3o6 The Scottish Naturalist. 



having been raised relative to a Crown charter of 1742.^ This 

 is a very different case from the Fifeshire one, for Breadalbane 

 is unquestionably an auriferous area ; and how valuable its gold- 

 mines are or may yet become may be gathered from what I 

 stated concerning the gold-field of Breadalbane in a paper on 

 " The Gold and Gold-Fields oi Perthshire;' printed in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science' for 1870. 

 In 1867 the Geological Society of Edinburgh took much interest 

 in the subject of the gold-mines of Scotland, and the nature of 

 these mines in relation to Crown or other grants of gold-mines, or 

 to the references to such gold-mines in legal, historical, or archaeo- 

 logical works. It so happened th9,t the then secretary of the 

 Society was a lawyer, the late Thomas Wallace, S.S.C., while 

 another of its most energetic and accomplished members belonged 

 to the same profession, the late James Haswell, W.S. In Decem- 

 ber 1867 Mr Wallace thus wrote to me : " In the course of the 

 discussion on your paper on ' The Gold-Fields of Scotland,' ^ Mr 

 James Haswell mentioned that, in examining an entail, dated in 

 1693, he had found a reference to gold-mines, I asked him to 

 give me an excerpt from the deed, which he has now done, and 

 which I have the pleasure to enclose." The said excerpt, which 

 follows, is interesting as illustrating — i. The common practice of 

 lawyers, from the twelfth century downwards, of inserting what 

 may be described as gold clauses in deeds affecting land in Scot- 

 land; and 2, The doing so in cases where there was neither 

 proof nor likelihood that gold actually existed or had ever been 

 found. 



Extract from Deed of Entail executed by William 3d Duke, 

 and Anne, Duchess, of Hamilton, dated 3d October 1693. 

 Recorded in the Register of TailHes 4th July 1694 : — 



" Together with all and sundiy mynes of gold and silver lieing within the 

 bounds and Barrony of Lesniahag(nv, or any part thereof, with full power, 

 privilege, and liberty, to dig doun and win shanks and vaults in any part or 

 parts of the said Lands and Barrony forsaid, sinks, passages and all other 

 Meins and Instruments to use for working and wining of the said Mines and 

 Mineralls. . . . 



" All and haill the lands of Kinglass with manor place, houses, biggings, 

 yards, orchyards, doves, dowcoats, coalls, coallheughs, coall parts, pendicles 



^ The evidence in the case was fully reported in the * Daily Review ' of 

 February 16 and June 16, 1S75. 



2 Published in the ' Transactions ' of the Society for 1S6S, and in those of 

 the Irish Geological Society for 1869. 



