110 Mr Geikie on a Rise of 
spots on which the remains were found. We only know that 
the quays which the Romans built along the sea-margin have 
been found on what is now good dry land. No relic of the 
Roman period is now visible here. A rock, indeed, called the 
“ Kagle Rock,” or “ Hunter’s Craig,” is shown with the alleged 
effigies of an eagle carved on its eastern front, a little above 
high-water mark. Antiquaries have grown eloquent at the 
sight of this relic of the creative genius of the old legionaries. 
But the carving has really about as much claim to be consi- 
dered Roman as the famous Pretorium of Jonathan Oldbuck. 
In a niche of the soft sandstone crag stands a rude figure, as 
like that of a human being as of an eagle, with a very short 
stump by way of legs, surmounted by a long and not very 
symmetrical body, on one side of which an appendage that 
may be an arm, hangs stiffly down, while the corresponding 
one shoots away up at an uncomfortable angle on the other 
side. Like other carvings on the shores of the Forth (as the 
figure near Dysart, and Queen Margaret’s footstep at South 
Queensferry), it must take rank among the handiworks of idle 
peasants or truant schoolboys. 
The next point westwards where we meet with traces of the 
Roman occupation is the commencement of the Wall of Anto- 
ine at Carriden. From this point the line of the wall runs 
on the summit of the high bank that overlooks the Firth 
westwards to beyond the village of Polmont. Its position at the 
Kerse toll-bar was pointed out to us by a farm-labourer who 
dug through the soil in a level field on the upper edge of the 
great Carse, and showed the position of the large flat stones 
which formed the foundation of the wall. From this locality 
the wall again ascended to the higher ground, passing west- 
wards by Falkirk and Camelon, and then receding from the ~ 
shores of the Forth. 
From Falkirk seawards, the ground forms a great expanse 
of flat alluvial land, called the Carse. No one can doubt that 
this tract has been gradually gained from the sea, and that 
the tides must at a comparativly recent period have washed 
the heights on which Polmont and Falkirk stand. One anti- 
quary even asserts his belief that this tract may have been 
formed since the daysof the Romans. He alleges, in support 
