A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, Including the Isle of Man: Comprising an Account of Their Geological Structure; with Remarks on Their Agriculture, Scenery, and Antiquities |
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A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, Including the Isle of Man ... John MacCulloch No preview available - 2018 |
A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, Including the Isle of Man ... John MacCulloch No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
abundant alternating analcime appears aspect augit basalt beds Benbecula Broadford calcareous character circumstances cliffs coast colour columnar common compact felspar composition conglomerate connexion considerable consists contains crystals detached distinct eastern elevation equally examined extent feet felspar fracture fragments geological geologist gneiss granite granite veins grey hereafter Highland hills hornblende hypersthene imbedded instances irregular island isles labour laminæ land limestone Loch Loch Bracadale Loch Eynort mass mica mineral mountains Mull nature nearly neighbouring nodules North Uist notice numerous observed occasionally occupies occur peat pitchstone porphyry portion position present produce quartz quartz rock rarely Rasay red sandstone regular remarkable resembling respecting Rona sand Scalpa scarcely schist schistose seen shale shore side similar Sligachan soil sometimes South Uist southern specimens stone strata stratified rocks structure substance surface syenite tion Tirey traced tract trap rocks trap veins traversed Trotternish variety western whole
Popular passages
Page 162 - right."—" Really you seem to know nothing about the matter"—" Troth I canna say I do." This trait of character is universal, and the answer is always so decided, that the inquirer, unless he is a strenuous doubter, is not induced to verify the statement by this mode of cross-examination.
Page 130 - the upper sends forth fresh roots, like most of the mosses; the individual thus becoming in a manner immortal and supplying a perpetual fund of decomposing vegetable matter. A similar process, although less distinct, takes place in many of the rushes and grasses; the ancient roots
Page 209 - and though the women and children were half naked, the mother old, and the wife deaf, they appeared to be contented, well fed, and little concerned about what the rest of the world was doing. It was still an object of curiosity to ascertain if beings so insulated had no
Page 384 - perpendicular. Upon these rocks the fragments lie just as on the more level ground, and in positions so extraordinary that it is scarcely possible to conceive how they have risen so high after the rebound, or how they have remained balanced on the very verge of a precipice. One, weighing about
Page 185 - The form is that of a cross, containing at the intersection a circle with a central stone; an additional line being superadded on one side of the longest arms and nearly parallel to it. Were this line absent, its form and proportion would be nearly that of the Roman cross or common
Page 130 - the roots of the rushes and ligneous vegetables are found vacillating between life and death in a spongy half decomposed mass. Lower down, the pulverized carbonaceous matter is seen mixed with similar fibres still resisting decomposition. These gradually disappear, and at length a finely powdered substance alone is found, the process being completed by the total destruction of all the organized bodies.
Page 207 - seen no face but that of his employer and his own family. Twice in the year, that part of the crop which is not consumed on the farm, together with the produce of the sheep and the feathers obtained from the
Page 505 - by the columnar structure, which is sufficiently distinguishable even from a distance, and produces a strong effect of artificial regularity when seen near at hand. To this vague association in the mind of the efforts of art with the magnitude of nature, is owing much of that sublimity of character which the Scuir presents,
Page 266 - intricate groups; while their massy bulk and their squared and pinnacled outlines present vague forms of castles and towers; resembling, when dimly seen through the driving clouds, the combinations of an ideal and supernatural architecture. The most remarkable of these rocks is
Page 219 - varieties of gneiss they are so abundant as nearly to exclude the original rock, so that the mass presents little else than a congeries of veins. An instance of this nature occurs in the Flannan isles, but the most striking are to be seen on the