4 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



encouragement to, if he did not originate, this extension 

 of the Club's operations. In 1886 the President for the 

 year referred to the fact that the archaeology of the 

 district was beginning to receive attention from Dr Hardy 

 and several friends. The Club at that time had done 

 little in this line, but a commencement had been made 

 in collecting pottery and urns, stone, tiint, and bronze 

 implements ; and the hope was expressed that ere long 

 investigations would be made, which would throw some 

 light upon the life and customs of the people of the 

 distant past, who inhabited the country in which we are 

 now discovering their dwelling places and burial grounds. 

 The result has been that many members of the Club are 

 now interested in local archieology and history. The 

 Field Meetings are most attractive to some when they 

 include in the programme visits to old camps and peels 

 and ruined castles, and abbeys and churches and historical 

 places. The investigations and discoveries which give 

 most satisfaction to these are the things which cast a 

 light, even though shadowy, upon the manner of life and 

 occupation and customs and religious observances of the 

 people who once inhabited the forts and villages whose 

 ruins crown so many hills, and whose ashes and mortal 

 remains are found in the urns and cysts so frequently 

 unearthed. 



The district of Lauderdale affords great scope for all 

 varieties of minds and likings found in any meeting of 

 the Club. The entomology and ornithology and botany 

 of the district have been duly chronicled by Mr Andrew 

 Kelly, Lauder, and Mr William Shaw, Galashiels, in Mr A. 

 Thomson's excellent " History of Lauder and Lauderdale." 

 The naturalist will find enough in these lists to attract 

 his attention. Yet I have noticed that when the Club 

 has visited this district some of the members have shown 

 most interest in antiquarian and archiieological subjects. 

 Lauder itself, as an ancient Royal Burgh — with its unique 

 Burgess-System and Common Lands — has always excited 



