[The selection of bones sent to Professor Rolleston for examination is now deposited in the Anatomical Museum at Oxford, and all the rest of the relics are located in the Museum attached to the Burns Monument at Kilmarnock.]
CHAPTER IV.
SUBSEQUENT RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES AT FRIARS' CARSE, LOCHSPOUTS, BARHAPPLE, AND BUSTON.
Before the interesting series of objects obtained from the excavation of the Lochlee crannog, and described in the previous chapter, could be properly illustrated and efficiently brought under the notice of antiquaries, other promising "finds" of a similar nature were announced from various quarters. All these have now, as far as practicable, been carefully investigated, with results, in some respects, even more remarkable than the former. To a description of these further excavations and discoveries I propose to devote this chapter, commencing with that of a lake-dwelling at Friars' Carse, in Dumfriesshire, and following it up by others in the order of their discovery.
Section I.
Notes of a Crannog at Friars' Carse, Dumfriesshire.
Early in the summer of 1879 I was informed that, during the autumn of the preceding year, a lake-dwelling had been exposed in a small loch at Friars' Carse, Dumfriesshire, and being then engaged in drawing up a report of the excavations made at Lochlee, I was anxious to have an opportunity of comparing the results obtained from the former with those of the latter. This opportunity was afforded me by the Rev. Mr. Landsborough, who, being also interested in such discoveries, made arrangements with his friend, Dr. Grierson of Thornhill, to conduct us to Friars' Carse. After inspecting a canoe, some fragments of pottery, and a few other things from this crannog, then deposited in Dr. Grierson's museum, we drove off to inspect the structure itself. Its site was a small pear-shaped basin situated behind a wooded knoll, close to the Parliamentary road to Dumfries, and in the midst of a well-cultivated but singularly undulating district. By deepening the outlet of this lake to the extent of 2 feet, a partial drainage was effected, which reduced its area from 10 to 3 acres. It was then that it became generally known that a small bushy island near the middle of the loch had been artificially constructed of oak logs and trunks of trees. As the weather was dry for some weeks previous to our visit, and the water particularly low, we readily stepped on to the island, over what appeared to have been the old bed of the lake, then presenting a hard, crisp, and dried-up surface of aquatic plants. The island was nearly circular in shape, strongly built, and surrounded by piles, some of which, however, were only visible through the water. The log pavement, which by this time had been completely bared, was composed of parallel beams of oak, apparently arranged in groups, lying in various directions, and firmly united together by the overlapping and sometimes mortising of their ends. Its level was from 1 to 2 feet above that of the water, but at the margin of the island there was a large quantity of stones, especially on its north side, i.e. the side towards the deepest portion of the lake, and most distant from the outlet. Through these stones, which shelved under the water, a few heads of the surrounding piles projected, some of which were also visible above the water. Some mortised holes were here and there to be seen in the horizontal beams, but there was no trace of a raised breastwork surrounding the wooden pavement—thus differing in this respect from the crannog at Lochlee, and agreeing with that at Lochspouts. In the centre were a few ends of uprights, in rectangular rows, seemingly the remains of partitions, one of which I traced for 40 feet in a straight line.
Upon inquiring where the rubbish removed from the island was located, we were informed that it had been wheeled to the west side of the crannog, and heaped up just close to where we had stepped across to the island. Here it lay for some days; but one morning, to the great astonishment of the workmen, it was found to have entirely disappeared. Upon examination, it turned out that the apparently dry land was a matted crust of mud and roots of aquatic plants, which virtually floated over the water, and suddenly gave way under the accumulated weight, and so buried the whole mass in the water beneath. With this singular and unfortunate catastrophe terminated all further prospects of finding relics.