Cuurcn or St. Joun THE Baptist, Datry. 69 
and Japan, probably owe their properties in part to certain species 
of alge. Besides, as nourishment, alge are very beneficial in 
many complaints owing to the iodine they contain. 
1V.—Wotes on the Ancient Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, 
Dairy, Kirkcudbrightshire. 
By Mr WILLIAM GALLOWAY, Corr. Mem. S.A. Scot. 
It was on the 19th of October last that I made my first 
acquaintance with the charming district of the Glenkens, of whose 
picturesque beauties | had previously heard so much. There had 
been a sharp frost over-night, and the whole country was covered 
with a thick coat of rime, only too faithfully simulating the first 
snows of winter. As the sun gained power, this silvery veil dis- 
appeared, and the day turned out very good indeed, the mellowing 
tints of autumn lending a pleasing variety to the ever-changing 
scene. 
The immediate object of my quest was the ancient Parish 
Church of St. John the Baptist, at Dalry. Knowing it only by 
name, I was in happy ignorance of what I might expect, yet 
cherishing the idea that in such an out-of-the-way locality, there 
was a pleasing hope of at least some mouldering walls, choked 
possibly with nettles and rank undergrowth, yet presenting suf- 
ficient indications to determine style and period. 
Arrived at my destination, one glance at the churchyard dis- 
pelled all these illusions. Occupying the only spot where the old 
church could have been, on a knoll surmounting the brawling 
Ken, sat a spruce modern building, in all its surroundings so trim 
and well kept as to show at once that with one exception all 
traces of its old predecessor had been carefully removed or buried 
out of sight. Close to it, yet detached, on a green brae of its 
own, wreathed with trailing wisps of ivy, unkempt, yet quaint and 
curious, with crow-stepped gable, large antiquely-grilled window 
and panelled coat of arms, stood the one exception noted—the 
Kenmure burial aisle, and, time being limited, to it I at once 
directed attention. 
If the present Parish Church has wellnigh obliterated every 
trace of its predecessor, it has, at least, by exigency of a very 
restricted site, retained its orientation, in its main length standing 
due east and west, and it thus became at once evident that the 
