2G4 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 203. 



called Cold Harhour, and tbat CoJcl Harbour is 

 here also to be found. Sir John Pulteney is tlins 

 connected with both the places known by this 

 name. 



I would give my name in verification, but you 

 have it, as you should have the names and ad- 

 dresses of all your correspondents. \^. II. C. 



Poplar. 



PICTS HOUSES IN ABEKDEENSHIKE. 



A short time ago, one of those remarkable re- 

 mains of a very remote antiquity, and called by 

 the country-people Picts' Houses, Yird, Eirde, or 

 Erde houses, was discovered by Mr. Douglass, 

 farmer, Culsh, in the pai-ish of Tarland, Aberdeen- 

 shire, near his farm-steading, on the property of 

 our noble Premier. It is a subterranean vault, 

 of a form approaching the semicircular, but elon- 

 gated at the farther end. Its extreme length is 

 thirty-eight feet ; its breadth at the entrance a 

 little more than two feet, gradually widening 

 towards the middle, where the width is about six 

 feet, and it continues at about that average. The 

 height is from five and a half to six feet. The 

 sides are built with stones, some of them in 

 the bottom very large ; the roof is formed of 

 large stones, six or seven feet long, and some of 

 them weighing above a ton and a half. They 

 must have been brought from the neighbouring 

 hill of Saddle-lick, about two miles distant, being 

 of a kind of granite not found nearer the spot. 

 The floor is formed of the native rock (horn- 

 blende), and is very uneven. When discovered 

 it was full of earth, and in the process of excava- 

 tion there was found some wood ashes, fragments 

 of a glass bottle, and an earthenware jar (modern), 

 some small fragments of bones, and one or two 

 teeth of a ruminant animal, and the upper stone 

 of a querne (hand-corn-mill, mica schist), together 

 with a small fragment, probably of the lower 

 stone. But, alas ! there were no hieroglyphics or 

 cuneiform inscriptions to assist the antiquary in 

 his researches. These underground excavations 

 have been found in various parishes in Aberdeen- 

 shire, as well as in several of the neighbouring 

 counties. In the parish of Old Deer, about fifty 

 years ago, a whole village of them was come upon ; 

 and about the same time, in a den at the back of 

 Stirlinghill, in the parish of Peterhead, one was 

 discovered which contained some fragments of 

 bones and several flint arrow-heads, and battle- 

 axes in the various stages of manufacture. In no 

 case, however, have any of those previously dis- 

 covered been of the same magnitude as the one 

 described above. They were generally of from 

 twelve to fifteen feet in length, and from three to 

 four feet in height, and some only six feet in 

 length, so that this must have been in its day 

 (when?) a rather aristocratic affair. Have any 



similar excavations been found in England ? The 

 earliest mention of the parish of Tarland, of which 

 there is any account, is in a charter granted by 

 Moregun, Earl of Mar, to the Canons of St. 

 Andrews, of the Church of S. Machulnoche (S. 

 Mochtens, Bishop and Confessor) of Tharuclund, 

 with its tithes and oblations, its land and mill, and 

 timber from the Earl's woods for the buildings of 

 the canons, a.d. 1165-71 ; and a charter of King 

 William the Lion, and one of Eadward, Bishop of 

 Aberdeen, both of same date, confirming the said 

 grant. Abredonensis. 



FOLK LOKE. 



Legends of tlie County Clare. — How Fuen- 

 Vic-Couil (Fingall) obtained the knowledge of 

 future events. — Once upon a time, whenFuen-Vic- 

 Couil was young, he fell into the hands of a giant, 

 and was compelled to serve him for seven years, 

 during which time the giant was fishing for the 

 salmon which had this property — that whoever ate 

 the first bit of it he would obtain the gift of pro- 

 phecy ; and during the seven years the only nou- 

 rishment which the giant could take was after this 

 manner : a sheaf of oats was placed to windward of 

 him, and he held a needle before his mouth, and 

 lived on the nourishment that was blown from the 

 sheaf of corn through the eye of the needle. At 

 length, when the seven years were passed, the 

 giant's perseverance was rewarded, and he caught 

 the famous salmon and gave it to Fuen-Vic-Couil 

 to roast, with threats of instant destruction if he 

 allowed any accident to happen to it. Fuen-Vic- 

 Couil hung the fish before the fire by a string, but, 

 like Alfred in a similar situation, being too much 

 occupied with his own reflections, forgot to turn the 

 fish, so that a blister rose on the side of it. Terrified 

 at the probable consequences of his carelessness, 

 he attempted to press down the blister with his 

 thumb, and feeling the smart caused by the burn- 

 ing fish, by a natural action put the injured 

 member into his mouth. A morsel of the fish ad- 

 hered to his thumb, and immediately he received 

 the knowledge for which the giant had toiled so 

 long in vain. Knowing that his master would 

 kill him if he I'emained, he fled, and was soon pur- 

 sued by the giant breathing vengeance : the chace 

 was long, but whenever he was in danger of being 

 caught, his thumb used to pain him, and on put- 

 ting it to his mouth he always obtained knowledge 

 how to escape, until at last he succeeded in putting 

 out the giant's eyes and killing him ; and always 

 afterwards, when in difficulty or danger, his thumb 

 used to pain him, and on putting it to his mouth 

 he obtained knowledge how to escape. 



Compare this legend with the legend of Cerid- 

 wen, Hanes Taliessin, Mabinogion, vol. iii. 

 pp. 322, 323., the coincidence of which is very 

 curious. Where also did Shakspeare get the 



