Transnctioiis. 23 



four pillar stones set upright at each corner. Of these the 

 stone at the south-east angle has fallen. These stones, tlie 

 highest of which is 5 feet 10 inches, and the lowest 4 feet 6 inches, 

 are to this day found on the slopes of the Laggan Hill and Ben 

 John in long, sometimes almost squarish, oblongs, of about seven 

 feet, and form a ready material for such usage as here exampled. 

 The lie of the kist cover is nearly due north and south, and the 

 distance between the two end stones is, north and south, 8 feet, 

 and east and west 4 feet. 



I had fully intended toopentliis ancient grave, and so complete 

 the present inquiry by a description of its condition and contents- 

 Inclemency of weather, however, has compelled me to put aside 

 an excavation which might have extended to .several days. 



I must, therefore, conclude with a summary of what, in my 

 judgment, are the distinguishing features of this Pre-Historic 

 Colony, marking it oft" from other localities in Galloway. 



First noticeable is the variety of character in the relics'; cairns^ 

 stone circles, kist vaens, and a moat with sculptured stones, and 

 one fragment of sculptured rock. Now, in no other district of 

 equal area do I know of any such variety of charactei'. 



The High Banks district, near Kirkcudbright — ^though it 

 possesses several forts and moats — has only small cairns, and 

 no cup and ring marks on slabs or standing stones, and no out- 

 standing grave such as this at Newton or at Cairnholy. 



In other places as, e.g., in the northern parts of the Stewartry 

 and the borders of Ayr and Wigtown, where cairns are pretty 

 frequent, we have as yet little or no trace of sculptured stones, 

 either in cup and ring marks or crosses. 



These considerations lend colour to the probability that this 

 Anwoth district once formed an important and comparatively 

 thickly peopled centre — a settlement of some duration —the 

 actual habitations of which have long since passed away, to be 

 remembered only by the cairn and grave and cup-marked stone, 

 as we see them at the present day. 



The next characteristic is the difierentiation of tlie types of 

 these remains, and the suggestion that many ages must have 

 played their part in building up such a memorial. It is quite 

 possible that the cairn was the earliest — as it is the most natural 

 — attempt at a constructed tomb. Perhaps the stone-circle 

 followed (for these, as is now pretty generally admitted by 



