Letter from Sir W C Trevelyan to Professor Buckland

Fort William June 25th

My Dear Sir

Having finished my enquiries concerning the Forfar Rhino-
-ros horn, I will now proceed to give you some account of what
I have been able to learn concerning it, though I fear little satisfactory.
At Dundee[?] I saw Mr. Douglas Gardner who was formerly keeper of Museum[?] at
Forfar, who obtained the horn for the Museum – (he told me) from Dow, when
the two sons were young, and thinks it was said to have been found
in Forfar or Rescobie Lochs – but his evidence varies at different times
as I have been told, & his memory seems rather to have failed him. He
says that ([illegible]. July 2d.) at the time of the sale of the Dundee
Museum in 1818/19 a Mr. George Barclay, now of Quebeck[?] was keeper of
it, and that he probably is possessed of the MSm Catalogue which
will perhaps contain such an account of the horn as was given at
the time of its presentment. As Dundee I also saw Mr. Brown who
purchased the horn for a few shillings at the sale of the Museum, who
showed me a letter he had from one Roberts who stated that David
Dow had lately discovered amongst his fathers papers a note of the
horn having been found in the Loch of Garth, about 1 mile NW
of Forfar – which I visited, it was shallow 6 or 7 feet and drained about 8 years
since, marle was never raised from it I am told, though under
the peat there appears a mixture of marle & sand.
From Dundee I visited Mr. Stevens of Balmadies, E. of Forfar
to whom Mr. Brown (a cousin of R[illegible superscript character] Brown) gave the horn & who presented
it to Professor Jameson – he had been endeavoring to unravel its
history, & had taken on oath before a magistrate the deposition of one
Alexr. Nevay of Forfar an intimate acquaintance of Dows, who kne[paper torn here]
well the horn, but of its history no more that what Dow said
that it was found in a Loch nr. Forfar – his deposition has I
believe been sent to Jameson – I saw him afterward, he does not
remember that Dow had it before he went to Edinburgh – he AN. at
Dows death received the horn from the Sons, and after having had it
for about 2 years, gave it to Douglas Gardner for the Dundee Museum.
Dow had it in his possession for several years – other persons I


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spoke with who had known Dow well, but remembered not the
horn – you had better see D.D. again, & find out the truth
of its being mentioned, Roberts said, in a printed pamphlet of
Dows, but I have seen all of his that I can understand ever to
have been printed & find nothing about it.

From Forfar I walked to Kinnordy & found an auction going on
in the middle of a mop[?], peat selling at 3s/g & 4s/- per cart load
dearer than coals with us in Northumberland; about 1000 load
to be sold_ I also got some specimens of the rock marle with
chara & its seeds from the Loch of Bakie_ Lyells idea of its
being formed chiefly from springs is I think most probably,
it is very improbably that such thick beds of marle as occue can
be the produce of animal matter only: on the N. side of
Forfar Loch is also a thin bed of rock marle cementing pebbles
together & this forming a conglomerate. What a very curious
chain of lochs & gravel banks that is extending Eastward from
Forfar. In a section I saw near Balmadies, the loose gravel,
varying in thickness, rests on a hard clay, containing but
few small pebbles, and rarely any so large as those in the gravel
above it.

I am now on my return from a botani-
-cal excursion with Dr Hooker & party of 27 to Ben Nevis which
we twice ascended, the second day June 27th about 2pm
we had a shower of snow about 3 inches deep, during
which we observed some curious electrical phenomena &
we heard the electrical fluid passing apparently from the points of a
[illegible, paper torn – might say “circle”] of stones & of an umbrella to the atmosphere, a kind
[paper torn, word missing] buzzing sound which you may have perceived in electrical
experiments – at the same time single hairs of the heads
of those who were uncovered stood upright, which ceased with
the noise – about the same hour was a thunder storm
here in which lightning was observed to pass from [underlined] the
Earth to the clouds.

I have since been to Ben More


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in Mull & crossed the country from Oban to this place – it is
a curious conglomerate at Oban apparently connected with the
Granwacke ? – at the summit of Ben Nevis is a curious rock
which on a fresh fracture appears like a [illegible] porphyry, but
where weathered shows evidently the structure of a homogenous
conglomerate.

Very rich views of Chromate of Iron have lately been disco-
-vered in Fetlar, Shetland.

In the wet dock at Dundee in the course of 6 or 7 years the
mud has accumulated to the depth of about 5 feet.

I spent on my way to Perth a few hours with Dr. Fleming
he will not readily give up his lake theories – or the portdiluvian
existence of your diluvian animals, he is preparing a British
Zoology, in a proof sheet of wh. I observed the extinct Hyena
& Tiger. In going to Inverary by land from Oban, I observed
on the banks of Loch Etive an ancient[?] water level (parallel
road) about 50 feet above the present level of the water.

With kind remembrances to all
friends I remain Dear Sir
very sincerely yours
WC Trevelyan
Glasgow
July 4th


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The Rev.
Professor Buckland
Oxford