Fians, Fairies and Picts Part 3

[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 pa.s.sage 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 ill.u.s.trations 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 x.x.xV. 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 la.s.sie 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 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 pa.s.sage 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 impa.s.sable; the total length explored was 45 feet."[71]

[Footnote 71: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. vii. (First Series), pp.

167-8.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 x.x.xI. 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 Mitch.e.l.l 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage, 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.]

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

BEE-HIVE HOUSES, FIDIGIDH IOCHDRACH, UIG, LEWIS, HEBRIDES. Inhabited 1859.]