* 



GLENCOJE. 315 



of almost all the leading phenomena, that place 

 in direct opposition to each other, the two theo- 

 ries of the formation of the earth, which at pre- 

 sent divide the mineralcgical world.— If the re- 

 commendation now given should prove the means 

 of directing the attention of mineralogists to Glen- 

 coe, and of thus procuring a more particular and 

 complete view of its geognosy, I shall consider 

 this hasty and imperfect sketch, as not entirely 

 without its value to the science. 



Glencoe lies nearly east and west. At the bottom 

 of the glen, the mountain-hollow suddenly bends 

 into a northern direction. — -It is here, that, in the 

 bosom of the valley, where cultivation begins, and 

 population appears, we come to the scene of the 

 unaccountable event, which is called the Mas- 

 sacre of Glencoe, and of which the motive or 

 necessity, never yet satisfactorily explained, is 

 still hid under a veil of mystery. 



This part of the valley, finely wooded and co- 

 vered with soil, stretches directly towards Loch- 

 Leven, on the banks of which, the road again 

 turns to the west, and brings us, after a few miles, 

 to the great formation of clay-slate, which affords 

 the quarries of Balahelish. It contains different 

 foreign beds, particularly of lime-stone, which, as 

 principle teaches us to expect, is smaller grained 

 than the species found in mica-slate, and which 

 Williams says, has grains of pyrites and lead- 

 ore. Greenstone also has been observed by Colonel 

 Imrie in this formation. 



