David MacRitchie - Fians, Fairies and Picts
D >>
David MacRitchie >> Fians, Fairies and Picts
"Martin, in his description of the Western Islands, printed in 1703,
when their use would appear to have been still remembered, speaks of
them [these underground structures] as 'little stone-houses, built under
ground, called earth-houses, which served to hide a few people and their
goods in time of war.'"[63] Dean Monro writes, "There is sundry coves
and holes in the earth, coverit with hedder above, quhilk fosters many
rebellis in the country of the North head of Ywst" [North Uist].[64]
"From O'Flaherty's description of West Connaught, written in 1684, it
appears," observes Captain Thomas,[65] but referring more strictly to
the beehive-house, "that this style of dwelling had already become
archaic." For, although that writer mentions certain "cloghans" as being
still inhabited, holding forty men in some cases, yet he says they were
"so ancient that nobody knows how long ago any of them were made." Of
the underground galleries another writer says: "It has been doubted if
these houses were ever really used as places of abode.... But as to this
there can be no real doubt. The substances found in many of them have
been the accumulated _debris_ of food used by man.... Ornaments of
bronze have been found in a few of them, and beads of streaked glass. In
some cases the articles found would indicate that the occupation of
these houses had come down to comparatively recent times."[66]
In conclusion, these remarks of Captain Thomas, who made so thorough a
study of the subject, may be quoted:--
"The Pict's house on the Holm of Papay [Orkney] would have held,
besides the chiefs at each end, all the families in [the island of]
Papay Westray when it was built. Maes howe[67] was for three
families--grandees, no doubt; but the numbers it was intended to
hold in the _beds_ may be learned by comparing them with the
Amazon's House, St. Kilda."[68]
"I consider the relation between the _boths_ [beehive houses] and
the Picts' houses of the Orkneys (and elsewhere) to be evident--the
same method of forming the arch, the low and narrow doors and
passages, the enormous thickness of the walls, when compared with
the interior accommodation--exist in both. When a _both_ is covered
with green turf it becomes a chambered tumulus, and when buried by
drifting sand it is a subterranean Pict's house.... I regard the
comparatively large Picts' houses of the Orkneys as the pastoral
residence of the Pictish lord, fitted to contain his numerous
family and dependents. Such an one exists on the Holm of Papa
Westray, which, according to the Highland method of stowage, would
certainly contain a whole clan. When writing the description of it,
I had not made acquaintance with a people who would close the door
to keep in the smoke, or that nested in holes in a wall like
sand-martins....
"But the _both_ of the Long Island is only the lodging of the
common man or 'Tuathanach,' and is consequently of small
dimensions, and not remarkable for comfort. If the modern Highland
proprietor or large farmer should ever be induced to lead a
pastoral life, and adopt a Pictish architecture in his residence,
we might again see a tumulus of twenty feet in height, with its
long low passage leading into a large hall with beehive cells on
both sides."[69]
But the point of all this is that these dwellings, whether above ground
or below, are known as _Picts' Houses, Fairy Halls, Elf Hillocks_, "the
hidden places of _Fians and Fairies_." Thus, the three titles which I
have shown to be associated in other ways are all given to the alleged
builders and occupiers of those very archaic and peculiar structures.
It is true that, in their most modern form, some of those dwellings are
still inhabited for months at a time. And their inhabitants are neither
Fians, Fairies nor Picts. But it is among those people that stories of
Fians and Fairies are most rife, and many claim an actual descent from
them. And although they are certainly not pigmies, yet they live in a
district in which the _small_ type of this heterogeneous nation of ours
is still quite discernible; and that part of the island of Lewis (Uig),
which has longest retained those places as dwellings, is inhabited by a
caste whom other Hebrideans describe as small, and regard as different
from themselves.[70] Dr. Beddoe states that the tallest people in the
United Kingdom are to be found in a certain village in Galloway, where
a six-foot man is perfectly common, and many are above that height. It
is quite certain that such men could not "nest like sand-martins" in the
holes in the wall described by Captain Thomas. And, in proportion as
such Galloway men are to the modern Hebridean mound-dwellers, so are
these to the much more archaic race with whom the oldest structures are
associated. For a study of the dimensions of these will show that they
could not have been conceived, and would not have been built or
inhabited by any but a race of actual dwarfs; as tradition says they
were.
