15 



south side, and it slopes into a sandy hillock at the north 

 side. There are a few yards of grassy ground on the top. 

 The soil on the top is hlack, and from 9 inches to 21 

 inches deep. This black mould is mixed with small 

 stones, and below is sand. The grassy top is level, and 

 appears to be the remains of a more grassy covering. The 

 sides of the mound are covered with small water-worn 

 stones, mostly broken like road metal. This mound 

 appears to have been artificially raised, but for what 

 purpose does not seem very certain. Possibly it had been 

 a place where the early settlers met to discuss their 

 common affairs, devise laws, and administer law. Emi- 

 nences were used as places for courts and meetings, the 

 judges and persons in authority placing themselves on the 

 summit, visible to the surrounding multitude, yet separated 

 from the throng. 



ORIGIN OF THE SAND HILLS. 



Various theories have been offered as to the formation 

 of the Culbin Sand Hills, and where the sand came from. 

 Whatever was the origin of the Sand Hills, it is pretty 

 evident that the sand which overspread the arable land in 

 the seventeenth century did not come from a distance, but 

 from the sand hills in the immediate vicinity. The name 

 Culbin is from Gul-beinn (the black hill). This black hill 

 was covered with bent, broom, and juniper ; and it appears 

 from an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, passed in the 

 year 1695, that the drifting of the loose sand which proved 

 so ruinous to the estate of Culbin was mainly occasioned 

 by the pulling of bent, and of broom and juniper bushes, 

 which broke the surface of the hills. There is little use 

 in forming theories as to where the sand came from some 

 200 years ago, when we find it distinctly stated in an Act 

 of Parliament enacted at the time, that the drifting of the 



