Part 5 (2/2)

Describing this earth-house, Captain Thomas says:--”The drawing is from a photograph of the entrance, which is 2 feet 10 inches high and 1 foot broad. The sea flows up to it at high tides. On crawling in, there is seen the usual guard-cell (_b_), close beside the entrance, but so small that we may be sure the sentinel, if there was one, must have been a light weight; in fact, we are almost driven to the conclusion that there were no Bantings in those days. This guard-cell is but 2 feet 5 inches high, and 3 feet in width. The gallery then turns at a right angle to the left hand. We excavated it for 22 feet.... When digging, we came upon two broken stone dishes (corn-crushers?) now in the Museum [Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]; and above the gallery were most of the bones of a small ox, placed orderly together.... Bones of the seal were common, and a few of the eagle.” (_Op. cit._, p. 169.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIV.

MAES-HOW, ORKNEY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XV.

INTERIOR OF MAES-HOW, ORKNEY

(_Facing inner doorway of gallery_).

_Cell or Bed in Wall._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVI.

SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MAES-HOW.]

PLATES XIV., XV., AND XVI.--_Maes-How, Orkney._

These plates represent the ”Pict's house” referred to by Captain Thomas (pp. 50-51, _ante_), with regard to which he says:--”Maes howe 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.”

The structure last named is described by Captain Thomas and Mr. T.S.

Muir in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_ (pp. 225-228), where it is stated:--”The Amazon's House is of the same cla.s.s with our earliest stone buildings--belonging to the era of cromlechs, stone-circles, Picts' castles, &c.; but while in other parts of Britain the style and type have vanished for a thousand years, in the Outer Hebrides we find them (in the Bothan [_i.e._, 'boths' or 'bee-hive houses'] of Uig) continued to the present day.” The following additional remarks by Captain Thomas are also of interest in this connection:--”It appears that besides the Tigh na Bhanna ghaisgach (Ty-na-Van-a-ghas-gec), or Amazon's House--and of whom all tradition, except her name, has gone--there are the remains of other submerged dwellings and hypogea.

Miss Euphemia MacCrimmon, the oldest inhabitant of that far-off island, tells that a certain Donald Macdonald and John Macqueen, on pa.s.sing a hillock, heard churning going on within. And about thirty years ago, when digging into the hillock to make the foundations of a new house, they discovered what seemed to be the fairies' residence, built of stones inside, and holes in the wall, or croops, as they call them, as in Airidh na Bhannaghaisgach.”[74]

It will be noticed that the ”beds” in Maes-How are on a higher level than the floor of the main chamber. ”In the winter houses,” observes Captain Thomas,[75] ”the floor of the bed-place was raised 3 or 4 feet above the ground.”

The original use of Maes-How is a matter of opinion, and some have a.s.sumed it to belong to the cla.s.s of sepulchral mounds, although there is no evidence in support of this belief. For many reasons, the opinions of Captain Thomas are endorsed by the present writer. It may be added that, prior to 1861, when the mound was opened, local tradition had declared that it was the residence of a ”hog-boy,” or mound-dweller.

[Footnote 74: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._ (First Series), vol. vii. p.

172.]

[Footnote 75: _Op. cit._, p. 164.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVII.

THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE, NEW GRANGE, COUNTY MEATH]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVIII.

DOORWAY OF THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIX.

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