Quadrupeds. 1687 



were domesticated like cows, and occasionally brought to the slaughter-house to be 

 killed for food, then it might be convenient to saw off the horns, lest they should inter- 

 cept the death -stroke when armed at the forehead. But there is nothing in history or 

 in tradition that leads us to think that the red deer were ever domesticated ; and when 

 they met with death, it would not be by the murderous blow of the hammer, but by the 

 cruel teeth of dogs, or by the winged arrows of the huntsman. But bones and horns 

 were not the only remains ; there were masses of shells, generally of the edible mol- 

 lusks ; there was also what seemed a fragment of the quern or old hand-mill. There 

 was likewise the iron head of a spear, very much eaten away by rust, but which may 

 have done service in the tournament or in the field of battle. The greatest curiosity, 

 however, was a very antique-looking bead, of considerable .size, with longitudinal 

 grooves ; it was of a blue colour, and, I think, of glass, though mixed with something 

 that gave it the appearance of lapis-lazuli. It resembled those described by Ure, in 

 his ' History of Kutherglen,' which in olden times were used as amulets, and were 

 thought to have came from Phoenicia. These various things were found at the depth of 

 about three feet. Near to them, and at about the same depth, there was found a great 

 mass of wood or peat ashes. This corresponded with the tradition, that Coil's Hill 

 was one of the eminences on which beacon or telegraphic fires were kindled to spread 

 alarm on the approach of an enemy. Old Time has spread a dark veil over the history 

 of this hill, and we despair of being able to lift it up. He may laugh also at the fol- 

 lowing conjecture. It is known that there was a King Coilus or Coil, who was re- 

 nowned in the west. A large portion of Ayrshire bears his name — the district of Kyle. 

 Within that district there is a fine estate called Coils-field. The tradition is, that it 

 was so called, because King Coil was there slain in battle, and there buried, at a 

 place marked by a monumental stone. The correctness of this tradition has been 

 tested. The ground was lately dug up around this stone, and at some con- 

 siderable depth an uru was found, containing a little black earth — the remains, it is 

 possible, of King Coilus. There is in the same district a rivulet called Kyle. There 

 is at Kilwinning a well, called Kyle's well, and four miles distant, near Saltcoats, there 

 is, as we have seen, Kyle's hill, where the antiquities we have mentioned were found. 

 If any should think that Coile and Kyle are very different, I may mention, that accord- 

 ing to the Ayrshire pronunciation they have the same sound, as oi in the word oil has 

 the same sound'as cei in the French word Pceil, ' the eye.' When Ayrshire, then, was 

 covered with wood, and when hundreds of red deer sported in the green-wood glades, 

 it is possible that King Coil had a hunting-lodge on Coil's hill. If you have a better 

 explanation or conjecture, I shall be glad to hear it. — D. Landsborough ; Rockvale, 

 Saltcoats, March 7th, 1847. 



[The teeth sent by the Rev. Mr. Landsborough, are — 1 molar (upper-jaw) of a 

 very small horse, 2 molars of a pig, 5 molars of a deer, probably the red deer, and 1 

 incisor, probably the red deer.. — Edward Neivmari]. 



Buffalo-battues. — " Soon we came to where the ground was strewed over with 

 countless bleached skeletons of buffaloes. The poor improvident Indians, when they 

 meet with powerful herds of these animals, and have a favourable opportunity of de- 

 stroying them, kill as many as they can, frequently several hundreds in a day, and all 

 for the sake of the skins, with which they liquidate their debts to the insatiate trader, 

 leaving the carcasses to rot on the ground, and afford food to the prairie-wolves. This 

 had been the scene of one of these buffalo-battues. At some future geological period, 

 when another deposit is made on this part of the terrestial surface, it may be that these 



