I CO sa antiquities in Scotland. March 2 1 . 



doxxht of the place where it once was, yet there is 

 not at present even the mark of a ruin, that could 

 induce any person to believe that ever a number of 

 people had lived together upon that spot. When 

 j)rinces came to build palaces of lasting materials, 

 they were acquainted with many of tlie conveniencies 

 of life, so that their palaces were, when compared 

 with the ancient huts, as much distinguifhed by their 

 uperior conveniencies as by their superior strength. 



But if v/e examine the dburies with this view, we 

 fliall find that all these rules have been entirely re- 

 versed. There we fhall find a vast pile, that must 

 . have been erected at an immense expence, without 

 one single accommodation fitted to render life tole- 

 rable, far lefs comfortable ; for it will soon appear, 

 that the poorest hut that has been any where disco- 

 vered, in any country, would afford a much better 

 fhelter against the inclemencies of the weather than 

 one of these supposed palaces ever could have done. 



It is to be observed, that all these towers are en- 

 tirely open at the top, and must evidently ever have 

 been so, as there is not the smallest vestige of any 

 TQcf having been upon them ; nor the most distant 

 probability that there ever were. Indeed the idea of 

 a hut, supposes they must have been open at the top ; 

 and if ;hey had not been open there, the people with- 

 in could have no light, as there is not the smallest o- 

 pening in any one of them through the wall, but by 

 the door alone ; the people within, therefore, must 

 have been in total and perpetual darknefs, a state 

 infinitely lefs agreeable than that of the inhabitant 

 ci the meanest hut, who obtains light sufficient for 



