126 ANCIENT WOODS IN THE HEBRIDES. [Dec. 



may be consti-ained to say that if it be so, it must be admitted that 

 these Spaniards are not so far behind us. 



In the concluding portion. Dr. Brown gave a sketch of the 

 Spanish Forest School ; showed what attention was given to such 

 matters as pertaining to forest science ; and insisted on the analogies 

 of the Spanish climate to that of the Cape of Good Hope, — the 

 practicability of adopting similar measures there with the certainty 

 of securing like results. 



ANCIENT WOODS IN THE HEBBIDES— 

 COLONSAY AND ORONSAY. 



THE attention of our readers has been already directed to the 

 almost entire absence of trees in the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands. It may therefore be of some interest if we try to give a 

 short account of the trees of one or two of the Western Isles of 

 Scotland. 



In some of the Hebrides there is at present a considerable quan- 

 tity of growing timber, but most of this has been recently planted, 

 and "with few exceptions the trees are small in size. It seems, 

 however, that the climate is suitable for the growth of wood, and we 

 think sylviculture might be practised with advantage by those who 

 have the management of most of these islands, especially those that 

 are intersected by valle3'S. 



There is a very general tradition throughout all the Hebrides, that 

 at one time they were covered with forests, which were destroyed by 

 a gi-eat conflagration. That this story is based on fact, and not on 

 mere tradition, is gradually forcing itself upon those who have had 

 opportunities of studying the subject. Let us take Colonsay and 

 Oronsay as illustrations. On neither of these islands is peat at 

 present plentiful, and what exists is of very poor quality ; yet there 

 is evidence that in early times there was a considerable portion of 

 the surface of Colonsay, and probably also Oronsay, under wood. 



Some excavations that have been carried on during the last few 

 years at a shell-mound named Caisteal-nan-Gillean on Oronsay, have 

 shown tliat the inhabitants of this place had wood for fuel ; and this 

 is probably the most ancient place of human habitation in the 

 Western Isles that has yet been explored. From the nature of the 

 charcoal discovered beside the ancient hearths, it does not appear to 

 have been driftwood that was used, but the smaller branches and 

 twigs of trees that must have grown not far off. Besides this char- 

 coal, there has been found in close proximity to these hearths, in the 



