306 



ON THE HIGHLANDS. 



It may also be noticed, that the remark for- 

 merly made on Ben-Ledi, with regard to the form 

 of the mountains as presenting their hollows or 

 bosoms to the north-east, was found to be still 

 more strikingly applicable, in the case of those 

 observed from Ben-More. 



Surrounded by objects on which the mind could 

 dwell long with unabating delight, and which fix 

 the spectator by a sort of spell, some time elapsed 

 before I was able to withdraw the eye from what 

 I contemplated as so admirable, in order to em- 

 ploy it in the humbler office of surveying the 

 rock on which we stood at this interesting eleva- 

 tion. It is mica-slate, with distinct layers of 

 pure mica, and of quartz ; and approaches so 

 nearly in appearance to the rock found at the 

 other summit, that we cannot avoid the supposi- 

 tion of its being the same rock continued, and of 

 the two mountains having originally formed but 

 one. 



At length, reluctantly quitting the scene of the 

 splendid view I have endeavoured to describe, i 

 began to descend with many a lingering look be- 

 hind. Under the summit, along the ridge to the 

 north-east, the rock, which becomes thick slaty, 

 contains for some time, a greater proportion of its 

 quartz ingredients ; but lower down, it displays 

 again the lustre and purity of the higher strata. 

 At this station, veins appear filled with quartz, 

 and containing also, mica, chlorite, and a valuable 

 variety of iron-glance, crystallized in thin tables. 



