4i6 Cup-Marked Stones. [Sess. 



I should state at the beginning that my interest in the 

 subject has become aroused by the tradition which is attached 

 to one particular example of these stones which has unex- 

 pectedly come under my notice, although, after seeing this 

 one, I have taken the opportunities I have had of visiting 

 other specimens. 



With regard to the particular stone I have referred to, I 

 will ask you to accompany me in spirit on a short tour I made 

 along with my wife in June of last year (1906) to Gartan, 

 in County Donegal, in Ireland. Gartan, I may at once men- 

 tion, is tlie birthplace, well established by history and tradi- 

 tion, of St Columba, who in middle life left Ireland for lona, 

 there to become the great missionary saint of Western and 

 Northern Scotland. The object of our tour was that my wife 

 should revisit a locality which had been the home of an 

 elderly relative who had laboured very devotedly for many 

 years to elevate the condition of her poorer neighbours; and 

 although over thirty years had elapsed since this good lady 

 died, we found her memory was still held by many in deep 

 respect, and on her account we received several hearty 

 welcomes. 



My wife had inquiries to make concerning occupants of her 

 relative's household, and in one case an incident was related 

 to us which seems worth recounting here, as showing how 

 ancient superstition in connection with remarkable stones still 

 lingers in a secluded district. With regard to this incident, 

 it is first necessary that I should refer to the Glenveigh 

 evictions, which were carried out with great harshness fifty 

 years ago, and which at that time made the neighbourhood of 

 Gartan notorious. The evictions were the work of a new 

 proprietor, Mr Adair, who had come from the South of Ireland 

 with every desire to be fair to the peasantry, but with whom 

 he quarrelled as to the exclusive right of sporting over his 

 new possession. Mr Adair by these evictions had become the 

 aversion of all the neighbourhood. Eeverting now to the 

 retainer of the Gartan household, at first no reply was given 

 to my wife's inquiry, and then with bated breath the reply 

 came, " Oh, she had a dreadful death ! She was engaged in 

 washing, and fell into a boiling caldron, from which she could 

 not be got out alive." But the awful thing about her death 



