142 EXTRACTS RELATING TO GALLOWAY. 
“1510. 22nd year of James IV. At Edinburgh. 26 
February.—The King has demitted at fee farm to Patrick 
Forestare, alderman, William Inglis, and John Maklellane, 
bailies, and all the community of the burgh of Kirkcudbrycht 
and their successors, the lands called the Castell manys of Kirk- 
cudbrycht, then amounting to 40 shillings, near the said burgh, 
in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbricht, in the sheriffdom of Drum- 
freis ; 40 shillings, and 20 shillings beyond, to be paid in increase 
of the Royal rental.’’ 
(Notice that in this document the Provost is called “ Alder- 
man.)—E. J. C. 
Sth April, 1907. 
Chairman—Mr Wn. M‘CutTcHEON. 
ScottisH MErmaips. By Mr R. J. Arnott, M.A. 
Wherever, in Europe at least, is to be found a people upon 
whom superstition and a fear of the supernatural have a hold the 
mermaid myth is sure to have a place in the popular traditional 
and legendary lore. Nor, curiously enough, are mermaids con- 
fined to the sea-board, for they have their haunts on the banks of 
rivers, and here and there on the shores of inland lakes, as well 
as in the caves or by the rocky bays and sandy beaches of the 
coasts. I have no intention of seeking to arrive at the origin of 
the myth, or of inquiring what was the name of the first mermaid, 
or where she was to be found, although it might not be an 
altogether impossible task; any more than, in connection with 
individual local legends, of speculating upon a possible explana- 
tion of how they came to exist or whether any substratum of truth 
may perchance underlie them. There is no particular occasion 
for dipping farther into classical mythology than to remark in 
passing that the Sybils, the Gorgons, and the Syrens of the 
ancient Greeks and Romans all had certain marked features in 
common, beauty of face and form and profusion of locks being as 
inseparable from them as from the more modern mermaid. 
While touching on these features, it may be noted that not only 
did both syrens and mermaids once have wings, but they did not 
