considerable numbers on high moors.
LAPWING, PEEWIT, or GREEN PLOVER (_Vanellus vulgaris_).--Not abundant.
Arrives early in February, and nests in the parish.
TURNSTONE (_Strepsilas interpres_).--A common shore bird in Gairloch.
Seen in summer, but not known to build.
OYSTER-CATCHER, or SEA PIE (_Hæmatopus ostralegus_).--Very common, and
breeds abundantly on island rocks in the sea, and sometimes on the
mainland close to the shore. I have seen many of their nests.
WOODCOCK (_Scolopax rusticula_).--Abundant. Large flocks arrive in
October and November, and a few pairs breed in the country. I have seen
the little woodcocks running about in June, and have shot full-grown
birds in August. I have often observed a woodcock carrying a young one
in its claws. When standing in the garden at Inveran, late on a summer
evening, the woodcock, with its young one borne in this manner, has
frequently flown within six or eight yards of my head. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie has actually seen the woodcock pick up its young one, when
nearly full-grown, at his very feet, and fly off with it.
SNIPE (_Gallinago cælestis_).--The "full snipe" is common throughout
Gairloch. It breeds in the parish. I have seen nests. Numbers of snipe
come in autumn from other countries.
JACK SNIPE (_Gallinago gallinula_).--This bird is an immigrant, and
arrives about the end of October. It was formerly more plentiful than it
is now-a-days.
DUNLIN (_Tringa alpina_).--This is a very abundant shore bird, and
occurs in flocks on all the sandy sea-beaches. It is believed to breed
on moors in Gairloch.
PURPLE SANDPIPER (_Tringa striata_).--This also is common. It is seen
mostly on rocks and shingle, at the very edge of the sea.
KNOT (_Tringa canutus_).--Uncommon. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot one on Loch
nan Dailthean one autumn,--a solitary bird. It is to be seen at
Inverewe.
SANDERLING (_Calidris arenaria_).--Not common. Mr Henry A. Clowes sent me
one he shot at Sand, Gairloch, 11th September 1886.
COMMON SANDPIPER (_Totanus hypoleucus_).--This bird is very common in
the breeding season, along the shores of all waters. Its shrill piping
is almost a nuisance in the month of May. I have often found its nests,
and seen its pretty chicks.
REDSHANK (_Totanus calidris_).--Fairly common, and as it is seen all the
year round it is believed to breed in Gairloch. Mr O. H. Mackenzie says
it was formerly very rare or unknown here.
GREENSHANK (_Totanus canescens_).--Fairly abundant. It arrives in
February, and breeds on moors. I have seen one nest, and heard of
others. It sits very close on the nest. It is a shore bird, except in
the breeding season.
BAR-TAILED GODWIT (_Limosa lapponica_).--A rare winter visitant. I saw
two specimens at Inverasdale in the winter of 1880-81, and a friend with
me shot one. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot a specimen near Inverewe several
years before.
CURLEW, or WHAUP (_Numenius arquata_).--Common, and breeds in abundance.
It nests on moorlands, and is found on or near the sea-shore all the
rest of the year. Its peculiar whistle is well known, and sounds very
weird, especially when heard inland on a summer evening.
WHIMBREL (_Numenius phæopus_).--This bird, resembling a small curlew,
used to be numerous in Gairloch, but, though still noticed, is becoming
rarer every year. It is a migrant. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw four or five
whimbrels below the Inverewe garden in the first week of June 1886.
ARCTIC TERN (_Sterna macrura_).--This tern, which closely resembles the
common tern, is abundant in Gairloch in summer. It nests on small
islands in the sea, or in fresh-water lochs near the sea. The common
tern has not been identified in Gairloch.
BLACK-HEADED GULL (_Larus ridibundus_).--This gull is not uncommon in
Gairloch, and has several nesting-places on small islands in fresh-water
lochs. Some specimens have the black on the head of so dull a colour,
and extending so little beyond the forehead, as to closely resemble the
gull figured in the books as the masked gull. The black-headed gull
entirely loses the black colour on the head during winter. Sometimes the
breast of the bird is of a lovely rosy pink colour, which fades after
death.
COMMON, or WINTER GULL (_Larus canus_).--The common gull is not nearly
so common in Gairloch as the black-headed gull. It has several
nesting-places on small islands in fresh-water lochs, and it sometimes
lays its eggs on the neighbouring mainland.
HERRING GULL (_Larus argentatus_).--A few pairs of herring gulls nest
along with the lesser black-backed gulls on the islands of Loch Maree.
It nests also on Foura, and I think in some other places in the parish
of Gairloch. Numbers breed in the Shiant Isles, and a good many visit
the Gairloch shores during autumn and winter.
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (_Larus fuscus_).--This voracious bird breeds
in thousands on the islands of Loch Maree, and seems to be increasing in
numbers. The nest is beautifully formed of moss. The eggs, which are
generally three in number, but sometimes only two, and occasionally as
many as four in number, are much sought after by the natives and others
as articles of food; but Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, to whom the islands
belong, has endeavoured to check the depredations. This bird, though
called "lesser," is larger than any of the other gulls, except the
herring gull and the great black-backed gull. The young are grey until
they reach maturity, which is not until their second winter. Both the
species of black-backed gulls destroy many eggs of game birds.
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (_Larus marinus_).--This noble but predacious
bird is frequently seen in Gairloch. It does not associate with other
birds, or even with other pairs of its own species. A few pairs nest on
islands on Loch Maree and other fresh-water lochs, and I believe it
occasionally nests also on stacks in the sea close to the mainland. It
is commonly charged, as is also its lesser congener, with being guilty,
like the raven, of killing sheep and lambs, beginning the process of
murder by blinding its victims.
GLAUCOUS GULL (_Larus glaucus_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie has occasionally
observed this gull in the parish of Gairloch.
ICELAND GULL (_Larus leucopterus_).--This pale-coloured gull is
occasionally seen in the parish. I have identified a specimen shot by Mr
John Matheson.
KITTIWAKE (_Rissa tridactyla_).--This graceful gull is common on our
coasts. It breeds in great numbers at the Shiant Isles, on ledges of
high rocks above the sea. On my visit to these islands a shot was fired,
when a vast crowd of birds filled the air, and there were innumerable
cries of "kittiwake, kittiwake," pronounced as distinctly as if spoken
by the human voice.
GREAT SKUA (_Stercorarius catarrhactes_).--The great, or common skua is
rarely seen in Gairloch, but may be occasionally observed attending on
parties of gulls, whom it robs of the fish they catch.
ARCTIC, or RICHARDSON'S SKUA (_Stercorarius crepidatus_).--This skua
occasionally occurs in Gairloch, but is not abundant. One stormy day in
late autumn I observed several about the head of Loch Ewe.
MANX SHEARWATER (_Puffinus anglorum_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie has
occasionally seen this bird on Gairloch waters.
STORM PETREL (_Procellaria pelagica_).--This tiny sea bird, which makes
its home on the ocean waves, is seldom seen in Gairloch. I have observed
a small party at the mouth of Loch Ewe. They used to breed on the
islands of Longa and Foura, at the extremities of long burrows in grassy
slopes, and probably do so still. A specimen was recently brought to me
which had been found dead on the roadside between Gairloch and Poolewe.
It was in stormy weather.
RAZOR-BILL, or AUK (_Alca torda_).--This bird is seen in Gairloch and
Loch Ewe often along with the guillemots and puffins, and I think it is
more abundant than either. It nests in the Shiant Isles, and, like the
common guillemot, lays its single egg on ledges on the face of cliffs.
Mr Harvie Brown saw a very few pairs in a crevice on the east shore of
Priest Island, on 4th July 1884.
GUILLEMOT (_Uria troile_).--This sea bird frequents the coast of
Gairloch. It has no breeding station within the parish. The nearest is
at the Shiant Isles, twenty miles away, where a large number of
guillemots deposit their single eggs, all of exquisite colouring and
marking, but no two the same, on ledges in the face of a high cliff.
RINGED GUILLEMOT (_Uria lachrymans_).--It is now settled that this is a
dimorphic form of the guillemot, and not a different species. I have
obtained mature specimens with the ring or bridle only partially
developed, and there is no doubt it is a marking which occasionally
occurs in the common guillemot, and is not distinctive.
BLACK GUILLEMOT (_Uria grylle_).--This beautiful bird is common, and has
many nesting-places in Gairloch, on rocky islands in the sea, and
sometimes on rocks on the mainland overhanging the sea. In winter the
plumage of the black guillemot changes to a speckled grey colour. Mr
Harvie Brown says that he has in his collection male specimens in
speckled plumage taken off the eggs in the Badcall islands. Neither Mr
O. H. Mackenzie nor I have noticed the speckled plumage in breeding
birds. The young have the plumage yet more speckled than the mature
winter dress.
ROTCHE, or LITTLE AUK (_Mergulus alle_).--The little auk is rarely seen,
but is occasionally driven to the shores of Gairloch by storms. One was
brought to me which had been found dead near the shore of Loch Ewe.
PUFFIN, or SEA-PARROT (_Fratercula arctica_).--This curious bird is
common on the Gairloch coast at some seasons of the year. Like the
guillemot it breeds abundantly on the Shiant Islands. The puffin lays
its single egg at the extremity of a burrow formed on grassy banks
sloping towards the sea. The egg which, when laid, resembles an ordinary
hen's egg, soon becomes more or less of a dirty brown colour.
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (_Colymbus glacialis_).--This largest of our divers
is common on these coasts. There are always some on the Gairloch and on
Loch Ewe, except perhaps in July and August. I once saw one near the Fox
Point on Loch Maree, but not in the breeding season. It remains in our
waters until the beginning of June, and then goes north to breed. It has
now no authenticated nesting-place in the British Isles. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie has an egg which he had taken for him in one of the Shetland
Isles many years ago,--probably the last British specimen. Dr Saxby,
author of "Birds of Shetland," obtained the egg for Mr Mackenzie. It is
very much larger than the egg of the black-throated diver. Mr Mackenzie
had often heard of the nesting-place in Shetland from Dr Saxby's
brother.
BLACK-THROATED DIVER (_Colymbus arcticus_).--It breeds on a number of
fresh-water lochs in Gairloch. The nests are usually on islands, but I
have seen one on the mainland. This diver is seldom, if ever, observed
in Gairloch, except during the breeding season.
RED-THROATED DIVER (_Colymbus septentrionalis_).--This diver is not so
common here as the black-throated diver. I know two nesting-places in
Gairloch. Mr John Munro has known four pairs nesting in the same
locality. The red-throated diver is more frequently seen on the wing
than the other species, and when flying frequently utters a loud wailing
cry, which is said to prognosticate rain. A specimen was brought to me
which had been caught in a herring-net.
SCLAVONIAN GREBE (_Podiceps auritus_).--This grebe is often seen in
winter. A pair of grebes has for many years nested annually on a
fresh-water loch in Gairloch parish; in some years there have been two
pairs on the same loch; and sometimes another pair has nested on a loch
about two miles away. Mr E. T. Booth saw the grebes on the former loch
in 1868; he was unable to decide the species at the time, but in a
letter he wrote to me on 2nd March 1885, he said that "from the last
description of the bird that he received he came to the conclusion that
it was a Sclavonian." Mr H. E. Dresser saw one old and one young grebe
on the same loch on 30th June 1886. He could not get a distinct view of
the bird, but he was satisfied it was either the Sclavonian or the eared
grebe. Mr John Munro, who has annually seen and scrutinised the birds
during the past twenty-one years, and has compared his impressions of
them with the pictures of the several species of grebe from Mr Dresser's
"Birds of Europe" and other works, believes that these birds nesting in
Gairloch are Sclavonian grebes; indeed there can be no reasonable doubt
that they are so. Mr Booth has called the birds in question Sclavonians
in his "Rough Notes." I believe this is the only recorded instance of
the Sclavonian grebe nesting in the British Isles.
DABCHICK, or LITTLE GREBE (_Podiceps fluviatilis_).--It is common here
as everywhere.
CORMORANT (_Phalacrocorax carbo_).--The great cormorant is not very
common in Gairloch, but I have known one or two pairs nest in the
parish, on rocks overhanging or surrounded by the sea. Mr Harvie Brown
found it abundant on Priest Island on 4th July 1884. He saw there a
colony of about a hundred pairs. It is commonly seen on fresh-water
rivers and lochs, where it engages in fishing. I have often observed it
fishing within a few yards of the garden at Inveran.
GREEN CORMORANT, or SKART, or SHAG (_Phalacrocorax graculus_).--The
common shag is abundant on Gairloch and Loch Ewe. It nests on high rocks
on islands in the sea. It is never seen on fresh-water.
GANNET, or SOLAN GOOSE (_Sula bassana_).--This singular bird is often
observed fishing, after its peculiar manner, in Gairloch and Loch Ewe.
It flies, or rather dashes, rapidly to and fro, and when it sees a fish
in the sea, darts or falls so suddenly down upon it, that one almost
fears the concussion with the water must injure the bird. Its nearest
breeding station is at St Kilda.
HERON (_Ardea cinerea_).--The heron abounds in Gairloch. There are three
heronries, which are strictly preserved. A number of herons frequently
roost in autumn and winter in the fir wood on the River Ewe, along with
the rooks.
GREY-LAG GOOSE (_Anser cinereus_).--This wild goose, which seems to have
been the origin of the domestic goose, resembles it more closely than
any other species of wild goose. It is common in Gairloch, but not so
abundant as formerly. It does not attain maturity until its second
winter. It nests on small islands in fresh-water lochs. Farmers destroy
the eggs whenever they can get to the nests, on account of the injury
the wild geese do to the crops. This is no doubt the cause of the
diminution in their numbers. A smaller species of wild goose has been
occasionally noticed by Mr John Munro consorting with the grey-lag
goose, but it has not been identified. The grey-lag goose becomes very
tame if brought up in captivity.
BRENT GOOSE (_Bernicla brenta_).--Rarely seen here. Mr O. H. Mackenzie
has shot two on a grass field at Tournaig, close to the edge of Loch
Ewe.
WHOOPER, or WILD SWAN (_Cygnus musicus_).--Occasionally visits Gairloch
in winter. It is sometimes on the sea, but appears to be particularly
fond of Loch Maree. On Sunday, 30th January 1881, I saw six of these
splendid birds, all in mature white plumage, pluming themselves on the
beach within a hundred yards of the house at Inveran. That was an
exceptionally severe winter. Mr O. H. Mackenzie broke the tip of the
wing of one on Loch Ewe with a bullet, and sent the bird to the
Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, where it still (1886) lives.
BEWICK'S SWAN (_Cygnus Bewicki_).--This lesser wild swan also visits
Gairloch occasionally in winter.
