with pleasure-whether it be seen in the early morning, when the white mists, drawn upwards from the glens, float along the hills, and half conceal their giant peaks; or in the gloom of an autumn evening, when the descending clouds, urged onwards by the blast, flit swiftly across the mountain sides, while ever and anon their gloomy shoulders loom largely through the rolling masses, and seem to the beholder to double their vast proportions; or in the mellow light of a summer sunset, when the shadows of the hills fall far athwart the landscape, and the distant Atlantic gleams brightly in the slanting rays of the setting sun; while, as he sinks below the horizon, it is difficult to distinguish the lofty summits of Jura and the Isles from the gorgeous masses of clouds among which he disappears" ("Geology of the Island of Arran,” pp. 7, 8).

The four piles of rock on the ridge between the summit of Goatfell and the north-west ridge leading to the Saddle are called on the six-inch O.S. map "Stacach." There is quite a passable track along the ridge, avoiding all difficulties. Pennant quaintly says of Goatfell, it is "composed of immense piles of moor stone, in form of woolpacks.” *

CIOCH NA H' OIGHE.

From North Goatfell along the ridge to Cioch na h' Oighe is a delightful scramble, affording fine views. At one point the ridge narrows to a knife-edge. Having reached Cioch na h' Oighe, a visit to Coire na Ciche should certainly not be omitted. The descent thereto can be made down one of the grass and heather traverses, for full particulars of which see S.M.C. Journal, Vol. III., pp. 198200, or go back on your footsteps a little and come down the bed of the burn at the head of the coire. The descent requires care just at the start, as the angle is steep; but the slight difficulties vanish rapidly, and two small pitches,

* The position assigned to North Goatfell by Mr Douglas, Vol. III., 196, was not considered satisfactory by the writer, and a fellowmember who had independently considered the point also came to the same adverse conclusion. Mr Douglas says: "The name 'North Goatfell,' when used, should no doubt apply to the most prominent point on the Goatfell ridge north of the summit, and that appears to be the top that rises to 2,684 feet, half a mile north of the summit." But in our opinion the most prominent point is that where the Am Binnein shoulder joins the main ridge. This point also happens to be higher than Mr Douglas's North Goatfell by 32 feet, 2,716 in all.

neither exceeding ten feet, go easily. The ascent by this route can also be recommended, i.e. to Salvationists. After having taken one's fill of the fine cliffs, the shoulder of Mullach Buidhe is rounded and a direct descent made over the moors to Corrie, where, if you wish, you can follow the example of Mr Pennant, and "dine at the Corry; a small house, belonging to a gentleman of Airshire, who visits this place for the benefit of goat's whey" (p. 171).

GLENS ROSA AND SANNOX.

No visitor to Arran will omit THE glens, and few who go through them once but will try and repeat the walk. There is so much variety in the contour of the hill-tops and ridges as seen from different points, that the view might be described as "cinematographic." Then again the varying weather conditions in which the walk is taken reveal fresh and unexpected beauties. The cloud and mist effects obtained on what people seated round a fire would call a hopelessly wet day, are frequently unspeakably grand. The different hour, too, in which we see the glens, imparts a further variety of light and shade. Personally, I prefer the late afternoon and early evening, when the sun has just sunk behind A' Chir, and the western slopes of the glen are a mass of deep, dark shadow, with the ragged ridges sharply silhouetted against the gorgeous colouring of an autumn sunset. Turn your eyes east, and what a contrast! The upper half of the Goatfell ridge is brilliantly lit up with the sun's expiring rays, and every detail of gully, corrie, scaur, and rock tower is revealed. We linger entranced slowly the brightness dies away, slowly the shadows creep up to the summit; then suddenly we awake to the fact that the air is chilly, and homeward we must wend our way.

Jamieson seems to have explored both glens pretty thoroughly, but there is no hint in his writings that he crossed the Saddle.

To Macculloch the entrance merely to both glens probably proved sufficient: so far as regards Glen Rosa, I think the following remarks by him suffice to prove this:

Beyond the entrance of Glen Rossie all beauty ceases; being replaced by wildness without magnificence" (sic) (p. 29).

Again :

"It is not difficult from this point (ie., the summit of Goatfell) to descend into Glen Rossie or Glen Sanicks. It is equally easy when on the summit of Goatfell to cross to Ben Huish and Ben Breach, and then to visit the two small mountain lochs, Loch Jorsa and Loch Tana, terminating the day's journey at Loch Ranza” (p. 30).

No, no, Mr Macculloch; you never did the last-mentioned trip in one day yourself, and I doubt whether anybody else has.

Glen Sannox he much more appreciated :

"Glen Sanicks . . . is the sublime of magnitude, and simplicity, and obscurity and silence" (vol. ii., p. 35, 1824).

"It is in Glen Sannox, above all, that the effects arising from magnitude of dimension, combined with breadth of forms and with simplicity of composition and colouring, are most strongly felt " (vol. ii., p. 313, 1819).

