60 Transactions. 



called cairns. Thoug-h the strongholds of the early races — the 

 Hill Forts— may, in conjunction with the later Motes and Doons, 

 actually outnumber the cairns, yet the latter, from their unique 

 form, their conspicuous grey-white colour, their oft-times desolate 

 surroundings of boundless heather, become truly the landmarks of 

 the district. They arrest the most unobservant eye, and arouse 

 curiosity in many for whom the other structures have little or no 

 interest. This, no doubt, may be partly explained by the almost 

 universal tradition of gold and treasure being- hidden away in the 

 dark recesses of our stone tuimili. 



It is with little faith in this tradition that I proceed to place 

 on record some facts regarding our cairns, but with some hope 

 that in the near future measures may be taken towards the better 

 preservation of such of them as are yet left as their builders in- 

 tended them to be. The Stewartry can, even at this late period, 

 boast of having no fewer than 114 sites of cairns. This is the 

 total at which I have been able to arrive after consulting all the 

 authorities within reach and collating the accounts there given 

 with the sites shown on the Ordnance Map. The north and north- 

 west tracts of country own by far the larger number — e.g., in 

 what we now call the Parish of Minnigaff there are 19 (5 at least 

 unopened) ; in Kirkmabreck, 11 (all destroyed); in Carsphairn, 9 

 — that is a total of 39. About a third of the whole are to be 

 found in the mountainous district north of Dairy and west of the 

 Skyreburn. The district next best represented is the parish of 

 Tongland, where there are nine caii'ns; Anwoth has 8, Girthon, 

 Dairy, and Colvend 7 each. In certain districts the cairns are 

 "conspicuous by their absence" — e.g., Balmaghie, Balmaclellan, 

 Kirkbean, and Borgue appear to have only two each ; two 

 parishes, Troqueer and Kirkpatrick-Durham, have only one each, 

 while in Buittle I have not been able to find a single cairn. Out 

 of the 114 cairns noted, the following are not marked on the 

 Ordnance Map — i.e., at Machermore (Minnigaff), Laggan Burn and 

 Newton (Anwoth), Clachan Pluck (2) (Balmaghie), Lochinvar and 

 Knockman (Dairy), Blackerne and the Mile Cairn (Parton), Ked 

 Castle (Crr), Tarkirra (Kirkgunzeon), Airdrie (Kirkbean), Pow- 

 brade (Colvend), and Slewcairn (2), N. Milton (Kirkcudbright), 

 Barlae and March Cleug-h (Kelton), Balannan (2), Barncrosh and 

 beyond Upper Lairdmanach (Toug-land), S.-W. of Auchengashel 

 Fort (Twynholm), and another S. of it, and at the Witches' Thorn, 