SHELD-DUCK, or SHIELDRAKE (_Tadorna cornuta_).--This magnificent duck,
though very abundant in the Hebrides (and there called "Cradh gheadh"),
is rarely seen in Gairloch. I obtained a specimen on the River Ewe, at
the foot of the garden at Inveran, on 25th November 1880, in stormy
weather. Although when first observed this bird had been seen to fly, it
was found on examination to have had the quill feathers of both wings
clipped. It was probably one of the semi-domesticated specimens so
commonly kept along with poultry in North Uist. The bird was a drake in
full plumage, and was in company with my tame ducks. It is in the
collection at Inveran. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw one for several days
together on the shore at Inverewe some winters ago. It was very wild and
unapproachable.
MALLARD, or WILD-DUCK (_Anas boscas_).--The wild-duck is abundant, and
breeds on islands and on moors near water.
PINTAIL (_Dafila acuta_).--This bird is rare. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot
one at Inveran more than twenty years ago.
TEAL (_Querquedula crecca_).--This beautiful little duck is plentiful,
and breeds in Gairloch.
WIGEON (_Mareca penelope_).--The common wigeon is rather rare here, but
is occasionally seen, especially in winter. It sometimes nests. I
obtained a specimen near Inveran on 19th January 1881.
POCHARD (_Fuligula ferina_).--The dun bird is often seen on Gairloch
waters, and occasionally breeds with us.
SCAUP (_Fuligula marila_).--The scaup is not uncommon. I have a pair in
my collection which were shot on Loch nan Dailthean, in June 1883, by Mr
John Matheson. I saw several on the river Ewe in the winter and spring
of 1885; they were sometimes close to the garden at Inveran. The drake
when swimming appears to be snow-white on its back. I see one of them as
I sit in my study writing these notes. The scaup does not nest in
Gairloch.
TUFTED DUCK (_Fuligula cristata_).--It is not often seen, but I observed
a few pairs on the River Ewe, at the end of the Inveran garden, in the
hard weather of January 1881, and shot one for identification on 27th
January 1881.
GOLDEN EYE (_Clangula glaucion_).--Common; its nest has not been found
in Gairloch, but pairs have been seen on fresh-water lochs in the
breeding season, and Mr John Munro has seen the young with the old
birds, so there is no doubt this duck breeds within the parish.
LONG-TAILED DUCK (_Harelda glacialis_).--This sea duck was formerly very
common on this coast, but is now rarely seen. Mr Percy Dixon procured a
young immature one in the summer of 1883 on the River Ewe. It had
evidently been injured.
EIDER-DUCK (_Somateria molissima_).--This large duck is very rarely seen
in Gairloch, although it is so abundant in the Hebrides. A female was
killed at Shieldaig in 1884.
COMMON SCOTER (_Œdemia nigra_).--This sea bird is rare. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie has observed it on the Gairloch coast. Mr E. T. Booth, in his
"Rough Notes," speaks of scoters breeding in North-West Ross-shire. They
certainly do not nest in Gairloch, nor, as far as I can learn, in any of
the adjoining parishes.
GOOSANDER (_Mergus merganser_).--The goosander is tolerably abundant
here. I have seen several of its nests in Gairloch parish, and so has Mr
O. H. Mackenzie. Mr Harvie Brown noted a pair on the Meikle Gruinard
River both in 1883 and 1884.
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (_Mergus serrator_).--The merganser is very
common on almost all Gairloch waters, and many of them breed in the
parish. I have no doubt it destroys great quantities of the ova and fry
of both salmon and trout. It nests on banks, or in holes, or under
heather or juniper bushes on islands, or on the mainland near water.
SMEW (_Mergus albellus_).--I have not observed the smew duck on Gairloch
or Loch Ewe, but I have seen it in numbers at the mouth of the Meikle
Gruinard River, which is little more than a mile beyond the northern
limit of the parish of Gairloch. I think therefore it is a Gairloch
bird.
Chapter VII.
FLOWERING PLANTS OF GAIRLOCH.
It is matter of regret that no adequate herbarium has been prepared for
Gairloch. With the aid of Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch, Mrs Fowler of
Inverbroom, Mr O. H. Mackenzie, Mr A. Davidson, and other helpers, a
list has been compiled, and is appended to these notes. It is imperfect,
but we hope that it may lead to a more accurate and complete account of
the flora of the parish.
Visitors to Gairloch are invited to add to our list, and any botanical
information they may be willing to impart will be received with thanks.
But they are appealed to to abstain (when searching for plants) from
anything like a trespass or an infringement of the privileges of others.
Thoughtlessness on the part of a few, may bring discredit on botanists
generally.
Searchers for wildflowers are further entreated, not to eradicate any
plant that may be found,--nay, not even to greatly reduce its
dimensions; remembering that others ought to be allowed the chance of
observing it, and that it is unfair to rob a country of its charms. Two
instances are given in our "Introduction" of the destruction of ferns by
tourists. Surely a word to the wise is sufficient.
The larger and more showy of our woodland plants, as well as of many
kinds that should flourish on the edges of moors and about cultivated
land, have become rare, and in some cases have altogether disappeared,
since the introduction of sheep-farming into Gairloch. Not only do the
smearing materials applied to sheep poison the ground, and being washed
down into streams check the multiplication of trout, but the close
nibble of sheep deteriorates pasture, and destroys many succulent
plants. In spring, before the grass on the hills has made any growth,
the sheep everywhere attack the primroses, so that no early blooms can
be found except among wet places and rocks. The ewes and lambs are often
kept near home until summer has set in, and one can almost fancy that
they have a special taste for the choicest flowering plants. Dr
Mackenzie attributes the present scarceness of wildflowers to the
appetites of sheep, and all who have considered the question entirely
concur in this opinion. Dr Mackenzie, writing of the first quarter of
the nineteenth century, says, "The braes and wooded hillocks were a
perfect jungle of every kind of loveable shrubs and wildflowers,
especially orchids, some of the epipactis tribe being everywhere a
lovely drug."
Most of the best flowers are now only met with on steep banks, among
rocks, by road sides, on soft boggy ground, by the sea-shore, or in
other localities not much frequented by sheep. The epipactis ensifolia,
formerly abundant, is now almost unknown in Gairloch. In June 1883 I
discovered a specimen on a stony bank by water. In 1885 there were two
plants at the same place. I have not seen it elsewhere, nor had Mr O. H.
Mackenzie seen it until this plant was found.
Most of the gayest wildflowers are over by the time the run of tourists
begins. Many of the loveliest bloom in June or early in July. A bouquet
of wildflowers, well arranged in masses, does not stand long in water,
but is difficult to beat for graceful forms and exquisite tones of
colour. The yellow iris, the rosy sea-thrift, the purple orchis, the
orange St John's wort, the ragged robin, the blue hyacinth, and the
lilac valerian, are eminently fitted to display the taste of the fair
florist.
Though many beautiful flowers have disappeared before September, yet in
autumn the country becomes brilliant with a fresh supply. The moors are
purple with heather and ling, and also teem with the orange-coloured bog
asphodel, whilst the patches of corn are ablaze with the brilliant
yellow corn marigold so popular for bouquets. From March to October each
month has its peculiar gems, and this Highland parish yields not only
the rare alpine plants of the mountains, but many equally prized
treasures of the rocks and strands that edge the sea lochs. There are
also several interesting plants that abound in fresh-water lochs, such
as the white water-lily, the water-lobelia, and the bog-bean.
Of the rarer plants found in Gairloch the following are perhaps worthy
of special note, viz., the narrow-leaved helleborine, the long-leaved
sun-dew, the pale butterwort, the purple saxifrage, the stone bramble,
the cloudberry, the cranberry, the water avens, the chickweed
wintergreen, the arrow-grass, the trollius, the water lobelia, and
several uncommon ferns.
The following list includes the indigenous trees and all the ferns I
know; several plants are doubtful natives, such as the corn-poppy and
corn-cockle. The order of arrangement is that adopted in Sowerby's
"British Wildflowers":--
FLOWERING PLANTS OF GAIRLOCH.
_Thalictrum alpinum_--Alpine meadow rue.
_Anemone nemorosa_--Wood anemone.
_Ranunculus aquatilis_--Water crowfoot.
" _hederaceus_--Ivy-leaved crowfoot.
" _flammula_--Lesser spearwort.
" _ficaria_--Small celandine; pilewort.
" _acris_--Buttercup.
" _repens_--Creeping buttercup.
" _bulbosus_--Bulbous buttercup.
_Caltha palustris_--Marsh marigold.
_Trollius europæus_--Globe flower.
_Berberis vulgaris_--Barberry; doubtful native.
_Nymphæa_ alba--White water-lily.
_Papaver dubium_--Long-headed poppy.
" _rhœas_--Corn poppy.
_Chelidonium majus_--Celandine.
_Fumaria capreolata_--Rampant fumitory.
" _officinalis_--Common fumitory.
_Corydalis claviculata_--Climbing corydalis.
_Cakile maritima_--Sea rocket.
_Crambe maritima_--Sea-kale.
_Coronopus didyma_--Small wart-cress.
_Capsella bursa-pastoris_--Shepherd's purse.
_Lepidium Smithii_--Smooth-fruited pepperwort.
_Cochlearia officinalis_--Scurvy-grass.
" _anglica_--English scurvy-grass.
" _danica_--Danish scurvy-grass.
_Draba verna_--Whitlow-grass.
" _incana_--Twisted-podded Draba.
_Cardamine pratensis_--Lady's smock.
" _hirsuta_--Hairy bitter-cress.
_Arabis petræa_--Rock-cress.
" _hirsuta_--Hairy wall-cress.
_Barbarea vulgaris_--Winter cress; yellow rocket.
_Sisymbrium thalianum_--Thale-cress.
_Sinapis arvensis_--Charlock; wild mustard.
_Viola palustris_--Marsh violet.
" _canina_--Dog violet.
" _tricolor_--Heart's-ease; pansy.
" _lutea_--Mountain pansy.
_Drosera rotundifolia_--Sun-dew.
" _longifolia_--Long-leaved sun-dew.
" _anglica_--Great sun-dew.
_Polygala vulgaris_--Milkwort.
_Silene acaulis_--Moss campion.
" _maritima_--Sea campion.
_Lychnis flos-cuculi_--Ragged Robin.
" _diurna, and var. vespertina_--Campion.
_Agrostemma githago_--Corn-cockle.
_Sagina procumbens_--Creeping pearlwort.
_Spergula arvensis_--Spurrey.
" _subulata_--Small hairy spurrey.
_Stellaria media_--Chickweed.
" _holostea_--Starwort.
_Arenaria peploides_--Sea sandwort; sea pimpernel.
_Cerastium vulgatum_--Broad-leaved mouse-ear.
" _viscosum_--Narrow-leaved mouse-ear.
_Linum catharticum_--Little flax.
_Radiola millegrana_--All-seed.
_Malva sylvestris_--Common mallow; doubtful native.
" _moschata_--Musk mallow; doubtful native.
_Hypericum perforatum_--Common St John's wort.
" _pulchrum_--Small St John's wort.
_Parnassia palustris_--Grass of Parnassus.
_Geranium sanguineum_--Crimson crane's-bill.
" _lucidum_--Shining crane's-bill.
" _Robertianum_--Herb Robert.
" _molle_--Soft crane's-bill.
_Erodium cicutarium_--Heron's-bill.
_Oxalis acetosella_--Wood-sorrel.
_Ulex europæus_--Furze; whin.
_Anthyllis vulneraria_--Kidney-vetch.
_Medicago lupulina_--Black medick; doubtful native.
_Trifolium repens_--White clover.
" _pratense_--Red clover.
" _procumbens_--Hop trefoil.
" _minus_--Lesser yellow trefoil.
_Lotus corniculatus_--Bird's-foot trefoil.
_Vicia cracca_--Tufted vetch.
" _sativa_--Tare.
" _sepium_--Bush vetch.
_Ervum hirsutum_--Hairy tine-tare.
_Lathyrus pratensis_--Meadow vetchling.
_Prunus spinosa_--Blackthorn.
" _padus_--Bird-cherry.
" _cerasus_--Wild gean.
_Spiræa ulmaria_--Meadow-sweet.
_Geum urbanum_--Common avens.
" _rivale_--Water avens.
_Rubus idæus_--Raspberry.
" _fruticosus_--Bramble.
" _saxatilis_--Stone bramble.
" _chamæmorus_--Cloud-berry.
_Fragaria vesca_--Wild strawberry.
_Comarum palustre_--Marsh cinque-foil.
_Potentilla anserina_--Goose-weed.
" _reptans_--Creeping cinque-foil.
_Tormentilla officinalis_--Common tormentil.
_Alchemilla vulgaris_--Lady's-mantle.
" _alpina_--Alpine lady's-mantle.
" _arvensis_--Field lady's-mantle.
_Rosa involuta_--Unexpanded rose.
" _mollis_--Soft-leaved rose.
" _canina_--Dog rose.
_Cratægus oxyacantha_--Hawthorn.
_Pyrus malus_--Wild apple; crab.
" _aucuparia_--Mountain ash; rowan.
" _aria_--White beam-tree.
_Epilobium angustifolium_--French willow-herb.
" _montanum_--Broad-leaved willow-herb.
" _alsinifolium_--Chickweed willow-herb.
" _alpinum_--Alpine willow-herb.
_Circæa alpina_--Alpine enchanter's nightshade.
_Montia fontana_--Water blinks.
_Rhodiola rosea_--Rose-root.
_Sedum anglicum_--Mountain stonecrop.
" _acre_--Stonecrop; wallpepper
" _reflexum_--Crooked stonecrop.
" _glaucum_--Glaucous stonecrop.
_Saxifraga stellaris_--Starry saxifrage.
" _aizoides_--Yellow mountain saxifrage.
" _oppositifolia_--Purple saxifrage.
" _hypnoides_--Ladies'-cushion.
_Chrysosplenium alternifolium_--Golden saxifrage.
" _oppositifolium_--Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage.
_Hydrocotyle vulgaris_--Marsh pennywort.
_Ægopodium podagraria_--Gout weed.
_Bunium flexuosum_--Earth-nut.
_Œnanthe crocata_--Hemlock dropwort.
_Ligusticum scoticum_--Scottish lovage.
_Meum athamanticum_--Spignel.
_Crithmum maritimum_--Samphire.
_Angelica sylvestris_--Wild angelica.
_Heracleum sphondylium_--Cow-parsnip.
_Daucus maritima_--Sea-side carrot.
_Scandix pecten-Veneris_--Venus's comb.
_Anthriscus sylvestris_--Cow-parsley; wild chervil.
