VALUE OF TRADITION 15 



the valley of the Whiteadder, and were riding past the 

 mouth of one of the narrow glens, when a gust of 

 wind, sweeping out of the hollow, lifted up their 

 hodden-grey cloaks and showed their military garb 

 beneath. They had been watched, and were now over- 

 taken and shot. Miss Darling told me that tradition 

 had always pointed to some old whin-bushes at the 

 opening of the cleugh as the spot where they were 

 buried. At her instigation the ground was dug up 

 there, and among some mouldering bones were found 

 a few decayed buttons with a coin of the time of 

 Charles the First. 



Tradition is no doubt often entirely erroneous ; but 

 it ought not, I think, to be summarily dismissed with- 

 out at least critical examination. There are doubtless 

 instances where it might come in to corroborate con- 

 clusions deducible from other and usually more reliable 

 kinds of evidence. 



(4) But of all the sources of information regarding 

 bygone mutations of the surface of the land, un- 

 doubtedly the most important is that supplied by the 

 testimony of geology. Early human chronicles are not 

 only imperfect, but may be erroneous. The chronicle, 

 however, which Nature has compiled of her past vicis- 

 situdes, though it may be fragmentary, is, at least, 

 accurate. In interpreting it the geologist is liable, 

 indeed, to make mistakes; but these can be corrected 

 by subsequent investigation, while the natural chronicle 

 itself remains unaffected by them. Moreover, it em- 

 braces a vast period of time. Historical evidence in this 

 country is comprised within the limits of nineteen cen- 

 turies. The testimony from Celtic topographical names 



