ising
the twin-eminences of Munlochy Bay, the Ord Hill of Kessock, Craig
Phadrig, and the fir-covered hill beyond in the line of the Great
Valley; while on the south and east the _rectilinear_ ichthyolitic
member of the system, with the arenaceous beds that lie over it, form
the continuous straight-lined ridge which runs on from beyond the moor
of the Leys to beyond the moor of Culloden. There is a pretty little
loch in this dwarf Highlands of the Brahan district, into which the old
Celtic prophet Kenneth Ore, when, like Prospero, he relinquished his
art, buried "deep beyond plummet sound" the magic stone in which he was
wont to see the distant and the future. And with the loch it contains a
narrow, hermit-like dell, bearing but a single row of fields, and these
of small size, along its flat bottom, and whose steep gray sides of
rustic Conglomerate resemble Cyclopean walls. It, besides, includes
among its hills the steep hill of Knock Farril, which, rising bluff and
bold immediately over the southern slopes of Strathpeffer, adds so
greatly to the beauty of the valley, and bears atop perhaps the finest
specimen of the vitrified fort in Scotland; and the bold frontage of
cliff presented by the group to the west, over the pleasure grounds of
Brahan, is, though on no very large scale, one of the most
characteristic of the Conglomerate formation which can be seen
anywhere. It is formed of exactly such cliffs as the landscape gardener
would make if he could,--cliffs with their rude prominent pebbles
breaking the light over every square foot of surface, and furnishing
footing, by their innumerable projections, to many a green tuft of moss,
and many a sweet little flower. Some of the masses, too, that have
rolled down from the precipices among the Brahan woods far below, and
stand up, like the ruins of cottages, amid the trees, are of singular
beauty,--worth all the imitation-ruins ever erected, and obnoxious to
none of the disparaging associations which the mere show and
make-believe of the artificial are sure always to awaken.

Whatever exhibited an aspect in any degree extraordinary was sure to
attract the notice of the old Highlanders,--an acutely observant race,
however slightly developed their reflective powers; and the great
natural objects which excited their attention we always find associated
with some traditionary story. It is said that in the Conglomerate cliffs
above Brahan, a retainer of the Mackenzie, one of the