_Myrrhis odorata_--Sweet cicely.
_Hedera helix_--Ivy.
_Cornus suecica_--Dwarf cornel.
_Sambucus nigra_--Common elder.
_Viburnum opulus_--Guelder rose.
_Lonicera periclymenum_--Honeysuckle.
_Galium verum_--Yellow bed-straw.
" _palustre_--White water bed-straw.
" _saxatile_--Smooth heath bed-straw.
" _uliginosum_--Rough marsh bed-straw.
" _aparine_--Goose-grass.
_Sherardia arvensis_--Field madder.
_Asperula odorata_--Woodruff.
_Valeriana dioica_--Marsh valerian.
" _officinalis_--Great wild valerian.
_Scabiosa succisa_--Devil's-bit.
" _arvensis_--Field scabious.
" _columbaria_--Small scabious.
_Sonchus oleraceus_--Sow-thistle.
_Leontodon taraxacum_--Dandelion.
_Apargia hispida_--Rough hawk-bit.
_Hieracium alpinum_--Alpine hawkweed.
" _sylvaticum_--Wood hawkweed.
_Crepis tectorum_--Smooth hawk's-beard.
_Lapsana communis_--Nipplewort.
_Arctium lappa_--Burdock.
" _majus_--Burdock.
_Saussurea alpina_--Alpine saussurea.
_Carduus nutans_--Musk thistle.
_Cnicus lanceolatus_--Spear thistle.
" _palustris_--Marsh thistle.
" _arvensis_--Common thistle.
" _heterophyllus_--Dark plume thistle.
_Tanacetum vulgare_--Tansy.
_Artemisia vulgaris_--Mugwort.
_Antennaria dioica_--Cat's-foot.
_Gnaphalium sylvaticum_--Highland cudweed.
" _supinum_--Dwarf cudweed.
_Tussilago farfara_--Colt's-foot.
_Petasites vulgaris_--Butter-bur.
_Senecio vulgaris_--Groundsel.
" _Jacobæa_--Common ragwort.
" _aquaticus_--Marsh ragwort.
_Aster tripolium_--Sea starwort.
_Solidago virgaurea_--Golden-rod.
_Bellis perennis_--Daisy.
_Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_--Ox-eye daisy.
" _segetum_--Corn marigold.
_Pyrethrum inodorum_--Corn feverfew.
_Matricaria chamomilla_--Wild chamomile.
_Anthemis maritima_--Sea chamomile.
_Achillea ptarmica_--Sneezewort.
" _millefolium_--Yarrow; milfoil.
_Centaurea nigra_--Black knapweed.
" _cyanus_--Corn-flower; blue-bottle.
_Campanula rapunculoides_--Creeping bell-flower.
" _hederacea_--Ivy-leaved bell-flower; doubtful native.
_Lobelia dortmanna_--Water lobelia.
_Vaccinium myrtillus_--Bilberry.
" _vitis idæa_--Cow-berry.
_Oxycoccus palustris_--Cranberry.
_Erica tetralix_--Cross-leaved heath; bell-heather.
" _cinerea_--Common heath.
_Calluna vulgaris_--Ling; heather.
_Azalea procumbens_--Creeping azalea.
_Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_--Red bear-berry.
_Pyrola minor_--Lesser winter-green.
" _secunda_--Serrated winter-green.
_Ilex aquifolium_--Holly.
_Fraxinus excelsior_--Ash.
_Gentiana campestris_--Field gentian.
_Menyanthes trifoliata_--Bog-bean.
_Lithospermum maritimum_--Sea gromwell.
_Myosotis cæspitosa_--Tufted forget-me-not.
" _arvensis_--Field forget-me-not.
" _collina_--Early forget-me-not.
" _versicolor_--Changeable forget-me-not.
_Lycopsis arvensis_--Bugloss.
_Atropa belladonna_--Deadly nightshade.
_Orobanche rubra_--Red broom-rape.
_Veronica serpyllifolia_--Thyme-leaved speedwell.
" _scutellata_--Marsh speedwell.
" _beccabunga_--Brooklime.
" _officinalis_--Common speedwell.
" _chamædrys_--Germander speedwell.
" _hederifolia_--Ivy-leaved speedwell.
" _agrestis_--Germander chickweed.
_Bartsia odontites_--Red eye-bright.
_Euphrasia officinalis_--Eye-bright.
_Rhinanthus crista-galli_--Yellow-rattle.
_Melampyrum sylvaticum_--Wood cow-wheat.
_Pedicularis palustris_--Marsh red-rattle.
" _sylvatica_--Dwarf red-rattle.
_Scrophularia nodosa_--Knotty figwort.
" _aquatica_--Water figwort.
_Digitalis purpurea_--Foxglove.
_Mimulus luteus_--Yellow mimulus.
_Mentha sylvestris_--Horse mint.
" _piperita_--Peppermint.
" _sativa_--Water mint; whorled mint.
" _arvensis_--Corn mint.
_Thymus serpyllum_--Wild thyme.
_Teucrium scorodonia_--Germander.
_Ajuga reptans_--Bugle.
" _pyramidalis_--Pyramidal bugle.
_Galeopsis tetrahit_--Hemp-nettle.
" _versicolor_--Bee-nettle.
_Lamium album_--White dead-nettle.
" _purpureum_--Red dead-nettle.
_Stachys sylvatica_--Hedge woundwort.
" _palustris_--Marsh woundwort.
_Nepeta cataria_--Cat-mint.
_Prunella vulgaris_--Self-heal.
_Scutellaria galericulata_--Skull-cap.
_Pinguicula vulgaris_--Butterwort.
" _lusitanica_--Pale butterwort.
_Utricularia minor_--Small bladderwort.
_Primula vulgaris_--Primrose.
_Glaux maritima_--Sea milkwort.
_Trientalis europæa_--Chickweed winter-green.
_Lysimachia nemorum_--Wood pimpernel.
_Armeria maritima_--Sea thrift.
_Plantago major_--Greater plantain.
" _lanceolata_--Ribwort.
" _maritima_--Sea plantain.
" _coronopus_--Buck's-horn plantain.
_Beta maritima_--Beet.
_Chenopodium maritimum_--Sea goosefoot.
" _urbicum_--Upright goosefoot.
" _murale_--Nettle-leaved goosefoot.
" _album_--White goosefoot.
" " _var. candicans_.
" " _var. paganum_.
_Salicornia herbacea_--Glasswort.
_Salsola kali_--Saltwort.
_Scleranthus annuus_--Knawel.
_Atriplex patula_--Spreading orache.
_Polygonum viviparum_--Alpine bistort.
" _aviculare_--Knot-grass.
" _persicaria_--Spotted persicaria.
" _hydropiper_--Biting persicaria.
" _maritimum_--Sea knot-grass.
" _convolvolus_--Black bindweed.
" _amphibium_--Water persicaria.
_Rumex crispus_--Curled dock.
" _obtusifolius_--Broad-leaved dock.
" _acetosa_--Sorrel.
" _acetosella_--Sheep's sorrel.
_Oxyria reniformis_--Mountain sorrel.
_Empetrum nigrum_--Crow-berry.
_Mercurialis perennis_--Mercury.
_Euphorbia helioscopia_--Sun-spurge.
" _peplus_--Petty-spurge.
_Callitriche verna_--Springwater starwort.
_Urtica dioica_--Common nettle.
_Ulmus montana_--Wych elm.
_Myrica gale_--Sweet gale; bog-myrtle.
_Betula alba_--White birch.
" _nana_--Dwarf birch.
_Alnus glutinosa_--Alder.
_Salix pentandra_--Sweet willow.
" _alba_--White willow.
" _angustifolia_--Little tree-willow.
" _ambigua_--Ambiguous willow.
" _reticulata_--Net-leaved willow.
" _viminalis_--Common osier.
" _cinerea_--Grey sallow.
" _caprea_--Great sallow.
" _nigricans_--Dark-leaved willow.
" _herbacea_--Dwarf willow.
_Populus tremula_--Aspen.
_Quercus robur_, or _pedunculata_--Oak.
_Corylus avellana_--Hazel.
_Pinus sylvestris_--Scotch fir.
_Juniperus communis_--Juniper.
" _nana_--Dwarf juniper.
_Orchis maculata_--Spotted orchis.
_Gymnadenia conopsea_--Fragrant orchis.
_Habenaria albida_--Small white orchis.
" _chlorantha_--Butterfly orchis.
" _bifolia_--Smaller butterfly orchis.
_Herminium monorchis_--Green musk orchis.
_Listera ovata_--Tway-blade.
_Epipactis ensifolia_--Narrow-leaved helleborine.
_Iris pseud-acorus_--Yellow iris.
_Hyacinthus non-scriptus_--Wild hyacinth.
_Allium oleraceum_--Wild garlic.
" _ursinum_--Ramsons.
_Tofieldia palustris_--Scottish asphodel.
_Narthecium ossifragum_--Bog asphodel.
_Juncus conglomeratus_--Common rush.
" _lamprocarpus_, or _articulatus_--Jointed rush.
" _triglumis_--Three-flowered rush.
_Luzula sylvatica_--Great hairy-rush.
" _spicata_--Spiked hairy-rush.
_Triglochin palustre_--Arrow-grass.
" _maritimum_--Sea-side arrow-grass.
_Potamogeton natans_--Broad-leaved pond-weed.
" _lucens_--Shining pond-weed.
" _oblongus_--Oblong-leaved pond-weed.
_Eriophorum vaginatum_--Hare's-tail cotton-grass.
" _angustifolium_--Common cotton-grass.
_Equisetum arvense_--Field horse-tail.
" _sylvaticum_--Wood horse-tail.
" _limosum_--Smooth horse-tail.
" _palustre_--Marsh horse-tail.
_Polypodium vulgare_--Common polypody.
" _phegopteris_--Mountain polypody; beech fern.
" _dryopteris_--Tender three-branched polypody; oak fern.
_Lastrea oreopteris_--Sweet mountain fern; mountain buckler fern.
" _filix-mas_--Male fern.
" _spinulosa_--Narrow prickly-toothed buckler fern.
" _dilatata_--Broad prickly-toothed buckler fern.
_Polystichum lonchitis_--Holly fern.
" _lobatum_--Close-leaved prickly shield-fern.
_Cystopteris fragilis_--Brittle bladder fern.
_Athyrium filix-fœmina_--Lady fern.
_Asplenium adiantum-nigrum_--Black spleenwort.
" _trichomanes_--Common wall spleenwort.
" _viride_--Green spleenwort.
" _marinum_--Sea spleenwort.
" _ruta-muraria_--Wall rue.
" _septentrionale_--Forked spleenwort.
_Scolopendrium vulgare_--Common hart's-tongue.
_Blechnum boreale_--Hard fern.
_Pteris aquilina_--Common brake.
_Hymenophyllum Wilsoni_--Scottish filmy fern.
_Osmunda regalis_--Royal or flowering fern.
_Botrychium lunaria_--Moonwort.
_Ophioglossum vulgatum_--Common adder's tongue.
_Lycopodium clavatum_--Common club-moss.
" _annotinum_--Interrupted club-moss.
" _alpinum_--Savin-leaved club-moss.
" _selago_--Fir club-moss.
Chapter VIII.
SHELLS OF GAIRLOCH.
By the REV. JOHN M'MURTRIE, M.A.
The following article appeared in _Good Words_ in August 1883, and is
generously contributed to this work by the author, the Rev. John
M'Murtrie, lately minister of St Bernard's Church, Edinburgh, and now
convener of the Foreign Mission Committee of the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland. Mr M'Murtrie has kindly added an appendix containing
a list of shells, prepared by him expressly for this book. The article,
which is inserted here with the consent of the Rev. Donald Macleod,
D.D., editor of _Good Words_, is entitled--
"SPRING-TIDE AT GAIRLOCH, WEST ROSS--
A STUDY OF SMALL SHELLS.
"By the way, some people know as little about spring-tides as about
small shells. I lately read, in a thrilling narrative of escape from
drowning, 'It was neap-tide, and the sea was very far out.' Evidently
the writer supposed that neap-tides are the very low tides, just as
spring-tides are the very high ones. Of course, the truth is, that
spring-tides both rise very high and fall very low; while neap-tides are
the tides of least variation,--when, in short, the tides are _nipped_,
and do not fall very low.[1] Once a fortnight there is a series of
spring-tides, but, for reasons astronomical, some are much better than
others. The half-hour of lowest recess of a first-rate spring-tide is
precious to naturalists. You may chance to find them then at the edge of
the sea, working, as if for dear life, under rock ledges and among
seaweeds; and, wading as deep as they can, with bare arms they lift
great stones from the bottom, and examine them for their living
treasures. The sea in calm weather becomes very still during that half
hour. When it is ended there occurs a remarkable thing, which I have
never seen mentioned in books, but I think many shore-naturalists and
bait-gatherers must know it. It is a sort of shudder of the sea, as
though it awoke; there is a sudden strong _susurrus_,--the sound of that
wonderful Latin word tells you its meaning,--the wash-sh of a swift
little wave, breaking all along the shore and rising in every crevice at
your feet, the first impact of a resistless power. At such a time I
found myself at Gairloch, on the shore of Western Ross, beyond that gem
of Scottish lakes, Loch Maree.
"Naturalists divide every shore into its upper, middle, and lower
'littoral zone.' I cannot write this paper without using a few hard
words; _littoral zone_ just means the beach between high and low
tide-marks. Those plants and animals which live in the 'upper littoral'
want no more of the sea than an occasional bath, or even merely its salt
spray. The middle region is inhabited by species which prefer to be half
their time under water, and the lower by those which agree with being
usually submerged. Below the littoral we come upon the great _laminarian
zone_, the region of waving laminaria, or sea-tangle. The best view of
this submarine forest is from a boat, and you may have dipped an oar at
low-water among its olive-brown fronds. These are not uncovered at
ordinary tides, but a low spring-tide reveals them. Changed and weird is
then the aspect of the sea, and the searcher has access to what he calls
the 'upper laminarian.' It is but little harm after all that he ever
does, if we take into account the prodigality with which the shore is
furnished with life. But should a storm rage when the spring-tide is
low, the waves tear up the tangles by hundreds, and pile them, with
their countless freight of living shells and other creatures of God, in
irretrievable ruin on the strand.
"At Gairloch I found that the rocky shore, while not precipitous, was
yet so steep that the various zones and their subdivisions, which on a
level beach may easily occupy a mile, were compressed into a very small
space. Every few steps in a downward scramble brought one to a new
vegetation and new forms of animal life. In particular, it was obvious
that innumerable molluscs of the smaller, and therefore less-known
species, found shelter and food among the seaweeds that densely clothed
the rocks. These molluscs seemed brought to my hand that I might look at
them. It occurred to me that no shell-gatherer, so far as I knew, had
ever made it his study to know with exactness a compact little shore
like this, to determine all the species of those myriads of living
shells, to note their distribution and relative abundance, and to
estimate the number of individuals.
