"And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, Groan'd for the Roman legions here again, And Cæsar's Eagle."--TENNYSON's Idylls of the King. N the 26th March, 1885, two urns, belonging to the Bronze Period, and containing human bones, were dug up in the road opposite what is now No. 4 Kyle Park, Uddingston. Interesting as such discoveries are at any time, this one possesses the additional interest of being the earliest record of this district as the abode of man.* It is only a fair inference, therefore, that at a time previous to the Roman occupation of Strathclyde there was a settlement on the banks of our river at the point where it is crossed by the Caledonian Railway Bridge, and near the chalybeate spring known to the inhabitants of this locality until recent years as the "Pheesic Waal." * Urns containing human bones were also discovered near Viewpark. 49 It is interesting to imagine the Kyle Park of that period, its houses, its inhabitants, their modes of living, their dress-if indeed tattoo and paint may be said to come under that designation. We know from the Dumbuck Crannog further down the river, that the people of this period lived in pile dwellings; but it is more than possible that the remote inhabitants of Clydeside lived on the mainland in huts constructed from the wood of the forest of ancient Caledonia. Like the other British tribes whose habits have been noted by the classic writers, hunting and fishing would occupy their days, varied only by such gentle relaxations as a tribal war. Then, as now, the Clyde would bear its waters to the sea, but amidst scenery vastly different from that which is now familiar to the eye. On either side its course would be between banks luxuriant with vegetation of almost tropical growth, overshadowed with gigantic trees, while its waters, as yet unsullied by civilization, would be as well stocked with the lordly salmon as any river of Canada. Could a present inhabitant of the district by any device roll back the tide of time and see the place of his abode as it then was, he would find nothing of man's making by which to recognise it. The eternal hills alone would be the same. He would recognise the long slope of Dechmont, Tinto, the Campsie Fells, with the more distant Ben Lomond and the faint line of the Grampians beyond. As the place where the urns were found is also near the site of a chapel at a later date, we may quite reasonably infer that the ground was hallowed by the varying customs of many forms of worship. This is all the more probable when we remember that the custom of the early church was, as far as practicable, to adapt itself to the peoples with whom it came in contact by grafting on the new religion to the old stock so as to carry on the feeling of veneration for custom or locality unbroken. Thus the Druids may have held their mystic rites here, while we know that until almost modern times fires burned on Dechmont on Beltane-the first of May. The meaning of the word Dechmont-hill of protection -also suggests the religious idea. The simple life of this period was introduced to civilization by the Romans, who here, although not to the same extent as elsewhere in Strathclyde, have left the impress of their iron heel. The roadWatling Street-connecting Carstairs and New Kilpatrick passed immediately to the north-east of Uddingston and Bothwell, and traces of it may still be seen on the Golf Course and at the head of the Holm Brae, while the bridge still exists by which it crossed the South Calder Water. This bridge consists of a beautiful semi-circular arch of 39 feet span, rising to a height of about 22 feet above the normal level of the South Calder Water, and is about 9 feet 6 inches in breadth. The workmanship and state of preservation of the bridge are both alike remarkable It is only fair to add, however, that the bridge has been attributed to later times; and it is more than likely that, although occupying the same site as the |