Address of the President. 11 



which it was seen that there was something unusual therein. 

 The land where they were found was meadow and had been 

 recently drained, but there was no appearance of cairns or 

 tumuli on the ground. The whole articles were covered 

 with till and rust, and the sculptured one with what 

 appeared to be verdigi'is. All required a great deal of 

 cleaning." 



The articles thus found consisted of four axe heads, one 

 or two of them broken, and all, as stated by Mr M'Diarmid, 

 very much rusted and corroded. The general shape narrow. 

 The carved article of brass is the most interesting. I took 

 it to Edinburgh and showed it to Mr MaccuUoch, the curator 

 of museum of Society of Antiquaries, who at once pro- 

 nounced it to have been the handle of a Roman vessel. 

 Age about beginning of Christian era at least. 



The pai'ty proceeded by omnibus to Gatehouse-on-Fleet, 

 skirting Wigto\vii Bay and banks of Fleet, and afterwards 

 made the Kirkcudbright rail, which can-ied them safely to 

 their various destinations. 



The last excursion of the summer was made upon the 

 7th of September to Newbie. The private excursion to the 

 same place last year had given the hope that more stone 

 kists would be discovered. Permission had been requested 

 from Mr Mackenzie to make explorations on the banks of 

 the shore and raised knolls adjoining for the search of the 

 burying places. This was at once granted, and Mr Beattie, 

 the tenant of the land, not only gave every facility for the 

 exploration as well as information but also permitted his 

 men to assist in excavating and digging into the mounds 

 supposed to contain the stone graves. 



The party was unsuccessful in finding any new kists. A 

 part of one now only exists and the history remains a little 

 obscure. The mound in which the end of the remaining 

 kist is seen faces the sea. The sea bank there was formerly 

 higher and extended much farther seaward, in fact the road 

 now along the top of the bank once ran between the bank 