"It was necessary first of all to devise a right method of
investigation. To examine the whole shore was impossible and
unnecessary. Plainly I must take samples. The rocks just below
high-water mark were covered with a thick stubble of _lichina_, a small
plant resembling the lichens of the land. Various species of minute
sea-shells nestled plentifully at its roots. As much of the lichina as
two hands could hold was soon scraped from the rocks, wrapped in paper,
and called Parcel No. 1. Though months passed before I had leisure to
scrutinize my prize, I may here state the result. When all the lichina
and broken plates of barnacles and other _débris_ had been removed,
there remained twelve hundred and twenty perfect shells, which had been
alive when captured; and when they were all put into a pill-box of the
smallest size used by druggists, it was scarcely two-thirds full. The
leading shell was a dwarf form of our smallest winkle, _Littorina
neritoïdes_,--a species which may almost be said to dislike the sea,
though it cannot live far from it. There were six hundred and three of
this tiny winkle. Next came lasaea, a red and white bivalve (_L.
rubra_), with four hundred and thirty-nine, mostly full grown. Small as
it is, you may, with care and a good lens, open its valves and count a
score of young ones within, each having a shell like that of its parent.
Skenea (_S. planorbis_) was third, with a hundred and six shells, each
like a short and not quite flat coil of brown rope. But a large skenea
is less than the head of a small pin, and these were all young. The rest
were a few specimens of the fry of all our other British winkles, and of
the common mussel. Rissoa--so named from a naturalist of Nice, M.
Risso--is a genus of humble spiral-shelled molluscs, which feed upon
decaying seaweeds. Two specks in the parcel shewed themselves under the
lens, by the bands which encircled their whorls, to be the young of
_Rissoa cingillus_,--the rissoa, with the little belts around it.
"It would weary the ordinary reader to go through such details in the
rest of this paper. I only seek to give him a glimpse into a world of
life, of whose existence he was perhaps scarcely aware.
"Parcel No. 2 was an equal quantity of a small seaweed, with a long
name, _Polysiphonia fastigiata_, which fringes common wrack between
tides with its thick and branching tufts. Nothing can be simpler than
the process of separating thousands of shells from such a handful. You
put your seaweeds in a basin of cold fresh water, and all the molluscs
instantly let go and fall to the bottom. When those of this parcel were
dried, the little pill-box was again in requisition; they exactly filled
it. If anybody wants precision, there were forty-two minims of shells.
It may give a new thought to some one to read that there were in that
box about twelve thousand five hundred shells, each of them a marvel of
beauty, and each of them only the external skeleton of a highly
organised creature, which secreted and built up that shell bit by bit as
its soft body grew larger, and which mixed in the colours and lined it
with mother-of-pearl. The little skenea, which began to appear in our
first parcel, reached here the extraordinary development of about eleven
thousand eight hundred specimens, of which one hundred and thirty-eight
were grown up, while all the rest, to the unassisted eye, were like
dust, and weighed only eleven and a half grains. The remainder of the
parcel consisted of twelve species, ranging in number of examples from
one to three hundred and fifty. The shell of which there was but a
single specimen was _Cyamium minutum_, a glittering bivalve, somewhat
smaller than lasaea.
"Parcel No. 3 was made up by scraping from the rock a small
strong-smelling seaweed called _Laurencia_, which grows near low-water.
It yielded about twenty thousand shells, belonging to fourteen species,
and they more than filled two of the little boxes. The most remarkable
circumstance was, that the shining little bivalve cyamium, which was
represented by a solitary specimen in the second parcel, formed here at
least three-fifths of the whole. In other words, twelve thousand
individuals, old, young, and middle-aged, of this cyamium--each of them
a good walker, a good swimmer, a good spinner when it wished to moor
itself by a rope, and each the maker of its own polished shell--were
clustered upon a handful of one of their favourite plants. I could not
get them till now, because I was not near enough to the edge of the ebb
tide. It may be worth noting that there are other shell-gatherers who
know where to look for cyamium, for it is told in books upon shells that
thirty-five thousand cyamiums were once taken from the stomach of a
mullet.
"No. 4 was a parcel of the same size as all the rest, and consisted of
various small seaweeds growing at ordinary low water. It proved to
contain about eight thousand five hundred shells, of ten species. There
was scarcely a bivalve among them. Two _lacunæ_ (cousins to the
winkles), and a pearly top-shell (_Trochus helicinus_), shewed by their
abundance that the verge of the accessible shore was nearly reached.
"No. 5 was a parcel of the same kind, from the lowest point of the
spring-tide, and produced about thirteen thousand shells. The
between-tides species--such as skenea--now visibly began to fail, and a
few shells from deeper water, including a youthful scallop, made their
appearance.
"The tide was about to turn. Could one more 'parcel' be achieved? From
the rock there was visible, far down in the quiet depth, a giant frond
of laminaria, apparently detached, but likely still to have its shelly
inhabitants upon it. The day was warm, the spot retired, the water
inviting; to swim downwards with the eyes open is easy, if you learned
as a boy. Soon the laminaria was gently laid on dry rock. It was quite
ten feet long, and bore one hundred and fifty-seven little shells of
nine species, one of them a prize--_Rissoa violacea_.
"This record is not written for conchologists, but for others to whom
its facts are unfamiliar or unknown. Two dozen species, most of them
common, and three or four varieties, were all that were found. But, of
individual shells there were fifty-five thousand. A calculation,
necessarily rough, but as likely to be under the truth as over it, led
to the conclusion that, if it were possible to examine all the seaweeds
which the lowest tide leaves bare for a stretch of only twenty-five or
thirty yards along that shore, a hundred million living shell-bearing
molluscs would be found. Of all these not even the smallest would,
strictly speaking, be a microscopic object, though certainly requiring a
lens for the determination of its species. A hundred millions! How
easily we set down the words! And neither the writer nor anybody else
has the least conception of what they represent. And if, from that
little nook on the Gairloch as a measured base, I tried to estimate the
molluscan population of our British shores, making due allowance for the
comparative barrenness of many places, I might fill a large part of one
of these lines with figures; but who would be any the wiser?
"We are not to suppose that a shore so prolific as that of Gairloch has
really only twenty-four kinds of shells. That no more were found among
the seaweeds examined, is simply due to the circumstance that all the
samples were taken from the same kind of ground. Hard by, round a
jutting rock, there is a sandy shell-strewn beach on which, without
trouble, fifty species may be gathered,--some of them such rarities that
the reading of their names is enough to make an eager collector wish he
might forthwith take train for Achnasheen.[2] Let us single out one.
Time was when _Crenella decussata_ was known to naturalists by a single
valve. Here, in a little shell-sand, were six perfect specimens, the
valves united and closed, or each what children call a 'box.' Imagine an
almost transparent pearl, the size of a grain of mustard seed, suffused
with opaline gleams, and covered with exquisite latticed and bead-like
sculpture. It wants nothing but size to rival the most splendid exotics.
"Nothing but size! But, to most people, size is everything; wherefore to
them the small shells and their beauty are not. Their minuteness hides
them as though they were in a far-off and uninhabited isle. To science
bulk is an accident, only one of the many properties which she has to
consider. What science does for us--even for those of us who, being
otherwise busy, can be naturalists only in our leisure time--is
something still more important than providing us with a magnifying lens.
She takes away that mental habitude which makes minuteness a barrier to
interest,--she puts her hand on the inward eye, and we see. Whosoever
has been thus _touched_, has an 'open-sesame' to a treasure-house, has a
slave of the lamp to make rubies common. And, besides all this, who dare
say that that hidden world of beauty and adaptation is wasted, is lost,
till the scientific observer draws near? Certainly he who has watched
the little molluscs at their love and their play will be slow to think
that they have not a sense of beauty which can be pleased. He who notes
how the shells during life are protected from their enemies by their
colours; how they are brown and yellow and red like the seaweed on which
they feed; how they are pink and white among those algæ which are
encrusted with lime; how they are transparent and iridescent as any
jelly-fish in the clear sea-water,--has a glimpse into the process by
which the Divine Architect who works through the ages fashioned those
manifold species. And I, for one, am of Charles Kingsley's creed in this
matter:--'See now,' said the hero of 'Westward Ho!' to his brother, as
they looked at flies and flowers and humming-birds in a West Indian
island, uninhabited till the white man came,--'See now, God made all
these things, and never a man, perhaps, set eyes on them till fifty
years agone; and yet they were as pretty as they are now, ever since the
making of the world. And why do you think God could have put them here,
then, but to please Himself'--and Amyas took off his hat--'with the
sight of them?'"
APPENDIX.
Mr Dixon has kindly sent me a considerable quantity of
shell-sand from Gairloch shore. I have examined it, and
found the following sea-shells. Those which were somewhat
plentiful are marked with an asterisk. It would be easy to
name some additional shells which will probably be found on
Gairloch shore, though they were absent from the sand
examined; but I have preferred not to do so.
*Anomia ephippium.
* Do. do., _var._ imbricata.
*Pecten opercularis.
P. similis (a valve).
*Mytilus edulis.
*Modiolaria discors.
*Crenella decussata.
*Montacuta ferruginosa (single valves).
M. bidentata.
Kellia suborbiculata.
*Cyamium minutum.
*Cardium edule.
*C. nodosum.
C. echinatum.
C. Norvegicum.
*Cyprina Islandica.
Astarte sulcata (a valve).
A. triangularis.
*Venus gallina.
V. lincta.
V. exoleta.
*V. casina.
V. ovata (a valve).
*Tapes virgineus.
Do. do., _var._ alba.
*Tellina tenuis.
*T. fabula.
T. pusilla.
*Psammobia ferroënsis.
*Donax vittatus.
*Mactra stultorum.
Do. do., _var._ cinerea.
M. subtruncata.
M. solida.
Scrobicularia prismatica.
*Solen siliqua.
*Thracia papyracea.
*Saxicava rugosa.
* Do. do., _var._ arctica.
* Do. do., _var._ minuta.
*Patella vulgata.
* Do. do., _var._ picta.
* Do. do., _var._ cœrulea.
*Helcion pellucidum.
* Do. do., _var._ lævis.
Tectura testudinalis.
*T. virginea.
*Trochus cinerarius.
T. umbilicatus.
*T. millegranus (young shells).
*T. helicinus.
*Do. do., _var._ fasciata.
T. zizyphinus.
*Lacuna divaricata.
*L. pallidula.
*Littorina obtusata.
*L. litorea.
*L. rudis.
*Do. do., _var._ saxatilis.
*L. neritoides.
*Rissoa violacea.
*Do. do., _var._ ecostata.
R. semistriata.
*R. striata.
*Do. do., _var._ arctica.
*R. parva.
*Do. do., _var._ interrupta.
R. punctura (a fragment).
*R. cingillus.
*Hydrobia ulvæ.
Do. do., _var._ albida.
*Skenea planorbis.
Cœcum glabrum (one specimen).
C. trachea (one specimen).
Odostomia rissoïdes.
O. indistincta.
O. lactea.
*O. nitidissima.
*Natica Alderi.
Velutina lævigata.
*Aporrhaïs pes-pelecani.
*Cerithium reticulatum.
*Purpura lapillus.
Do. do., _var._ imbricata.
Buccinum undatum.
Fusus antiquus.
*Nassa incrassata.
Do. do., _var._ minor.
Pleurotoma striolata (one specimen).
*Cylichna umbilicata.
*Utriculus truncatulus.
U. obtusus.
*U. hyalinus.
U. mammillatus (two specimens).
Philine catena.
P. angulata (one specimen).
Melampus bidentatus.
Spirialis retroversus.
The following are a few notes on the land and fresh-water
shells:--
Pisidium fontinale--Occurred in the shell-sand, having been
washed down to the sea by streams. I found a fine
variety--perhaps _var._ pulchella--in a pond between
Gairloch and Loch Maree.
Ancylus fluviatilis--Several among the shell-sand.
Succinea putris--Two among the shell-sand.
Vitrina pellucida--Not uncommon under stones, &c.
Zonites cellarius--Two among the shell-sand. I found it also
living among stones.
Zonites nitidulus, _var._ nitens--Living among stones, &c.
Zonites purus--Among dead leaves.
Zonites radiatulus--Two among the shell-sand. It is probably
not rare under stones, &c.
Zonites fulvus--Among dead leaves.
Helix nemoralis--Among the shell-sand.
Helix rotundata--Under stones.
Pupa umbilicata--Under stones. The variety edentula occurs.
Balia perversa--Common at the foot of walls near the parish
church, and probably in other places.
Clausilia rugosa--Under stones, &c.
Cochlicopa lubrica--Three among the shell-sand.
J. M'MURTRIE.
Chapter IX.
THE GEOLOGY OF LOCH MAREE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.
By WILLIAM JOLLY.
The geology of Loch Maree is unusually varied, interesting, and
representative. It exhibits, in a limited area, the whole debated series
of the succession of rocks in the North-West Highlands. This has been a
fertile subject of controversy, surpassed only by the world-famous Glen
Roy. It has engaged the attention and the pens of some of the most
eminent British geologists, including Macculloch, Hugh Miller, Sedgwick,
Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Nicol of Aberdeen, Archibald Geikie,
and a host of others not less able. After considerable discussion,
chiefly between Murchison and Nicol, the authoritative name of
Murchison, along with that of Archibald Geikie, who wrote a joint memoir
on the subject, seemed for a time finally to settle the question in
Murchison's favour; and his views were not only generally received, but
were embodied in the geological maps of the district most in use. But,
lately, the whole question has been reopened with greater keenness than
ever, and the conclusions of the geological king have been vigorously
and uncompromisingly assailed all along the line. The war is, at the
present date, in full swing, but with a near prospect of final peace.
The geological problem of the Highlands is by no means settled, though
much additional light has been thrown on the debatable ground by the
researches of the numerous and capable combatants, including recently
Peach and Horne, of the Geological Survey; and their investigations will
no doubt hasten the final determination of the vexed question. But a
firm basis of interpretation has at length been gained, by which the
geological structure of the broad tracts of the Highlands, hitherto
uniformly coloured as Silurian, will be investigated under new and
important lights, and a remapping of the Highland area erelong achieved,
with such permanent results as have hitherto been impossible.