[Footnote 18: "_La legende des Pygmees et les nains de l'Afrique
equatoriale_": _Rev. Hist._ t. 47, I. (Sept.-Oct. 1891), pp. 1-64.]
[Footnote 19: For some of these references see Dr. Hibbert's
"Description of the Shetland Islands," Edinburgh, 1822, pp. 444-451. See
also Mrs. J.E. Saxby's "Folk-Lore from Unst, Shetland" (in _Leisure
Hour_ of 1880); Mr. W.G. Black's "Heligoland", 1888, chap. iv.; and "The
Fians," London, 1891, pp. 2-3.]
[Footnote 20: Gwynn the son of Nudd: for whom see Lady C. Guest's
"Mabinogion," pp. 223, 263-5, and 501-2.]
[Footnote 21: "The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill," edited by J.H.
Todd, D.D., London, 1867, pp. 114-115.]
[Footnote 22: I. cc. 4-6 (this reference and the passage is quoted from
Du Chaillu's "Viking Age," vol. ii. p. 516).]
[Footnote 23: "_Fianaibh ag Sithcuiraibh_"]
[Footnote 24: "_Dan an Fhir Shicair"; Leabhar na Feinne_, pp. 94-95.]
[Footnote 25: _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. vi. 1888, pp. 173-178.]
[Footnote 26: _The Fians_, 1891, p. 64.]
[Footnote 27: _Ibid._ p. 33.]
[Footnote 28: _The Fians_, p. 172. The Fairy Hill referred to is "a
hillock, in which there is to be seen a small hollow called the armoury"
(p. 174).]
[Footnote 29: _Ibid._ pp. 12-13, 166, &c.]
[Footnote 30: _Ibid._ pp. 3-4. Glenorchy is said to have teemed with
Fenian traditions about the early part of this century (_Proceedings_ of
Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, vol. vii. pp. 237-240).]
[Footnote 31: See my _Testimony of Tradition_, London, 1890, pp. 146-8;
and Pennant's "Second Tour in Scotland" (Pinkerton's _Voyages,_ London,
1809, vol. iii. p. 368).]
[Footnote 32: _Proceedings_ of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol.
vii. p. 294, _note_.]
[Footnote 33: See, for example, an article on "Scottish Customs and Folk
lore," in _The Glasgow Herald_ of August 1, 1891.]
[Footnote 34: _The Fians_, pp. 78-80.]
[Footnote 35: _Scottish Celtic Review_, 1885, pp. 184-90: _The Fians_,
pp. 175-184.]
[Footnote 36: _The Heimskringla_: Dr. Rasmus B. Anderson's 2nd ed.
(1889) of Mr. Samuel Laing's translation from Snorre Sturlason: chap.
lxxxiii., _Of Little Fin_.]
[Footnote 37: _Leabhar na Feinne_, p. 34.
[SUBSEQUENT NOTE.--To be very accurate, one ought to say that,
in the pedigree referred to, Fin's grandfather (Trenmor) is stated to
have married a Finland woman.]]
[Footnote 38: Mr. W.G. Black's _Heligoland_, 1888, chap. iv.]
[Footnote 39: With this Fin of Frisian tradition may be compared Fin, a
North-Frisian chief of the fifth century, mentioned in _Beowulf_ and
_The Gleeman's Tale_, and whose death is recorded in _The Fight at
Finnsburk_.
[SUBSEQUENT NOTE.--A suitable companion to the dwarf Fin of
Frisian tradition is mentioned in Harald Hardradi's Saga:--"Tuta, a
Frisian, was with King Harald; he was sent to him for show, for he was
short and stout, in every respect shaped like a dwarf."--Quoted by Mr.
Du Chaillu at p. 357 of vol. ii. of "The Viking Age."]]
[Footnote 40: In this connection it is worth noting that Sir Walter
Scott, in referring to the aboriginal or servile clans in 1745, whom he
describes as "half naked, _stinted in growth_, and miserable in aspect,"
includes among them the McCouls, Fin's alleged descendants, who "were a
sort of Gibeonites, or hereditary servants to the Stewarts of Appin."
