ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS IN LOCHS OF HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 207 
quite fresh. When cut the wood had a pinkish colour, but this rapidly 
changed on exposure to the air to bluish-grey. 
I have dwelt in some detail on the foregoing examples partly to show 
the position of the investigation before the British Association Com- 
mittee was appointed, and partly to give examples of each kind af 
island. The labour of even a cursory visit to some of these islands is 
often so great that it was evident that one individual would not succeed 
in adding any great number to the list of already recorded examples. 
“There was also the fact that many of the islands were known to be 
‘artificial to persons living in their immediate neighbourhood, of which, 
nevertheless, there was no record. It was to secure information regard- 
‘ing these that the British Association Committee issued a circular, of 
which four hundred and fifty copies have been sent out. In almost all 
‘eases I wrote a note amplifying some points of the circular, and the 
number of replies received is in consequence most gratifying. It will, 
I think, be best to consider the replies according to counties, working 
from south to north, and here I may mention that I have generally 
been glad to include in the list islands partly or wholly natural, when 
an artificial causeway proved that they had at some time been adapted 
for habitation. Such causeways seem to prove the island-dwelling pro- 
pensities of the inhabitants almost as much as do the completely 
artificial islands. 
Perthshire. 
~~ Loch Moulin.—Of this and‘ the following examples Mr. Hugh 
‘Mitchell, F:S.A/Scot., sends very full reports. He writes: ‘ Loch 
‘Moulin-{Moy-luine—the plain of the pool from which the present 
‘parish gets ifs name. The loch adjoined the village of Moulin on the 
east, and was 600 yards long by 400 yards wide. It was drained about 
1770. The lake ‘was Shallow—probably not ‘exceeding seven feet or 
less—with a peaty bottom. A crannog, or artificial island, occupied the 
centre of the lake. About 1320 a large castle was built on this crannog 
by’ Sir Neil Campbell, of Lochaw. The castle has been ‘a ruin since 
about 1550; but its walls; 6 feet thick, stand about 30 feet high. The 
ground shows that the crannog was formed .of small stones from’10 |b. 
to 40 Ib. in weight, probably resting on’ wood to prevent them sinking 
into the peat. |The foundation of the castle seems to rest on wood 
lying in the peat. There is a sloping causeway on the shore, but it is 
only about 30 feet in length, and may have been where the hoats landed 
from the castle. There is a weem, or earth-house; in’the bank near the 
site of the lake.» There was also a large stone circle, which was blasted 
eighty years ago for building-stone. There are several standing stones, 
remains of circles, and numerous forts in the neighbourhood. . . .’ 
To the above may be added the statement in the Old Statistical Account 
‘written in 1793 that ‘the vestiges of a causeway leading from the 
‘building to the nearest rising ground, a distance of 110 yards, are quite 
distinct.’ This evidently refers to the opposite end of the causeway 
to that mentioned by Mr. Mitchell, and establishes the fact of its 
existence fairly well.- - © ©) os: 