No, the credit of having first introduced the Saddle to the travelling public must apparently be given to the fair sex. Bryce states:

"Up till the year 1822 this path was known as practicable only by shepherds, some of whom occasionally used it. But in that year two enterprising young ladies, Miss Alison and Miss Crooks, both from near Kilmarnock, but residing at Brodick, having arrived on a summer afternoon at the top of the ridge by passing up Glen Rosa, determined to try the descent into Glen Sannox, and return by the coast road. With great difficulty and loss of time they made good the descent; but were so late on arriving at Brodick, that all the young men of the village had started off in parties, in different directions, to search for them. Their tale excited no small wonder" (p. 163).

In an interesting little booklet entitled "The Scottish Tourist's Steam-boat Pocket Guide," published in the year 1835, occurs the following recommendation (p. 114):

"A good pedestrian should not fail to ascend Glen Sannox, cross over the ridge at its head, and descend upon Brodick by Glen Rosa."

On the 27th July 1836 the Rev. C. Lesingham Smith of Cambridge crossed the Saddle from Sannox to Rosa, accompanied by a guide (p. 165).

In 1840 Grierson apparently crossed the Saddle guideless:

"Returning by a somewhat different route, I descended" (from some point on the Cioch na h' Oighe and Goatfell ridge) “at great hazard into the upper part of Glen Sannox, passed over into Glen Rosa, close by Kier-Vohr and Castleaval, descending the said glen with unbounded admiration, but not without dread of being benighted, if not cut off in such circumstances as might exclude the probability of my ever receiving Christian burial.

"The upper part of this Glen is of the rudest and most romantic character" (p. 4).

On the 12th September 1842, Lord Cockburn in his "Circuit Journeys," notes that two of his companions

"went up the whole of Sannox and down Glenrosie-a severe but admirable walk. These two glens—which hold Goatfell in their arms -are of the same character; rough with marsh and rock, roaring with water, and gloriously hemmed in by black splintered peaks" (p. 173).

Cockburn on a previous page (169) mentions that he explored Glenrosie,

"a valley well worth passing a day in. All gushing with the clearest water tumbling over granite; deep sides, browned with chocolatecoloured autumn fern, many dark rocky peaks, and the upper end enclosed by as striking an assemblage of black and picturesque precipitous mountain-tops as is often to be seen."

In 184— Landsborough apparently walked up Glen Sannox, ascended Cir Mhor, and thence down Glen Rosa, but his exact route is not stated.

At the mouth of Glen Sannox, 250 yards along the lane on the south side, there is an old cemetery. At one time there was a chapel here, but all that now remains of it is a rudely-carved stone, representing St Michael's head, built into the cemetery wall. In this enclosure will be found the grave of Rose, who was murdered on Goatfell some fifteen years ago. The tombstone consists of a fair-sized boulder of rock on which is carved his name, &c. The memorial seems most appropriate. Six hundred yards farther on, if, instead of crossing the wooden bridge over the burn, you follow the old lane, a few yards will lead you to the site of a barytes mill, removed some forty years ago.

It was erected here to grind the sulphate of barytes, a heavy spar, raised from veins which traverse the old red sandstone," and convert it "into a substitute for white lead, in the composition of paint."

Ramsay describes fully the process of manufacture (p. 24). (Cf. Grierson, p. 7.)

On the opposite side of the stream a few yards north of the track is a large circular hole some twelve feet in diameter, now filled with water, and which I understand was one of the entrances to the mine workings. It is unfenced, and would give a traveller who wandered from the track in the dark a most unpleasant and dangerous experience.

THE SADDLE.

The guide books apparently consider that there is now a highroad between the glens, as only one I have seen hints at there being any difficulty in the passage. The ordinary tourist coming up Glen Rosa will, I think, be very disagreeably surprised when he reaches the Saddle and sees what a precipitous descent it is into Glen Sannox. A member of the Geological Survey in "The Geology of North Arran, &c.," describes the descent as "precipitous and difficult (p. 3). The exact route down is not at all obvious to the inexperienced eye, and as it may be useful to some, a note will be found at the end of this article giving directions . both for the ascent and descent, also a note for the ascent of Cir Mhor from the Saddle.

The finest ridge walk in the island has been already described by Mr W. Douglas in his article "The Granite Peaks of Arran," S.M.C. Journal, Vol. III., pp. 195-211. Beside the route to Beinn Nuis mentioned there, viz., up Glen Rosa to Garbh Allt, then up the left side of that stream, there are two others that might be named. From the summit of the String road skirting the head of Gleann Easbuig (Bishop's Glen), you can strike over the gently rising moor direct for the Ben. After rain this route is distinctly soft. The third route is up Glen Rosa to Garbh Allt, from whence strike north-east over the slope of Beinn a' Chliabhain into Coire a' Bhradain, then turn east and look out for a sheep track which circles round Coire nam Meann (a fine description of this lonely corrie will be found in Bryce, pp. 58, 59),