30 Transactions. 



this country is at present receiving, led me to examine these 

 stones in search of some traces of a similar character; and I 

 shall now describe, as carefully as I can, what I found, 

 without expressing any opinion as to their origin or signifi- 

 cation. Of the eleven blocks, four are granite and seven 

 greywacke or whin, and it is upon the latter only that the 

 markings to which I have to refer are found, and upon 

 four only of these. These markings are simply hollows or 

 depressions upon the surface of the stones. In one case 

 they are upon the exposed and weather-wom face of the 

 stone ; in all the rest, I think they are upon surfaces more 

 or less sheltered by their position. It would be difficult 

 — almost, I think, impossible — to trace any order or 

 regularity pervading their arrangement ; perhaps a ten- 

 dency to a linear order might be observed, but even 

 this is doubtful, and admits of marked exceptions. The 

 hollows themselves are pretty uniform in size, especially 

 where protected from the weather*, and are generally of an 

 irregular oval shape, tending sometimes to circular. This 

 latter feature is especially marked on one of the larger stones, 

 — indeed, the largest of the gi-oup — and as, from its position, 

 the surface upon which these are found has been almost 

 completely protected from the weather and other destructive 

 influences, it is here that these peculiar markings may be 

 best studied. It is impossible not to be struck with 

 the perfectness and singular freshness, so to speak, of 

 some of the depressions upon this stone, — at the same time, 

 it is here that they are most irregular and capricious as 

 regards arrangement. By far the larger surface of this 

 stone slopes outward from the circle, and contains no 

 markings whatever, and it is upon what must have been the 

 base, had it ever stood upright, — which is doubtful, — that 

 these hollows exist. I have been informed, however, that it 

 is not unusual in such circles to find the broader end forming 

 the summit, while the narrower is sunk deep in the earth. 

 If such has been the original position of this stone, then the 

 broader end or base, upon which these markings occur, would 



