the Coast of the Firth of Forth. 105 
tranquilly by the tides, is abundantly manifest from the strati- 
fied aspect of the bed as well as from that of the sand which 
covers it. We see its exact counterpart, indeed, along the 
shores of the Firth at the present day. The dark sandy mud 
which covers such extensive flats between tide marks at Leith, 
if elevated, would give us just such a deposit as that of the 
sand-pit. At the mouth of the Almond, the same muddy silt 
is now forming, and there the observer may notice patches of 
sand blown across the mud after the recession of the tide, and 
covered with a thin muddy pellicle by the next influx of the 
mingled water of the sea and the river. Such lenticular 
sandy layers in like manner represent those which occur in 
the dark silt of the sand-pit. To complete the parallel, we see 
_ along the muddy flats frequent fragments of bone, pottery, 
and pieces of stone, which are gradually covered over by the 
alluvial deposits. Similar fragments occur in the sand-pit, 
and to their nature, and the inference to be deduced from 
their occurrence there, I shall now advert. 
The pieces of pottery found by Dr Young and myself were 
of two kinds; the first and most abundant were of a pale 
yellowish-grey colour, from two to nearly six lines in thick- 
ness, and of a firm, compact, but somewhat granular clay. 
They showed no glaze, but had a rough exterior and a rounded 
form, like fragments of a flagon or urn. All the pieces we 
obtained occurred in the space of two or three yards, and 
might have belonged to one vessel. We also found, however, 
one or two fragments of a thinner and finer kind of pottery of 
a red colour, and coated with a pellicle of greenish glaze. 
Having obtained as many fragments as could be gathered 
after a careful search during two visits to the sand-pit, we 
submitted them to Mr M‘Culloch, the curator of the Scottish 
Antiquarian Museum, requesting his opinion before informing 
him where they had been found. He at once pointed out that 
they strongly resembled fragments of Roman pottery ; and he 
stated, that if found near a Roman station, he would have no 
hesitation in pronouncing them to be Roman. He further 
courteously assisted us to. compare them with pieces of un- 
doubted Roman workmanship in the museum. The resem- 
blance was so complete, that one could easily have believed 
NEW SERIES,—VOL. XIV. NO. .—suLy 1861. 0 
