364 THE STONE PERIOD. CHAP. xvn. 



or hatchet, have been found near some of the Moray- 

 shire mounds, but not in them. They are, however, 

 considered to belong to the same period. In the 

 same way, the flint flakes, arrow -heads, elfshots, 

 found in the lower part of Banffshire, as also the two 

 curious rough-looking bits of stones formed like 

 knives, lately dug up near Banff, and now placed in 

 the Banff Museum, doubtless belong to the same by- 

 gone days. Of this, however, we have a proof beyond 

 doubt, that those who had for a time sojourned at 

 Boyndie had, like the men of Denmark, gone out to 

 sea fishing. This we learn from the fact that 

 spines of large rays or skate, bones of other big fish, 

 such as the cod, ling, and haddocks, bits of old 

 sponge-eaten shells, as the scallop (Pecten maximus 

 and opercularis), the cow shell (Cyprina Islandica), 

 and the roaring buckie (Fusus antiquus), are found 

 in our shell-mound. Now these cannot be got ex- 

 cept in pretty deep water ; and although no traces 

 of any of their vessels have as yet been met with 

 near the mound, still one, a canoe very similar to 

 the ancient Danish canoe was dug up some years 

 ago from a piece of marshy ground betwixt Portsoy 

 and Cullen. 



" During a recent excavation of the mound in the 

 presence of a clerical friend, we came upon the two 

 following species of shells not previously noticed 

 the flat-topped periwinkle (Littorina littoralis) and 

 the grey pyramid shell (Trochus cinerarius). These 



