EXCURSIONS TO LOCH LOMONDSIDE. 57 



churchyard is the resting-place of the Rev. Dr. John Stuart, who 

 is well remembered for having " perfected the Gaelic translation 

 of the Scriptures." The parish was fortunate in having him as its 

 minister in the end of last century, and the first statistical account 

 of the parish, which is from his pen, is full of interest for 

 naturalists, as it contains a list of the avi-fauna, mammals, and 

 reptiles of the district, with measurements of some remarkable 

 trees and other cognate matter. Dr. Stuart was only less dis- 

 tinguished as a naturalist than as a litterateur, and to him 

 Lightfoot, in the preface to his Flora Scotica, expresses obligation 

 for "a great portion of the Highland botany, for many of the 

 medical and economical, and all the superstitious uses of plants, 

 . . . and . . . the supply of their Erse or Gaelic names." 

 The route followed by the Society on the Queen's birthday in 

 1890 may now be traced. After passing through the village a 

 tulip tree {Liriodendron tulipifera) attracted attention, as did also 

 a fine wych-elm which stands on the roadway opposite the inn. 

 Proceeding southward by the road which leads to Dumbarton, the 

 well-wooded nature of the country was conspicuous, and many 

 fine trees were noted, including silver firs, oaks, walnuts, poplars, 

 etc., all in fine health and some of them of great size. The hamlet 

 of Aldochlay, which was soon reached, is in a romantic situation 

 on the side of the loch, with Elan Aldochlay, or the swan island, 

 a few boat-lengths from the shore, and the wood-clad island of 

 Inchtavannach opposite running parallel with the side of the loch. 

 At this point on the public road begins a short avenue of fine 

 beeches, among the branches of which squirrels, which now 

 abound in the locality, may often be seen pertly gazing at the 

 passers-by. The squirrel does not appear in the list of the 

 mammals of the district in the old statistical account of the 

 parish, the first of these lively creatures observed near Loch 

 Lomond being killed, according to Mr. Colquhoun, in 1830. At 

 Aldochlay the party embarked for Inchtavannach, and on landing 

 there followed the pathway which leads to Tom-na-clag, or the 

 bell-height, the northern summit of the island, from which in 

 earlier times the faithful of the surrounding parishes were called 

 to their devotions. At this stage a paper was read by Mr. G. W. 

 'Walker, in which he urged the reasons for considering the loch a 

 rock basin hollowed out by the action of ice during the glacial 



