Mr. \Vm. Stevenson on Bedshiel " KaimsT 125 



Let us glance for a little at the physical condition which 

 prevailed in this part of Berwickshire at a time when the sea 

 stood relativehj somewhat more than 700 feet higher than at 

 present. A shallow sea covered the district of which the 

 Kaims and flat mossy ground are now the most prominent 

 features. A few miles to the W. and N.E. rose the Silurian 

 hills of the Lammermoors, flanked by Devonian strata, and 

 attaining a height of at most a little more than 1000 feet 

 above the then sea level. Deep sea extended far and wide to 

 the S.E., E. and N.E., narrowing towards the S. (and 

 perhaps S,W.), where communication was kept up with the 

 Atlantic by means of deep sounds dividing lofty insular 

 masses. Through these sounds rushed continually in an 

 easterly direction that great and ancient current, the proto- 

 type of our modern Gulf Stream, charged probably at that 

 time with icebergs and floes bearing along their loads of far 

 transported clay and boulders. But whether or not the sea 

 in this latitude was glacial at that time, the existence of this 

 current from the west is demonstrated by the well marked 

 phenomena of ''crag and tail" so frequently to be met 

 with, but more particularly from the fact that aU the boulders, 

 gravel, &c., strewn so profusely over the district, have been 

 derived from rocks found in situ to the westward of the 

 localities where they occur. There are some grounds for 

 believing that the sea stood for a considerably lengthened 

 period at, or a few feet above, the 700 feet level ; ^ and that 

 thereafter the emergence of the land was for a time more 

 rapid. Further researches will be required to clear up this 

 point. During this emergence the ridges of the Kaims began 

 to appear above the water as long, narrow, gravelly, and 

 sandy spits, exposed to continual alterations of form by the 

 combined action of the great western current, tidal waves and 

 storms, until they were finally left high and dry, presenting 

 the remarkable aspect which they now exhibit. The shaping 

 action of these ancient waters is beautifully recorded on both 

 the internal and external sides of the ridges. In some places 

 the appearances are so fresh looking as to induce one to fancy 

 that the tide had just ebbed to return again in a few hours to 

 lave the bases of these bulwarks formed by itself, as it were 

 in sport, during its prosperous career ; but now standing as 

 they did at the time of the last ancient pre-historic flow, as 

 firm barriers to tell the advancing sea " hitherto shalt thou 

 come, but no further." 



To describe the wonderful changes in the configuration of 



