Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

INTRODUCTION. XIX
Scotland is lead, of which there are rich mines at Leadhills and Wanlockhead, in the
Lowther-hills, on the borders of Lanarkshire and Dumfries-shire. Lead is also procured
at Dollar in Clackmannanshire, Strontian in Argyleshire, Belleville in Inverness-shire,
and Leadlaw in Peebles-shire. A considerable quantity of silver is extracted from the
lead. Particles of gold have frequently been found in the small streams among the
Lowther-hills, and also immediately under the vegetable soil which covers the surface of
the latter. Scotland abounds in quarries of the finest building materials, particularly
sandstone, — hence the beauty of the numerous public edifices which adorn its cities and
towns. The principal sandstone quarries are Craigleith, a little to the west of Edin-
burgh ; Binnie, near Uphall, Linlithgowshire ; Humbie, near South Queensferry, also
in Linlithgowshire ; Giffneugh, near Glasgow, Lanarkshire ; Longannet, near Kincardine,
Perthshire ; and Milnefield or Kingoodie, near Longforgan, Perthshire. Roofing-slates,
only inferior to those procured in Wales, are quarried extensively at Ballachulish, and
in the island of Easdale, both in Argyleshire. Granite is brought from Aberdeen to
pave the streets of London ; and the granite of Kirkcudbright has been partly used in
the construction of the Liverpool docks. Variegated or veined marble, of a beautiful
appearance, is found in Sutherlandshire, at Glentilt in Perthshire, at Tyree in Argyle-
shire, at Muriston in West- Lothian, and in other places."
Octohedral alum occurs at Hurlet near Paisley, at Creetown in Galloway, and in the
vicinity of Moffat ; rock-butter, at Hurlet ; compact gypsum, in the Campsie-hills ;
fibrous gypsum, in Dumbartonshire, in the vicinity of Moft'at, and on the banks of the
Whitadder ; foliated fiuor, in various situations, but rarely, though abundant in Eng-
land ; conch oidal apatite, or asparagus stone, near Kincardine, in Ross-shire, and in
the Shetland isles ; common arragonite, or prismatic limestone, in the lead mines of
Leadhills, and in secondary trap-rocks, in various situations ; fibrous calc-cinter, the
alabaster of the ancients, in Macallister's-cave in Skye ; slate-spar, imbedded in marble
in Glen-Tilt, and in Assynt ; common compact lucullite, or black marble, forms hills in
Assynt ; stinkstone, or swinestone, occurs in Kirkbean, and the vicinity of North-Ber-
wick ; white domolite occurs in beds containing tremolite, in Iona ; brachytypous lime-
stone, or rhomb-spar, near Newton- Stewart, and on the banks of Loch-Lomond ; foliated
brown-spar, in the lead mines of Leadhills and Wanlockhead ; columnar brown-spar, on
the banks of Loch- Lomond, and near Newton- Stewart ; prismatic, or electric calamine,
at Wanlockhead ; pyramido-prismatic baryte, or stroutianite, at Strontian in Argyle-
shire ; foliated prismatoidal baryte, or celestine, at Inverness, and in the Calton-hill of
Edinburgh ; white lead-spar, and black lead-spar, at Leadhills ; indurated, friable, and
green earthy lead-spars, prismatic lead-spar, or sulphate of lead, and radiated prismatic
blue malachite, or blue copper, at Leadhills and Wanlockhead ; — fibrous common mala-
chite, at Sandlodge, in the mainland of Shetland ;— radiated cobalt-mica, or cobalt-
bloom, at Alva in Stirlingshire, and in the limestone of the coal measures in Linlith-
gowshire ; earthy blue iron, on the surface of peat-mosses in Shetland ; scaly graphite,
in Strath-Beauly in Inverness-shire, and in the coal formation near Cumnock ; foliated
chlorite, in Jura ; earthy chlorite, along with common chlorite, at Forneth-cottage in
Perthshire ; other chlorites, variously, and in abundance ; common talc, in Perthshire,
Aberdeenshire, and Banffshire ; indurated talc, or talc-slate, in Perthshire, Banffshire,
and Shetland ; steatite, or soapstone, in the limestone of Iona, and the trap-rocks of the
Lothians, Arran, Skye, and some other places ; — diatomous schiller-spar, in the serpen-
tine of Fetlar, and Unst in Shetland, and of Portsoy in Banffshire, in the greenstone of
Fifeshire, in the porphyritic rock of Calton-hill, and in the trap of Craig- Lochart, near
Edinburgh ; hemiprismatic schiller-spar, or bronzite, in Skye, and near Dimnadrochit
in Inverness-shire : prismatoidal schiller-spar, or hypersthene, in Skye and Banffshire ;
kyanite, in primitive rocks at Boharm in Banffshire, and near Banchory in Aberdeen-
shire, and in mica-slate near Sandlodge in the mainland of Shetland ; fibrous prehnite,
in veins and cavities in the trap of Castle-rock, Salisbury-Crag, and Arthur-Seat, Edin-
burgh, of Bishopton and Hartfield in Renfrewshire, of Cockney-burn and Loch-Hum-
phrey in Dumbartonshire, of the vicinity of Beith in Ayrshire, and of Berwickshire,
Mull, and Raasay ; rhomboidal zeolite, or chabasite, in crystals in the vesicular cavities of
the Mull and Skye trap ; mealy zeolite, or mesotype, near Tantallan-castle in Hadding-
tonshire, and in Mull, Skye^ and Canna ; pyramidal zeolite, or apophyllite, in the frap-
rocks of Skye ; some other species of zeolite, variously, and in abundance ; adularia, a
rare sub-species of prismatic felspar, in the granite of Arran ; compact felspar, a more