The conditions of the problem are extremely well exhibited round Loch
Maree. Here we are presented, as Dr Archibald Geikie truly observes,
with "a series of sections of singular clearness." He confesses that he
knows of "no locality where the geologist may better acquaint himself
with the order of superposition of the ancient crystalline rocks of the
Highlands, or with the dislocations and metamorphism which they have
undergone." These will now be briefly explained. The whole subject may,
without much difficulty, be understood by the ordinary reader, if he
will use a geological map of Scotland, such as Nicol's or Geikie's,
which he will also find useful as a guide.
A.--THE SERIES OF ROCKS IN THE NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS.
The rocks round Loch Maree are shortly the following:--
I. THE HEBRIDEAN GNEISS.--The Long Island from the Butt of the Lews to
Barra Head consists almost entirely of a species of gneiss, very much
metamorphosed. It occurs in the Inner Hebrides in Tiree and Coll, in
Sleat, in Raasay, and Rona, off Portree, but very little in Skye, one of
our youngest isles. It is found in patches on the Mainland on the
western shores of Ross and Sutherland, and stretches from Torridon to
Cape Wrath, whose contorted cliffs it forms. It has been variously
designated _Hebridean_, from being chiefly found in the Hebrides;
_Lewisean_, from forming the most of the Lewis, a less acceptable name;
_Archæan_, from being the earliest system; _Pre-Cambrian_, as being
earlier than the Cambrian sandstone immediately above it; and
_Fundamental_, from its constituting the lowest rock strata in the
British Isles. Murchison identified it with the lowest geological
series, the _Laurentian_, which is so named from being extensively
developed on the St Lawrence in Canada. It is best, however, to
designate the rocks by a geographical and non-theoretical term, like
Hebridean.
This gneiss is more largely exhibited on the shores of Loch Maree than
any other rock, forming the greater part of its northern side from the
exit of the Ewe to Slioch, and running along its southern side from near
Inverasdale on Loch Ewe to Talladale. It stretches northwards from the
lake to Loch Gruinard, and westwards to Poolewe and Gairloch, where its
characteristics are very well seen on the wave-beaten coast near the
hotel there. It forms the rugged outlines of Craig Tollie, at the west
end of the loch, and of Beinn Aridh Charr and Beinn Lair, near
Letterewe. It shows one of the most magnificent series of furrowed
precipices in Britain, at the back of Beinn Lair, which should be
visited by all who appreciate the wildly grand; and entirely encloses
the lone Loch Fionn and its darker chamber of the Dubh Loch at its head.
North of Coigeach, it occupies most of the west coast on the mainland up
to Cape Wrath; and southwards, there is a patch of it at the Narrows of
Loch Torridon. From recent researches, it will probably be found widely
extended over the rest of the Highlands.
It is more or less vertical in dip on the west coast, and has there a
general persistent strike from north-west to south-east. The special
character of its scenery is very well seen round Loch Assynt, and is
well presented in the parish of Gairloch. As shewn on the map, it forms
the splendid peak of Alligin, above three thousand feet, which towers
above Loch Torridon, from which it passes to the head of the Gairloch,
where it is admirably exhibited in structure, dip, and strike on the
shore near the Free church and along the picturesque road to Poolewe. It
contains some limestone on Loch Maree in a line parallel to the loch,
for some miles on both sides of Letterewe. A vigorous attempt has
recently been made by Dr Hicks to discriminate this gneiss into certain
series or epochs, which he has named, and by which he seeks to interpret
the rest of the Highlands.[3] In America, the Laurentian system contains
the celebrated _Eozoon Canadense_, that is, the Canadian Dawnlife, the
lowest organic form yet known. It has as yet proved absolutely barren in
Europe, though a flutter was raised by its supposed discovery by Dr
Heddle of St Andrews, Dr Carpenter asserting the fact, but its
discoverer, on further examination, disclaiming the honour.
II. THE TORRIDON SANDSTONE.--This is the chocolate-coloured sandstone so
splendidly exhibited round Loch Torridon, where it towers into the mural
dignity of Liathgach. It is well presented in the mountains of
Applecross, as seen from Loch Carron, and from Loch Kishorn which lies
at their southern base. This sandstone occurs only at one spot in the
Outer Hebrides, round the harbour of Stornoway; it is found in Rum, its
southermost position, in Sleat, Scalpa, Raasay, and neighbouring islets;
it occurs continuously, except where the Hebridean gneiss appears, from
Loch Carron to Coulmore near Loch Inver, and thence in isolated patches,
north to the Kyle of Durness. The scenery it presents is uncommonly
striking, massive and grand, its mural character, which arises from its
horizontal strata, being a special feature, and nothing in style can
anywhere surpass the splendid spear-headed crest of Slioch, the monarch
of the mountains, worthy though his compeers are, that stand round Loch
Maree. The denudation to which this ancient sandstone has been subjected
has been extraordinary. This is well seen round our loch, when we
consider that Slioch is above three thousand feet in height; but still
more impressively, from the sea off Loch Inver, in the sugar-loaf cone
of Suilven and its brethren, all isolated stacks of Torridon
sandstone,--so remarkable that Murchison selected this scene as the most
striking example of denudation he knew, to illustrate the subject in his
famous "Siluria."
Round Loch Maree, it forms its southern shores east of Talladale, where
its character can be well examined in the delightful drive from
Kenlochewe. On the north side, it touches the loch only at its two
extremities, at the one end, near Inveran and along the Ewe, and at the
other, in Slioch, stopping short of the head of the lake, as can easily
be seen from the south side. It is more or less horizontal, or dips
slightly to the south-east, being deposited in thick, well-marked beds,
as everywhere exhibited, and thus forms a remarkable contrast to the
vertical strata on which it rests. An excellent junction of the two,
easily reached and examined, occurs on the shores of Gairloch, at the
end of the rocky peninsula on which the Free church stands. There the
two are seen, the more or less horizontal Torridon superposed on the
vertical Hebridean, in the most striking style, which is rendered all
the clearer by the washing of the restless tides. This sandstone about
Loch Maree is about four thousand feet in thickness.
It was correlated by Murchison with the Cambrian system, the second in
the geologic series, and was so named by him,--a name now recognised by
the chief authorities. It is well, however, to designate it by a neutral
geographical term, and to retain the title given it by Professor Nicol,
that of Torridon Sandstone, or Torridon Red. In Scotland, it has as yet
yielded no organic remains, though these are abundant and good in Wales,
after whose ancient name of Cambria it is called, and also in
Scandinavia, which remained united to Scotland till post-glacial times.
It was long thought to be a western representative of the Old Red
Sandstone of the east coast, Hugh Miller, among others, looking on it as
a worthy example of his pet rocks; but in his day, the geology of the
Highlands was but dimly and imperfectly known, and their great problems
were not even surmised.
Like the Old Red, a fact that tended to mislead early observers, its
lowest bed is a thick massy conglomerate or breccia, which is very well
seen at the junction at Gairloch, and which is generally persistent
throughout the system on the west coast. It consists of varied pieces,
sometimes rounded, often angular, and some of them large, of the
under-lying Hebridean rocks, enclosed in a finer matrix of the same
materials. Portions of the "Eastern rocks" have, it seems, also been
detected in it,--a fact which, if established, indicates the true age
and succession of these "Eastern rocks."
III. THE QUARTZITE.--Above the Torridon Red, lies a thick-bedded whitish
rock, called from its general appearance Quartzite. This French word is,
however, a partly misleading term, as the rock is not quartz, though
much made up of quartz grains; but it is a highly metamorphosed fine
sandstone. It is here sometimes coincident in dip with the underlying
Red, but it is generally non-conformable. It can be easily seen, looking
from the south side of Loch Maree, at a point east of Slioch, on the
right side of a glen watered by a stream called the Fasagh, which
separates Slioch from the ridge to the east. In Glen Fasagh, the
Torridon Red is clearly observed to rest horizontally on the Hebridean
gneiss below, on both sides of the glen; the Torridon forming the most
of the western side of the valley up to the summit of Slioch, but
rising, on the eastern side, only half-way up, being then surmounted by
the strongly contrasted Quartzite to the top of the ridge. The Quartzite
continues eastwards to the wide glen beyond, generally but erroneously
called "Glen Laggan," or "Glen Logan," though its real name is Glen
Cruaidh Choillie.[4]
A vertical fault exists in the middle of this Quartzite ridge, situated
halfway between the two glens, and is easily distinguished by the eye
from the other side of Loch Maree. It has thrown down the rocks on the
eastern half of the ridge some distance, and affects both the Quartzite
and the Torridon Red below.
This Quartzite is devoid of mica. It passes from pale pinkish to pure
white in colour, and occurs in thick, uncommonly regular beds, with
rectangular joints. It is well developed at the head of Loch Maree, and
rises into the white, glistening, barren peaks and ridges of Beinn Eay.
It forms some admirable scenery, not only here but wherever it occurs,
for it is widely distributed over the Highlands.
Its capabilities in this way are also well exhibited on the west coast
round Loch Assynt, rising there into the summits of Beinn More and
Queenaig, above three thousand feet; and also near Loch Carron to the
south, and between Assynt and Eriboll to the north. On Loch Torridon,
its prevailing tendency to whiteness gives rise to the name Grey Heads,
very descriptive of certain contorted peaks near Coulin Lodge.
The Quartzite is interesting as exhibiting the earliest indications of
organic life yet discovered in Scotland:--
1. _Annelid Borings._--The lower beds next the Torridon contain, on
their surface, as described by Murchison, "large round knobs on the top
of cylindrical bodies, which pass through several layers," their number
being often astonishing. These are, it is safely concluded, "infillings
of excavations" made by certain worms called Annelids, and are known as
_Annelid Borings_. They are noteworthy as "the oldest vestiges of life
which can be detected in the North Highlands." They are often very
clearly seen, as the filling in has generally been done by a different
coloured sand from that in which they had been bored. They sometimes
project above the surface like "pipes," and are so numerous as to cause
these beds to be called "pipe-rock." Examples are abundant round
Kenlochewe, and on the roadside at the entrance to Glen Cruaidh
Choillie, where they are unusually good. They should be secured by the
intelligent visitor from their extraordinary interest.
2. _Fucoid Remains._--Interstratified with the Quartzite, are certain
brown, mottled, shaly and flaggy bands, with curious impressions of what
seem leaves, which have been thought to be fucoids or seaweeds. The
recent Survey explorations would seem to point to their being simply
very much squeezed annelid "pipes." The shales in which they occur are
thus generally known as the Fucoid Beds, and, when found, are very good
evidence of the horizon of the rocks. They are often very distinct and
easily seen, and are most interesting. They occur on Loch Maree near the
top of the east side of Glen Fasagh, imbedded in the Quartzite, and run
through the Quartzite to Glen Cruaidh Choillie.
Other organisms have been found in it elsewhere, such as orthoceratite
in Assynt, and certain small conical bodies called serpulites.
This Quartzite, with its annelid borings and fucoid beds, is placed by
Murchison in the Silurian series, the third in the geological record. By
others, such as Dr Hicks, it is considered possibly Cambrian.
IV. THE LIMESTONE.--On the western side of Glen Cruaidh Choillie,
resting on the Quartzite, and generally conformable with it, is found a
limestone. By examining the map, it will be seen that this limestone
runs more or less continuously from Loch Carron to Loch Eriboll. It
receives its greatest development at Inchnadamph, at the east end of
Loch Assynt, where it forms splendid cliffs. It is of commercial value,
and has been worked at various places along its outcrop. It will also be
observed that there is a wide isolated patch of limestone at Durness,
between Loch Eriboll and Cape Wrath.
In this Durness limestone, which was long considered unfossiliferous,
like the other rocks of the North-West Highlands, shells were discovered
in 1854 by Mr Peach, the eminent geologist, and friend of Dick of
Thurso. These were determined to be Silurian by Mr Salter, a great
specialist in such matters, and were described and figured in a paper by
Sir Roderick Murchison in 1858.[5] Since then finer specimens have been
discovered. Their likeness to British Silurian fossils is very remote,
and they are more related to American forms; but they are generally now
accepted as of Silurian or Ordovician age. This discovery of fossils
gave a great impetus to the study of these rocks, and formed the basis
of the theory propounded by Sir Roderick Murchison.
The Durness limestone turns out, however, to be, as a whole, of a
different type from the great strike of limestone which goes through
Glen Cruaidh Choillie and terminates at Loch Eriboll. This Durness
limestone is held by Dr Heddle, who first ascertained the fact, and by
other competent authorities, to be non-dolomitic, while that of the
great strike to the east is dolomitic; dolomite (so called from the
French geologist Dolomieu) being a variety of limestone, which, in
addition to the carbonate of lime of which common limestone mainly
consists, contains more or less carbonate of magnesia,--in this
dolomite, forty-eight per cent. Dolomitic beds have, however, lately
been discovered in the Durness basin by the Survey. For long, no fossils
were obtained from the great dolomitic strike, except an orthoceratite
at Assynt by Mr Peach, and a possible organic mass by myself at the same
place; but recently a varied and important suite of fossils has been
gathered by the Survey, which has clearly decided the age of the
Dolomite to be Silurian. Of its position above the Quartzite there is no
doubt.
It is pretty well exhibited in Glen Cruaidh Choillie, where it has been
worked at various places, and where its superposed junction with the
Quartzite can be seen.
V. THE "LOGAN ROCK."--Immediately to the east of the Limestone, and in
contact with it, is found a remarkable rock, which appears at various
parts in the middle of Glen Cruaidh Choillie, and which has caused great
discussion in regard to its character, relative position, and age. By
Professor Nicol, it was held to be igneous, serpentinous, felspathic,
porphyritic, and intrusive, and was named by him "Igneous rock;" by
Murchison, to be here a "syenite," and elsewhere a "greenstone," and
"serpentinous and felspathic," interbedded with and resting directly
upon the limestone; by Dr Hicks and others, to be a "syenite," or a
"granitic" and "quartz diorite," and igneous, faulted, and intrusive,
like Nicol; and by Dr Callaway, as the Hebridean gneiss "brought up by a
fault." It is well here, as in all other cases, to designate it
geographically, and call it the "Logan Rock," as first suggested by
Heddle, and now generally used.
In "Glen Logan," it is best exposed in the bed of the river about two
miles above the school. At a point about halfway up the glen it runs up
the hill on the west side, and is seen to overlie the limestone.
This rock appears, as maintained by Nicol, more or less continuously
associated with the limestone strike, and assumes a great variety of
forms, as shewn by the different characterisations it has received. It
has played an important part in the history of the theories of the
succession of these Highland rocks. In Sutherland, it sometimes receives
a broad development.
