under tillage, and covered with houses, proving that formerly this bay was joined to Loch - Creran, and that Ardmuknage was an island.

On this ground rises a hill about eighty feet high, at one period in. sulated, on the summit of which, in former ages, stood the fortress of Berigonium, fancifully supposed to have been in those days the principal city of Scotland: It might then have been a royal residence, as there are accounts of one of the early Scottish monarchs having taken refuge in it, and being besieged. The site of it may yet be discovered, as part of the walls are still extant and it. may not be improper here to refute the opinion of the late Mr Pennant, respecting this antique, in his ascri. bing it to volcanic origin. The hill upon which this fortress was erected is one solid mass of common and shistose granite, with a mixture of trap, and the remains of the walls prove it to have been one of those vitrified forts, of which few vestiges are now to be found. I am pos. sessed of several specimens of the composition of the walls, which plainly shew they were of this kind, and that the fuel used in this process of vitrification was wood, as the impression the glassy parts received from the charcoal by cooling in contact with it, are quite distinct and conclusive. The rock known by the name of Granite is supposed to be of primary arrangement, and coeval with the formation of the globe, of course this hill cannot be of volcanic origin, even supposing it to have been thrown up above the surface into its present irregular shape by subterraneous fire, and it bears no marks of having had a crater: And though the component parts of the vitrified walls upon its top have the appearance of the different species of lava and pumice, yet the impression of the charcoal sufficiently proves the principle upon which such fabrics were reared: be

sides, it is known, that artificial mixtures with the assistance of heat, cati be made to resemble volcanic appearances in every respect. If Mr Pennant believed this hill to be the effect of volcano from its being close to an extensive ridge of mountains wholly composed of pudding-stone; he he was equally in an error, the texture of this aggregate rock being a collection of shore or river stones, of various sizes, made round and elliptical by the action of water, and adhering together by means of sand, andthe pulverulent remains of mineral substances, which filling up the interstices, form, by the addition of oxide of iron, a hard cement, equal. ly solid with the flints it envelopes.

Advancing northward by the road which proceeds along the windings of the shore, the naturalist will frequently be gratified by a diversity of scenery which will croud upon his eye, and if he be a Painter also, there are some exquisite views to be caught on the road hence towards Lochaber, and in this range there are likewise observable some permanent signs of the ancient extent of the sea.

On the shore below what was once the seat of the powerful but unfortunate chief of the clan, Stewart of Appin, is a granite of a prodigious size, placed upon a shelving rock in a manner not to be accounted for, by a small protuberant part resting upon four small stones that support it at the height of nine inches, The figure of this stone is nodulous, and its circumference every way, very considerable. Its texture is different from other granites lying close to it, and it is surrounded by the sea at high water.

The entrance to the vale of Glencoe from the West is marked by the sea in the same manner as the more southern parts of the coast, and shews that at one period it run a consider. able way into it.

The wild sublimity of this Glen,

the

the imaginary birth-place of the fictitious Celtic bard, is rendered interesting from the infamous and perfidious massacre to which its simple possessors were subjected in 1692 by order of King William.

The gloom which constantly reigns over these valleys, and the dark features of the surrounding mountains, accord with the melancholy sensations produced by the recollection of a circumstance so disgraceful to the annals of these kingdoms, and seem to point out this place as a fit situation for the perpetration of a deed so shocking to humanity.

The island of Oronsay, one of the Hebrides, seems to have undergone a more remarkable change than perhaps any part of the mainland, and an examination of it shews, in a satisfactory manner, the singular means by which new land hath been produced, where originally there was none; while at the same time it establishes that the sea on the west coast of Scotland has fallen greatly below its former level.

