XXII. On some Boulders near Arden, Lochlomond

Abstract

Though the Boulder Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh now rest from their labours, there are doubtless, in various parts of the country, many boulders which, notwithstanding all the care taken, that Committee have not included in their valuable Reports . One of these, a large and prominent mass of mica-schist on the hill above Inverbeg, near Luss, was brought under the notice of the Society a few years ago. (See Transactions , vol. vii., p. 172.) I wish now to call attention to one or two others, also on the western side of Lochlomond, but farther south, viz., on the hill known as Gowk Hill (called by the Ordnance Survey, Cock Hill) , behind Arden. At this point there is, as the Convener states in one of the Reports , “a low valley which runs up from the loch in a westerly direction. The summit level of the valley is about 150 feet above the sea. Along the south side of the valley,” he continues, “a number of boulders, chiefly of primitive rocks, have been deposited. They are at a height of about 94 feet above the sea. As usual, the most frequent position is here, as elsewhere, N.W. and S.E. for the longer axis, and the sharpest end towards the west.” (4th Report , vol. ix.) This last statement, we are convinced, is a mistake, and we shall refer to it later on. Meantime, we may note that the position of many of the boulders is much higher than that mentioned in This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract