Dr Hibberfs Observations on Vitrified Forts. 301 



David Lyndsay, Lyon King at Arms, in 1542, fires are made to 

 blaze from many diversified points of a beacon-hill. But the au- 

 thority of Wallace, who wrote in the year 1700, is more direct 

 to the point. He lias stated, that even at this late period " the 

 people (of Orkney) had in every isle a wart-hill or ward-hill, 

 which is the most conspicuous and elevated part of the isle, 

 on which, in time of war, they keep ward ; and when they see 

 the enemies ships approaching, they put a fire, thereby to give 

 notice to the adjacent isles of the nearness of the enemy, and 

 to advertise them to be on their guard, or to come to their 

 help ; this they distinguish by the number of fires. 



Cthly, Are there any other very ancient observances or cus- 

 toms, not hitherto cited by authors, which may have contri- 

 buted to this vitrification ? 



As it remains yet to be proved that marks of vitrification 

 are uniformly limited to fortified sites, or even to beacon-hills, 

 a natural question arises, " Are there any other ancient ob- 

 servances or customs which might have contributed to this vi- 

 trification ?" 



For such information we must consult the earliest and most 

 obscure records of Scottish history. One of these which may 

 be noticed, is the public festival said to have followed the la- 

 bours of the chase, in the commemoration of which all the early 

 Scottish traditions and songs agree. That this feast was accom- 

 panied by a sacrifice of fuel derived from the ancient forests of 

 Scotland, to an amount which at the present day is almost in- 

 credible, might be inferred from the testimony of Ossian, if we 

 could only depend upon the correctness of the translation : 

 " Night is around the hero and his thousands spread upon 

 the heath ; a hundred oaks burn in the midst ; the feast of 

 shells is smoking wide." Hut upon this cause of vitrification 

 it would be imprudent to insist, as I should be disposed to at- 

 tribute to it very few effects in comparison with that of bea- 

 con-fires. I shall merely mention, that in a section which was 

 made by Sir George Mackenzie of the very small vitrified foil 

 of Dun Fian, near Inverness, the quantity of burnt boms of 

 animals, and of charcoal, found on the siti, would rather in- 

 dicate the sequel of a feast than the effect of signal-fires. Hut 



