BEN-LEDI. 



28l 



tion of north-west from the first, miea-slate with 

 brown spar, occurs. 



Descending from this, directly towards the 

 south end of Loch Lubnaig, we find the moun- 

 tain assuming a more precipitous aspect, especial- 

 ly under the highest summit ; and a remarkable 

 feature in the form affected by a great proportion 

 of the Highland hills, such as Cruachan and 

 Ben-Nevis, for the first time presents itself; the 

 appearance of a solid or re-entering angle, which 

 opens towards the north-east, and in which the 

 surface is sometimes smooth, but oftener rocky, or 

 broken into cliffs. — By viewing the mountain 

 from the upper part of the vast ravine now men- 

 tioned, it becomes evident, that the great central 

 mass of Ben-Ledi, forms a part of the boundary of 

 the mica-slate country on the south-east, and is a 

 portion of the strata, which running from south- 

 west to north-east, are known to compose the 

 whole range of the Highlands in that direction. 



These strata are almost vertical ; and, in the 

 great bosom or hollow of which we are speaking, 

 exhibit, by decomposition, a strikingly grand and 

 picturesque appearance, which, with the help of 

 imagination, is easily figured into that of the ruins 

 of spires and Gothic cathedrals. The singularly 

 peaked or serrated shape, which the crops of the 

 strata here affect, is occasioned by the waste of 

 the rock, in some places across, and in others 

 along, its line of direction ; in which, the alternate 

 or intermediate layers, decomposing, leave the re- 



