1862.] GEIKIE ELEVATION OE SCOTLAND. 229 



subsequent geological arguments as to the long period at which the 

 British Isles have been stationary. If it be true, then we must 

 allow that the upheaval, of which the evidence has been adduced in 

 the present communication, is referable to a period certainly previous 

 to the Koman invasion. If the statement be erroneous, the other 

 alternative remains, that the upward movment may have been wholly 

 or in part effected after the Eoman invasion. 



After carefully examining both extremities of the wall, and 

 reading the narratives of the various antiquaries who have treated 

 of the Roman remains in Scotland, I have no hesitation in affirm- 

 ing that not only is there no evidence that the wall was constructed 

 with a regard to the present level of the land, but there is every 

 ground for believing that it was built when the land was at least 

 20 feet lower than it is at present. To begin with the east end, — 

 from the Avon west of Borrowstounness eastward to Carriden the 

 ground rises from the old coast-line as a steep bank, the summit 

 of which is from 50 to 100 feet above the sea ; between the bottom 

 of this abrupt declivity and the present margin of the Firth there is 

 a narrow strip of flat ground, about 200 yards broad, on which Bor- 

 rowstounness is built, and which nowhere rises more than 20 feet 

 above high water. It is a mere prolongation of the TaMrk Carse, 

 already described, and beyond doubt formed the beach when the sea 

 broke against the base of the steep bank. Now the Eoman Wall 

 was carried, not along this low land bordering the sea, but along the 

 high ground that rose above it. The extremity at Carriden, there- 

 fore, instead of having any reference to the present limit of the tides, 

 actually stood on the summit of a steep bank overhanging the sea, 

 above which it was elevated fully 100 feet. If the land here were 

 depressed 25 feet, no part of the wall would be submerged. The 

 only change on 'the coast-line would be in the advance of the sea 

 across the narrow flat terrace of Borrowstounness and Grange, as 

 far as the bottom of the abrupt declivity 



The western termination of the Antonine Wall stood on the little 

 eminence caUed Chapel Hill, near West Kilpatrick, on the north bank 

 of the Clyde. Between this rising-ground and the margin of the 

 river lies the Forth and Clyde Canal, the surface of which is 20 feet 

 above high-water-mark, and the base of the hill at least 5 or 6 feet 

 higher. Hence the wall terminated upon a hiU, the base of which 

 is not less than 25 feet above the present level of the sea. In making 

 the canal, a number of Roman antiquities were found at various 

 depths in the alluvium : these seem to have been part of the ruins 

 from the fort above. If we admit that the wall was constructed 

 previous to the last elevation of the land, we see a peculiar fitness in 

 the site of its western termination. The Chapel Hill must in that 

 case have been a promontory jutting out into the stream, and at 

 high water the river must have washed the base of the Kilpatrick 

 Hills — a range of heights that rise steeply from lower grounds, and 

 sweep away to the north-east. Hence, apart altogether from consi- 

 derations dependent upon the strategic position of the hills which were 

 infested by the barbarians, we obtain an ob\dous reason why Lollius 



