86 Transactions. 



hillside in a line which, without making any appreciable deviation 

 from the straight, steers clear of all the small hillocky ridges and 

 valleys on the hillside, and testifies to the marvellous engineering 

 skill and energy possessed by the ancient Romans. 



Dr James M'Donald, Glasgow, who was residing here (Moffat) 

 as a visitor for a short time last August (1892), caused portions 

 of the road to be excavated and exposed on the Coate's Hill, 

 Chapel Hill, and Meikleholmside Hill, and before tliey were 

 filled up again I had an opportunity to examine and measure 

 them. The results, with Dr M'Donald's permission, I am 

 enabled to bring before the Society. The principal excavation 

 was made on the Chapel Hill, about 400 yards north from the 

 cross road to Evan Water. The turf was cleared from the 

 surface of the road for a distance of eleven feet, over rather more 

 than the width of the road. The road was found to be twenty- 

 one feet wide, with a whinstone kerb along each side, the surface 

 of the I'oad consisting of a layer of small stones, similar in size 

 to ordinary paving stones, mixed with till to fill up the vacancies. 

 The road could not be said to have been paved. The flaying of 

 the turf tended to disturb and destroy the appearance of the 

 original surface, but even making allowance for that, the stones 

 did not seem to have been laid so as to form a regular causeway. 

 On the west side, and covering about a third of the roadway, 

 there was an irregular layer of large stones, but, on careful 

 inspection, these could be seen to have formed no part of the 

 original road, but to have been laid on at some later period, 

 probably to repair it. A transverse section was excavated at 

 the north end of the cleared space, which shows that the road 

 from foundation to crown is 23 inches deep, exclusive of the turf 

 covering it, and is made up in three distinct layers — First, a 

 foundation layer of clay, with stones bedded on its surface, six 

 inches deep in centre of roadway and tapering to each side. The 

 stones embedded in the clay were undressed, of various sizes, but 

 inclined to be flat-sided, and would be pressed into the clay-bed 

 from one to one-and-a-half inch. The clay is of a sandy nature, 

 and is such as may be found below the shallow layers of peat 

 moss on the Chapel Hill or neighbourhood to-day. Second, a 

 layer of stones 1 1 inches deep, witli the vacancies filled up with 

 till. The stones in this layer would be, on the average, as large 

 as a boy's head. Thir^l, a layer of smaller stones than t!ie above, 



