TANTALLAN CASTLE. 



235 



succeeded by, and alternates with, a greyish and red 

 spotted sandstone, which contains imbedded por- 

 tions, and also beds of clay and cotemporaneous por- 

 tions of compact grey limestone. Another interest- 

 ing fact in regard to the sandstone on this part of 

 the coast, is the occurrence of large masses of hard 

 sandstone in the softer. The imbedded masses are 

 so hard as to resist the influence of the weather, 

 whilst the softer are carried away. Such compact 

 or hardened sandstones, when in contact with green- 

 stone, have been improperly considered as proofs 

 of the volcanic origin of trap rocks. About 50 

 yards beyond this, the red sandstone is to be seen 

 alternating with red coloured trap-tuff, and the tuff 

 and sandstone are intermixed at their line of junc- 

 tion. In the tuff, imbedded portions of foliated 

 granular brown-coloured limestone occur ; and some 

 varieties of it are so fine granular, that they might 

 be mistaken for red sandstone. A little to the 

 north-west of Sea Cliff, immediately beside the rocks 

 we have been describing, there is a cliff about 40 

 or 50 feet in height. It is a bed of amygdaloid, 

 containing much green-earth, and cotemporaneous 

 portions and veins of calcareous spar. Over it 

 rest several strata of red sandstone, and rocks of 

 the same kind probably run underneath it. 



As we continue our journey along the shore 

 towards Tantallan Castle, the cliffs become high, 

 rugged and romantic. Long ledges of rock run 

 from the cliffs into the sea, and isolated rocks or 



