. was 
FORTS, VITRIFIED.” 
tioned by Mr is noticed ; and it is added, * that 
a similar tower is in the same direction, contiguous to 
the house of In ; and that the tradition of the 
vargarry. 
country is, that those hills were watch towers for giv- 
ing signals upon the approach of an enemy by large 
It is about seventeen years since the writer of this 
article sug to several persons whom he accom- 
in their visits to Knock Farril, which is near his 
cemented by the fusion of a part of the materials, there 
no reason whatever to doubt it. 
it is not whether a wall can or cannot be con- 
structed of fusible materials, ore is the question ; 
appearances which now present them- 
selves justify the assumption that they bad such an 
— We have already le, who 
seen the possibility of heat being applied success- 
Creich, had 
on both sides, or throughout, So as to indicate a regu- 
deed, a regularity in the form and manner in 
which the ramparts are laid down, and which has been 
guided by the shape of the hills: but ing else than 
in the mass of which they are formed. We 
‘of all those we have seen, and of a variety of 
which we haye read. We often. find 
masses of melted matter of a breadth far exceedi 
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525 
such marks were discovered by Mr Nimmo, on the ‘Vitrified 
only part of the hill where signals could be made, so | 
as to connect the great chain of posts extending from 
coast to coast ; and along this chain it has been found 
necessary to make use of hills on both sides of the val- 
Jey, inorder to complete the communication. Here, 
then, is another instance in which the fusibility of the 
stones has not suggested the idea of strengthening 
walls by means of fire. But we have said enough on 
this part of our subject. 
Mr Tytler has accounted for the present irre 
distribution of the vitrified matter, in a more simple 
and in a more i ious manner than Mr Williams and 
Dr Anderson. He sup; that the cause of the vi< 
trification is to be fi , not in the mode of construct- 
ing, but in the means employed to demolish the ram~ 
; which, according to his theory, were originally 
ilt with stones intermixed with wood, thus present 
ing to an enemy a defence easily destructible by the 
application of re. 
t is difficult to find any reason why such structures 
should be made, at a time when the effects of fire upon 
wood must have been as well known as at present. At 
a period when it was the only fuel made use of or 
known, little ingenuity was necessary for gr kd 
that any structure made wholly or partly of wood, 
could easily be destroyed by fire ; and the people must 
have been very silly indeed, who were incapable of 
foreseeing that the ingenuity of their enemies might 
enable them to find out so simple, and, to such fortifi- 
cations as Mr Tytler has constructed for them, so for- 
midable a w . It was ec teart fare such a strucs 
ture should be only once destroyed by fire, to prove to 
the inhabitants the frail nature of their defence. And 
if their enemies were expelled, it is natural to suppose 
that they would have renewed their forts, and con- 
structed them in a different manner, so as to resist the 
attacks of fire. But nothing has been found indicating 
any renewal of the fortifications. That a rampart may 
be constructed of stones and wood, which not be 
liable to destruction by fire, and that such ramparts 
have been formed, there is no reason to doubt. But, 
in the case before us, it is necessary-that the quantity 
of wood should have been so great, as to admit of fire 
being set to it easily. If Mr Tytler’s conjecture be 
right, we ought to find the melted matter i 
indiscriminately every part of the rubbish. But the 
vitrification is only superficial, extending but a very 
little way among the stones. 
These few considerations, together with what we 
have already stated in favour of another, has induced 
us to reject Mr Tytler’s hypothesis. On the whole, 
we are of opinion, that the antiquity of these structures 
is by no means so great: as that which has been attri- 
buted:to them. and that they have served as beacons to 
castles in their vicinity, the remains of which are, in 
almost every instance, to be found. 
We allow that, while these hills were chosen for sig- 
nal stations, they were also used as places of defence, 
And, indeed, it would have been strange if posts of 
so much im, had been left without the means 
without the possibility of his being annoyed from them; 
or if there was any risk of his progress being inter- 
Forts. 
