128 



NATURE 



\7une 5, 1879 



are broad and thin, and not so brick-sbaped as ihose on 

 the mainland further south. All around wears a sombre 

 aspect. Miles and miles of bog and moorland, without 

 tree or bush to break the long undulatory lint s which rise 

 and fall like the waves of the sea. 



At length, as we reach the top of a slight rise, we see 

 before us the object of our visit, the stones appearing so 

 thickly clustered together on the rising ground on which 

 they stand, as to suggest the likeness to a cemetery. 

 Leaving the vehicle a little beyond the sixteenth mile- 



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N ^ — 



I 



Plan of General Arrangement of Group. 



Stone from Stornoway, we ascend by a roughly cause- 

 wayed roadway which leads from the main road to the 

 top of the low hill upon which the stones are placed. On 

 a closer inspection it is found that the general outline is 

 cruciform, and at or near the intersection of the cross 



limbs is placed the largest stone, whilst around isa circle 

 of tall stones. The stones are rough, and appear only to 

 have received such dressing as would bring them to a 

 suitable shape for erection; they are composed' of the 

 rock of the island, the Laurentian gneiss, which, in gco- 





view fr.im North-J-ast. 



logical record, is the oldest known. In colour it is grey- 

 ish, with occasional flesh-coloured patches. The stones 

 are monoliths, and are all upright. 



The upper parts of the stones are coyered with a grey- 

 ish green lichen, the lower parts being comparatively 

 bare. This is accounted for by the fact that][a numher of 



years ago the proprietor of the island caused the peaty 

 ground around to be removed, which showed that the 

 height was much greater than had at first appeared ; the 

 parts thus recently disclosed have not the heavy coating 

 of lichen which the upper parts have ; the line separating 

 the two parts is very marked. From this the great age 



