550 BRITISH ANALOGIES TO SCANDINAVIAN PHENOMENA. 
remarkable examples in that country with which we are personally acquainted, 
is, where the hard siliceous sandstone of Braambury, near Brora 1 , has been cut 
into by fine markings, irregularly parallel, which are visible on the south-western 
face of that hill, wherever the turf and earth is removed from the subjacent rock. 
In that case, as near Edinburgh, hills of moderate height only are to be seen in 
the direction whence the chief local current has proceeded ; and a deep gorge 
leading up to Loch Brora indicates the channel by which the drift was poured off 
against Braambury hill, prior to its distribution or submergence along the shore. 
In a word, all the great banks of drift and sand which diversify the tracts on the 
south side of the Moray Firth are but “ osars,” which proceed from the ends of 
the promontories of the central Scottish mountains, whilst on their opposite or 
western side, the shores and estuaries of various lochs on the coast between the 
mainland and the Hebrides exhibit similar masses of detritus. Whenever they 
can be detected, and we have seen them even on the flanks of Schehallion, towards 
the centre of the Scottish chain, the striae are invariably in the same direction as 
that which the main mass of adjacent gravel and detritus (however transported) 
has taken in its passage over the land. In the case of Schehallion, the loose matter 
has been formed in the adjacent valley of Kenmore into terraces, which are finely 
displayed in the beautiful park of the Marquis of Breadalbane. 
According to Dr. Buckland, who has sought to apply the views of Professor 
Agassiz to various parts of the British Isles, these terraces are but the evidences ol 
ancient moraines, the remains of former glaciers, which passing from the shoulders 
of Schehallion and the adjacent hills, found their resting-place in the valley of Ken- 
more. Arguing that nothing but a glacier can have produced the parallel grooves, 
stria; and “ roches moutonne'es,” Dr. Buckland has further been induced to carry 
out the application of the same views to other hills in Scotland, to certain centres 
of Cumberland, and to the slopes around the Welsh group of Snowdon. In stating 
our objections to the views of that eminent geologist, let us take the case of Snow- 
don 2 . Whether we examine its northern, north-eastern or western flanks, many 
such boulders occur, at intervals, as must, we contend, have been accumulated 
under water. Around more than one-half of the periphery of the mountain, the 
highest point of which is only 3571 feet above the sea, there can, indeed, be no 
ambiguity ; for sea shells of existing or pleistocene species are commingled with 
the detritus upon its flanks, and we can perceive no distinction between such de- 
1 Geol. Trans., 2nd Series, vol. ii. p. 357. 2 ® ee Obs. end of Chap., p. 556. 
