Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 3.djvu/26



I have already said that I did not observe in any part of Sky those accumulations of foreign and transported materials which are of such frequent occurrence on the main land of Scotland, and of which I have already noticed a remarkable example in Staffa. The accumulations of matter which it offers in several places are but trifling, and they are evidently derived from the dauly action of the rivers, or from the ruin of the exposed rocks.

Commencing at Loch Slapin a considerable alluvium may be observed occupying the head of this Loch and extending up Strathmore, encroaching on the top of the bay, and evidently formed by the waste of the Red hills, with additions comparatively insignificant from the naked precipices of Blaven.

As the upper end of Loch Eishort receives no river of note, it presents no alluvial deposit, and no further marks of waste, encroachment, or alteration of the sea line, are to be observed round the point of Sleat till we reach Loch Oransa. Partial depositions of gravel may be traced from hence round the shore to Kyleaken, where a considerable bank of alluvial matter has been thrown up, apparently from the concurring action of the rapid tides which run through the sound of Sky. Opposite the island of Scalpa a sort of delta has been formed, which bids fair at some future day to unite the two islands into one. The head of the eastern Loch Eynort is also the receptacle of considerable masses of rubbish brought down from the Red hills, a waste sufficiently great to alter the courses of the small streams which run through the narrow vallies separating these hills. Similar, but more extensive, accumulations from the same cause have formed a tract of plain ground at the head of Loch Sligachan, subject to frequent inroads and changes from the still varying course of the stream. The waste of the land which