Black Dyke and British Ca.mps. By James Tait. 807 



mouth 6|- inches. "A few years ago," writes Mr Stevens, 

 " about 300 j'ards to the east of Luffness House, in a gravel 

 bank, the skeleton of a human being was found, buried and en- 

 closed in a stone cist, not unlike a " box-drain," of 1 foot 6 inches 

 square, and fully 6 feet long. The size of the leg bones and the 

 cist indicated a man of large size. The gravel bank appeared to 

 be an ancient sea beach on the 25 feet contour line of the 

 Trigonometrical Survey." 



On the west of Aberlady there are other traces of the old 

 inhabitants. Mr Oongalton, Aberlady, states that when he was 

 a youth there were remains of a fine camp, in a field near Oraigie- 

 law, part of which was then entire. This was dismantled fifty 

 years ago. Farther again to the N.W. there have occurred 

 numerous relics of the old dwellers on these shores. Should 

 these again be disturbed by quarrying, it is hoped they will be 

 attended to, and not lost. '' All along the shore," says the Eev. 

 Dr. Neil Eoy, writing 1791, '' from Aberlady to Longniddry are 

 a great many stone graves, all of them that have been opened 

 containing human bones : particularly in Gosford Links they are 

 laid almost as thick as in a churchyard, and fill a considerable 

 space of ground. It is remarkable that many of them lie nearly 

 south and north. In searching lately for a stone quarry there 

 were found in a hole, enclosed with stones, about 30 inches by 

 18, the bones of a human body, and a small well-formed tessel- 

 lated urn of a very light blue colour. It is in the custody of the 

 Earl of Wemyss. At a small distance from these graves are two 

 pretty large tumuli." (Trans. Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, i., 

 p. 517). 



On the Black Dyke and some British Camps in the icest of 

 Berwickshire. By James Tait, Blainslie. 



I. THE BLACK DYKE. 



A few years ago the Black Dyke could be spoken of as an 

 existing memorial of antiquity : now it is only in one small j)art 

 that it can be examined with anything like critical curiosity. Its 

 effacement has been caused by the extension of agricultural im- 

 provements over the moorlands where the Black Dyke ran. The 