(Waverley, ch. xliv.)]
[Footnote 41: For example, the late Rev. J.G. Campbell, Tiree, says of
"the Great Tuairisgeul" that he was "a giant of the kind called
_Samhanaich_--that is, one who lived in a cave by the sea-shore, the
strongest and coarsest of any" (_Scottish Celtic Review_, p. 62). That
this term was one of contempt, given by Gaelic-speaking people to those
"giants" (and apparently based upon their malodorous characteristics),
will be seen from Mr. Campbell's further observation (_op. cit._ pp.
140-141):--"It is a common expression to say of any strong offensive
smell, _mharbhadh e na Samhanaich_, it would kill the giants who dwell
in caves by the sea. _Samk_ is a strong oppressive smell." McAlpine
defines _Samk_ as a "bad smell arising from a sick person, or a dirty
hot place"; and he further gives the definition "a savage" (quoting
Mackenzie). The word _Samhanach_ itself is defined by McAlpine as "a
savage," and he cites the Islay saying:--"_chuireadh tu cagal air na
samhanaich_," "you would frighten the very savages." From these
definitions it will be seen that a word translated "giant" by one is
rendered "savage" by another (though neither of these terms expresses
the literal meaning). Mr. J.G. Campbell also practically regards it as
signifying "cave-dweller," or perhaps a certain special caste of
cave-dwellers. With this may be compared McAlpine's "_uamh_, _n.f._, a
cave, den; _n.m._, a chief of savages, terrible fellow ... '_cha'n'eil
ann ach uamh dhuine_,' 'he is only a savage of a fellow.'" Islay has
also another word to denote a Hebridean savage. This is _ciuthach_, "pr.
_kewach_, described in the Long Island as naked wild men living in
caves" (J.F. Campbell, Tales, iii. 55, _n._). One of these "kewachs"
figures in the story of Diarmaid and Grainne, and one version says that
he "came in from the western ocean in a coracle with two oars
(_curachan_)" (_The Fians_, p. 54). (His name assumes various
shapes--_e.g._, Ciofach Mac a Ghoill, Ciuthach Mac an Doill, Ceudach Mac
Righ nan Collach.) These three terms--_samhanach, uamh dhuine_, and
_ciuthach_--all seem to indicate one and the same race of people. And
these are probably the people referred to by Pennant when he says,
speaking of the civilised races of the Hebrides in the beginning of the
seventeenth century:--"Each chieftain had his armour-bearer, who
preceded his master in time of war, and, by my author's (Timothy Pont's
MS., Advocates' Library, Edinburgh) account in time of peace; for they
went armed even to church, in the manner the North Americans do at
present [1772] in the frontier settlement, and for the same reason, the
dread of savages." (Pinkerton's _Voyages_, vol. iii. p. 322.)]
[Footnote 42: Hibbert's "Description of the Shetland Islands,"
Edinburgh, 1822, pp. 444-451. With regard to the "Dwarfie Stone" of Hoy,
the following references may be given:--"Jo. Ben," 1529, at p. 449 of
Barry's "History of the Orkney Islands," 2nd ed., London, 1808; and
other writers subsequent to 1529. These speak of this stone as the abode
of a "giant." Sir Walter Scott (_The Pirate_, Note P.) and many others
invariably say "a dwarf."
Note also J.F. Campbell (_W.H. Tales_, p. xcix): "The Highland giants
were not so big, but that their conquerors wore their clothes." Also the
dwarf in Ramsay's "Evergreen" who says that he was engendered "of
giants' kind."]
[Footnote 43: _Dean of Lismore's Book_, p. lxxvi.; _Celt. Scot._, vol.
i. p. 131; vol. iii. chap. iii.; &c.]
[Footnote 44: _Celt. Scot._ iii. 106-7.]
[Footnote 45: In this tale, the phonetic spelling _ben-ce_ shows the
unusual aspirated form _bean-shithe_. She is elsewhere spoken of as the
Lady of Innse Uaine, and her son is the hero of the tale _Gille nan
Cochla-Craicinn_.]
[Footnote 46: According to a clergyman of the seventeenth century, the
Hebrides and a part of the Western Highlands constituted "the country of
the Fians," (_Testimony of Tradition_, p. 45.)]
