50 Transactions. 



to Mr. Heron of Duncow ; there are thirteen of them, and 

 they are all of different shapes. 



The bronze swords and implements of war found in the 

 cairns and graves of this period are broken in two, and lying 

 by the side of the skeleton. Wilson, in his Archaeology of 

 Scotland, after describing the opening of a cairn in Galloway, 

 in which was found a bronze sword broken in two lying by the 

 side of the skeleton of the ancient warrior, says, "From such dis- 

 coveries we are led to infer, that one of the last honours paid to 

 the buried warrior was to break his well proved weapon and 

 lay it at his side, ere the cist was closed, or the inurned ashes 

 deposited in the grave, and his old companions in arms piled 

 over it the tumulus or memorial cairn. No more touching 

 or eloquent tribute of honour breaks upon us amid the curious 

 records of ages long past. The elf belt and the stone axe of 

 the older barrow speak only of the barbarian anticipation of 

 eternal warfare beyond the grave ; of skull breakers and 

 draughts of bloody wine, such as the untutored savage looks 

 forward to in his dreams of heaven. But the broken sword 

 of the buried chief seems to tell of a warfare accomplished, 

 and of expected rest. Doubtless the future which he antici- 

 pated bore faint enough resemblance to the life and immor- 

 tality since revealed to man, but the broken sword speaks in 

 unmistakeable language of elevation and progress, and of nobler 

 ideas acquired by the old Briton, when he no longer deemed 

 it indispensable to bear his arms with him to the Elysium of 

 his wild creed." 



Of the antiquities of the Iron Period, Dumfriesshire and 

 G alloway have furnished many fine examples. On the opening 

 of a tumulus in the parish of Kirkpatrick Fleming, along with 

 an urn of elegant workmanship were found several iron rings, 

 each about the circumference of a half-crown; a similar 

 discovery was also made in Annandale — these frail memorials 

 are supposed to be the money of the Britons of the first 

 century. In a field on the farm of Corrieknows, near Annan, 



