e re- 
178 * ON REMAINS OF INDIGENOUS WOOD IN ORKNEY. 
The larger pieces of horn, from which the points or spurs ar 
moved, appear to have been used as clubs or mallets ; one piece in 
particular presents a glaze on its surface, suggestive of very frequent 
handling. A great variety of bone and stone implements of rude con- 
struction have been found in these dwellings ; but they are now so 
diligently sought after by collectors that they are not easily procurable. 
in nearly all the localities where trees are dug up— in peatmosses, 
in marl pits, or beneath the bed of the ocean— there also bones and 
horns of red deer are found, and in some places entire skeletons of 
deer have been discovered. Most of the principal islands of Orkney 
show remains of trees in their peatmosses. During last summer I 
visited the island of Hoy, and, on passing by a farm where extensive 
draining was going on, I observed that the surface of the ground on 
each side of the trench was literally lined with fragments of decayed 
trees that had been thrown out in the process of digging. I" tlie 
island of Eousay, where I speut a few days in the summer of 1865, 
there were many traces of ancient forests, not only in the peatmosses 
towards the centre of the island, but also in two places on the coast 
much below high-water mark. 1 was fortunate in having a friend 
with a turn for antiquities, who was kind enough to accompany me in 
my rambles. We first turned our attention to the interior of the 
island, which is hilly, and much covered with peat, some of which is 
eight or ten feet deep. Beneath that there is generally clay or slate. 
rock of the old red sandstone formation, with its upper stratum a good 
deal disintegrated. The trees, for the most part, lay deep in the peat, 
within a few inches of the clay or rock. Some were prostrate, but the 
stumps of others appeared quite undisturbed, their root fibres being 
traceable in all directions through the ground. Many of the sma er 
branches were flattened by pressure. None of the stems that we saw 
exceeded six or eight inches in diameter, though we were told tha 
larger pieces are often found by the peat cutters, who dry them » 
summer, and add them to their winter stock of fuel. It was not .easy 
to determine the different kinds of trees with any certainty. #irc 
could be distinguished by the peculiar appearance of its silvery 
other trees had rough thick bark, not unlike Pine ; that Hazel was ©«» 
species is evident from the extraordinary abundance of the nuts » *** 
also of different shapes are occasionally found wonderfully **"\j*\ 
served. Some of the sites of these trees are curious enough- 
