102 SCOTTISH FORESTS IN EARLY TIMES. 



the water has washed the soil away and exposed the roots of an 

 old thicket of fir trees, and on the hills of Kells and Minnigaff 

 the roots of large oak trees may be seen, and, where peats are cut 

 in deep moss, the spade goes through branches of birch and hazel, 

 and trunks of oaks are found with the wood quite fresh ; 1 remains 

 of oak trees preserved in peat-bogs attest that this tree once 

 flourished as a native in the vales of Ettrick and Yarrow ; 2 the 

 whole region of the Lammermoors was overspread with wood at a 

 remote period ; 3 and the same observation, it seems to me, may 

 be made as to the Campsie Fells and other hills in the Clyde 

 district. For example the names Fereneze and Gleniffer seem to 

 point to these districts having been tree-clad, mostly with alders 

 (Gaelic, fearna = alder), and it is within the recollection of old 

 men that they have seen the Gleniffer Braes covered with trees. 

 Their remains abound in places such as on Duchallaw. 



As to the Western Islands, the following passage does not fall 

 short in retrospective imagination : — "All these islands and western 

 shores once waved with giant trees that would rival the American 

 backwoods. The impenetrable forest of Calydon extended 

 all over Argyle, its terrible depths, peopled by wild bulls, 

 boars and bears, and wilder Britons, formed an impassable barrier 

 even to the invincible legions of Rome. In the peat-mosses, 

 which cover so large an extent of the Western Isles, roots of forest 

 trees in great quantities are found in the position in which they 

 grew, 5 or 6 feet beneath the surface of the super-accumulated 

 moss. On a steep rocky bank by the house [Ardlussa, Jura, in 

 1861] stands a most venerable witness to this fact in the presence 

 of a hollow-hearted, old oak tree, 2 1 feet in circumference, though 

 very dwarfed in height. A great part is dead, but some boughs 



yet had leaves Edinburgh savants opine that this 



tree is more than 1500 years old. Another smaller one, a mere 

 boy, which has probably not yet seen 1000 summers, stands near." 4 



The case of Tiree may be mentioned, as it is interesting and 

 instructive, and probably reliable. It is of this island that the 

 story of Dr. Johnson warning Boswell to take care of his stick, as 



1 Trans. Dumfries and Galloway Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Socy., No. 12, p. 135. 



2 Berwickshire Naturalists' Club History, VIII., p. 478. 



3 R. Chambers's Picture of Scotland, I. , p. 45. 



4 H. D. Graham's Birds of Zona and Mull, 1890, p. 164. 



