3 



either end of the area, and a great many on the banks of the river at 

 Glasgow; some at heights 10 or 12 feet ahove the highest level 

 reached by the greatest floods on record in the Clyde. Eespecting 

 these, the following particulars have been kindly furnished by John 

 Buchanan, Esq., the well-known archaeologist of this city, who 

 carefully noted at the time the circumstances attending the discovery 

 of those more recently foundj 



" Within the last eighty years, no less than sixteen of these interesting 

 remains of aboriginal workmanship have been found in and near Glasgow. 

 They are all, with one exception, formed of single oak trees, in some in- 

 stances by the action of fire, in others by tools evidently blunt, probably 

 of stone, and therefore referable to a period so remote as to have preceded 

 the knowledge of the use of iron. The first known instance was in 1780. 

 The canoe lay under the foundations of the old St. Enoch's church, at a 

 depth of 25 feet from the surface that is about the level of low water in 

 the river below Argyle Street and within it was a stone hatchet of 

 polished greenstone, in good preservation. It is now in the possession of 

 C. Wilsone Broune, Esq., of Wemyss Bay. The second, in 1781, while 

 excavating the foundations of the Tontine, at the Cross, the surface being 

 here 22 feet above high water. A third, in 1824, in Stockwell Street, in 

 a deep cutting opposite the mouth of Jackson Street. The fourth was 

 found, in 1825, in the cuttings for a sewer in London Street, on the site of 

 the ' Old Trades' Land : ' the canoe was vertical, the prow uppermost, 

 and a number of shells were inside. The next discovery was made in 1846, 

 when the improvements in the river began to be actively carried out. 

 Eleven canoes were discovered in a short period. Of these, five were 

 found on the lands of Springfield, opposite the lower portion of the 

 harbour ; five more on the property of Clydehaugh, west of Springfield ; 

 and one in the grounds of Bankton, adjoining Clydehaugh. The ten were 

 in groups together, 19 feet below the surface, and above 100 yards south 

 from the old river bank, which was then where the middle of the stream 

 now is. The twelfth canoe was brought up by the dredging machine, on 

 the north side of the river, a few yards west from the Point House, where 

 the Kelvin enters. The Erskine specimen was found in 1854. It was 

 taken out by Mr. Taylor, who has charge of the ferry, nearly entire. To 

 test its capabilities, he had it partially supported on a raft, and floated in 

 it across the stream. 



" A collection of these canoes is now preserved in a building in the 

 College grounds ; and single specimens may be seen in Stirling's Library, 

 Miller Street ; the Andersonian Museum, George Street ; ferry house, 

 Erskine ferry, ten miles below Glasgow ; and in the hall of the Society 

 of Antiquaries, Edinburgh."* 



* Mr. Buchanan has since published a very full and interesting account of these 

 curious remains in Glasgow Past and Present, vol. iii. 



