o6 
VOLCANIC ROCKS AND SCENERY 
BOOK I 
with a warm glow as if they, in some special way, could catch and reflect 
the radiance of the sky. 
Immediately to the west of these pale smooth-sloped cones, the dark 
mass of the Cuillin Hills completes the interruption of the northern tableland. 
Ill almost every topographical feature these hills present a contrast to the 
other two kinds of scenery. Their forms are more rugged than those of 
any other hill-group in Britain (Fig. 331). Every declivity among them is 
an irregular pile of crags, every crest is notched like a saw, every peak is 
sharpened into a pinnacle. Instead of being buried under vast sheets of 
their own debris, these hills show everywhere their naked rock, which seems 
to brave the elements as few other rocks can do. Unlike the pale Bed 
Hills, they are dark, almost black in tone, though when canopied with cloud 
they assume a hue of deepe.st violet. 
Each of these three distinct tyjies of topograyiliy owes its existence to 
the way in which a special kind of volcanic rock yields to the influences of 
denudation. The terraced tableland of the north is built up of hundreds of 
sheets of basaltic lava, each of the long level ledges of brown rock marking 
the outcrop of one or more of these once molten streams. The black rugged 
mass of the Cuillin Hills consists of a vast protruded body of eruptive 
material, which, in the form of endless sills and bosses of gabbro and 
dolerite, has invaded the basalt-plateau, and has now been revealed by the 
gradual removal of the portion of that plateau which it upraised. The 
pale cones and domes of the Bed Hills mark the place of one of the last 
protrusions in the volcanic history of Britain— that of large masses of an 
acid magma, which broke through the basalt-plateau and also disrupted 
the earlier gabbro. 
In no part of North-Western Europe has volcanic activity left more 
varied and abundant records of its operations than in these three contiguous 
tracts of Skye. It is interesting therefore to note the striking contrast 
between the former and the present landscapes of the region. The lavas 
of the basaltic tableland crumble into a rich loam, that in the mild moist 
climate of the Hebrides supports a greener verdure than any of the other 
rocks around will yield. The uplands have accordingly become pasture- 
grounds for herds of sheep and cattle. The strips of lowland along the 
valleys and in the recesses of the coast-line furnish the chief tracts of 
arable land in the island, and are thus the main centres of the crofter 
population. The bays and creeks of the much- indented shores form 
natural harbours, which in former days attracted the Norse sea-rovers, and 
supplied them with sites for their settlements. Norse names still linger 
on headland and inlet, but the spirit of adventure has passed away, and a 
few poor fishing-boats, here and there drawn up on the beach, are usually 
the only token that the islanders make any attempt to gather the harvest 
of the sea. 
The mountain groups which so abruptly bound the Ijasalt-plateau on 
the south, and present in their topographical features such distinctive 
scenery, comprise a region too lofty, too rugged and too barren for human 
