B,BPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1897 169 



l)un8; Mr George Fortune, Duns; Mr David Veitch, Duns; 

 Mr W. B. Swan, Duns ; Eev. J. Burleigh, Ednam ; Mr D. 

 Leitch, Greenlaw ; Mr Bolam, F.Z.S., Berwick, Treasurer ; 

 Mr Richardson, Berwick; and Dr Macvie, Chirnside. 

 The three last-named gentlemen cycled to Johnscleugh by way 

 of Duns and Cranshaws, and went on to Dunbar. 



The return route to Duns was by Mayshiel, Kilpallet, and 

 Longformacus. This opened up quite a new district of country 

 to view, and magnificent prospects of the Lammermoors and 

 East Lothian were obtained. In turning up the valley of the 

 Kell Burn to Mayshiel, a low ridge known as Kingside (the 

 ancient King's Seat) was crossed, and here two groups of 

 upright stones were observed. One of them consisted of four 

 stones placed in the form of a rectangle, and it required 

 little effort of imagination to picture some ancient chief admin- 

 istering the rude justice of those early times from this primitive 

 place of authority. Mention was made of other similar groups 

 in the neighbourhood, but these if they still exist, which seems 

 doubtful, there was not time to visit. 



Mayshiel itself was looked upon as a point of some historic 

 interest, having belonged at one time to the Priory of the Isle of 

 May. There are still some few traces of antiquity about the 

 farm house. Abstracts of some of the charters of the Priory 

 relating to Mayshiel will be found in an appendix to the report 

 of the Club's visit to Priestlaw in 1896. 



Passing on by the Lone Mile, with the Eed Stane Eig to the 

 right, a magnificent view was had of the richly cultivated lands 

 of East Lothian to the north, with Traprain and North Berwick 

 Law in the nearer distance, the Bass rising amid the blue waters 

 of the Firth of Forth beyond, and the misty shores of Fife 

 closing in the prospect to the north-west. The wild and 

 romantic valley of the Fasney was then crossed, and a glimpse 

 obtained of Kilpallet, now a lone shepherd's house, but evidently 

 from its name, marking a spot where early missionaries from 

 Lindisfarne or Melrose, founded a chapel in their endeavours to 

 christianise this part of Northumbria. The gloomy solitudes of 



