THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 
287 
Regarding the lines of displacement in the Conon basin, one of the 
most important is that just referred to, which skirts the base of the Black 
Isle, and is prolonged north-east to Tarbat Ness, whereby this straight 
feature has been determined. The great fault that traverses Loch 
Maree and Glen Docharty passes south-east by Ledgown, thence across 
the watershed by Cam Chaorainn to Loch Beannachan in the basin >f 
the Meig. Another powerful dislocation, nearly at right angles to the 
course of the Loch Maree fault, has determined the north-north-east 
direction of the Meig valley between Inbhir-Chaorainn and Milton 
of Strathconon, and stretches south-west up Glen Chaorainn in the 
direction of Loch Monar, and north-north-east to the head of Loch 
Luichart. 
During the period of extreme glaciation it would appear that the 
ice-shed lay some distance to the east of the existing watershed in part 
of the Conon basin, for boulders of foliated granite or augen gneiss, 
from one or other of the masses near Inchbae, have been carried west- 
ward into the valley of Loch Broom, to Inverlael, and nearly as far as 
Ullapool. Their distribution in an eastward direction is no less 
remarkable, for they have been traced as erratics across the Black 
Isle and the Moray firth to the plain of Moray and the low grounds of 
Banffshire. The boulder clay of the north part of the Black Isle 
contains numerous blocks of this well-known rock, which were probably 
dispersed during the greatest extension of the ice. Such evidence is in 
harmony with that obtained in the Assynt district, where blocks of the 
eastern schists have been carried from the plateau of the Moine schists, 
east of the existing watershed, to higher elevations to the west, formed 
of Cambrian strata. In view of these facts, it seems probable that 
during one stage of the glacial period the Conon basin must have been 
buried under an ice-sheet that overtopped the highest hills, the move- 
ment of which was largely independent of the physical features of the 
region. 
During the period of confluent glaciers that ensued, the great 
mountain groups formed more or less independent centres of dispersion. 
Indeed, many of the striee, the disposition of the moraines, and the 
distribution of the carried blocks furnish evidence relating to this 
phase of glaciation. In the Fannich mountains — a range running east 
and west for about 7 miles, and whose main peaks rise above 3000 feet — 
ice-markings were found on the southern slopes at elevations between 
2250 and 2500 feet trending south-south-east. Striae pointing in a 
similar direction occur at various points on the ridge between Loch 
Fannich and Strath Bran, thus showing that at one period the Fannich 
ice must have crossed that loch into the Bran valley. Again, during 
this later glaciation, ice crossed the watersheds from Glen Fhiodaig 
and from Strath Conon into the valley of the Bran, and after uniting 
with the glaciers from Fannich and the Blackwater, passed eastwards 
