163 
of Edinburgh, Session 1878-79. 
question. A path from the cottage occupied by Buchanan (a shep- 
herd) led to it. The boulder being of very irregular shape, its exact 
dimensions were not ascertained. Its girth at the level of the 
ground was ascertained, by walking round it, to be 22 yards. Its 
height seemed to be about 15 feet. The rock composing it was a 
coarse conglomerate. It was resting on a flat or terrace of gravel. 
Its height above the channel of the river was about 450 feet, and 
above the sea 1215 feet. 
The position of the boulder seems to be indicated on the Ordnance 
map by the words “ Meannar Clach.” 
The Convener was unable to form a distinct opinion on the ques- 
tion, whether this boulder had come down the glen, or had come up 
the glen. Its height above the sea was nearly the same as the con- 
glomerate cliff higher up the glen, before spoken of. But, if a frag- 
ment from that cliff, it must have crossed the valley. The following 
considerations favoured the idea that it had been floated up the valley. 
It was resting on the shoulder of a hill facing the ZEST. W. ; and on the 
same shoulder there were multitudes of smaller boulders of conglomer- 
ate rock, apparently due to the same mode of transport. A plan of 
the position is shown on fig. 37, where B represents the big boulder. 
Some boulders, apparently of a similar character, were visible at A, 
though they were not visited. If a JST.W. current, bearing boulders, 
came up the glen, it might lodge the boulders at A and B. The 
Convener believes that conglomerate rock occurs near the foot of 
Glencoe, as, when there, he saw fragments which appeared to have 
fallen from a cliff. If this be the case, the theory which ascribes 
transport of these boulders up the glen would be strengthened. 
It was observed, that the above “ big boulder” rests on a terrace of 
gravel. It is rather a bed of stony clay, as such seemed to be the 
character of sections cut through by streams for about 200 feet above 
the boulder ; and this stony clay contained numbers of pebbles 
and small boulders. It was plainly a water deposit. Above this 
stony clay, there appeared to be extensive beds of sand; and on 
several of the hills, near the foot of Glencoe, even up to the height 
of 2000 feet, sand in large quantities was observed ; but it was only 
through a telescope that the observation was made. 
About half a mile below Buchanan’s cottage, at the ninth mile- 
stone from Ballachulish, the Convener observed a rock well smoothed 
