18 Transactions. 



Ailred, also an Englisli monk, who wrote in the time of 

 Fergus, Lord of Galloway, which was 400 years after Bede. 

 These two authorities ai'e the main sources of our know- 

 ledge of St. Ninian. 



The venerable Bede's account, which is the earliest, is 

 this — that at a time long anterior to St. Columba, who was 

 the apostle or great Christian missionary among the Picts of 

 the north of Scotland, Bishop Ninian, it was believed, 

 preached the gospel to the Picts inhabiting the southern 

 parts of the country ; after he had been instructed in the 

 faith of Rome and in the mystei-ies of the Christian faith. 

 At his episcopal seat, he continues, the famous Church of St. 

 Martin of Tours was erected of stone, which was an unusual 

 thing among the Britons, and designated Candida casa, or 

 the White House. And here his body and the bodies of 

 many saints rest in peace. 



The venerable Bede describes Ninian as by birth a Briton. 

 Ailred adds he was of a family not ignoble, haud ignohili 

 familia, and that his father was a king, and in religion a 

 Christian. 



Ailred and later biographers indulge themselves largely. 

 And Dr Murray, in his Literary History of Galloway, says 

 Ninian was descended of royal parentage ; and born, it is 

 supposed, near Leucophibia (of Ptolemy), the present Whit- 

 horn, in the year 360. 



At this early period of our history the district would be 

 inhabited by Romanized Britons, that is to say British 

 tribes living imder the sway of the Romans. 



These tribes were numerous throughout the island ; and 

 each of them, like our Highland clans, had its own chief or 

 king. 



In this district of the island the British tribes were the 

 Selgovce of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, and the Novantes 

 of Wigtownshire. 



The common dwelling-house was of thatch and wattle or 

 feal and divot with wicker work ; and such is known in the 