[Footnote 47: Miss Dempster: "The Folk-Lore of Sutherlandshire,"
Folk-Lore Journal, vol. vi. 1888, p. 174.]
[Footnote 48: _Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot._, vol. vii. p. 294.]
[Footnote 49: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. vii. pp. 165 and 192.]
[Footnote 50: "They are plainly no other than the Peihts, Picts, or Piks
... the Scandinavian writers generally call the Piks Peti, or Pets: one
of them uses the term Petia, instead of Pictland (Saxo-Gram.); and,
besides, the frith that divides Orkney from Caithness is usually
denominated Petland Fiord in the Icelandic Sagas or histories." (Barry's
_Orkney_, p. 115.)]
[Footnote 51: _Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot._, vol. iii. p. 141:
also vol. vii. p. 191. This quotation is made by the late Captain
Thomas, R.N., a sound archaeologist; but I have to add that in the
document of 1443, as given in Barry's _Orkney_ (2nd ed., London, 1808,
pp. 401-419), while I find the statement as to the two native races, I
find nothing about the stature or habits of the Picts. Captain Thomas
twice quotes his statement, and as at one place he refers, not to the
Bishop of 1443, but (vol. iii. p. 141) to "the Earl of Orkney's
chaplain, writing about 1460," it is possible he had two manuscripts of
the fifteenth century in view.
[SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.--The Bishop's words are as follows:--
"_Istas insulas primitus Peti et Pape inhabitabant. Horum alteri
scilicet Peti parvo superantes pigmeos statura in structuris urbium
vespere et mane mira operantes, meredie vero cunctis viribus prorsus
destituti in subterraneis domunculis pre timore latuerunt._"--From his
treatise _De Orcadibus Insulis_, reprinted in the "Bannatyne
Miscellany," 1855, p. 33.]]
[Footnote 52: _Testimony of Tradition_, pp. 58-60, 65, 67-74, 79-80.]
[Footnote 53: Pennant's Second Tour in Scotland; Pinkerton's _Voyages_,
London, 1809, p. 368.]
[Footnote 54: Linguae Romanae, Dictionarium, Luculentum Novum.]
[Footnote 55: Du Chaillu: _Land of the Midnight Sun_, vol. ii. pp.
421-2. This also is one of the articles of belief in Shetland, with
regard to the _trows_, as the trolls are there called.]
[Footnote 56: _Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scot_. (First Series), vol.
iii. pp. 127-144; vol. vii. pp. 153-195.]
[Footnote 57: _The Past in the Present_, Edinburgh, 1880, pp. 58-72.]
[Footnote 58: _The Past in the Present_, p. 59.]
[Footnote 59: Reproduced by permission of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland.]
[Footnote 60: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. iii. p. 137.]
[Footnote 61: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. vii. p. 168 _n._ This
appears to me to be a phonetic spelling of the _diongna_ mentioned in
the passage relating to the plunderings of the Danes in the ninth
century.]
[Footnote 62: _Ibid._ p. 171. On the same page, the form _Ugh talamkant_
is given.]
[Footnote 63: _Chambers's Encyclopaedia_, new ed., s.v. Earth-house.]
[Footnote 64: Quoted in _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vii. 172. The
reference is "Ag. Rep. Heb. p. 782."]
[Footnote 65: _Op. cit._ vol. iii. p. 140.]
[Footnote 66: John Stuart, LL.D., _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, viii. pp.
23 _et seq._]
[Footnote 67: Plates XIV.-XVI. Compare also Plates XVII.-XIX.]
[Footnote 68: _Op. cit._, vii. 191.]
[Footnote 69: _Op. cit._, iii. 133.]
[Footnote 70: _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_,
vol. iii. (First Series), p. 129. The district of Barvas is specially
referred to by Captain Thomas.]
APPENDIX.
Most of the illustrations here given are reproductions of some of the
plates accompanying Captain Thomas's papers in the _Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_. In explanation of their details the
following extracts may be made.
PLATE I. (Frontispiece).--_Uamh Sgalabhad, South Uist._
(From Plate XXXV. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
Captain Thomas thus describes his descent into and exploration of this
earth-house:--"An irregular hole was pointed out by the little lassie
before alluded to, and some of my party quickly disappeared below
ground. As they did not immediately return, I thought it was time to
follow, and squeezing through the ruinated entrance (_a_), I entered the
usual kind of gallery, which descended into the ground at a sharp angle.
