GREAT GLEN OF SCOTLAND. 
197 
waving, inclining to conical ; but the undulations ^re 
shorter, and more numerous, than those of the sandstone. 
The most conspicuous mountain in this chain, which is 
upwards of SO miles in length, is Meaulfourvoney, distin- 
guished by a single round, huge cap of granite ; and the 
lateral valleys it contains are only two in number, namely, 
Urquhart and Invermorrison. 
In tracing the strata of this range, from the shores of the 
Beauly Frith, we first met with several low hillsj intersect- 
ed by deep gullies, rising from the sea at Phopachy, nearly 
four miles to the west of Inverness, and trending in a trans- 
verse direction across the country towards the higher and 
more central mountains, along Loch Ness. These hills, 
which gradually increase in height as they retire from the 
sea, are all formed of a beautiful red variety of granite, in 
which the felspar and quartz greatly predominate over the 
mica, or of what Professor Jameson denominates granitic 
gneiss. The structure is large, granulai', inclining to slaty, 
and the strata are vertical. 
As far as I observed, this granite contained no interpos- 
ing veins, nor did it seem to possess any additional simple 
minerals besides those that enter into its own composition. 
Interposed between these granite hills and the sandstone 
strata formerly described, is a small tract of grey gneiss. 
Its existence can be but seldom traced on the side next 
Phopachy, owing to the quantity of peat and gravel for- 
merly alluded to ; but as we advance into the interior, it is 
more and more exposed ; and, on arriving at the acclivity 
towards Loch Ness, its strata are completely developed in 
the course of Dochfour, or rather Dochgarroch Burn. 
The water of this burn has cut through the rock, in 
some places to the depth of 100 feet, thereby forming a 
wild and narrow gully, in which the nature of the strata 
can be easily and perfectly determined. They seem entire- 
