pr26 antiquities in Scotland. May 3°, 
a <a 
ON ANTIQUITIES IN SCOTLAND. 
, Continued from vol. viii. p. 333- 
\ ' OWN VITRIFIED FORTIFICATIONS. 
/ 
I wow proceed to the sixth kind of antiquities men- 
tioned in a former paper, vzz. those vitrified forts that 
have been lately discovered on the tops of many 
high hills in Scotland. 
Yt is not yet three years since I got the first hint 
of this species of building*, from a gentleman who 
had examined them with attention; and who was,.I 
believe, the first person who took notice of them in 
Scotland. This was Mr John Williams, who was 
for several years employed by the honourable board 
of trustees for managing the forfeited estates in Scot- 
land, as a mineral surveyor on these estates +. Since 
that time, I have seen and examined them myself, 
and have made the following observations upon 
them: ‘ 
These walls consist of stones piled rudely upon 
one another, and firmly cemented together by a mat- 
ter that has been vitrified by means of fire, which 
forms a kind of artificial rock, (if you will admit 
this phrase, ) that resists the vicifsitudes of the wea-. 
ther, perhaps better than any other artificial. cement. 
that has ever yet been discovered. 
* This part of the account was written in April 17773 and: publithed 
inthe fourth volume of the Archeologia. Several particulars are now ad— 
ded to that account. 
+ See his account of them in a series of letters toG. C, M. esq. pub— 
lifhed about the year 1777, 8vo, with a plate. 
