8 Address of the President. 



waiting, and to those gentlemen the members were indebted 

 for guidance to the more interesting objects. The lower dis- 

 trict was decided upon as the field for exploration : nothing 

 but the finest days in early summer will suit the ranges ex- 

 ceeding 3000 feet in elevation, but on the ground selected it 

 was found that there was yet ample scope even for discovery. 



The party started for the summit of Beatock Hill to 

 examine a stone fort situate there, the formation of which 

 has been usually attributed to an aucient British people. The 

 site commands a noble view of a great portion of Annandale, 

 and the upper part of the valley of the KinneU, bounded on 

 the horizon by the Skiddaw range of mountains. 



Descending from this high ground into the upper part of the 

 valley of the Garple, a remarkable ticmulus ou the right bank 

 of the burn near Holm Shaw was reached. It is about eighty 

 yards in circumference, and is surrounded by a ditch partly 

 artificial, and shows also traces of ramparts or outworks. 

 Farther down the stream on the opposite side there is a more 

 extensive camp-like structure. The ancient history of all 

 these remains is well worthy the attention of the Society, and 

 under judicious care and superintendence no doubt excava- 

 tions would be permitted to ascertain the structure or other 

 particulars that would throw light upon their origin. 



Auchencass Castle, now the property of Butler Johnstone, 

 Esq., late M.P. for Canterbury, was next visited. It is now a 

 very dilapidated ruin, many of the walls being mounded or 

 grown over with turf, but sufficient exists to show the plan of 

 the building, in the form of a square with circular towers 

 or bastions at each corner, the entrance being at one side, 

 and the access to the apartments opening from the iufeide of 

 the square. 



From Aiichencass the upper part of the Garple Linn was 

 reached. The Garple, a small mountain stream, falls into the 

 Evan water above Beatock. Near its source among the lower 

 Iiills forming the north-east shoulder of Queensberry, and in 



