Agricolas Well at Birrenswark Hill. 167 



of superstitious awe. An old man brought up in the vicinity 

 told the writer that in his boyhood the hill was regarded as an 

 uncanny place. Few were bold enough to stroll there on Sundays 

 or after sun-down, and against such practices his mother fre- 

 quently gave him solemn warning. Some, he said, thought the 

 ancient Britons or the Romans had something to do with these 

 inexplicable earthworks ; but the common belief was that another 

 potent influence had a hand in the matter, who, desirous not to 

 have his part detected, visits with elemental manifestations of 

 displeasure such as come there to howk for hidden treasure. 



The profound present-dav scepticism makes no allowance 

 for such wanderings in superstition as these, but some measure 

 of excuse is properly due in circumstances unusual which may 

 sometimes occur. The writer having occasion to visit the hill for 

 the purpose of conferring with an officer of the Society of Anti- 

 quaries of Scotland, on reaching the south camp, found the place 

 wholly enveloped in a dense fog, and no one could be seen. 

 Shortly, however, con\ersation was o\erheard, and the desired 

 meeting ensued. The effect of the mist was curious and interest- 

 ing. Normal dimensions disappeared, and the ramparts, ditches, 

 and other details loomed hugely gigantic and undefined. The 

 writer seemed to perceive also fitful movements of something with- 

 out shape or substance, and, whether preceding, accompanying 

 or following, the motion had some sort of relation to his own — 

 a rare phenomenon which arose from a quick flash of light from 

 the sun casting trembling and uncertain shadows on the yet par- 

 tially dense body of the mist. When the mist quickly unrolled, 

 the sun broke out, and the whole place was bathed in the bright 

 sunlight of the fully opened day. 



During fine summer weather the atmosphere is fragrant and 

 breatheable, but the hill is subject to sharp and sudden storms. 

 When the excavations had been well ad\anced the Secretary of 

 the Society and other Edinburgh friends paid a visit to view the 

 works. They had just got under cover at the farm when, without 

 warning, a fierce storm of elements broke over the scene — light- 

 ning, thunder, hail, rain. Ultimately the rain subdued the other 

 elements, but continued to fall, not in drops, but like stalks 

 reaching from the clouds to the ground, where it fell with a 

 ru.shing sound. After lasting about half-an-hour the storm ceased 

 as suddenly as it had begun, the clouds shifted, leaving a bright 



