which he was wont to make such exorbitant and reckless drafts; the periods with which he has still to deal are vast enough to baffle our imagination adequately to realise them. In this dim, shadowy antiquity, so impressive from its immensity, and from the slow and stately march of the events which it witnessed, there is surely an ample equivalent for the grandeur of the Titanic upthrows which were once the easy solution of the problems of topography. There was, no doubt, a certain mental excitement in contrasting the peace and quiet of the living world with what seemed the records of fierce cataclysms in earlier times; in turning from the fair meadows and cornfields of the lowlands to the crags that were believed to have been heaved into the air when the earth was shaking and tossing like a stormvexed sea; in listening to the ripple of the river, and reflecting that the tree-shaded ravine in which it flows was rent asunder by some primeval earthquake. But surely the lover of natural scenery is furnished not less amply with material for suggestive meditation when he learns to recognise everywhere the proofs of slow imperceptible change, which, ceaselessly advancing through the ages, comes at last to attain the most colossal dimensions; and when, deeply impressed with the magnitude of this waste, he follows its march over cliff and precipice, corry and ravine, upon the crests and summits of the mountains, in the depths of the valleys, and by the margin of the sea.

The story of the origin of our scenery, as thus interpreted, is of a piece with the rest of the teachings of nature. It leads us back into the past farther than imagination can well follow, and, with an impressiveness which we sometime can hardly endure, points out the antiquity of our globe. It shows that in the grander revolutions of the world, as well as in the humbler routine of everyday life,

it is the little changes which by their cumulative effects bring about the greatest results; that the lowly offices of wind and rain, springs and frosts, snow and ice, trifling as they may appear, have nevertheless been chosen as instruments to mould the giant framework of the mountains; and that these seemingly feeble agents have yet been able, in the long lapse of ages, to produce the widest diversity of scenery; and to do this, not with the havoc and ruin of earthquake and convulsion, but with a nicely balanced harmony and order, forming out of the very waste of the land a kindly soil, which bears, year by year, its mantle of green, yielding food to the beast of the field and the fowl of the air, and ministering to the wants and the enjoyment of man.

APPENDIX

ITINERARY

A BRIEF summary of the more obvious or interesting geological features, in their relation to scenery, which lie open to the observation of the traveller by some of the principal routes through Scotland, and more especially of those to which allusion is made in the foregoing chapters, may make this volume more useful to the general reader. I have accordingly prepared the following notes, in which the figures placed within square brackets refer to the pages where fuller information will be found regarding the rocks or topography.

Scotland is usually approached by railway from the south; less frequently by steamer into the Clyde or into the Forth. On the eastern side the only railway approach is by Berwick. On the western side there are three routes into the country, but they all diverge from the single station of Carlisle. The intervening region is mainly occupied by the high uplands of the Cheviot Hills, but one line of railway has been carried through these uplands from Newcastle by the valley of the North Tyne.

I. EAST COAST ROUTE

Berwick to Edinburgh

Berwick is a good centre for the exploration of the coast sections of the Southern Uplands [281] and the broad lowland or Merse [306], which, spreading out between these uplands and the base of the Cheviot Hills, forms the lower part of the valley of the Tweed. The southern horizon is bounded by

the line of the Cheviots (2668 feet). Along the western skyline the plain terminates in the range of low volcanic ridges of which the most prominent is crowned with Hume Castle [333], a conspicuous object in the south-east of Scotland. To the north-west and north the long line of featureless high ground is the edge of the Southern Uplands [282]. The most interesting scenery in the immediate neighbourhood of Berwick is to be found along the coast, which for some twenty miles to the north presents an almost continuous line of bold seaprecipices [49-51]. For the first five miles the cliffs are formed of reddish Carboniferous sandstone, and furnish excellent examples of the characteristic features of that rock. At Burnmouth the greywacke and shale of the Silurian series set in, and continue in a remarkably picturesque range of precipices, stacks, skerries, and caves as far as Eyemouth. Some of the plications of the strata are admirably exposed [49, 283]. From Eyemouth to beyond Coldingham the coast is less precipitous and more indented with bays and low shores, where the volcanic rocks of the Lower Old Red Sandstone and altered Lower Silurian strata, traversed by felsite veins, are displayed. At St. Abb's Head [49] a mass of dark porphyry projects beyond the rest of the coast-line and bears the lighthouse. From this headland a continuous range of noble precipices—the highest on the east side of Scotland, for they reach a height of 500 feet above the sea-stretches westward for five miles. Nowhere are the foldings of the Silurian strata more magnificently laid bare. The cliffs present a succession of gigantic arches and troughs wherein the massive beds of greywacke are folded like piles of carpets [Figs. 10, 63]. To the geologist also there is a special interest in the beautiful unconformable junction of Old Red Sandstone at Siccar Point, from the deductions drawn from it, in the infancy of geology, by Hutton, Playfair, and Hall, with regard to the geological history of the earth.

Inland excursions from Berwick may be made to (1) the Cheviot Hills, which are best reached from Coldstream either by the valley of the Beaumont Water or that of the Kale; at the head of the former stream small moraines show that local glaciers remained there after the retreat of the icesheet; (2) Kelso and Jedburgh, where the characteristic difference of feature between the stratified rocks (Upper Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous) and their associated igneous

masses are well seen. The more conspicuous hills, such as Peniel Heugh, Dunian Hill, and Rubers Law [288, 310] are all hard, volcanic rocks, from which the surrounding and overlying stratified rocks have been worn away; (3) Duns and Greenlaw; from Duns Law, also a projecting igneous mass, an extensive view is obtained of the whole Merse up to the Cheviots, while the range of the Southern Uplands rises immediately behind. The valley of the Whiteadder is a characteristic sample of the valleys in these uplands. To the west of Duns the best group of kames [369] in the south of Scotland is to be seen, between two and three miles north of Greenlaw.

Berwick to Edinburgh.-Glimpses of the coast cliffs are here and there obtainable from the railway carriage between Berwick and Burnmouth. Approaching Ayton the line bends away to west, and affords a view of the eastern end of the Lammermuir Hills [281] rising above the low grounds of Berwickshire. It enters these hills beyond Reston station, following the line of the Eye Water. The railway cuttings show the highly-inclined greywacke and shale of the Silurian uplands. About four miles north from Grant's House Station the line emerges from the Lammermuirs, and crosses a series of picturesque ravines which have been cut by small streams in the Upper Old Red Sandstone and Lower Carboniferous rocks. The defile of the Pease Burn is a deep, narrow gorge, which was formerly one of the easily defensible obstacles to the progress of an invading army. To the right lies the fishing village of Cove, with its sandstone cliffs [50], and beyond it, as the train moves on, the whole range of cliffs may be seen to the right, eastward as far as the promontory of Fast Castle. To the left the smooth slopes of the Lammermuir Hills rise steeply above the plain which widens toward the west. Dunbar, with its castle and cliffs of volcanic tuff [51, 307], offers many points of interest to the geologist. Out to sea the May Island, crowned with its lighthouse, may be seen lying at the entrance to the estuary of the Forth. The summit of the Bass Rock [333, 356] is a conspicuous object on the right. Approaching the valley of the Tyne at East Linton, the traveller will also see in front of him to the left hand the top of Traprain Law [353], another of the volcanic 'necks' of this region. He is now in the midst of one of the volcanic areas of the Lower Carboniferous system of the Midland Valley [329].