164 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



deposited. Similar deposits have been found at Barrowfield, 

 Crownpoint, Port-Eglinton, and many other localities. I would 

 point out that this vegetable debris has nothing of the character 

 oi peat about it, but is a true drift, carried along a stream till, over- 

 saturated by water, it sank, and became covered up by sand, only 

 to be exhumed after the lapse of centuries. 



I conclude, from the preceding ol^servations on the river drift — 

 first, that the Clyde at one time flowed over a much wider channel 

 than it does now. This is demonstrated by the occurrence of these 

 plant remains over the "wide area that I have indicated. Indeed, 

 all the evidence yet gathered goes to show that the old Clyde we 

 speak of was somewhat of an estuary, widening gradually from the 

 gorge at BlantjTe Priory; and the conformation of the land above 

 that at Hamilton and Dalserf would indicate that Blantyre was the 

 base of another great delta which overspread the plain above. I 

 content myself with merely referring to this view in the 

 meantime. 



I infer, secondly, that the conditions that existed during the for- 

 mation of the leaf beds were persistent over a very long period. 

 Many of those localities spoken of are much higher than Wind- 

 millcroft. Some are ten feet, some forty-five feet higher, so that 

 here we have evidence of a withdz'awal of the waters from that high 

 level, which, even at a moderate computation, would take many 

 centuries. 



I conclude, thirdly, that the flora of the Clyde, as represented 

 in the leaf beds, was of a distinctly Scottish or British type. None 

 of the trees that are regarded as introductions from England are to 

 be found; all are of that primitive type that exhibit nature as per- 

 fectly natural — no aliens or introductions being yet visible. 



The fact of objects of human workmanship being found 

 in these same strata, lends a peculiar interest to this subject, 

 and incites us to recall the probable condition of things then 

 existing. The untutored Caledonian roamed through the old 

 forests of Clydesdale untroubled by Roman invaders, or any thought 

 of a country beyond his own. He made his stone anchors, worked 

 the rude armlets and ornaments, or laboriously fashioned a boat 

 out of an oaken log. He hunted the denizens of the wood that 

 then roamed in numbers; he fished in the broad waters of the 

 Clyde many a long summer day — and then, as the rays of sunset 

 illuminated the spreading foliage of the oaks, and birches, and 



