32 GEOGRAPHY OF THE BRITISH ISLES. The East Coast, from Tarbet Ness to the Firth of Forth, is on the whole fiat and generally sandy, but from St. Abb's Head to the Tweed it is extremely bold and rocky, The western coast of Scotland is thus much more irregular than the eastern coast, and a glance at a map of England will show the same contrast between the broken form of the western coast, and the rounded, flowing curves of the eastern coast. The reason is that, on the west, the huge billows of the Atlantic dash upon the coast with irresistible force: all the softer parts have been thus removed, leaving the harder rocks to defy the bafiied waves, although they also are slowly, but surely, wasting away. The force of the Atlantic breakers on the western coasts of the British Isles is enormous. Immense blocks have been displaced, sea-walls and breakwaters broken down, and even lighthouses swept away. The spray is frequently driven right over the lantern of the Eddystone Lighthouse, on the south, while the lantern at Dunnet Head on the north, although two hundred and seventy feet above the level of the sea, has been cracked by pebbles hurled from the beach by the waves ; and, during very violent storms, the Atlantic waves dash up the sides of the cliff at Hoy Head, in Orkney, to a height of nearly six hundred feet l On the eastern coast, however, the waves are not, on the whole, nearly so large or so powerful. The North Sea is so shallow that, were the water drained away, we should hardly notice any downward slope at all; and, in fact, if its bed were raised only a hundred and fifty feet, we should be able to walk dryshod from Britain to Belgium or Holland. Indeed, geologists tell us that Great Britain was once joined to the Continent, and that there was then no German Ocean. They suppose that the land sank very slowly, and that the Atlantic burst in from the south-west and the north, and thus formed a great sea. Further, the eastern coasts of both England and Scotland are largely com- posed of much softer materials than the broken and rugged western coasts; and, besides, on the eastern side of the island, the land generally slopes gently sea- wards, while on the western side, it rises abruptly from the water. It is, of course, evident that large waves dashing against a steep coast will not break it up so regularly as smaller waves beating upon a gently sloping shore. CAPES.—The principal capes on the coasts of Scotland are the following :—- On the Nort/z Coast, Dunnet Head and Cape Wrath; on the East Coast, Duncansbay Head, Tarbet Ness, Kinnaird's Head, Buchan Ness, Buddon Ness, Fife Ness, and St. Abb's Head; on the l/Vest Coast, Ardnamurchan Point, the Mull of Cantire, Corsewall Point; on the South Coast, the Mull of Gallo- way, and Burrow Head. The most northerly point is Dunne! Head; the most southerly, the Mull of Galloway,- the most easterly, Buchan Ness; the most westerly, Ardrzamurclzan Point. INLETS.—The most important inlets are the following :— On the rzortlz coast, Dunnet Bay, Kyle‘ of Tongue, Loch Eriboll; on the soul/z coast, Glenluce Bay, Wigtown Bay, and the Solway Firth; on the east coast, the Firth of Forth, the Firth of Tay, the Moray Firth, Cromarty Firth, and Dornoch Firth; and on the west coast, Loch Broom, Loch Carton, Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, the Firth of Clyde, Loch Long, and Loch Ryan. 1. Kyle, Gaelic aferry.