When the sea was of its original boundary, the principal part of this island was under water, and it is probable that it was then onlyan extensive range of sunk rocks, feeding myriads of shell animals, and sea plants. By the excessive force of the tempestuous sea to which it is exposed from its situation in the western cean, the surrounding sand and fos. sils, which were broken and powdered by its action against the rocks, as they emerged above the surface of the water, were driven by the winds and waves upon the rocks so as gradually and completely to cover them. This simultaneous process of the elements going on regularly as the water reced. ed, produced the beautiful piece of flat land which now forms the island, the soil of which sufficiently justifies this opinion, being wholly a mixture of sand, and shells long driven about by the waves, and finely powdered by

continual agitation. To this may be added the remains of marine vegeta bles which grew and decayed upon these rocks, and which being decomposed by intimate collision with this calcareous powder, became the soil. There are several considerable banks of entire shells upon the island, probably collected by the tides, which in these seas are very rapid,

The surface of this island is coyered with a fine s vard, and feeds a large herd of cattle; but a curious appearance which takes place in the fields about the end of Winter and beginning of Spring is perhaps not ea. sily accounted for. At this season when vegetation is at a stand, a number of circles become visible upon the grass, and the leaves which form them, rapidly get the lively green of an advanced crop, while the surrounding pile is still bleak and torpid.These circles or rings are of various diameters, from two to fifteen feet, and mathematically accurate. Several segments of them are sometimes joined, and the line of circumference of all of them is nearly alike from twelve to fifteen inches broad.

The ground where these are seen has frequently been turned up with the plough, but when again laid down to grass, the same circles appeared. They are sometimes interrupted by different eminences, such as old turf dikes, or the like; but the circle continues across, and forms regularly on both sides.

The island of Tyree is in many respects similar to that of Oronsay, and seems to have owed its origin to the same cause.

In the island of Belnahuay, forty feet above the high water mark, besides the large cave from which it is named, there have lately been discovered proofs equally convincing.This island is wholly formed of argillaceous shistus, a considerable. quarry of which has been wrought for some time.

Upon

Upon removing the mould which scarcely covers the rock, great quantities of testaceous shells were found, and many of them still firmly adhered to it.

In mountainous countries there is a natural tendency to collections of fresh water, the inequality of the surface not admitting of the direct descent of the streams which occasionally rush from the heights to the sea, the great reservoir of all. The water being consequently collected in the deep interstices between the mountains, forms those sheets of water, of every imaginable magnitude, so often useful and ornamental.

This body of water, being gradually accumulated, readily finds an ef. Aux at the lowest part of the surrounding banks, and rushing from its confinement, is precipitated with more or less celerity, according to the ground over which it passes, and becomes a river, shaping for itself a bed, which getting deeper by degrees, is frequently fixed as its unalterable

course.

From such causes, all the lochs that are scattered over this country must have had their origin; but their borders have undergone changes not less advantageous than the sea shore, from the deepening of the channels of rivers issuing from them allowing the water to escape and leave the banks.

On the borders of Loch Awe, one of the largest lakes in Scotland, the beautiful and romantic scenery of which must have fascinated every traveller of taste, changes of the same nature have taken place, new land being gained in like manner as upon the sea coast, by the conjoint effects of several considerable rivers which supply it, and the diminution of its

extremity, falling into the then great bay of Crinan, and carrying with it such quantities of mud as afterwards formed that extensive moss, as before noticed. It is now discharged from the side of the lake, at the distance of twenty-five miles from the old place, into Loch Etive, at the base of the prodigious mountain of Cruachan, from which descend many streams, rendered impetuous by its great declivity, and which are now tributary to this river.

In tracing the effects of these mountain streams at different periods, it appears probable that these assisted the breaking out of the lake at this place, by washing away the earth, during a long course of years, from the side of the lake, which be ing suddenly inundated at some future period, and meeting with little resistance, the water burst forth as it now flows, and the channel becoming daily deeper from the rapidity of the stream, at last drained off such a quantity of the water as obliterated the ancient passage, and left a great space of the banks dry. The same changes, from the same cause, have also happened to two considerable lakes in this vicinity, those of Avich and Scamadil.

The fresh water lake of Lochnell, now about two miles distant from the sea, appears at one time to have been an arm of it. A circumstance perfectly satisfactory from the appearance of the intermediate ground.

That this country has been subjected to violent volcanic concussions in the earlier periods of time, there can be no doubt, as the arrangement of the mountains, and the irregularity of the various strata which compose them, shew that they are not of primary formation, so that its origin may, with much probability, be ascribed to subterraneous fire, which so convulsed the primitive structure as to produce the confused mixture of shape.