te by the weather, among the valves of
defunct oysters and dead buccinidae; and, from their resemblance to lamps
cast in the classic model, remind one, in the corners where they have
accumulated most thickly, of the old magician's stock in trade, who
wiled away the lamp of Aladdin from Aladdin's simple wife. The _Gryphaea
obliquita_ and _Gryphaea M'Cullochii_ also occur among these middle
strata of the Lias, though much less frequently than the other. We,
besides, found in them at least two species of Pecten, with two species
of Terebratula,--the one smooth, the other sulcated; a bivalve
resembling a Donax; another bivalve, evidently a Gervillia, though
apparently of a species not yet described; and the ill-preserved rings
of large Ammonites, from ten inches to a foot in diameter. Towards the
bottom of the bay the fossils again become more rare, though they
re-appear once more in considerable abundance as we pass along its
northern side; but in order to acquaint ourselves with the upper
organisms of the formation, we have to take boat and explore the
northern shores of Pabba. The Lias of Skye has its three distinct groups
of fossils: its lower coraline group, in which the Astrea described is
most abundant; its middle group, in which the _Gryphaea incurva_ occurs
by millions; and its upper group, abounding in Ammonites, Nautili,
Pinnae, and Serpulae.

Friday made amends for the rains and fogs of its disagreeable
predecessor: the morning rose bright and beautiful, with just wind
enough to fill, and barely fill, the sail, hoisted high, with miser
economy, that not a breath might be lost; and, weighing anchor, and
shaking out all our canvass, we bore down on Pabba, to explore. This
island, so soft in outline and color, is formidably fenced round by
dangerous reefs; and, leaving the Betsey in charge of John Stewart and
his companion, to dodge on in the offing, I set out with the minister in
our little boat, and landed on the north-eastern side of the island,
beside a trap-dyke that served us as a pier. He would be a happy
geologist who, with a few thousands to spare, could call Pabba his own.
It contains less than a square mile of surface; and a walk of little
more than three miles and a half along the line where the waves break at
high water brings the traveller back to his starting point; and yet,
though thus limited in area, the petrifactions of its shores might of
themselves fill a museum. They rise by thousands and tens