116 Field Meetings. 



with the great labour they must have entailed ? For purposes of 

 protection, is the ready answer. They would afford a protection 

 when beset by hostile tribes. But we must remember that it was 

 not only from human enemies that the early Briton needed pro- 

 tection. It is not certain that the bear survived in Scotland 

 beyond the sixth century of the Christian era ; but individual 

 survivals of the wolf were met with until within a few years of 

 the Revolution that put William of Orange on the throne, and in 

 earlier centuries they would roam the forests in ferocious packs. 

 An Act of the Scottish Parliament of 1580 required that the 

 Sheriff and Bailie " hunt the wolf thrice in the year, betwixt St. 

 Mark's Day and Lambes, and that the country rise with them for 

 that end." Families left on an island habitation would be safe 

 from their attacks while the men of the tribe were following the 

 chase at a distance or out on the warpath. The crannog in all 

 probability was a place of ordinary residence, not merely of occa- 

 sional resort. It is understood that it was usually wooden huts 

 which were erected upon them ; but indications of rude stone 

 buildings have been found on some of them ; among others, in 

 cue at Ravenstone, in Wigtownshire. And the numbers of com- 

 paratively larg-e stones overlying the Lochrutton crannog cannot 

 well be accounted for on any other theory than that they had 

 been used in the construction either of a dwelling or an encom- 

 passing wall. 



That the crannogs belong to a remote past there can be no 

 doubt ; but data are awauting to fix their age with any precision. 

 Dr Munro has formed the opinion that they are all more recent 

 than the Roman occupation of Scotland, and that many have been 

 occupied until a comparatively recent period. Considerations of 

 convenience and conservatism of habit would no doubt prevent 

 them from being deserted until long after the original necessity 

 for them had passed away. Hence articles which may be found 

 in them are not necessarily an index of the period in which they 

 were constructed. 



The ordinary means of communication with the mainland 

 would, of course, be by canoe ; but in many instances a sub- 

 merged road has been traced, to which the term causeway has 

 been applied. The gentleman to whom we have already alluded 

 and a friend satisfied themselves, twenty-four years ago, that 

 there were distinct traces of such an approach from the promon- 



