view to observe the junction, if it should there
appear, but particularly to discover the source of many blocks of
whin-stone, of all sizes, with which the bed of this burn abounds.

The sand-stone and coal strata, which are nearly horizontal at the mouth
of this burn, or on the coast, become inclined as we go up the course of
the rivulet; and of this we have fine sections in the bank. The Dean of
Dunglass is formed of precipitous and perpendicular rocks, through which
the running water has worn its way more than a hundred feet deep; above
this Dean the banks are steep and very high, but covered with
soil, which here is a deep gravel. The burn runs all the way up to
Oldhamstocks upon the sand-stone strata; but there, these are traversed
by a high whin-stone dyke, which crosses the burn obliquely, as we found
it on both banks though not in the bed of the burn; it is in the south
bank below the village, and on the north above it. Here is the source
of the whin-stone which we were looking for; it is the common blue
basaltes, of the same nature with the Giant's Causeway, but with no
regular columner appearance.

Above Oldhamstocks we again found the sand-stone in the bank, but it
soon disappeared under a deep cover of gravel, and the burn then divided
into several rivulets which come from the hills. We traced the one which
led most directly up to the mountains, in expectation of meeting with
the schistus, at least, if not the junction of it with the sandstone.
But in this we were disappointed. We did not however lose our labour;
for, though the junction which we pursued be not here visible, we met
with what made it sufficiently evident, and was at the same time an
object far more interesting in our eyes.

I have already quoted Mr Voigt's description of the _sol mort rouge_; he
says, that in places it forms entire mountains; here we have a perfect
example of the same thing; and the moment we saw it, we said, here is
the _sol mort rouge_. We ascended to the top of the mountain through
a gully of solid pudding-stone going into decay, and furnishing the
country below with that great covering of gravel, soil, and water worn
stones. We were now well acquainted with the pudding-stone, which is
interposed between the horizontal and alpine strata; but from what we
had seen to the eastward, we never should have dreamed of meeting with
what we now perceived. What we had hitherto seen of this pudding-stone
was but a few fragments of