342 ANTIQUITIES OF BUTE. 



except towards the sea, by the steepness of the cliff' of natural 

 rock. The remains of the vitrified wall are seen in no 

 place higher than four feet, and they are about three in 

 thickness. The vitrified rock is the local whiustone, built 

 as a dry wall, and fused into one mass, by heat applied from 

 the outside, as the inside presents no trace of the action of 

 fire. The plan of the fort is rudely elliptical with the longer 

 axis almost due N. and S. 



Our companion, who is busy with his hammer and lens, 

 desires us to note the complete glazing of the surface in many 

 places, and the strongly porphyritic aspect given to the rock 

 by the perfect fusing and reformation of the felspar of the 

 trap rock. 



The tumuli which were formerly frequent in the island 

 have nearly all given way to modern improvements, and do 

 not require especial notice. 



There are several cairns, one of which recently excavated 

 by the Marquis of Bute, on Scalpsie Hill, seems to have been 

 adapted for a fort at a later period, by building a dry stone 

 wall seven feet thick, and breast high, on its summit. 



Traces of two cranoges have been discovered and described, 

 one on Loch Quien, and the other on Loch Dhu.* Stone 

 kists with baked clay urns, of a similar description to those 

 excavated at Tormore, have occasionally been found. There 

 are a few instances also, of stone celts and arrow heads 

 being dug up. 



Ecclesiastical Remains. 



147. The earliest monuments of the Historic period are un- 

 doubtedly the ruined chapels scattered along the coast, and 

 bearing for the most part the names of the Irish saints who 

 founded them in the first instance. Of these, St. Ninian's 

 is a characteristic example ; it is situated on the bay of that 

 name, and its dimensions are, fourteen feet six inches by 

 twenty -four feet interior measurement, having walls three feet 

 Vol. iil, Trans. S.A.S. 



