covery of the hill-fort of Dumbowie, all pointing to the presence of prehistoric man, or man in the Stone Ages-I had naturally drawn the conclusion that other evidence of his presence might, or rather should, be found nearer the great river itself.

"I therefore commenced a search, which was happily rewarded about the beginning of August by my discovery of what I thought, and what has now proved to be, an undoubted crannog of a very remarkable type, not so much in the nature of its construction as in its associations.

"I did not get much encouragement at first to confirm me in the idea, or rather my fixed opinion, that it was a crannog. I lost no time in acquainting Dr. Joseph Anderson, of the Edinburgh Society of Antiquaries, with my find, and he kindly informed me that he had passed on my letter to an authority, Dr. Robert Munro,1 Hon. Sec., Soc. of Antiquaries of Scotland, who would give the matter his attention.

"This the learned Doctor did, visiting the scene of the find, guided by me. He told me on the way that he would naturally be glad if the find turned out as I thought; but he was puzzled to know how to reconcile my statements with what had already been accepted as the conditions of early life on Clydeside.

"The Doctor at the first glance was convinced that a dwelling was there, and at once commenced to prove it, by making at least half a dozen small excavations, which earned for my find his opinion that 'it was the most curious, puzzling, and interesting find of the kind he had met in all his long experience'.

"He added that no time should be lost in having it thoroughly and carefully excavated, great care being taken in sifting the refuse mound, and further pointed out the great value evidence of fire or habitation would attach to the find.

"I then called the attention of the Helensburgh Naturalists and Antiquarian Society, of which I am a member, to my discovery, and the Society's excavation committee lost no time in visiting the spot, guided by me.

"Another attack was made on the dwelling: this time, although slight, of a more practical kind; resulting in revealing the fact that there was design and execution in the building, occupation, habitation (over a lengthened period), positive evidence of fire, and splendid evidence of the conditions of life at the period.

"This was proved by the fact of the presence of large quantities of the bones of the stag, cow, horse, sheep, and other smaller animals, besides quantities of shells, from which the shell fish had been taken after being roasted. The positive evidence of the use of fire was visible in fragments of calcined bones and charcoal, besides a number of fire-stones. A flint arrowhead, and a very fine hone, or sharpener, were also found, the latter of fine ground sandstone.

"An extraordinary meeting of the Society was called to decide what steps should be taken. I had already determined in my own mind to go into it thoroughly, as far as I was able, but they were willing that the Dumbowie efforts should be repeated.

"Work has now begun. A grand canoe has been added to the discoveries, 37 ft. long, and 48 ins. beam, dug out of a single oak; it must have been a splendid specimen of one of the ancient Caledonian forest trees (fig. 8).

(a)

Some points have been verified like this:

(6) Others like this:

Fig. 1.-Uprights.

Fig. 2.-Pattern of part of the Pavements.

"The crannog is situated in Dumbartonshire, on that part of the Clyde foreshores known as the Ancient Colquhoun County, a country rich in antiquarian finds within the last few years. It is 1,800 yards E. of the Castle rock of Dumbarton, and about 2,000 from Dunglass Castle, below high-water mark, and about 50 yards from the river at low tide; when the tide is in, it is submerged to a depth of several feet of water, from 3 to 12 ft. The approach is from the north.

"The circuit or circumference is 184 ft. ; the circle of outside piles are of oak, which below the mud surface is still quite fresh; the transverse beams and pavements inside, however, are of wood of exactly the consistency of cheese. It is most difficult to deal with them without cutting them; they are of willow, alder, and oak: the smaller branches are fir, birch, and hazel, with bracken, moss, and chips (figs. 1 and 2).

N

"There is a difficulty to me in regard to the arrangement of the stones connected with the crannog, most of the boulders being about as much as a man could lift. They are placed in what, to me, seems a methodical order (fig. 3); though not so mechanically correct in design, still, to my eye, this is the form they take.

"My own feeling in regard to this discovery is to make a thorough excavation and examination of every handful of earth or débris in and near to at least 12 ft. outside the piles; for, indeed, I have verified the refuse mound to extend 12 ft. outside for a great part of the

circuit, rich in finds of various kinds: so that I feel strongly that every spadeful of the area I name should be sifted; what I have done myself has been through the fingers.

"I advised the cutting of two deep drains to carry away the waters of every tide from the workings, otherwise, our excavations would always be full of water."

The accompanying illustrations will give some idea of the nature of the Crannog itself, and of the discoveries made in connection therewith:

"Figs. 4 (a) and (b) exhibit both sides of a schist or slatey spearhead which Mr. Bruce picked out of the débris inside the canoe, about

amidships. It is similar to others got in the ancient hill-fort of Dumbowie. Also a sinker-like stone of white and black speckled granite foreign to the neighbourhood (fig. 5), and an arrowhead of bone, very much decayed (fig. 6). I got the arrowhead myself in the bow of the canoe, embedded in the deposit at the bottom. In the cavity of a large bone (fig. 7) was also got an ornament of peculiar stone. The digger unearthed it from the deposit at the bottom of the canoe, about 14 ft. from the bow, and near to a circular hole cut in the bottom about 31 ins. in diameter."

Many other interesting tools, implements, and weapons of flint and bone; the head and antlers of a stag (from skull to tip 32 ins.); shells and jet, showing some attempt at ornamentation; and a rude totem, have been discovered since the above was written; but no particle of metal or pottery of any kind has yet been found (Mr. Donnelly, Sept. 20th, 1898).

In conclusion, we remark that there are two circumstances which make this crannog specially interesting; (1) the fact that it is situated on the shore of a tidal river, instead of on a lake; indications