548 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



ginch. Ill the saiue district, wliicli is fully u inilt' from the iiiargin of 

 the tirth, a boat hook was discovered, 18 feet below the surface, 'stick- 

 ing' among the gravel, as if left by the tide on tlnj seashore.' (Here 

 and for what follows, I quote a letter from a lady, the daughter of one 

 of the chief ])roi)rietors of the Carse.) 'This relic has been preserved 

 by the farmer aaIio found it. I am also assured that what Avas consid- 

 ered as the remains of an anchor was found some years ago in easting 

 a drain below Flaw Craig, a cliff which overlooks the Carse between 

 Kinnaird and Fingask. Time out of mind, it has been a ]»o])ular belief 

 in this district that Flaw Craig rock bore the remains of a ring to which 

 shii)s were fastened when the sea ran at the bottom of the hill.' A 

 man living a few years ago alleged that he had seen the iron ring in 

 his youth as he climbed along the face of the crag in bird nesting. So 

 als<» it is told that the rock upon which Castle Huutly stands, in the 

 center of the Carse, once had rings fixed to it for mooring the boats 

 formerly used in sailing over the surrounding waters. A circumstance 

 in the title deeds of at least one estate on the slopes descending to the 

 Carse has given more force to these popular beliefs in the minds of the 

 educated classes, namely, that they include a right of salmon fishing, 

 though the lands are separated from the lirth by tlu^ whole breadth of 

 the Carse." 



These particulars would perhaps not be deserving of notice if they 

 were not in conformity with some others that are better authenticated. 

 According to Mr. J, E. Davis,^ " the sea is embanked out from an inlet 

 called Traeth Mawr, in Carvonshire. There are a series of embank- 

 ments higher up, which were made in the sixteenth century. It is evident 

 that these embankments are not the sole or the principal cause of the 

 sea no longer flowing within them, but that the nafural recession of 

 the sea (or elevation of the land) induced the inhabitants to anticipate, 

 by the erection of earthen mounds, that which would have been pro- 

 duced m a, few years by other causes. The sea marks may be traced 

 upon the surface of the escarpments in several of the islands of the 

 Tremadoc A^ alley, many feet above the present level of high water. 

 Tradition also lends its aid. From the rocky ground of Iiishir, Madoc, 

 one of the i)rinces of North Wales, leaving his country, sailed to 

 unknown lands. And to descend t(» more lecent times, I was informed 

 that the parish register at Penmoifa <;ontains entries showing that a 

 place in the parish called Yeverii was once a seaport, which, immedi- 

 ately before the erection of tlie great embankment, was several feet 

 above high water." 



In the great charter granted to the monastery of Holyrood (A. D. 114o) 

 the King conveys to the monks at Kenfrew "unuin tostumiu reinfry" 

 with a right not only of nets "ad salmoues," but, "et ibi piscari ad al- 



' Chambers, R., Ancient Sea Margins, p. 18. 



"Davis, J. E. Oil Geology of Tremadoc, Caruarvousliire. lu (,)narter]y .lourual of 

 Geological Society. May 1846. 