At the bottom, on the right-hand side, was the usual guard-cell (_b_);
the sides of dry-stone masonry, but the end was the face of a rock _in
situ_. Proceeding on, the roof rose and the gallery widened to what was
the main chamber (_c_), which was 7 feet high under the apex of the
dome, and 4 feet broad. Upon the west side of this chamber, and about 2
feet from the ground, is a recess, about 2 feet square and 4 feet long.
At the further end, and in the same right line, the gallery (_d_)
became low (2-1/2 feet) and narrow (2 feet). Again the roof rose, and
the gallery widened till stopt, in face, by a large transported rock
(_f_); to the right of the rock a rectangular chamber (_e_), 2 feet
broad, extended 4 feet, and ended against rock _in situ_. Round, and
beyond the rock (_f_), the wall of the left side of the gallery was
built, but the passage was so narrow (_g_) that I contented myself by
looking through it. This incomprehensible narrowness is a feature in the
buildings of this period. Some of Captain Otter's officers pushed
through into the small chamber (_h_); beyond this the gallery was
ruinated and impassable; the total length explored was 45 feet."[71]
[Footnote 71: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. vii. (First Series), pp.
167-8.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.
FIG. 8.
"It is of a bee-hive form, about 18 feet in diameter, 9 feet high, and
covered with green turf outside."
_a_ _a_. doors; 3 feet high, "higher and better formed than is usual."
_b_. fireplace (having a chimney above, which is exceptional).
_c_. row of stones marking off _d._
_d_. bed on floor.
_e_ _e_ _e_. small recesses in wall.
FIG. 9.
Dwelling and Dairy joined, "of the usual bee-hive shape, and green with
the growing turf." Dairy "6 feet square on floor, but roundish
externally."
_a_. doorway; "easily closed with a creel, a bundle of heather, or a
straw mat."
_b_. "a very low interior doorway."
_c_. doorway of dairy.
_d_. fireplace; "the smoke escaping through a hole in the apex of the
dome."
_e_. "the usual row of stones."
_f_. "a litter of hay and rushes for a bed."
_g_. niches in wall.
_i_ _j_ _k_ _l_. various utensils.]
PLATE II.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, Lewis._
(From Plate XXXI. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
_Fig. 8._ Captain Thomas selects this as "the most modern, and at the
same time the last, in all probability, that will be constructed in this
manner"--viz., "roofed by the horizontal or cyclopean arch, _i.e._, by a
system of overlapping stones." "The woman who was living in it [about
1869] told us it was built for his shieling by Dr. Macaulay's
grandfather, who was tacksman [leaseholder] of Linshader ... and I
conclude that it was made about ninety years back."[72]
_Fig. 9._ Sir Arthur Mitchell says of this compound "bee-hive"
house:--"The greatest height of the living room--in its centre, that
is--was scarcely 6 feet. In no part of the dairy was it possible to
stand erect. The door of communication between the two rooms was so
small that we could get through it only by creeping. The great
thickness of the walls, 6 to 8 feet, gave this door, or passage of
communication, the look of a tunnel, and made the creeping through it
very real. The creeping was only a little less real in getting through
the equally tunnel-like, though somewhat wider and loftier passage,
which led from the open air into the first or dwelling room."[73]
[Footnote 72: _Op. cit._, p. 161.]
[Footnote 73: _The Past in the Present_, p. 60.]
[Illustration: PLATE III.
BEE-HIVE HOUSES, FIDIGIDH IOCHDRACH, UIG, LEWIS, HEBRIDES. Inhabited
1859.]
PLATE III.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, inhabited in 1859._
(From Plate XII. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
See p. 47, _ante_.
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
BEEHIVE-HOUSES (BOTHAN) MEABHAG, FOREST OF HARRIS.]
PLATE IV.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Meabhag, Forest of Harris._
(From Plate X. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
At the date of Captain Thomas's visit (1861) a man was still living who
had been born in one or other of these dwellings.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
GROUND PLAN OF RUINED _BOTH_ AT BAILE FHLODAIDH, ON THE NORTH SIDE OF
THE ISLAND OF BENBECULA.
