u 



a later period, said 200 feet ; but, according to the ordin- 

 ance survey, the greatest height is 99 feet. (Farther west 

 are the Maviston Sand Hills in the county of Nairn.) 



Large portions of the Sand Hills are bare, without the 

 semblance of vegetation. In some places the bent grass 

 grows abundantly, and in other places heath or ling. In 

 the hillocks adjacent to the river Findhorn, opposite the 

 village of Findhorn, the ling grows thick and bushy. In 

 some parts it is a foot high, and in other places not more 

 than an inch above the surface of the ground. In some of 

 the hillocks and ridges lying between the Shelly Hillock 

 and the Buckie Loch, there is a close covering of common 

 hair-moss (polytrichum commune). 



Near the sea beach, about three quarters of a mile 

 west from the mouth of the river Findhorn, there is a 

 hillock called the " Shelly Hillock." It is of the kind 

 known as " kitchen middens," always to be found near the 

 spot where the primitive inhabitants had a settlement. 

 This hillock contains layers of shells, alternating with 

 layers of sand, the shell beds being from nine inches to 

 three feet in thickness, and the intervening layers of sand 

 from six inches to two feet in thickness. There are found 

 in the shell beds various marine shells, such as oysters, 

 cockles, mussels, and periwinkles ; also fish hooks, bones 

 of fishes, rabbits, and other animals. 



On a gravelly beach, about '300 yards south of the 

 Shelly Hillock, near the old course of the Findhorn, are 

 the remains of early settlements, where there are to be 

 found fragments of crucibles, slag, pourings of melted 

 metal, iron knives, fish hooks, flint implements, fragments 

 of mediaeval pottery, coins, bronze buckles, rings, &c. 



About 300 yards north-east from the last-mentioned 

 place there is a mound about 20 feet high, and 130 feet 

 in diameter at the base. It has a gravelly beach on the 



