ferpent at one end o f the word, and a dove at the other, fignifyi
ing remorfe and grace. It was built by a Lord Harries, as a fort
of atonement for putting to death fome prifoners whom he had!
made under a promifeof quarter.
Proceed over a country full of low hills, fome parts under re-1
cent cultivation; others in a heathy ftate .of nature. Reach, it
a wet cultivated and woody flat, the caftle and houfe of Cotnlongm\
the property of Lord Stormount, and the birth-place o f that ornament
o f our ifland, Lord Mansfield.
The caftle confifts of a great fquare tower, now almoft- in ruins,
though its walls o f near thirteen feet in thicknefs might have pro-
mifed to the architedl a longer duration, Many fmall rooms art
gained out o f the very thicknefs o f the fides ; and at the bottom
o f one, after a defcent of numbers of fteps, is the noifome dun,
geon, without light or even air-holes, except the trap-door in tit
floor, contrived for the lowering in of the captives. This for*
trefs was founded by one of the anceftors of the Murrays, Earls'
of Annandale -, a title which failed in that name about the time or
the reftoration.
Ride along the fhore by the end of Lockermofs-, a morafs ofi
about ten miles in length, and three in breadth, with the little
water of Locker running through it. This traft, from recent fur-
vey, appears to have been, overflowed by the fea4 which confirms |
the tradition relating to fuch an event. This invafion of the
tides was certainly but temporary, for from the numbers of trees,
roots, and other vegetable marks found there, it is evident that
this morafs was, in fome very diftant period, an extenfive foreft.
Near a place called Kilblain I met with one of the antient canoes.
i f the primaeval inhabitants of the country, w h < :n if was proba-
i , J -he fame ftate o f nature as Virginia, when firft difcovered
I Captain Philip Amidas. The length o f this httle veflel was
eight feet eight, of the cavity fix feet feven; the breadth two
let - depth eleven inches; and at one end were the remains of
three pees for the paddle : the hollow was made with fire, in the Bel manner that the Indians o f America formed their canoes, ac-
■ ording to the faithful reprefentation by Thomas Harriot , in De-
»Jrv’s publication of his drawings. Another o f the fame kind
E | found in Paddle’ in the »
w a s fe v en feet long, and dilated to a confiderable breadth at one
end • fo that in early ages neceffity diftated the fame inventions
to the moft remote regions f . Thefe were long prior to our vi-
W .'m m and were in ufe in feveral antient nations : the Greeks
■"called them MovetjuAa and <77latp»: fome held three perfons, others
‘only one t ; and of this kind feems to have been that now mentioned.
Thofe ufed by the Germans || were of a vaft fize, capable
; of holding thirty men ; and the Gauls on the Rhone had the fame
fpecies of boats, but were indifferent about their ihape, and con-
Jfent if they, would but float, and carry a large burden §.
1 At Mr. Dick/on’s, of Lockerwood, faw a curiofity o f another
. • A fervant of Sir Waller Raleigh, lent to Virginia to make drawings and obfervations.
. _
I + My ingenious friend Mr. Stuart tells me, that the Greeks ftill make ufe o f canoes
lofth iskin d, to crofs fmall arms o f the fea; and that they ftill ftyle them MorofvA*.
from being formed of one piece o f wood. . . .
I t Polyani Stratagem. Lib. v. c. 23. p. 5°9- fr‘l,eius ^atercnlus, lib. 11. c. 107.
U Plinii Hill. Nat. xvi. c. 40. § Li<vii hb> XXIt c> 261