VI. THE "EASTERN GNEISS."--Immediately to the east of this rock, rising
in Glen Cruaidh Choillie at once from contact with the "Logan Rock," and
forming the whole of the eastern wall of the glen, there stretches a
long series of shales, schists, gneiss, and other rocks. These appear on
both sides of Glen Dochartie, and thence on eastwards through Ross and
the main body of the Highlands, till they are overlaid by the Old Red
Sandstone of the east coast. The position and interpretation of these
rocks have caused extraordinary investigation and discussion, which is
still being carried on. They are variously known as the "Eastern
gneiss," "Eastern schists," by Murchison and others; the term
"Caledonian" has also been proposed by Dr Callaway,--all to distinguish
them from the Hebridean of the west coast.
B.--THE CONTROVERSY REGARDING THE SUCCESSION OF THESE ROCKS.
Up to the Limestone, the order of succession of the rocks may be
regarded as settled, all parties agreeing as to their relations though
differing as to their classification under the early geological systems.
It is held that the order is,--lowest, the Hebridean gneiss; above that,
very unconformably, the Torridon Red; above that, less unconformably,
the Quartzite, with its embedded organic remains; and above that, more
or less conformably, the Limestone, with its numerous fossils. At this
point, begins the controversy which has so long been waged regarding the
nature and succession of the rocks in the North-West Highlands, and
which has passed through many phases of opinion, and even disturbed the
long-tried friendship between the chief combatants, Murchison and Nicol.
The "Logan Rock" Murchison considered to rest on the Limestone, and not
to be intrusive and igneous as thought by Nicol. He also maintained that
the "Eastern gneisses and schists" lay more or less conformably above
the limestone or interbedded syenite, and were therefore more
recent,--in fact, were a continuation of the Silurian system, of which
the limestone was the representative example.
Professor Nicol held to the last,[6] that the Limestone is the highest
rock in the whole series of the North-West Highlands; that faulting or
igneous action exists along the line of the "Igneous rocks," associated
with the Limestone; that these "Eastern gneisses and schists" do not
overlie the Limestone; that where they seem to do this, the appearance
is caused by an overlapping of these "Eastern rocks" through pressure
from the east; and that these rocks are probably the Hebridean, or, as
he called it, the "Fundamental," gneiss reappearing. Latterly, he did
not condescend to identify any of these rocks of the North-West with the
received geological epochs, leaving this to be settled by subsequent
investigation; but he held strenuously that the succession was as he
declared,--Fundamental gneiss, Torridon Red, Quartzite, and Limestone,
the rocks east of this point being metamorphic forms of the western
gneiss reappearing.
Murchison, at last associated with Dr Archibald Geikie, who in 1858
wrote a joint memoir with him on the subject of great value,[7] held, on
the other hand, that there exists an unbroken series from the
Fundamental or Laurentian gneiss to these "Eastern gneisses and
schists," and that they succeed each other in superposition and age.
They, moreover, classified them as Laurentian, Cambrian, and Silurian;
the Silurian beginning with the Quartzite, and continuing eastwards in
various folds and reduplications till overlaid by the Old Red Sandstone.
Other points of difference existed between these eminent geologists,
particularly as to the existence of two Quartzites, and two Limestones,
as apparently exhibited at Assynt and elsewhere; but as these do not
occur in our district, they need not be further described.
For twenty years Murchison's theory dominated over Nicol's, with
scarcely a dissentient voice. The brave old professor maintained to the
end, against the geological world, opinions to which, while seemingly
less probable, he had been led both by years of unusually careful
examination of the whole field, which he knew better than any, and by
general considerations regarding metamorphism and other matters
affecting these ancient rocks; while his opponents were so confident of
their position, that Geikie, in his "Life of Murchison," headed one of
his chapters "The Geological Conquest of the Highlands." But in 1878,
Murchison's conclusions began to be vigorously assailed, the attack
being led by Dr Henry Hicks,[8] and has been strenuously maintained by
him and other eminent geologists, of London, such as Bonney, Huddleston,
Callaway, Heddle, Lapworth, Etheridge, Judd, and many others. These have
written numerous papers advocating conclusions more or less adverse to
those of Murchison, and agreeing in the main with those of Nicol.
Even Geikie has had to abandon his early position, and declare against
the theory of his former chief. In a remarkable declaration, published
in _Nature_ of November 13, 1884, prefacing a paper on "The Geology of
North-West Sutherland," by the two Survey geologists Peach and Horne,
Geikie made a brave and honourable retractation of these opinions, which
he had so long and so ably advocated with Murchison. He there declares:
"With every desire to follow the interpretation of my late chief, I
criticised minutely each detail of the work upon the ground, but I found
the evidence altogether overwhelming against the upward succession which
Murchison believed to exist in Eriboll from the base of the Silurian
strata into an upper conformable series of schists and gneisses." He
found the same true all along the strike of these controverted rocks.
"The clear coast sections of Eriboll have now taught me that the
parallelism between the Silurian strata and the overlying schists is not
due to conformable deposition." He traced the same kind of evidence
southwards for more than ninety miles, and found it "as well marked
above Loch Carron as it is at Loch Eriboll."
These "Eastern gneisses" not only frequently appear to be superposed
upon the rocks beneath, but, as Geikie says, the parallelism of dip and
strike between them and the rocks below them is so complete in some of
the Ross-shire sections, that he asserts "had these sections been
planned for the purposes of deception, they could not have been more
skilfully devised." These Survey geologists explain these extraordinary
phenomena by a system of "reversed faults" and "pushes from the east,"
by which the "Eastern rocks" have been driven westwards, in some cases
ten miles, and are thus made to overlie the older rocks, through
"prodigious terrestrial displacements, to which there is certainly no
parallel in Britain,"--displacements which Nicol, against the evidence
of his eyes, had insisted on as factors, nearly thirty years before.
Evidences of these dislocations are not so apparent round Loch Maree as
elsewhere, especially near Loch Eriboll, but they are sufficiently
marked round Kenlochewe as to appeal even to a non-scientific visitor.
In Glen Cruaidh Choillie, at a point already noted, the "Logan Rock" is
seen superposed right upon the Limestone up to the crest of the west
side of the glen; according to Heddle, it also lies over it, with a
slight hiatus, as far as Glen Fasagh. It is to be remembered, following
recent conclusions, that this rock did not naturally have this position,
but has been pushed violently into it by unparalleled "terrestrial
displacements;" and that both this and the long series that form the
eastern side of the glen are portions of the Hebridean again coming to
the surface, and appearing in such mass and extent up Glen Dochartie and
on to Achnasheen.
It would be out of place here to enter into the various opinions offered
to explain the remarkable facts connected with these "Eastern rocks,"
their nature, and their relations to the western. The papers on Loch
Maree are already very numerous, and opinions are still conflicting; and
the Survey has not yet published its memoir on the Loch Maree district.
Dr Hicks, for example, held that these "Eastern rocks" generally are
metamorphosed forms of the Hebridean reappearing, but that the Hebridean
occurs at the junction of Glen "Logan" and Glen Dochartie, and that
along the floor of the latter, the Hebridean, but not the limestone, is
overlaid by certain "blue flags and sandstones, and argillaceous,
quartziferous, and micaceous flaggy beds" in succession, up to the head
of Glen Dochartie. These along with the Limestone he classes as
Silurian, placing the underlying Quartzite with the Cambrian. At the
head of Glen Dochartie, the Silurians disappear, he held, by a possible
fault, and the Hebridean or "Pre-Cambrian" as he prefers to call it,
again reasserts itself up to the summit of Ben Fyn and eastwards. He
writes me, however (1886), that in the light of recent investigations,
he is prepared to class the Glen Dochartie rocks with the Hebridean,
like those at the head of the glen; though he would not yet affirm their
exact place in the broad Pre-Cambrian series, which he has lately
attempted to classify.
In his recent utterance, Geikie maintains that these "Eastern rocks"
have undergone such intense alteration that their original characters
have been in great measure effaced. Some of them are "unquestionably
part of the Archæan gneiss," others are the western Quartzite, &c.; but
traced eastwards, "the crystalline characters become more and more
pronounced, until we cannot tell, at least from examination in the
field, what the rocks may have originally been. They are now fine flaggy
micaceous gneisses and mica-schists, which certainly could not have been
developed out of any such Archæan (that is Hebridean) gneiss as is now
visible to the west. Whether they consist in part of higher members of
the Silurian series in a metamorphic condition remains to be seen."
* * * * *
We have now described the whole succession of rocks in our district,
from Gairloch and Poolewe to the head of Glen Dochartie, and given some
idea of the difficult problems they present and the theories offered for
their solution. The succession up to the Limestone is accepted. The
Hebridean is now variously designated "Pre-Cambrian;" and by Callaway,
Geikie, and others, "Archæan;" the determination of Murchison as
"Laurentian" being generally avoided. The Torridon Red is accepted as
"Cambrian" by most, and recently by Geikie and his colleagues; though
there are differences of opinion as to the precise period in that series
to which they belong. The Quartzite and its associated beds are placed
by Hicks and others with the "Cambrian;" and by others, including
Geikie, with the Lower Silurian or Ordovician: but their position above
the Torridon and below the Limestone is undoubted. The Limestone is
conceded to lie above the Quartzite, but its nature and age are not yet
settled, some holding it to be dolomitic and unlike the Durness
limestone; Heddle for a time heading these, though now agreeing with the
Survey; others, like Hicks, holding the limestones to be the same or,
like the Survey geologists, so related as to form one system, which they
call "Durness-Eriboll limestone." The "Logan rock" is variously
interpreted,--some reckoning it to be igneous and intrusive; others, to
be metamorphosed Hebridean; and others, to be granitic and syenitic. The
"Eastern gneisses and schists" are still undetermined as to character,
relations, or age, opinions being very various and conflicting; though
there is a general agreement as to their belonging to some portion of
the Hebridean series. Attempts have been made to classify the Hebridean,
especially by Hicks,[9] but into this, space prevents our entering here.
My own opinion on this much controverted succession, during nigh twenty
years' careful study of the whole field from Skye to Eriboll and more or
less minute examination of the disputed sections, has been increasingly
in favour of Nicol's general position. The proofs of Murchison's
contention of the superposition and newer age of the "Eastern gneisses"
I always regarded imperfect, as often expressed both privately and
publicly. Nicol's general contentions as to the unlikelihood of highly
metamorphic schistose and gneissic rocks, like the Eastern, being
transformed, while older rocks remained so little affected as the
Cambrian and others beneath, gained growing weight. Every fresh
examination of the ground increased the probability of their apparent
superposition being merely overfoldings of the western rocks. The
displacements, the investigations of more recent observers have shewn to
be much greater than all earlier students, including myself, ever
imagined.
Great honour has lately been done Professor Nicol for his enlightened
perception of the true solution of this difficult problem at so early a
date, "against a phalanx of eminent geological authorities." Professor
Judd, at the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen last year
(1885), in reviewing this geological problem in a masterly address,
justly observes, and in so doing felicitously expresses general
opinion:--"Calmly reviewing, in the light of our present knowledge, the
grand work accomplished single-handed by Nicol, I have no hesitation in
asserting that, twenty-six years ago, he had mastered the great Highland
problem in all its essential details." "The Murchisonian theory of
Highland succession," he finally concludes, "is now, by general consent,
abandoned."
C.--OTHER NOTEWORTHY GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.
There are other noteworthy phenomena connected with the geology of Loch
Maree deserving attention, which will be now shortly described:--
I. FAULTS.--Several faults have already been pointed out. The greatest,
however, is that which runs parallel to Loch Maree itself, the loch
lying in and along this huge fault. It extends from Loch Ewe, along Loch
Maree and up through Glen Dochartie to its head, and so on eastwards. It
runs parallel to the strike of the Hebridean gneiss, and has thrown down
the rocks on the south side of Loch Maree by a south-west downthrow of
considerable magnitude, as compared with the rocks on the north side of
the lake. It has not, however, interfered with the strike of the rocks
or their relations to each other, which remain the same on both sides of
the fault. The formation of Loch Maree, which lies exactly in the line
of this great fault, is due in some way, no doubt, to the presence of
the fault at this place and in this direction. The existence of this
fault is proved, among other facts, by the general want of symmetry
between the rocks on the two sides of Loch Maree, and by the low horizon
at which the Torridon lies in the islands of Loch Maree and round
Talladale, as compared with that at which the Hebridean stands in Beinn
Aridh Charr and Beinn Lair, and with its own height in Slioch.
The same remarkable faulting holds good of other lakes. Loch Assynt to
the north, being in much the same position as Loch Maree to these
controverted rocks, lies also in the line of another great fault; Loch
Ness also runs in the line, and occupies the place of a stupendous crack
in the rocks there, shewn by a great anticline which runs from the Moray
Firth to Loch Linnhe, and which has also in some way given rise to the
enormous hollow occupied by Loch Ness,--a hollow twice the depth of the
German Ocean, being nearly a thousand feet deep, while the North Sea is
nowhere deeper than five hundred. The great Loch Maree fault can be seen
in Glen Dochartie, and is there exhibited on both sides of the glen,
where the unsymmetrical relations of the rocks may be studied.
II. GLACIATION.--The phenomena of the Glacial Period are exceedingly
well exhibited round Loch Maree. On the surfaces of the flat Torridon
sandstone, at many places along the southern shores, especially on the
higher parts of the road a little to the east of Talladale hotel, the
scratchings are very good, distinct, and continuous, extending, on some
of the slabs, for hundreds of feet in unbroken line. They run generally
parallel to the longer axis of the lake, and prove the existence of an
immense glacier that moved to the sea down the deep hollow now filled by
its waters. The _Stoss seite_, or rubbed side, of the _roches
moutonnées_ is everywhere apparent, looking up the loch; which shows
that the ice moved seawards, and pressed hard against the landward faces
of all projecting rocks, while leaving their seaward faces, or lee
sides, greatly untouched. This is very well seen on the islands and
projecting capes in the loch itself, especially where the lake narrows
at its western extremity, and markedly, on the east front and north face
of the splendid Craig Tollie opposite Inveran, along and above
water-level. There the smoothing, grooving, and scratching are
remarkably good, and worth going far to see. The visitor should make a
special point to see them also on the flat surfaces of the red sandstone
to the west of Talladale, already mentioned. At both these places, the
_lateral_ pressure of the ice is also very well shewn, as well as, at
not a few points, its _upward_ pressure on projecting rocks, the _under_
side of which are well glaciated. This glaciation also extends all the
way down the river Ewe and out to sea, and is exhibited at many places.
The course of the ice stream has undergone several deflections, arising
chiefly from the nature of the ground. Between Gairloch and Loch Ewe it
has passed increasingly from north to south, as exceedingly well seen on
certain exposed rock surfaces above and to the west of the road between
Gairloch and Poolewe. There the glacier movement seems to have been from
Loch Ewe to Gairloch, showing that the ice stream from Loch Maree had
probably expanded fan-wise on its exit from the narrow glen near
Inveran, where its pressure had been greatest and where its effects are
so well shewn.
