180 PROFESSOR EDWARD HULL^ M.A.^ LL.D._, F.R.S.^ ON 



the Carses of Gowry, Falkirk and Stirling, and they have been 

 largely taken advantage of for the sites of towns and cities, such 

 as those of Leith, Burntisland, Dundee, Arbroath, Greenock and 

 the lower part of Glasgow. These towns are built either 

 partly, or altogether, on the upraised terraces which liave 

 their representatives along the coast. At Glasgow, which is 

 partly built on the same platform, the silt and sand of which 

 it is composed have yielded no fewer than eighteen canoes, 

 some of them under the very streets and houses, together 

 with stone hatchets, boat-hooks, anchors, pottery and other 

 works of art. The boat-hooks and anchors are of iron, and 

 indicate an age on the verge of what may be called that of 

 " Eoman Civilization " for Great Britain. Most of the Clyde 

 canoes were formed out of single oak stems, but two of them 

 were built of planks. Of these the more elaborate was discovered 

 on the property of Bankton in 1853. The description 

 of this clinker-built boat, with keel, cutwater and planks 

 fastened by means of oaken pins, is given in much detail by 

 Sir E. Geikie,* as indicating the use of iron implements ; to 

 which may be added a plug of cork indicating some communica- 

 tion with more southern and civilized people. It is clear that this 

 boat is of later age than either " the stone," or " the bronze " 

 periods. The occurrence of skeletons of whales, one at Airthrey 

 near Stirling in silt fully a mile from the present river, and at 

 a height of about 25 feet above high-water of spring tides ; 

 another at Dunmore in stiff clay at a height of about 24 feet ; 

 and a third at Blair-Drummond, which lies seven miles higher 

 up the valley than Airthrey, show that pretty deep sea-water 

 spread into the centre of Scotland at this period. 



But more impressive still, as showing the presence of men 

 capable of working in iron, is the occurrence of an iron anchor, 

 dug up near the spot where the Dunmore whale was found. It 

 appears to have been about 20 feet above high-water mark, and 

 consisted of a beam and ring in tolerably perfect condition ; the 

 flanges, however, were much decayed. Other anchors have been 

 found below Larbert Bridge, and near Canielon in Stirlingshire, 

 as also an iron boat-hook on the farm of Inchmichael imbedded 

 under 8 feet of stratified gravel at a distance of a mile from the 

 margin of the Firth of Tay. The surface of the ground was 

 about 3 feet higher than that of the surrounding carse or about 

 28 feet above high-water mark. This boat-hook, which has 



* Supra cit.^ p. 222 et seq. 



