310 The Loch of Spynie. (CHAP. XVII. 
sea-beach was neither more nor less than a veritable kitch- 
en-midden.” 
The Rev. Dr. Gordon, of Birnie, near Elgin, had already 
found a similar accumulation of shells on the old margin 
of the Loch of Spynie, formerly an arm of the sea. The 
mound is situated in a small wood on the farm. of Brigzes, 
SPYNIE OASTLE AND LOOH. 
It had been much diminished by its contents having been 
carted off from the centre of the heap, as manure or top- 
dressing for the adjoining fields) The mound—or rather 
couple of mounds, for it has been cut into two parts—must 
have been of considerable extent. It measured about a 
hundred yards in length by about thirty in breadth. The 
most abundant shell found was the periwinkle, or the edi- 
ble ‘‘buckie,” as it is usually called. Next in order was 
the oyster; and magnificent natives they must have been. 
The Bay of Spynie was then a productive dredging-ground. 
On the extensive flat around it, wherever a canal or ditch is 
dug up, the shells of oysters are yet, to be met with, seem- 
