tinction is further confirmed by their being frequently decorated with incised circles and other ornaments, as in the example shown here, found near the line of the old Roman way which runs through Dumfriesshire on its northern course from Carlisle. Another of highly polished flint has already been described among the disclosures of a large cairn on the Moor of Glenquicken, Kirkcudbrightshire; and two were shown me in 1850 as a part of the contents of a cist recently opened in the course of farming operations on the estate of Cochno, Dumbartonshire, one of which was made of highlypolished red granite, a species of rock unknown in that district. Several decorated examples, dredged up in

the Tay, are preserved in the Perth Museum; but by far the most remarkable one, now in the Scottish Museum of Antiquities (Plate III. Fig. 24), was dug up on the Glasshill, in the parish of Towie, Aberdeenshire, in the vicinity of several large tumuli. Four rounded projections are attached to the central ball, three of which are ornamented with elaborate incised patterns, as shown in the engraving, while the fourth is plain. The whole measures 2 inches in diameter. Balls similar to those previously described, occur among the relics found in the barrows at Denmark, but this example appears to be unique. Others pertain to a class of primitive objects described by the Northern Antiquaries

under the name of Corn Crushers. A rude block of stone is frequently found, flattened on the upper side, with a circular cavity in the centre, into which a smooth ball of stone has been made to fit, thereby supplying by a less efficient means the same purpose aimed at in the querne, discovered so frequently under a variety of shapes among the relics of various early Scottish periods. The shallow circular stone troughs or mortars so often found in Scottish burghs and weems belong to the same class. A still ruder device consists of a pair of stones which have evidently been employed in rubbing against each other, it may be presumed with the same object, of bruising the grain for domestic use. They have been occasionally noticed among the chance disclosures of the spade or plough in Scotland, and are of common occurrence in the Irish bogs. The author of the Account of Halkirk Parish, Caithness, thus describes the mortars above referred to, and the pestles or crushers, which are found together in the burghs :-"I have seen in them numbers of small round hard stones, in the form of a very flat or oblate sphere, of 2 inches thick in the centre, and about four inches in diameter; also other round stones, perfectly circular, very plain and level on one side, with a small rise at the circumference, and about a foot in diameter. The intention of both these kinds of stones manifestly was to break and grind their grain." But such implements of homely industry and toil more frequently occur in the weems or burghs, or among chance discoveries in the soil, than in the cairn or cist. It may reasonably be assumed that neither the old British, nor the more modern Scandinavian warrior, deposited under the barrow of his chief, and alongside of his well-proved celt and spear, the corn-crusher with which his wives or his slaves were wont to prepare the

1 Sinclair's Statist. Acc. vol. xix. p. 59.

grain for domestic use. The decoration traceable on some of the stone balls confirms this idea; and it is more probable that they were employed either in some favourite game of chance, or as weapons of war: like the pogamoggon of the Chippewa and Shoshonee Indians of America, some of which consist of spherical stones, weighing from half a pound to two pounds. These they enclose in leather, and attach to a thong a yard and a half in length, which is wound round the wrist, the more effectually to secure a hold. Along with the latter objects may also be noted roughly-shaped spherical discs of flint occasionally found with other stone relics in Scotland, and much more common in Ireland, where they bear the name of "Sling Stones."

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Like others of the rarer primitive relics, the spherical stones have been associated with popular superstitions of a later period; and have been esteemed, along with crystal beads, adder-stones, or water worn perforated pebbles, and the like efficient armory of vulgar credulity, as invaluable amulets or charms. Pennant, after referring to the cure of cattle bewitched by Elf-shots, by making them drink the water in which an Elf-arrow has been dipped, adds :--" The same virtue is said to be found in the crystal gems and in the adder-stone; and it is also believed that good fortune must attend the owner; so, for that reason, the first is called Clach Bhuai, or the powerful stone. Captain Archibald Campbell showed me one, a spheroid set in silver, for the use of which people came above a hundred miles, and brought the water it was to be dipt in with them; for without that in human cases it was believed to have no effect."1 Το this subject Professor Simpson has recently devoted his attention in his "Notes on some Scottish Magical CharmStones or Curing-Stones," and has illustrated the sub

1 Pennant's Tour, vol. i. p. 116. 2 Proceed. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. iv. p. 211.

ject with his usual acumen. Among those the sphere of rock-crystal appears to have been regarded with special favour, as in the Clach-na-Bratach of the chiefs of Clan Donnachaidh, which tradition associates with the victory of Bannockburn; and the Clach-Dearg, or stone of Ardvoirlich, figured here with its silver setting of eastern workmanship, the healing powers of which have been called into requisition in the same manner as the Clach Bhuai in very recent years. But the curative virtues

thus accredited to such relics are traceable to the same mode of thought which ascribes the origin of the flint arrow and stone celt to the elves. It appears to be only natural to the uninstructed mind to associate objects which it cannot explain with some mysterious and superhuman end; and hence the superseded implements of a long extinct race become the charms and talismans of their superstitious successors.

One other class of primitive relics includes the ornaments, weapons, and tools of horn or bone; such as the