produced by the action of glacier ice, we are compelled to believe the
same of the till in Scotland.
Let us further note that in the deep mountain-valleys of Switzerland
the glacial deposits consist for the most part of coarse morainic
débris--of such materials, in short, as the terminal moraines of
existing glaciers are mainly composed. Not infrequently this morainic
débris has been more or less acted upon by the rivers that escape from
the glaciers, and the angular stones have been rounded and arranged in
bedded masses. It is only when we get out of the mountain-valleys and
approach the low-grounds that the till, or stony clay, begins to appear
abundantly. The same phenomena characterise the Cheviot district. In
the upper reaches of the mountain-valleys at the heads of the Teviot,
the Kale, the Bowmont, etc., either till does not occur or it is thin
and often concealed below masses of rude morainic débris and gravel.
Out in the low-grounds, however, till, as we have already remarked, is
the most conspicuous of all the superficial deposits. From these facts
it may be inferred that till indicates the former presence of great
confluent glaciers, while morainic débris in hill-valleys points to the
action of comparatively small local and isolated glaciers.
What, then, are the general conclusions which may be derived from a
study of the rock-ridges, flutings, and striæ, and the till of the
Cheviot district? Clearly this: that the whole country has at one time
been deeply buried under glacier ice. The evidence shows us that the
broad strath stretching between the Lammermuirs and the Cheviots must
have been filled to overflowing with a great mass of ice that descended
from the uplands of Peebles and Selkirk and the broad-topped heights
that overlook the sources of the Teviot. The Cheviots appear to have
been quite buried underneath this wide sea of ice, and so likewise
were the Lammermuirs. At the same time, as we know, all Scotland was
similarly enveloped in a vast sheet of snow and ice, which streamed out
from the main watersheds of the country, and followed the lines of the
chief straths--that is to say, the general slope of the ground. The
track of the ice in the Cheviot district is very distinctly marked. In
Teviotdale it followed the trend of the valley, and, grinding along
the outcrop of the Silurian strata, deepened old hollows and scooped
out new ones in the soft shaly beds, while the intervening harder
strata, which offered greater resistance to the denuding action of
the ice, did not wear so easily, and so were rounded off, and formed
a series of ridges running parallel to the eroded hollows. The stones
and rubbish, dragged along underneath the ice, necessarily increased
as the glacier mass crept on its way. The rocks were scratched and
grooved by the stones that were forced over them, and the polishing
was completed by the finer sand and clay which resulted from the
grinding process. Wherever a rock projected there would be a tendency
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