202 ox THE OLD AND EEMARKABLE 



2 inches in girth at 4i feet from the ground, and in 1879 it 

 measured 19 feet 3 inches above the conoidal base and 16 feet 3 

 inches at 6 feet above the ground. The bole is straight in its 

 timber to the height of 50 feet, and the spread of the branches 

 covers an area 60 feet in diameter. We have also ascertained 

 that this tree was measured by a carpenter in 1776, and was 

 found then to contain 250 cubic feet of timber in its stem. In 

 the year 1762, the Lord Barjarg of that period was informed by 

 some very old residenters on the estate, that about 90 years 

 previously (1670) it had been " bored " with the design of 

 cutting it down, if the wood in the core had been sound. From 

 the hole bored some branches sprouted, one of which was then 

 (1762) of considerable diminsions. From this it may be inferred 

 that it had then begun to wane; but it is another instance of very 

 old trees, which from some circumstance or another, after show- 

 ing considerable symptoms of decline, such as hollowness in the 

 stump or in the branch clefts, again putting on new vigour, and 

 covering over nature's incipient decay with rejuvenescence and 

 new life. This oak appears to have long enjoyed celebrity. It 

 was called the Blind Oak of Keir,* and is said to be mentioned 

 by that epithet in some ancient title-deeds pertaining to the dis- 

 trict, written under the shadow of its umbrageous boughs at least 

 two centuries previous to 1810. It has made two narrow escapes 

 from being lost to its native county, of which w^e trust it may 

 long continue to be the boast, for besides being tested for sound- 

 ness with a view to sale as above stated in 1762, its proprietor 

 was, about the beginning of the present century, offered £30 for 

 it as it then stood ! 



Other notable oaks in this district will be referred to subse- 

 quently in this report, when we come to describe specimens not 

 hitherto recorded by previous waiters. 



An oak growing on the roadside between Inversanda and 

 Strontian in Argyllshire was measured on 27th October 1764, 

 and was then at 1 foot from the ground 17 feet 3 inches ; at 4 

 feet it measured 16 feet 3 inches ; and at 15 feet, where the bole 

 divided into branches, it was 13 feet in girth. It is stated by 

 Dr Walker to have been then in a decaying condition, and from 

 a careful investigation made in the district recently, no trace of it 

 has been found, nor can any one be found who can tell the tale 

 of its fall and removal or subsequent history. Walker mentions 

 the fact that the remains of many other great oaks, approaching 

 to the same size, were observed by him in this vale of Morveu, 

 and were all situated among rank heather, in deep peat earth, 

 lying above banks of mountain gravel. This tree w^as probably, 

 therefore, the last survivor of one of Scotland's indigenous oak 

 forests of very early times in that district. 



* Keir is the name of the parish in which it is situated. 



