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On entering the Bay of Rothesay, to the left, or south, you get a view- 

 almost equal to a section, the line of contour of the surface being 

 presented against the sky and water, and representing a long slope 

 from the hills to near the shore, when it descends abruptly to a flat 

 space, not very broad, before reaching the water. 



To the north of Eothesay, again, towards Port Bannatyne, the hills 

 descend much more abruptly, but between their base and the water the 

 little plain is more extended, and affords site for many bathing resi- 

 dences, and at one point it is occupied by a Eomau Catholic Chapel. 



Advancing up the Clyde, the same beach is seen on both sides. All 

 along, from Gourock southwards, the road is formed upon it. lii some 

 places it is a mei'e shelf, but in others it attains considerable breadth, 

 and it is backed by most picturesque cavern-hoUowed cliffs. These 

 may be seen very distinctly in the neighbourhood of Wemyss Bay. On 

 the north side of the Clyde, between Helensburgh and Dumbarton, the 

 same sort of beach may be traced ; and there, too, where the soft strata 

 of the old red sand-stone stand out in cliffs, on the upper side of the 

 road, they are hoUowed out into water-formed caverns. 



As you approach Glasgow, the high grounds on both sides of the 

 river recede far inland, leaving spread out between them a rich alluvial 

 plain, which it needs little imagination to recognise as the ancient 

 bottom of some old sea inlet or inland lake ; and it is curious to meet 

 with names and notices carrying out this hypothesis. Thus, three or 

 four miles below Glasgow, and a mile or a mile and a haK north from 

 the bank of the river, is a place called Garscadden. In Gaelic, I am 

 informed, (jar means a point, and scadden a herring ; and Macfarlane, 

 in his History of Renfrew, mentions this place as " The Herring Yair." 

 There are also some notices in the statistical account of Renfrew of 

 certain ancient fishings at Renfrew quay. In various parts of the flat 

 grounds lying around that town, deposits containing shells of species 

 not now living in our estuary have been found. 



In and around Glasgow there are many indications of "terraces," 

 with which, however, I do not think it needful to trouble you. They 

 are carefuUy described by Mr. Robert Chambers in his "Ancient Sea- 

 Margins." In addition to the evidence of the terraces themselves, we 

 have authentic records of the discovery of shells in the clay and sand 

 of which many of them are composed. Thus, at various points in the 

 parishes of Paisley and Renfrew have shells been found, especially at 

 Oakshaw and Bella Houston. They have been found at a considerable 

 deptli in some of the brick-fields at Anufield, to the east of Glasgow, i)y 

 ISlv. John Craig, and l)y the same person in various other places, at 40, 



