THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST. 



VOLUME THE FIETH. 



GEOLOGY. 



DISOOVEEY or AIT AITOIENT CANOE IN THE OLD 

 ALLUVIUM OP THE TAY AT PEETH. 



By JAMES GEIKIE, LL.D., F.R. S., F.G.S. 



IN July last a friend informed me that what was supposed at 

 the time of its discovery to be an old canoe had been dug 

 up a number of years ago at the Friarton Brick-works, Perth. I 

 visited the clay-pit a few days afterwards, in company with Dr 

 Buchanan White and Mr John Young, C.E., when we learned 

 from Mr Wood, the lessee of the clay-workings, that no special 

 care had been taken of the canoe, but that it had been laid aside 

 on a bank, where, having been long exposed to the weather, it had 

 to a considerable extent mouldered away. Upon searching the 

 spot where it had lain so long, however, we were pleased to 

 find that earth, clay, and rubbish had gradually accumulated 

 about it, with the result that a considerable portion still remained 

 in a tolerable state of preservation. With the help of Mr Wood's 

 workmen, we had the " wreck " lifted and carefully examined. 

 It proved to be a veritable old ''dug-out" canoe, and although 

 one of its sides had been almost entirely consumed, yet enough 

 remained to enable us to ascertain the general proportions of the 

 old craft. The fragment measured only lo feet in length, but 

 both ends were considerably decayed, and Mr Wood assured us 

 that the canoe was not less than 15 feet in length when it was 

 first uncovered in the clay-pit. The wood was Scotch fir, and 



A 



