136 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF AILSA CRAIG. 



(the property of the Marquis of Ailsa), and contained in the 

 inland parish of Dailly. It stands on the narrowest part of the 

 wide submarine ridge known as the Clyde Barrier Plateau, which 

 extends between the coasts of Kintyre and Ayrshire. This plateau 

 covers about 313 square miles, having an average depth of water 

 upon it of about 24 fathoms. To the north and south is deeper 

 water, and thus an elevation of the land of about 150 feet would 

 transform Ailsa into an isolated rock -hill of the mainland, having 

 a large land-locked loch northwards of it and the sea southwards. 

 The addition of the word Craig to the name is a piece of 

 modern tautology, probably due to Burns. At least I have found 

 no earlier mention of the name Ailsa Craig than the poet's line 

 " Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig," all earlier writers and many later 

 ones using the simpler form Ailsa in various spellings. Thus in 

 a charter of 1404 it is "Insula de Ailsay," Dean Monro in 1549 

 writes Elsay, and Bishop Leslie in 1578 Elissa and Elza. 

 Mr. Smith observes that old people never say Ailsa Craig, they 

 always call it Yelsa. Like many of our western isles' place-names 

 it is a compound of Gaelic and Norse, and is from G. aill or alt 

 = cliff or height and N. ay, a = an island ; a correct description. 

 Besides the languages named the contemporary speech of the 

 country is represented in Ailsa place-names, some of which are 

 of so recent an origin as to date only from the establishment of 

 the Lighthouse (1885-6). These convey their own meanings ; but 

 of the older names this cannot be said, and any renderings of 

 them partake too largely of conjecture to be discussed here. 

 Generally speaking it is somewhat surprising to find so many 

 place-names on this small and rough island. 



Meteorology — In the last published " Returns from Scottish 

 Lighthouses for 1897 and 1898," * the Ailsa results for the two 

 years named are as follows : — 

 (Height sixty feet.) 



Average mean temperature - 



Barometer — Average mean at 32 - 



Rainfall in inches - - - - 

 The rainfall for these two years at Queen's Park, Glasgow (alt. 

 145 feet) was 4o - 22 and 38*44 inches respectively. 



1 Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society , 3rd Series, Vol. XL, Nos. 

 13-15. Edin., 1900. 



