On the Rise of the Shores of the Firth of Forth. 295 
which they are now enriching. Had this bed been a pelagic 
one, as stated erroneously by Maclaren, would we not have 
expected to find, if it had been rising so rapidly in the 
world, that it would have left some traces below of its origin? 
No such can be found. How, then, account for its present 
position ? Above Queensferry, and nearly opposite, is a fine 
oyster-scalp, always bare at low tides. These oysters are 
large and plentiful, not having been ransacked by the 
denizens of Iron Mill Bay, where they occur. On the oppo- 
site shore the oyster shells are so numerous on the beach 
as to arrest the attention of the most careless observer. 
Now, to account for the position of those shells 60 feet 
above the present highest level of the tide at Iron Mill Bay, 
we have this, as a recorded fact in history, that during the 
reign of Alexander III., as stated by Boece in his " Historia 
Scotorum," " in the year 1266, in the seventeenth year of that 
monarch's reign, a tide rose very much higher than usual — 
a consequence of storms — overflowed the channels of the 
river, especially the Tay and the Forth, and caused an inun- 
dation which overthrew many villas, laying waste the dis- 
tricts, and occasioned a very great loss both of men and 
cattle." Such a storm must have left some visible traces of 
its existence. Tradition, indeed, mentions one of the effects 
of this mighty flood in the destruction of a town and in the 
elevation of the sands of Barrie at the mouth of the Tay; 
and what, therefore, prevents us from concluding that the 
same mighty tempest raised from the oyster beds of Iron 
Mill Bay the shells which are now high and dry near 
Inveravon ? 
The " Commercial Packet," a sloop of thirty-two tons bur- 
den, laden with timber, was thrown ashore on the Hopetoun 
grounds, past the road, and into a field, in the year 1848. 
I need not remind this Society of that great wave which 
occurred at the famous earthquake of Lisbon, which sw'ept 
over the land, leaving vessels of many hundred tons burden 
90 feet above the harbour in wdiich they were moored. 
Now, this great historic wave, which took place in the 
reign of Alexander, though only 33 feet high below 
Queensferry, must have attained a greater elevation after 
