like a and b. They are rather detached hil- 

 locks, the remnants apparently of larger masses. Their height 

 at the river varies from 20 to 40 feet ; they are partly covered 

 with wood, and are connected with the western hill, by grassy 

 slopes of the same, materials, which have been furrowed by 

 torrents. 



The last of the hillocks, e, is about 40 feet above the meadow 

 in Glen Eck ; v marks the site of the village, and r the road. 

 The entire mass of materials constituting these mounds, 

 hillocks, and slopes, is spread over an area about 1800 feet in 

 length. The breadth, including the river-bed, which has been 

 carved out of them, is about 350 feet at the upper end, and 

 500 or 600 at the lower. The depth varies from a few feet to 

 100, and the whole form one continuous mass. The height of 

 the first mound a above the meadow at K, I found by measure- 

 ments taken with a pocket level, but not with all the accuracy 

 I could desire, to be about 205 feet. The descent is more rapid 

 here than in the upper part of the valley, as is well shown by 

 the river channel. 



In materials, form, and position, these mounds have pre- 

 cisely the character of the terminal or frontal moraines of 

 glaciers at the foot of alpine valleys. First, as to the materials ; 

 they consist of the debris and detritus of the mica slate, in the 

 form of sand, clay, and gravel, without any trace of stratification, 

 but mixed with blocks. The blocks, which are partly angular, 

 partly rounded, may be seen embedded in the masses where 

 the interior is exposed, and a few are found on the surface, the 

 remnant probably of a much greater number which may have 

 been removed to clear the ground for the plough, or to build 

 the cottages and outhouses of the village. Secondly, in out- 

 ward form there is the same resemblance. A terminal or 

 frontal moraine consists of sand, gravel, and blocks, carried 

 down from the upper part of a valley by the ice, and deposited 

 in piles or ridges at the foot of the glacier. When the glacier 

 is advancing it pushes these before it ; when retreating it leaves 

 them behind it ; and if it continues to retreat for a series of 

 years, a succession of such accumulations is found at its lower 

 end, generally in the shape of mounds or ridges, transverse to 

 the direction of the glacier valley, sometimes in contact with 



