The Phœnician origin of Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons : discovered by Phœnician & Sumerian inscriptions in Britain, by preroman Briton coins & a mass of new history : with over one hundred illustrations and maps

18 PHANICIAN ORIGIN OF BRITONS & SCOTS

before the accumulation of silt, may have joined hereabouts with the Shevack and Urie tributaries of the Don.

This “ Gadie”’ name for this vigorous rivulet, half encircling the Bennachie range, and in the direct line of the lower Don Valley, is highly suggestive of Phoenician influence, as we shall find that the Phoenicians usually spelt their tribal name of “‘ Khatti” or “‘ Catti’’ as ‘‘ Gad,’ and were in the habit not infrequently of calling the rivers at their settlements “ Gadi,” or “ Gad-es,”’ or “ Kad-esh.”’

This romantic Gadie glen of the Don, sequestered among the green groves and overhung by the purple slopes of the bold Bennachie, was presumably of ancient repute, as it is celebrated in a well-known old Scottish song with a haunting plaintive melody of ancient anonymous origin and the refrain :—

“ O gin I were where Gadie rins, At the back o’ Ben-nach-ie.”’

In its stanzas, given by Dr. John Park over a century ago, it appears almost as if the Gadie contained a sacred ancient site of burial :—

“ O gin I were where Gadie rins Mang fragrant heaths and yellow whins, Or brawling down the bosky lmns, At the back 0’ Ben-nach-ie.

O aince, aince mair, where Gadie rins, Where Gadie rins, where Gadie rins, O micht I dee where Gadie rins

At the back o’ Ben-nach-ie.”’

And this vale, we shall find, was probably the actual site of the traditional sacred cemetery of the prehistoric royal erector of this monument that is celebrated in the early chronicles of the Irish Scots.*

The prehistoric antiquity of this district of the Don Valley as a centre of Stone Age habitation and of Early Civilization for the north of Britain is evidenced by its richness in

1 BOL, 8rf.