Born. 
—\— 
as the edge of the hill at both 
sides, There is a third inclosure, 30 paces The 
want of a vertical section, or a drawing of the hill, pre- 
vents us from Prom rpg de pei a et 
title to set aside t fires having been 
the cause of the vitrifications. facility with which 
our author makes room for his own opinions, may be 
seen in the following sentence: ‘ The supporters 
of this opinion have asserted, that they (the forts) 
always occupy the highest elevation; and that ma- 
ny of them are so placed as to be ‘visible from each 
other, This is not true.” The vitrified forts have 
never been asserted to occupy the Aighest elevation. 
and we cannot discover where Dr M‘Culloch could 
find such an assertion to have been made. We do not 
remember an instance, in which there is not much 
on sp wae immediately contiguous to the hills on 
whi vitrifications are found. It has been assert- 
But this is very different from the highest elevation. 
That many of them are so placed as to be visible 
from each other, is known from the testimony of se- 
veral writers, and is consistent with our own obser- 
vation. 
The rock of which the hill in question is formed is 
limestone ; and Dr M‘Culloch very properly infers, that 
the stone of the hill was rejected, on account of the 
effects of fire upon it, and that other stones were, there- 
fore, collected in the vicinity. He supposes, that a 
trap breccia, found in situ about half a mile from the 
iat, was chilly: vancda seal on account of its being 
fusible. Yet he states, that only the foundation of the 
wall is cemented er by melted matter. . The 
masses of this rock are said to be rare on the plain 
near the hill; but it cannot be inferred from this, that 
they were not found in sufficient plenty at the time the 
rampart was constructed.. The building of the ram- 
occasioned the present scarcity of i 
thost 1 
aaaser this kind om the plain, But this is compara- 
tively unimportant, since we- have vestiges, in various 
places, which demonstrate the great labour which the 
ancient inhabitants of the country bestowed in collect- 
ing stones of particular sizes and shapes to suit their 
a, The vitrification extending, according to 
‘Culloch, “in no case more than a foot or two 
from the foundation,” does not, in our opinion, exhibit 
any sign of intention to construct a vitrified wall ; and 
the e of the fire a ing, in this instance, to di- 
minish upwards, is precisely what we should expect to 
be the consequence of lighting signal fires against the | 
rampart in the manner we have supposed. 
he reason 
why the i 
ing-stone is the prevailing material, ap- 
pears in its being more easily broken into pieces of a has 
convenient size than any other stone, and more eusily 
quarried (if quarrying was necessary) than the hard 
primitive rocks. 
From what we can collect out of this description, we 
are inclined to think it possible that a rampart of loose 
stones has been constructed on the vitrified mass, 
which is described as the foundation. Should this 
it will be an additional proof 
conjecture prove correct, 
that the fusibility of the materials has not always been 
made use of for the of cementing them. In- 
deed Dr M‘Culloch comes nearly to the same conclu- 
sion, as he has found it necessary to state the following 
which appears to us a very lame apology 
FORTS, VITRIFIED. 
partial neglect of 
tained its requisite height ; nor is 
is should aoehara Bene 
dition of cold stones, after a firm, 
obtained.” We do not see why i itri 
fied stones should be firmer than the. solid limestone 
rock, on which they are placed, Dr ‘M‘Culloch. ob- 
petpdin fs: “repented apiations ae en 
a y 3 an ob- 
re sap sh doa 3 pn pe meen a 
fires. We cannot di , along with our au- 
thor, any analogy canes aes we have 
censide: and the eplayed. Sosa 
mud walls employed in Hindustan. .. rtp Ate 
ing we consider as very different things. In regard 
to the plan which has been supposed to have been fol- 
lowed in constructing vitrified walls, and which is. 
proved by our author, we have only to observe, Gitithe 
tap paae weeny rat rpoincigne ny rae n get pe i 
ly be produced between two walls built of sods, 
any thing else, which would prevent a proper current 
of air from passing through the fuel. To us the ana- 
logy tothe glazed wall of Gatacre House in Shropshire, 
iy remote. , sera eT» 
e hope, by the time we come to the article. Virai- 
FIED Forts, that we shall have it in our to throw 
some additional light on this obscure subje , 
marks in this article, particularly those. on Dr M‘Cul- 
loch's memoir, shew how difficult itis to arrive at any 
opinion at present ; to us it y= 
dent that, to whate ose the ay of some stones 
been derived, 
really the fact, that w: ere built in 
it is remarkable that no trace is left by which we can 
determine the method which was followed in thei con- 
e y 
| seeey in favour of this mode of building. can 
presence of great varieties of stones, 
afew of which are fusible at a hi and 
of charcoal, which indicates com~ 
Society of Edinburgh, vol: 
Scollénd, im. Memoi 
ii. 
emoirs of fi oy ns ian Nat. His, 
FORTUNATE Ictanps., See Canany Isurs. » 
FOSSILS, See Mineratocy and Perriraction. 
FOSTAT. See Camo, p. 214, pigs 
