Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

45)0
STRATHAIRD.
that I know. The cause is evident enough ; consisting
in the manner in which the strata break at right angles
to their planes ; whence the edges of the different beds
in a series, protrude in rows of points, so as exactly to
emulate that combination of zigzag lines to which they
have possibly given rise.
That which is here possible, is, however, far from
certain ; as the chevron moulding is of a very remote
origin, and may have been merely an accidental combi-
nation of obvious lines. Ledwich has shown that it is
found in an illuminated Syriac manuscript of the Evan-
gelists, written in 586, where the Saxon arch, as it is
commonly called, or the early Norman, is displayed,
precisely in the form, and with many of the ornaments
familiar to us, such as lozenges, nebules, and quatrefoils,
as well as this one. The canopy, or the line which forms
the contrasted arch, is also found in these drawings; all
of them aiding to prove, and without a possibility, as it
would seem, of doubt, that which was formerly said res-
pecting the Oriental origin of our early ecclesiastical
architecture ; while these examples prove also, that the
Norman and round style was derived from the same
source as the pointed, and was not an imitation or a cor-
ruption of Greek or Roman architecture.
The basaltic veins of this coast are the causes of the
numerous caves in which it abounds. In many places,
as at the Point of Sleat and in Mull, the including rocks
fall away, and leave the veins, like walls, protruding.
Here, on the contrary, the veins waste while the cliffs
remain; and thus caves are produced. So numerous
are they, that many of them have never yet been exa-
mined ; and hence it is that the celebrated Spar Cave
was so long unknown. Another has acquired some
celebrity, as having been among the numerous places of
temporary refuge to Prince Charles.