Another striking evidence of glacial work, and a telling proof of the
existence of this mighty glacier, should be visited. This is the series
of lateral moraines that lie between Loch Ewe and Loch Gruinard, more or
less parallel to their coasts. They are cut across by the high road at
its most elevated portion, and run interruptedly out to sea, along the
peninsula between these lochs. They consist of irregular lines, more or
less continuous, of rough _débris_, enclosing angular and sub-angular
stones, and they mark the later boundaries of the ice-sheet which filled
Loch Ewe from side to side, flowing over Eilean Ewe, out to the Minch,
and glaciating the rock faces in its course, as well seen at many points
between Poolewe and Inverasdale on the south, and between Poolewe and
Aultbea on the north. No glacier in Scotland is more proved than the
great Loch Maree glacier. The ice markings near Udrigil to the north of
Loch Ewe, and beyond Inverasdale on the south, are very good, on the
well-preserving red sandstone that forms these bounding rocky
peninsulas. Good scratches also occur along the road between Talladale
and Gairloch. At one time Craig Tollie itself had been an immense _roche
moutonnée_, over which the ice sheet, here at least fifteen hundred feet
thick, had triumphantly ridden.
Still another evidence of glaciation is the number of "Carried Blocks"
everywhere seen, borne by the ice sheet, and dropped far from their
parent rocks in the line of the ice movement. At many points, they are
finely perched on conspicuous elevations, and often on the summit of the
higher peaks, as well exhibited on the road between Gairloch and
Poolewe, and, indeed, all over the district. But nowhere are they shown
in such multitude as round the Fionn Loch, and especially from a low
eminence near the stable at the foot of the loch, where they are
scattered over the whole surface in surprising abundance, and look like
sheep or goats in lines along the ridges, gazing on the rare intruder.
A most interesting feature connected with the glaciation of the district
is the probable existence of a glacial period before the Torridon
sandstone was laid down upon the Hebridean gneiss! As suggested by
Archibald Geikie (_Nature_, 26th August 1880), there are evidences of
ice action on the Hebridean floor on which the Torridon conglomerates
were deposited, and the idea is coincided in by Dr Hicks, who also
pleads for the existence of pre-Cambrian volcanoes, as well as glaciers,
as exhibited round Loch Maree. Dr Hicks thinks that the immense amount
of broken rocky matter necessary to form the Cambrian conglomerates was
probably produced in part by pre-Cambrian glaciers, combined with sea
action (_Geolog. Mag._, Nov. 1880).
III. DENUDATION.--One of the most striking geological features of the
district is the amount of denudation to which the rocks have been
subjected. Slioch itself is a splendid monument of denudation, standing,
as it does, a gigantic cone, in isolated grandeur, the rocks that once
reached the same altitude around him having been swept off by gigantic
denuding forces, of which we have now little conception. The same
denuding processes have been at work, as already remarked, on the
Torridon peaks round Loch Torridon and Loch Inver. But Scotland has been
subjected to extraordinary denuding forces all over its surface, from
John o' Groats to Galloway; such peaks remaining as wonderful monuments
both of what once existed and of what has been swept away. Other
remarkable examples of denudation are given in this work. Such forces
have been active since the birth of time.
IV. ROCK JUNCTIONS.--In the district, there are several noteworthy
junctions of the rocks of the great geological epochs deserving
examination.
One has already been mentioned, that on the shore near the Free church
at Gairloch, between the Torridon and the Cambrian, strikingly clear and
impressive from the perfect unconformability between the two series, and
their extraordinary dissimilarity in character. The composition of the
breccia may here be easily examined, from its wave-worn bareness, and
the fact perceived that it has been formed of pieces of the Hebridean
floor immediately beneath, with foreign matters included.
Another equally remarkable junction of the same two systems, hitherto
unnoticed, occurs three miles from this one, across the Gairloch, at a
beautiful spot called Shieldaig of Gairloch. Just before descending on
the mansion, the road enters a narrow pass, having a steep cliff on the
right. This precipice consists, in the lower portion, of the Hebridean,
and in the upper, of Torridon conglomerate. The line of union, halfway
up the cliff, is clear from the road, and on reaching it, you can insert
your hand between the two systems and crawl along their junction. The
components of the conglomerate are here much more rounded than at
Gairloch. This Torridon forms an isolated patch, on both sides of the
road, about a quarter of a mile in length and two or three hundred yards
in breadth. It is eminently worth a visit, and is easily reached by the
pedestrian.
Another striking junction, also undescribed and little known, occurs
between the road and the sea, about a mile from Poolewe, not far from
Tournaig. There, in a peat bog, an isolated patch of Hebridean rises to
the surface, through the Torridon, which surrounds it. It is not more
than three or four hundred square yards in area, and is the only gneiss
in the broad expanse of Torridon sandstone, which lies on this side of
Loch Ewe between Inveran and Greenstone Point. A fine conglomerate of
the Torridon firmly adheres to the surface of the rough gneiss, on the
outer edges of the bare Hebridean, and fills up its irregularities in a
telling way.
Another junction of the same rocks occurs on a small cape formed of
gneiss, called Craig an t' Shabhail, which juts into Loch Maree about a
hundred yards from Inveran. There a still finer conglomerate is seen, in
a thin hard layer, sticking to the surface of the gneiss, evidently the
tenacious remnants of a thick bed that has been scraped off by the
powerful denuding forces once so active in this region.
Another capital very unconformable junction between the gneiss and the
conglomerate is found on Loch Torridon, where the isolated patch of
Hebridean that towers into Alligin crosses the loch and forms its
Narrows. In the bed of a burn, not far from the school, and in a ridge
above it, the two rocks may be easily traced in contact for a
considerable distance, and the composition of the brecciated
conglomerate easily examined. Similar junctions exist on both sides of
this loch at the Narrows, some of them near Shieldaig of Applecross
being very good,--all examined by me many years ago.
Between Gairloch and Poolewe, in a hollow to the west, just before the
road rises to its summit level, a detached mass of Torridon sandstone,
referred to elsewhere, may be easily observed by the traveller. It forms
a thick deposit, with a bold precipitous front facing the south and
east, the horizontally bedded red sandstone contrasting well with the
grey gneiss that surrounds and underlies it. It also bears well-marked
traces of the lateral pressure of ice on its sides next the road.
V. THE VALLEY OF THE HUNDRED HILLS.--No geologist or traveller should
miss traversing the picturesque road between Kenlochewe and Loch
Torridon, for its wonderful scenery of unsurpassed grandeur and
loneliness, and its splendid exhibitions of the Torridon sandstone,
crested by the contrasting pale Quartzite, as seen in Beinn Eay, the
Grey Heads, and Liathgach. No sea loch in the Highlands is encircled by
such mountain masses, mighty, mural, precipitous, and profoundly
impressive.
About halfway to Torridon, on the left hand, the eye is arrested by an
extraordinary, if not unique, assemblage of hillocks, closely set along
the bottom of a glen which opens on the road. These are generally round
and peaked, and consist of loose stony _débris_. They caught the eyes of
the observing Celts of old, who named the place the Coire Cheud Cnoc,
the "Corrie of a Hundred Hillocks." The explanation of their number and
character seems not far to seek. It will be observed that, opposite this
valley, on the right, lies the steep narrow glen that separates
Liathgach from Beinn Eay. Out of this has issued an immense glacier, as
proved by the abundant scratches that point into it, which pushed its
ice right across the strath we are in, against the hills on the other
side and up into the valley with the hillocks. As is well known, the
surface of a glacier is traversed by numerous runnels, which gush over
its icy front, bearing with them the _débris_ that constantly falls on
the glacier from its enclosing walls. These streamlets thus deposit a
series of conical hummocks of this _débris_, which gradually cover the
ground as the ice retreats, similar to those in the corrie in question.
Examples of such glacial hillocks may be found, by the uninitiated, in
the sketches of Norwegian glaciers in Campbell's "Frost and Fire." On
the Liathgach glacier, the amount of detritus would be unusually large,
from the steepness of the hillsides and the constant waste of the
sandstone, and still more, from the superabundant _débris_ of the
rapidly disintegrating Quartzite in the precipitous Beinn Eay.
VI. CURIOUS IMPRESSIONS ON TORRIDON SANDSTONE NEAR TALLADALE.--Near Loch
Maree Hotel, the stream that forms the Victoria Falls runs over Torridon
sandstone. A short distance above the bridge which carries the Gairloch
highway over its waters, about three or four hundred yards above the
falls, and just beside the last of a succession of lesser falls, on the
left bank of the stream, there exists a flat bed of sandstone, some
sixteen feet square, on which occur certain remarkable impressions which
deserve attention. These were first noticed by the late Mr Walter
Carruthers of the _Inverness Courier_, who directed my attention to
them, and published some account of them, along with observations made
by me regarding them (July 1, 1880), of which the following is a
summary:--
The most distinct of the impressions consists of two continuous flat
bands side by side, 1¼ to 1½ inch broad and about a quarter of an inch
deep, running quite straight across the flat layers of sandstone _in
situ_, and perfectly distinct for sixteen feet, disappearing on the west
side under the superincumbent rock, and broken only where portions of
the sandstone have been weathered out. In some places, a third line runs
alongside, but this is much less distinct and persistent. The double
band resembles nothing more nearly than the hollow impression that would
be left by double bars of iron neatly inserted in the rock for clasping
some structure on it, if the iron were subsequently removed. The bands,
when narrowly looked into, consist of very fine, close, hair-lines,
continuous and parallel to their sides, resembling very minute striæ
left by glaciation, and they look as if caused by some object drawn
along the original red sand, before it became the present indurated
rock.
A similar double line runs parallel to this one, about two feet lower
down, seven feet long; and a third parallel double line occurs on the
upper side, three feet long,--both of the same breadth as the first.
Besides those pointed out by Mr Carruthers, which occur on the same flat
of sandstone, other lines exist farther down, on the other side of the
pool below this rocky flat, on a similar bed of sandstone, part of the
same layer,--one three feet in length, another six feet, running more or
less parallel to those above. Indications of others may also be seen,
and, no doubt, several more may be discovered on more careful
examination.
What they are I can scarcely even surmise, having seen nothing of the
_same_ kind elsewhere. They do suggest the possibility of their being
the indentations of the caudal appendage of some huge creature, similar
to the hollow tail lines between the footprints on the sandstone at
Tarbatness and along the shores of Morayshire,--a suggestion
strengthened by the fact of the existence, on both sides of the line, of
numerous rounded hollow marks, very like the footprints on these
reptiliferous rocks, occuring, as in them, at intervals. But the
continuous even breadth and square section of the lines would seem to
render this impossible. They might be the depressions left on the soft
sand by the hinder portions of the shell of some huge crustacean,--a
more likely cause, rendered more probable by the existence of very good
ripple marks on the same sandstone, in the same and neighbouring layers.
The striæ-like lines of which the grooves consist would seem to point to
some moving agent, organic or physical. They may, however, be the casts
or impressions of some great land reed or sea fucoid, the hair-lines
being the marks of the fine flutings on its stem or the parallel veins
of its leaves. It would be desirable to have the superincumbent layer of
rock carefully removed where the bands in question disappear under the
upper rock, in order to shed more light on the nature of the strange
marks. Whatever they are, they certainly deserve the careful attention
of geologists. Dr Heddle, who has examined them since 1880, is of
opinion that they are not in any way connected with organisms, but are
due to mineralogical and structural causes, but he has not yet published
his views.
VII. THE FIONN AND DUBH LOCH.--This double loch is remarkable, and
eminently worth visiting, not only for its scenery, elsewhere described,
but also for its geology. Both lakes are enclosed in Hebridean gneiss,
which here very powerfully exhibits its usual characteristics, reaching
its highest in the picturesque peak of Coire Chaoruinn, above the centre
of the loch. The Torridon sandstone appears on Ruadh Stac or Red Peak,
which bears an appropriate title, and possibly on the very crown of the
Maiden. The pale rock which catches the eye from far on the front of
Craig an Dubh Loch, at the head of the Fionn Loch, is a remarkable
species of granite, known by the French term Pegmatite, which consists
of quartz and felspar, often with small quantities of silvery mica. It
abounds in the Hebridean gneiss in other parts of the west coast, but in
our district, it is comparatively little developed except at the Dubh
Loch, where it also appears on the Maiden's shoulders, and on Carn Bhan
or the White Cairn, to which it gives name. It should be examined on the
great cliff of Craig an Dubh Loch, where it traverses its face and head
in serpentine lines and masses, like injected lava. The rare mineral
epidote is also found here, and near the top of Beinn a Chaisgean, on
the north shore of the lake.
The smaller upper part of the loch is almost entirely separated from the
lower, and forms an Alpine chamber, strongly contrasting with the rest
in form, feature, colour, and surroundings, which has given rise to its
most appropriate name of the Dubh or Black Loch. This loch is an
excellent example--none better--of a moraine-dammed lake, being held in
by an uncommonly pronounced moraine, which marks the last boundary of
the ancient glacier that filled its deep pot. This moraine begins on the
left side, under the grand cliff of Craig an Dubh Loch, curves finely
round the lower end of the Dubh Loch, crosses the loch to the other
side, forming in its passage the narrow waist that separates the two
lakes, and then runs along two-thirds of the Dubh Loch till it gets lost
in the general rubbish of the hills, the path to Loch Broom which
crosses the causeway taking advantage of its terraced line for some
distance. The moraine consists of a long circular ridge of loose
_débris_, enclosing large protruding blocks, having a general height of
from twenty to thirty feet, with steep sides, like a kaim or esker, and
considerable breadth. It is quite continuous, except for three hundred
yards at the union of the lakes, where it has been cut through to
water-level, but descends so little below the surface that
stepping-stones, forming a causeway, are carried across the strait. On
the north side, the moraine widens greatly, and encloses a lochan,
beyond which rises an isolated steep hill, Carn na Paite, some three
hundred feet high, which has formed a huge _roche moutonnée_. Over this
the ice of the old glacier has passed, and smoothed it, the same ice
having crushed and striated the steep front of Craig an Dubh Loch, on
the other side of the glen.
Other telling proofs are apparent all round of the more general
glaciation of Scotland, when it was a veritable Greenland, with a huge
ice sheet enveloping mountain and glen, in the numerous perched blocks
placed in most striking positions. One large boulder is set right on the
very head of Scuir a Laocainn. Others crest the surface of Carn Bhan and
the Maiden, and give the sky-line of their summits the appearance of a
broken-toothed saw, so numerous are these deposits of the great ice
sheet of the severer Glacial Period. The remarkable gathering of blocks
seen from the lower end of Fionn Loch has already been noted, and the
height near the stable there should certainly be climbed to view them.
