On the Rise of the Shores of the Firth of Forth. 279 



access to the river, therefore the land has risen in post- 

 Roman times. 



How stand the facts. The Romans built a bridge over 

 the Esk near Musselburgh, which now forms the centre of 

 the present old bridge. That the triremes of the Romans 

 reached so far up no one has ever doubted who knows the 

 history of this famous structure. It is a fact recorded in 

 history, that at the battle of Pinkie, fought September 9. 

 1547, Lord Graham, son of the Earl of Montrose, was killed 

 along with many others on this bridge by the fire of the 

 English fleet in the offing, — at present no boat capable of 

 conveying a small cannon could approach within two miles 

 of the position. It is very easy to say that these are proofs 

 of the rise of the land in post-Roman times, but Maclaren, 

 Geikie, and Chambers have not even hinted at the cause ; 

 they have left their readers to assume, and Sir Charles 

 Lyell to hint, that a real difference between the levels of 

 sea and land has taken place to the extent of 25 feet 

 since the occupation of our shores by the Roman legions. 

 That no such abnormal action has taken place in the 

 historic, or it may be in the human period, it will not be 

 difficult to prove. For this purpose, I avail myself of an 

 able paper communicated upwards of twenty years ago to 

 the Geological Society of Edinburgh, by Mr Hay, land- 

 surveyor, Musselburgh, and as I had the honour of being 

 one of a committee to investigate his proofs, I have every 

 faith in their accuracy. 



The delta of low alluvial land forming the town lands 

 of Musselburgh, or the lower part of the parish of Inveresk, 

 to the extent of about 600 imperial acres, can be shown to 

 have been formed by deposits in the sea brought down by 

 the river Esk, and that the whole of these lands were sea at 

 do very distant period of time, excepting a few small pendi- 

 cles that extend into the higher ground southward. The 

 land comprehending the formation may be considered as an 

 irregular triangle, whose base extends from Ravensheugh 

 Burn on the east to Magdalene Burn on the west — about 

 two and a half miles, and whose perpendicular extends from 

 the south end of Newbigging to the mouth of the river Esk, 



