—_—_-- 
TRANSACTIONS. 153 
small rounded boulders now much reduced in size, the diameter of 
it being twenty-three feet, and its height about five feet. Within 
this heap of stones stands a roughly-circular ring of whinstone 
slabs set on edge, eight in number, and varying in size from four- 
teen inches to three feet and over; and at about sixteen inches 
distance within them, the X7st-Vaen proper, an oblong cavity 
formed by four thin stones set on edge, and measuring three feet 
N. and S., one foot eight inches E. and W., and twenty-two 
inches deep. The slab covering the grave was broken in two, and 
on these two stones were noticed tool-marks, such'as Mr Coles is 
led to believe may be genuine cup-marks. 
At a distance of five feet from the south end of the grave 
stands the head-stone of roughish sand stone, abundantly weather- 
marked, the dimensions of which are :—Height above ground, three 
feet five inches; width, 1 foot nine; thickness, nine and a half 
inches. That there might be no doubt as to the genuine character 
of this burial-place, and especially of the position of the head- 
stone, Mr Coles produced evidence in a letter from (the late) Mrs 
Gordon, whose husband was proprietor of Conchieton, in which 
these points were certified, and the additional information gained 
that after a careful search Mr Gordon could find nothing in either 
bronze or stone, but a handful of brown decayed bones, this ex- 
ploration of his having been conducted in 1844, and soon after the 
spot was built round, by Mr Gordon’s orders, with a strong dyke 
planted with trees and ivy and ever since properly preserved. 
Footnote.—It is noteworthy that on one of the slabs unearthed 
from the Cairn on Woodfield, High Banks, Kirkcudbright, during 
March this year, cup-marks of the same form and size were found 
as those mentioned above. 
Ill. Wotes on the Difference between the Dumfries of Dr Burnside’s 
MS. History and the Dumfries of To-Day. By the Rev. 
Ropert W. WEIR, M.A. 
In 1790 Sir John Sinclair addressed a letter to the ministers 
of all the parishes in Scotland asking their assistance in the pro- 
duction of a statistical account of the country. He enclosed in 
each letter a list of 166 questions, under the four heads of 
“geography, and natural history,” “population,” “ production,” 
and “ miscellaneous questions.” The answer to the letter addressed 
to the minister of Dumfries was given by the Rev. William 
