RECORDS OF EXCURSIONS TO 

 LOCH LOMONDSIDE, 



With Additional Matter. 

 v By John Paterson. 



Luss District. — The pleasantly situated village of Luss was 

 the rendezvous of the first excursion made under the auspices of 

 the Society to Loch Lomondside. The aim of the outing was to 

 visit the island of yew trees, Inchlonaig. This island, which lies 

 directly opposite Luss, cannot claim, in point of picturesqueness, 

 to be favourably compared with such islands as Inchtavannach or 

 Inchcalliach, but its remarkable collection of yew trees — stated to 

 have been planted in the time of King Robert the Bruce and by 

 his advice — will always attract those interested in old and remark- 

 able trees. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century Inchlonaig was 

 " laid waste " for use as a deer forest, and as such it has continued 

 to the present time. In the following century fifteen Highland 

 goats were introduced, and the descendants of these remained in 

 a wild state for a long period thereafter. These are now extinct, 

 however, only fallow deer being found on the island at present. 

 Readers of The Moor and the Loch will remember the chapter called 

 after the chief resort of the goats, Crap na Gower, in which John 

 Colquhoun relates his experience in stalking one of the patriarchs 

 of the flock. 



Naturally much attention was directed on the occasion of our 

 visit to the old yew trees, of which there are a great many scattered 

 throughout the island, solitarily or in small groups. Many of 

 them in respect of girth of trunk are of large size. While the 

 growth of this species is usually slow, it must, under the exposed 



