xxvi HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



feet. The rate of the growth of peat-moss is said to be 

 about one foot in a century, upon which basis, the date of 

 the structure would be about the thirteenth century. The 

 name Callernish if derived from Kjalarr* one of Odin's 

 many names, and ness, a cape or headland would seem to 

 suggest that the circle was used by the Norsemen as a temple 

 to their supreme warrior-god ; but that it is only six 

 hundred, or even a thousand years old, is an idea which 

 antiquaries consider to be untenable. It is likely, however, 

 that the Norsemen used the structure for religious exercises, 

 and more than probable that it was their Tingvoll, where 

 the freemen held their solemn assemblies for judicial and 

 legislative deliberations. In Scandinavia, similar enclosures 

 were used for such purposes, and sometimes as duelling- 

 rings. 



Whether or not the Callernish and the other circles in 

 the Long Island were used by the Druids if the cult of 

 Druidism ever flourished in the Hebrides is a point which 

 there is no means of deciding. The popular belief which 

 connects these remains with Druidism, is simply a variant 

 of the tradition which ascribes the erection of the structures 

 to enchanters or magicians, for whom the word " Druid " 

 is a generic term. But even tradition supports the view 

 that the single menhirs, such as the Thrushel Stone at 

 Barvas, were erected, like the bautastones of Scandinavia, 

 as memorials of battles. 



The apotheosis of the Callernish stones was reached 

 when Toland, an Irishman and a Presbyterian, who was 

 born in 1670 and died in 1722, wrote his History of 

 tfie Druids^ a famous work in its time, and one which 

 is still occasionally quoted. Toland had been reading 

 Martin's account of the Callernish remains, and seized 

 upon that description as yielding strong proof of his pet 

 theories about the Druidic cult. He found no difficulty 

 in believing that the "temple stood astronomically" (a 



* This is, perhaps, a more likely derivation than " Keel " Cape, the root of 

 which is Kjdlr. There was a Kjalarnes Thing in Iceland and a place 

 of the same name in Greenland. The Greenland headland is derived from 

 Kjdlr, and was so named in commemoration of a particular incident. 



