Lochindorb is now the largest lake, being 2 m. in length and fully ½ m.
wide. In the upper end, on an island believed to be artificial, stand
the ruins of Lochindorb Castle, in the 14th century the stronghold of
the Wolf of Badenoch, and afterwards successively the property of the
earl of Moray, the Campbells of Cawdor and the earl of Seafield. Sir
Thomas Dick Lauder saw at Cawdor Castle a massive iron gate which,
according to tradition, Sir Donald Campbell of Cawdor carried on his
back from Lochindorb to Cawdor, a distance of 13 m. In the southern half
of the county, amongst the hills, are several glens, among them the Glen
of Rothes, Glen Lossie, Glen Gheallaidh, Glen Tulchan and Glen Beag.
Strathspey, though more of a valley than a glen, is remarkable for its
extent and beauty.
_Geology._--This county may be divided geologically into two areas,
the hilly region to the south being composed of the crystalline
schists of the Central Highlands and the fertile plain of Moray being
made up of Old Red Sandstone and Triassic strata. In the Cromdale
Hills in the south-east of the county the metamorphic series comprises
schistose quartzite, quartz-schists, micaceous flagstones and
mica-schists, which are granulitic and holocrystalline, the dark
laminae in some cases containing heavy residues such as ilmenite and
zircon. The greater portion of the metamorphic area west of the Spey
consists of granulitic quartz-biotite-granulites and bands of
muscovite-biotite-schist belonging to the Moine series of the
Geological Survey (see SCOTLAND: _Geology_). In certain areas these
are permeated by granitic material in the form of thin strings, knots
and veins. Excellent sections of these rocks are exposed in the
Findhorn, the Divie and the tributaries of the Spey. Near Grantown
there is a group locally developed, comprising crystalline limestone
with tremolite, kyanite gneiss, muscovite-biotite-schist and
quartzite, the age and relations of which are still uncertain. The
general strike of the crystalline schists, save where there are local
deflections, is north-east and south-west, and the general dip is to
the south-east. Between Lochindorb and Grantown there is a mass of
granite belonging to the later intrusions of the Highlands represented
by the Cairngorm granite. Within the county there are representatives
of the middle and upper divisions of the Old Red Sandstone resting
unconformably on the crystalline schists. The strata of the middle or
Orcadian series consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shales and
clays, with limestone nodules containing fish remains. This sequence
is well displayed in the banks of the Spey north of Boat of Bridge and
in the Tynet Burn east of Fochabers, the latter being one of the
well-known localities for ichthyolites in the middle or Orcadian
division. In the Tynet and Gollachie Burn sections, the fish bed is
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