Sir Archibald Geikie wrote....

''.......As I was returning from my ramble,a strange wailing sound
reached my ears at intervals on the breeze from the west.On gaining
the top of one of the hills on the south side of the valley,I could 
see a long and motley procession winding along the road......It 
halted at the point of the road opposite Kilbride,and there the 
lamentation became loud and long.As i drew nearer,I could see
the minister with his wife and daughters had come out to meet 
the people and bid them all farewell.It was a gathering of at least
three generations of crofters.There were old men and women ,too
feeble to walk,who were placed in carts;the youger members of
the community on foot were carrying their bundles of clothes and
household effects,while the children,with look of alarm,walked 
along side.....When they set forth once more,a cry of grief went 
up to the heavens,the long plaintive wail,like a funeral coronach,
was resumed,and after the last of the emigrants had disappeared
behind the hill,the sound seemed to re-echo through the whole
wide valley of Strath in one prolonged note of desolation.The
people were on their way to be shipped to Canada...........''