_a_. "scarcely 18 in. wide."]
PLATE V.--_Ground Plan of Bee-Hive House, Island of Benbecula._
(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MOUND DWELLING, CALLED _BOTH
STACSEAL_, SITUATED MIDWAY BETWEEN STORNOWAY AND CARLOWAY, LEWIS,
HEBRIDES.
"A hole (_e_), called the Farlos, is left in the apex of the roof for
the escape of the smoke, and is closed with a turf or flat stone as
requisite."
_Height of Dome, 7 feet._
_a, b. Doorways._
_c. Fireplace._
_d. Row of stones for seats._
_e. Centre. (Distance from e to end of cells, 7 feet.)_
_f, g, h. Cells or bed-places._
_f is "2 feet wide and 15 inches high at the inner end; is 5 feet long
and 3 feet high at the mouth. The opposite cell (g) is of the same
dimensions. The third cell (h) is 4 feet wide at the mouth, 5 feet long,
decreasing to 2-1/2 feet wide at the head, where it is 16 inches high."_
The above is given by Captain Thomas as an example of such dwellings
"having oven-like bed-places around the internal area. This interesting
summer house illustrates the most antique form of dormitory; but in the
winter houses the floor of the bedroom was raised three or four feet
above the ground." (Compare the side cells in Maes-How, Orkney.)]
PLATE VI.--_Chambered Mound (Both Stacseal), near Stornoway,
Lewis._
(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
With reference to the _farlos_, or smoke-hole (otherwise "sky-light"),
which, in this instance, is at a height of 7 feet from the floor of the
dwelling, Captain Thomas remarks:--"A man, on standing upright, can
often put his head out of the hole and look around" (_op. cit._, vol.
iii., p. 130 _n._). This suggests the following story, told by Mr. J.F.
Campbell (_West Highland Tales_, vol. ii., pp. 39-40):
"There was a woman in Baile Thangusdail, and she was out seeking a
couple of calves; and the night and lateness caught her, and there
came rain and tempest, and she was seeking shelter. She went to a
knoll with the couple of calves, and she was striking the
tether-peg into it. The knoll opened. She heard a gleegashing
(_gliogadaich_) as if a pot-hook were clashing beside a pot. She
took wonder, and she stopped striking the tether-peg. A woman put
out her head and all above her middle, and she said, 'What business
hast thou to be troubling this tulman [mound] in which I make my
dwelling?' 'I am taking care of this couple of calves, and I am but
weak. Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them to that
breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of grass. If thy couple of
calves eat that tuft of grass, thou wilt not be a day without a
milk cow as long as thou art alive, because thou hast taken my
counsel.'
"As she said, she never was without a milk cow after that, and she
was alive fourscore and fifteen years after the night that was
there."
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
GROUND PLAN OF _BOTHAN GEARRAIDH NA H'AIRDE MOIRE_, UIG LEWIS, HEBRIDES.
_a. Dwelling apartments._
_b. Fosgarlan or Porch._
_c. Cuiltean or Milk cupboards._
_d. Stonebench or Bedplace._
_AB. Line of Section._
_CD. View as represented as restored._]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
SECTION AND ELEVATION OF _BOTHAN GEARRAIDH NA H'AIRDE MOIRE_, UIG,
LEWIS, HEBRIDES, AND VIEW OF SAME IF RESTORED.]
PLATES VII. AND VIII.--_"Agglomeration of Bee-Hives" at Uig,
Lewis._
(From Plates XV. and XVI. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
"By far the most singular of all these structures, and probably
unique in the Long Island, is at Gearraidh na h-Airde Moire,
on the shore of Loch Resort. I cannot describe it better than by
bidding you suppose twelve individual bee-hive huts all built
touching each other, with doors and passages from one to the other.
The diameter of this gigantic booth is 46 feet, and [it] is nearly
circular in plan. The height of the doors and passages about 2-1/2
feet; and under the smokehole (_farlos_), in two of the chambers,
the height was 6-1/2 feet.... I am informed that, so late as 1823,
this _both_ was inhabited by four families." (Captain Thomas,
_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. iii., p. 139.)
