404 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
and function in the social organisations of the times. The first 
great discovery which brought them on the field of practical research 
was made in the Loch of Dowalton, Wigtownshire, about thirty 
years ago. In order to drain the extensive meadows occupying the 
western portion of the Dowalton valley, the proprietor. Sir William 
Maxwell, Bart., conceived and successfully carried out a project of 
draining the loch by cutting a new outlet through the narrow lip 
of rock which, at a certain portion of its margin, was the only 
barrier between its waters and the lower ground beyond. This 
excavation was completed during the summer of 1863, and, as the 
waters subsided, a group of five or six artificial islands gradually 
emerged, like a scene in fairyland, from the bosom of the lake. 
The antiquarian remains collected on these islands ultimately dis- 
closed a picture of early Scottish civilization hitherto unknown to 
historians or to archaeologists. Sir Herbert Maxwell, to whom the 
event was especially exciting on account of the bewilderment of 
the aquatic birds which were in the habit of frequenting the loch, 
and the tragic fate of its fish, gives the following reminiscence of 
the circumstances which led to the recognition of the true nature 
of the islands : — “ I remember when Lord Lovaine was taken 
down to see the drainage operations in 1863, that the islands 
were just appearing above the subsiding waters. His lordship 
had, I think, just returned from Switzerland, where he had visited 
the lake-dwellings there. My father told me that he exclaimed 
‘ Why, here are just the things I have been looking at in the Swiss 
lakes.’” 
In August of that year. Lord Lovaine (now Duke of Northumber- 
land) read a descriptive account of these crannogs at the Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne meeting of the British Association. 
A couple of years later. Dr Stuart, Secretary of the Society of 
Antiquaries, visited Dowalton, and, owing to the more complete 
drainage of the loch, was enabled to examine the islands under 
more favourable conditions. The result of his labours was an 
elaborate paper to the Society, in which he gave a detailed account 
of their structure and of the relics found on them ; and to which he 
added all the facts he could glean elsewhere, including some of the 
contents of the unpublished paper of Dr Robertson. 
Among the industrial remains collected on and around these islands 
