166 Transactions. 



from the precincts of the church and from the surrounding district. 

 The prevailing shape is the square cross, variously known as the 

 Greek and Maltese, and the limbs are often indicated by five 

 embossed circles. The larger shafts are generally ornamented with 

 wicker-work or Runic pattern. On one small stone there are 

 traced three Latin crosses close together, the one in the centre 

 much larger than the others, a design obviously intended to repre- 

 sent the scene on Calvary. A large baptismal font, believed to be 

 the one originally in use in the Priory, and elaborately sculptured 

 corbel stones more or less entire, are also here preserved ; and 

 among heraldic devices the arms of the province of Galloway and 

 the doul^le chevron of the M'Lellan family are to be noted. A 

 small bell, still intact, bears the date 1610, and appears from 

 an inscription to have been cast in the city of Bruges. 



Somewhat incongruously neighbouring the solemn mementoes 

 of a devotional age is a stone which has upon it several words in 

 large raised letters, some of which are now altogether effaced or 

 so worn as to be illegible. Some ingenuity has been expended 

 in the effort to give an English rendering to what was supposed 

 to be obscure Latin. If we supply the missing letters in a 

 manner suggested by their context, as Mr Galloway pointed out, 

 we have, as will be seen below, an epigrammatic advice in homely 

 Scotch phrase, viz., 



TENT T[0] 

 DEI[G]HT 

 WE[EL] 

 [A/igli'ce — Be careful to clean well.] 

 The stone had occupied a place in the wall of an old fai m building, 

 where it would daily but silently admonish the household to habits 

 of cleanliness. 



In one of the apartments of the old Town Hall Mr Galloway 

 has stored an extensive collection of fragmentary pieces of carving 

 turned up in the course of the excavations. Some of these — not- 

 ably a small but strikingly expressive face — convey a very high 

 idea of the attainments of the early artists whose handiwork they 

 were. 



Having explored the Priory and its adjuncts as fully as 

 time permitted, the company set out for St. Ninian's Cave, 

 making by the way a short detour to see the large Roman 

 camp on the farm of Rispain. A drive through a pleasantly 

 wooded tract of country, and past the policies of Glasserton House 



