248 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena 



at sea; but the faces of the mountains in question bear no 

 trace of sucli operations. 



On these mountains, however, at least such of them as I 

 have examined in the district of xlssynt and at Loch Maree 

 in Ross-shire, and on the gncissic platform whereon they rest, 

 there are abundant traces of glacial action. These are apt 

 at first to appear of a confused and contradictory character ; 

 but all difficulty vanishes when we arrive at the idea of a 

 local system of glaciers succeeding a system of things during 

 which a more general glaciation took place, and substituting 

 for the effects of that more general movement effects of its 

 own ; the key to much that has been perplexing in the inves- 

 tigation of this subject. 



There is one of these mountains which attracts more ob- 

 servation than any other, on account of its extraordinary 

 form, which has given it among sailors the name of Sugar 

 Loaf, though it is properly called Suilvean (meaning Ear 

 Hill). It extends in a narrow ridgy form for upwards of a 

 mile, with sides so steep as to be inaccessible in most places 

 (I measured an angle of 58° on one side, and found the pre- 

 cipice on the other absolutely vertical) ; the west end being 

 also very steep, while the east slopes away in a tail. Seen 

 at the west end, the hill looks like a lofty tower with a dome- 

 shaped top, something not unlike the Eddystone Lighthouse, 

 — a resemblance not a little helped by the palpable stratifi- 

 cation, which has the appearance of a Titanic masonry. 

 Another perfectly isolated mountain, called Stack, precisely 

 resembles Suilvean, and these, from their position, may be 

 considered as a front guard for the series towards the sea. 



Behind that range is a series composed of Cuineag, Canisp, 

 Coul More, and Coul Beg, which, with bold faces to the west, 

 dip down on the east at an angle of about 9°, their lower 

 slopes in that direction passing under another range of hills 

 resting on a broad band of limestone. The backs or eastern 

 slopes of all these hills are composed of quartz rock — sand- 

 stone metamorphosed into that character — and the bareness 

 and whiteness of that peculiar surfacing gives them a very 

 remarkable appearance. It becomes readily apparent that 



