Author.—Nothing that I have ever been able to discover. The sight is one of the dreariest I know,—a high, wide, bare, and uninteresting moor, quite raised, as you see, above all the beauties of the river, which are buried from it in the profound of the neighbouring valley; nor has the village itself any very great redeeming charm about it.
Grant.—How comes it that all the cottages and walls are built of sandstone in the very heart of this primitive country?
Author.—You may well be surprised, but you will perhaps be still more astonished to learn that the place stands on a great detached isolated field of the floetz strata, four miles in length by one in breadth, which has been raised up on the very bosom of the primitive granite.
Grant.—A curious geological fact.
Author.—It is a fact which I learned when I was here formerly from a very intelligent gentleman who is the clergyman here, to whom I was also indebted for much valuable information during my inquiries about the great flood. I shall be happy to introduce you to him.
Grant.—I believe similar instances occur elsewhere in this part of Scotland.
Author.—Yes, at Kildrummie Castle, in the Glen of Dollas, and also near the borders of the primitive in the vale of Pluscardine.
Dominie.—To what strange changes has this earth of ours been subjeckit!
Grant.—Tell me, I pray you, what nice looking house is this?
Author.—It is the residence of the clergyman; perhaps you would like to call on him now, while our friend here goes on to the inn with our man to secure beds and entertainment for us all.