The jutting capes and islands, as well as many exposed surfaces on the
way back to Poolewe, all tell the same tale.
VIII. THE TRIAS AT LOCH GRUINARD.--Another series of rocks--the
comparatively recent Trias--may be seen by the traveller not far from
Loch Maree, on Loch Gruinard, some miles to the north of the moraines
already described. On the way to Aultbea, the road rises to a
considerable height above Loch Ewe, and overlooks its waters. Here, from
the Torridon sandstone, a magnificent view may be had of the whole
remarkable country, with its striking scenery and interesting geology,
exhibited at a glance. In front, stretches a rolling plateau of the bare
Hebridean gneiss, which attains its greatest altitude in the graceful
Maiden and her powerful fellows at the head of the Fionn Loch, and in
the pointed Beinn Aridh Charr, Beinn Lair, and Beinn Alligin. Beyond,
rise the dark domes of the Torridon Red, in Slioch and his compeers; and
then the bright peaks of the Quartzite, in the shining Beinn Eay and
other mountains, the Quartzite being seen finely cresting masses of the
lower red sandstone. Behind these, stretch the undulating hills of the
Eastern gneiss far into the background of the wonderful picture.
On the shore of Loch Gruinard, to the east and west of where the road
touches the loch, are found two isolated patches of the Lower Trias, the
lowest of the Mesozoic series, and the second above the Carboniferous.
This Trias is the second rarest series in the Hebrides,--rarer than the
next strata, the Lias and Oolite of Skye, Mull and Brora, and than even
the Cretaceous or Chalk, on the shores of Mull and Morven. The only
rarer, if not unique, rock in the Hebrides is the one patch of
Carboniferous on the tide line of Ardtornish in Morven, opposite Oban.
The Trias here consists chiefly of a thick-bedded sandstone of uncommon
redness, which recalls the bright tints of the Old Red of Fochabers and
the Permian of Dumfries. It is well exhibited in cliffs and reefs along
the shore, by breccias and conglomerates, thin shales, yellow and
greenish sandstones and flags, and concretionary limestone.
These Triassic rocks extend for about three miles, from Sand, on the
east, to a point beyond Udrigil House, on the west. They are continuous,
except near Udrigil, where the Torridon sandstone that encloses them
comes to the surface. They are reckoned to be about a thousand feet
thick. No fossils have as yet been found in them, but their age has
otherwise been satisfactorily determined.
These rocks are extraordinarily interesting. They are the most northerly
examples of the Secondary Geological Period on the west coast, and they
form an isolated fragment of the deposits of this period, which once
extended from Gruinard to the Ross of Mull to a depth of over a thousand
feet, and which have been entirely swept away by enormous denuding
forces, except at a few scattered points. Their protection has, in all
cases, except at Gruinard, been due to being covered by volcanic
outbursts on the grandest scale, which took place in the late Tertiary
Period, and mainly formed the beautiful islands of Skye and Mull. At
Gruinard, they were preserved from destruction by enormous faulting, by
which they were dropped down at least a thousand feet into the Torridon
Red. They are represented on the east coast of Sutherland, and,
according to Professor Judd, by the famous reptiliferous sandstones of
Elgin.[10]
Chapter X.
MINERALS OF GAIRLOCH.
By Professor W. IVISON MACADAM, F.C.S., F.I.C., M.M.S., &c., Edinburgh.
The following minerals were obtained in the localities mentioned, but
the list is very incomplete. Time has not permitted of analyses being
made of many samples, but such are now under examination, and will be
available for a further edition of this work:--
Agalmatolite--Black Rock, Tollie.
Albite feldspar--Loch Fionn.
Agaric limestone--Coppachy.
Agate--Tollie Rock.
Barytes--Black Rock, Tollie.
Biotite--Loch Fionn.
Calcite--Black Rock, Tollie, &c.
Chalcedony--Glen Logan, &c.
Chalcopyrite--Coppachy.
Chlorite--Loch Gruinard, &c.
Dolomite--Glen Logan, Slioch, &c.
Epidote--Loch Fionn, Tollie Rock.
Galenite--Glen Logan limestone.
Garnet--Loch Fionn.
Heliotrope, or Bloodstone--Glen Logan, &c.
Hornblende--Loch Gruinard, Loch Fionn, &c.
Limestone (Massive)--Glen Logan, &c.
Limonite (Bog iron ore)--South Erradale, &c. &c.
Marcasite--Glen Logan, Coppachy, &c.
Muscovite--Loch Fionn, &c.
Oligoclase feldspar--Loch Fionn, &c. &c.
Pyrite--Glen Logan, Coppachy, &c.
Pyrolusite (Dendritic markings)--Loch Fionn.
Quartz--Common.
Quartzite (common)--Glen Logan, &c.
Rock crystal--Black Rock, Tollie (small crystals).
Serpentine--Black Rock, Tollie.
Smoke quartz--Tollie Rock.
PART IV.
GUIDE TO GAIRLOCH AND LOCH MAREE.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Gairloch of the Present Day 293
II. Approaches and Roads 299
III. Achnasheen to Kenlochewe 301
IV. Kenlochewe to Talladale 305
V. Talladale to the Gairloch Hotel 308
VI. The Gairloch Hotel to Poolewe 312
VII. Poolewe to Aultbea 318
VIII. Excursions from Kenlochewe 321
IX. Excursions from Talladale 326
X. Excursions from Gairloch 327
XI. Excursions from Poolewe 332
XII. Excursions from Aultbea 337
XIII. Excursions by Steamer on Loch Maree 340
XIV. The Fionn Loch and its Dubh Loch 349
XV. Loch Gruinard 355
XVI. Angling in Sea Lochs 359
XVII. Angling in Loch Maree 361
XVIII. Angling in Fresh-water Lochs 363
XIX. Salmon Angling 366
XX. Deer Forests and Grouse Shooting 372
_NOTE._
In addition to the references to preceding Chapters given in this Part,
the reader is recommended to consult the Index for other references to
pages where the various places and persons noticed have been previously
mentioned.
Chapter I.
GAIRLOCH OF THE PRESENT DAY.
There is no town, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, in the parish
of Gairloch, and there is no village that, properly speaking, bears the
name of Gairloch. Of villages or townships there are about thirty-four.
They contain the greater part of the population of the parish, which
according to the census of 1881 numbered 4594. Many of these villages
are so small that in the lowlands they would only be termed hamlets.
They have no separate legal existence as villages or townships; but in
those which are townships there is a bond of union, in so far as the
crofter inhabitants have their hill pasture in common, and club together
for the purpose of herding their cattle and sheep thereon.
All these villages are on the sea coast except the five first named.
They are as follows:--
Near the head of Loch Maree--Kenlochewe.
On the north-east side of Loch Maree--Coppachy, Innis Ghlas,
and Fuirneis.
On the south-west side of Loch Maree--Talladale.
At the south-west extremity of the parish--Diabaig (part
of).
On the south or south-west side of Gairloch (the sea
loch)--South Erradale, Openham (or Opinan), Port Henderson,
Bad a Chrotha (Badachro), and Charlestown.
On the north side of Gairloch--Gairloch (the hotel, Free
church, &c.), Achtercairn, Strath (including Smithstown,
Upper and Lower Mioll, and Lonmor), Sand (or Big Sand),
North Erradale, and Melvaig.
On the west side of Loch Ewe--Cove, Meallan na Ghamhna
(Stirkhill), Inverasdale (including Midtown, Brae, Coast,
and Firemore), Naast, and Poolewe (including Londubh).
On the east side of Loch Ewe--Aultbea (including
Tighnafaoilinn), Badfearn, Buaile na luib, Ormiscaig, Mellon
Charles, and Slaggan.
On the west side of the Bay of Gruinard--Oban, Mellon
Udrigil, Laide, Sand, First Coast, and Second Coast.
There are the following churches in the parish of Gairloch:--
Of the Church of Scotland (Established) at--
(1) Gairloch, the parish church; (2) Poolewe, the church of
the _quoad sacra_ (or ecclesiastical) parish of Poolewe.
Of the Free Church of Scotland at--
(1) Kenlochewe; (2) Gairloch; (3) Poolewe (meeting-house);
(4) Aultbea; (5) North Erradale (meeting-house); and
(6) Opinan (mission church).
Gairloch is one undivided civil parish, but has been divided for
ecclesiastical purposes by the erection of Poolewe into a _quoad sacra_
(or ecclesiastical) parish.
The minister of the parish of Gairloch is the Rev. Duncan S. Mackenzie,
of the manse at Strath of Gairloch, and he officiates at the parish
church at Gairloch.
The minister of the Poolewe _quoad sacra_ parish is incapacitated, and
his duties are performed by an assistant-minister. The _quoad sacra_
parish of Poolewe includes the west side of Loch Ewe, the east side of
Loch Maree, the River Ewe, and Loch Ewe, and all places in Gairloch
parish lying to the east of Loch Ewe. It extends along the north-east
side of Loch Maree as far as Fuirneis, Letterewe. The rest of the parish
of Gairloch is attached to the old parish church of Gairloch. Gairloch
is in the Presbytery of Loch Carron and Synod of Glenelg.
There are two Free Church ministers, viz., the Rev. John Baillie, who
officiates at the Gairloch Free church, and at Opinan and North
Erradale, and who resides at the Gairloch Free Church manse; and the
Rev. Ronald Dingwall, who officiates at the Aultbea and Poolewe Free
churches, and resides at the Aultbea Free manse. Mr Baillie has the
assistance of Mr John Mackenzie, of Melvaig, as catechist; and Mr
Dingwall is assisted by Mr William Urquhart, of Cove, as catechist. A
catechist can conduct ordinary services, just as a minister can. Mr
Dingwall also officiates occasionally in a room in the old schoolhouse
at Inverasdale, and in the caves at Cove and Sand, as well as in rooms
at Mellon Udrigil and Slaggan.
The parishes or districts attached to the Free churches, are the same as
those of the Established churches.
A Free Church minister is provided at intervals, as can be arranged, for
the church at Kenlochewe, but there is no manse.
There are ten and a half schools in the parish of Gairloch, all
conducted by certificated teachers. They are situated at Kenlochewe,
Achtercairn, Opinan, Big Sand, Melvaig, Poolewe, Inverasdale, Buaile na
luib, Laide, Mellon Udrigil, and Diabaig, where the school is shared
with the parish of Applecross.
The School Board of Gairloch has the management of these schools, and
consists of nine members, who meet periodically at Poolewe, with the
Rev. John Baillie as chairman. Mr John Ross, of Strath, and Mr
Mackenzie, of the post-office, Aultbea, are the officers appointed by
the School Board for looking after the attendance of the children.
Mr James Mackintosh, postmaster, Poolewe, who is clerk of the School
Board, has furnished me with the following information regarding the ten
principal schools in Gairloch relating to the year 1884:--
Numbers of Scholars
In average
School. On the Rolls. attendance.
Kenlochewe 35 27
Opinan 53 36
Achtercairn 107 55
Sand 40 26
Melvaig 60 51
Inverasdale 89 66
Poolewe 34 21
Buaile na luib 97 63
Laide 55 33
Mellon Udrigil 55 30
--- ---
Totals 625 408
Besides the above about twenty Gairloch children attend the school at
Diabaig.
The following are the present teachers of the ten schools:--Kenlochewe,
Miss Maclean; Opinan, Mr A. Nicolson; Achtercairn, Mr M. Lamont; Sand,
Mr J. Mackenzie; Melvaig, Mr J. MacRae; Inverasdale, Mr J. Maclennan;
Poolewe, Miss Ferguson; Buaile na luib, Mr H. Murray; Laide, Mr H.
Macleod; Mellon Udrigil, Miss Johanna Mackenzie.
Mr Mackintosh tells me that the number of scholars in all the school
districts of Gairloch is decreasing, with the exception of Achtercairn,
and perhaps Inverasdale. At the commencement of the Education Act in
Gairloch, the number of children of school age for whom accommodation
was then provided was 850.
There are also what are termed side-schools at Letterewe and Slaggan,
for a few children at each of those places whose homes are at a
considerable distance from any board school. The school-rate is one
shilling and sixpence in the pound.
Those who are acquainted with the working of schools in the south, will
consider the average attendance at the Gairloch schools rather meagre as
compared with the numbers on the rolls; but allowance must be made for
the great distances between the homes of the children and the schools,
for the rough roads or tracks some of the children have to travel, and
for the stormy weather, especially in winter.
Notwithstanding these difficulties several of the teachers succeed in
passing 98 per cent. of the scholars they present at the annual
examinations by Her Majesty's inspectors, and the average percentage of
passes is about 80 per cent.
Mr Malcolm Lamont, Achtercairn, is registrar of births, deaths, and
marriages for the parish of Gairloch.
Pauperism is too prevalent in the West Highlands. There are on the
Gairloch roll of paupers one hundred and thirty-eight persons receiving
parochial relief, viz., forty-six males and ninety-two females, besides
fifty-three dependants, such as children, who are relieved along with
the paupers. There are also six lunatics boarded at home, and nine in
the joint-asylum at Inverness. The other paupers are relieved at home.
The total outlay on these paupers, dependants, and lunatics was £1172.
14s. 10d. for the year ended Whitsunday 1886. The poor-rate is one
shilling and tenpence in the pound, half of which is paid by the
proprietor and half by the tenant. The poor-rate is administered by the
Parochial Board, which includes the proprietors of the parish or their
representatives and certain elected members. Mr Mackintosh is the
inspector of poor for the parish, and has kindly given me the
particulars here stated. Dr F. A. M'Ewen, who resides at Moss Bank,
Poolewe, is the only general practitioner in the parish. He receives a
fixed salary for medical attendance on the paupers of the parish. He is
a duly qualified surgeon and physician. Dr Robertson is likewise a
registered medical practitioner.
There is one highroad in the parish, viz., that which leads from
Achnasheen, down Glen Dochartie, past Kenlochewe and Talladale, on to
Gairloch, and thence forward to Poolewe and Aultbea, where it
terminates. It has a branch from Kenlochewe towards Torridon. It is a
county road, and is entirely maintained by the county, the cost being
defrayed by an assessment averaging about fivepence in the pound. This
road is generally kept in fair order by the local contractor. All other
roads are private estate roads, maintained by the proprietors, with
certain contributions from their tenants.
There are but two policemen in the parish, the one stationed at
Achtercairn, the other at Aultbea. There is a lock-up with two cells at
Achtercairn. There is little crime in Gairloch. The few offences are due
either to the temporary presence of workpeople from other places, or to
the too free use of the ardent spirits obtained at the licensed houses.