8 
James Durham — The “ Karnes ” of Nercport, Fife. 
II. — The “Kames” in toe Neighbourhood of Newport, Fife, N.B. 
By James Durham, Esq. 
(With a Coloured Map. PLATE I.) 
A T tlie British Association Meeting in Dundee, in 1867, the late 
Dr. Chambers, in a brief paper, called the attention of Section C. 
to the existence of an “ eskar” in the neighbouring parish of Forgan, 
in the County of Fife. As far as I can recollect or ascertain, the 
paper said little or nothing about the subject further than describing 
its Situation, and recommending it to the attention of the Section. 
And I am not aware that the great accumulations of gravel and sand 
to which Dr. Chambers referred have been made the subject of 
systematic Observation since. 
The recent construction of a line of railway to connect the North 
British Iiailway’s line at Leuchars with the Tay Bridge, afforded in 
numerous cuttings ample opportunity of studying the nature and 
arrangement of the materials of which these mounds are formed. I 
propose in this paper to briefly describe the external appearance of 
those so-called “Kames,” as well as the boulders, gravels and sands 
of which they are composed, and to point out the inferences that 
I think may be fairly drawn from the facts at our disposal as to 
the origin of these and similar accumulations elsewhere. These 
Kames may, perhaps, be most easily described by supposing the 
observer to proceed from the centre of Wormit Bay (see Map) up to 
the “Castle Hill,” a lofty cone near their greatest elevation, and 
thence by the railway cuttings to St. Michael’s Inn and Leuchars. 
Leaving the shore-line a little to the west of Tay Bridge, we are first 
met by a series of mounds and ridges, through which a little rivulet 
has cut a deep and winding channel. Further on are a great succession 
of billowy mounds extending over many acres, and gradually rising 
in height as we approach a line between Wormit and Newton Hills, 
where they culminate at the height of about L70 feet in the “Castle 
Hill” and neighbouring heights. As we proceed, the Kames spread 
out into the open country in the form of a succession of great undu- 
lating ridges gradually lessening in height, and to the south forming 
a broad flat-topped plateau, extending like some great line of fortifi- 
cation almost from the farm of Kinnear to Leuchars, — its high, 
angular, and nearly vertical front forming one of the most imposing 
and interesting features of the landscape. To the eastward we find 
that these accumulations gradually decrease in height, until, in a 
series of gently sloping terraces, they arrive at the sea-level. The 
scenery, so to speak, of the Kames is somewhat remarkable ; Stand- 
ing amongst them, and liaving no Standard by which to estimate 
their dimensions, one is apt to be carried away with the feeling that 
he is contemplating one of those scenes of mountain grandeur usually 
associated with landscapes of far greater magnitude. Cones and 
ridges seem hills and mountain chains ; little pools seem lakes ; and 
tiny streamlets rivers — impressing the imagination not very differently 
from the far vaster features of a Highland district. 
An examination of the cuttings of the Tay Bridge and Leuchars 
