i8 ANCIENT FORTlFICJriONS in 



xvorks, the number of thofe that fhow marks of vitrification 

 will be inconfiderable, when compared with thofe that have not 

 been at all afFeded by fire. I am led, from this circumftance, 

 to form an opinion different from that of Mr Williams, and 

 of fuch as believe thofe il;ru(flures to be the proofs of an an- 

 cient mode of building, in which fire was employed for the 

 purpofe of cementing, before our anceftors knew the ufe of 

 lime. I am difpofed to think, that the appearances of vitrifica- 

 tion on fome of thofe hills, are the accidental efFeds of fire up- 

 on a ftrudure compofed of combviftible and fufible materials, 

 and by no nieans the confequence of an operation intended to 

 produce that effedt. 



The buildings reared by the ancient inhabitants of this 

 country, both for habitation and defence, would naturally be 

 compofed of fuch materials as the rude ftate of the country 

 prefented in abundance, and fuch as required little, either of 

 labour or of fkill, to bring into ufe. In thofe quarters where 

 ftone could be eafily quarried in fquare blocks, or where it fplit 

 into lamina, no other material than the fimple ftone was necef- 

 fary, and very little labour was fufiicient to rear the ftrudlure. 

 Such has been the cafe at Dun-Jardel and Dun-Evan. But 

 where the ftone is of that nature as not to be eafily fplit into 

 fquare blocks, or feparated into lamina, but is apt to break into 

 irregular and generally fmall fragments, as the rock of Craig- 

 Phadrick, and all others of the phim-pudding kind, it would be 

 extremely difficult to form a regular ftrudlure of fuch mate- 

 rials alone, which fliovild be endowed with fufficient ftrength. 

 The mode in which I imagine building was pradlifed in fuch 

 fituations, was by employing wood, as well as ftone, in the fa- 

 bric. The building, 1 fuppofe, was begun by raifing a dou- 

 ble row of pallifades or ftrong ftakes, in the form of the in- 

 tended ftrudlure, in the fame way as in that ancient mode of 

 building, defcribed by Palladio under the m.va.t oi Riempittta, 



