It was not till after the discoveries on the Continent had attracted universal attention that archæologists began to look for similar remains in Britain. It was then found that early historic references to island forts, and some incidental notices of the exposure of buried islands artificially constructed of wood and stone, and other remains of lacustrine abodes, during the drainage of lochs and marshes in the last and early part of this century, had been entirely overlooked. The merit of correctly interpreting these remains in Scotland, and bringing them systematically before antiquaries, belongs to the late Joseph Robertson, Esq., F.S.A., Scotland, who read a paper on the subject to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on the 14th of December, 1857, entitled, "Notices of the Isle of the Loch of Banchory, the Isle of Loch Canmor, and other Scottish examples of the artificial or stockaded islands, called crannogs in Ireland, and Keltischen Pfahlbauten in Switzerland." Mr. Robertson's paper, though not published, at once attracted attention, and stimulated so much further inquiry on the part of the members, that, at the very next meeting of the Society, another contribution on the subject was read by Mr. John Mackinlay, F.S.A., Scotland (B. 21), from which it appeared that as early as 1812 this gentleman had observed some remains (now surmised to be a crannog) in Dhu Loch, in the island of Bute, which were described in a letter dated the 13th February, 1813. This communication found its way to George Chalmers, Esq., author of "Caledonia," regarding which, writing on the 26th of April, 1813, he says:--"It goes directly to illustrate some of the obscurest antiquities of Scotland. I mean the wooden castles, which belong to the Scottish period when stone and lime were not much used in building. I will make proper use of this discovery of Mr. Mackinlay." In 1863, Dr. John Grigor, of Nairn, described "two ancient lake-dwellings or crannoges in the Loch of the Clans, Nairnshire." (B. 55.) The remains, however, were too imperfect to be of value in illustrating their structure, and the only relics found were a portion of a small stone cup or lamp, two whetstones, an iron axe-head, and some charcoal and bits of bone.