TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 157 



They differ greatly in size, and there is also much diversity in their internal ar- 

 rangements. In some of the barrows (which, with rare exceptions, are of the bowl- 

 shape) human skeletons have been found in kists, either lying extended at full 

 length, or on the right or left side in a flexed posture : in one ease the skeleton 

 was in a sitting posture. It is not uncommon to find interments both by inhuma- 

 tion and cremation in the same barrow, and even in the same kist. 



Graves or kists unconnected with barrows are not imfrequently met with, but 

 they are only accidentally discovered. If baiTows formerly existed over any of 

 them, they have long since disappeared. 



Some of the largest barrows contained only a small quantity of fragments of 

 burnt bones, or ashes lying about the centre of the barrow, either on a fiat stone, 

 or imbedded in a greasy-looking clay. In others the burnt l^ones and ashes lay on 

 the natm-al surface of the soil beneath a small cairn of stones, over which clay had 

 been heaped to complete the mound. A third class contained one or more kists, 

 usually of flagstone set on edge, either wholly undressed, or more or less rudely 

 fitted together. The kists, which average about 2| feet in length and 1| foot in 

 width and depth, are found to contain either burnt bones or ashes, or cinerary urns 

 of stone or fire-baked clay, in which the bones or ashes have been deposited. Few 

 stone or bronze weapons are found in the barrows or kists, and personal ornaments 

 are still more rarely met with. The urns are usually very rude. 



Two human skeletons were found near Erkwall in a stone kist underneath a 

 barrow ; both were in the flexed postui-e. One was on its right side with its head 

 close to one end of the kist, and the other lay on its left side at the opposite end. 

 The skuU of the first-mentioned skeleton has been described by Dr. J. Barnard 

 Da\-is as presenting all the characteristic features of the Ancient Briton ; the other 

 skidl was of a greatly inferior type, more square in outline and remarkably thick. 

 A large kist was discovered in another locality in Orkney, also containing two 

 human skeletons lying similarly to those already described, and presenting the 

 Same characteristic difierences. In each case the skeleton of lowest tj^e appeared 

 to have been rudely treated and recklessly thrust into the kist, while great care 

 had evidently been taken with the other skeleton found beside it. The whole ap- 

 pearance of the skeletons and their arrangement in the kists suggested the question, 

 Were the squat skeletons with the short thick skulls those of slaves or captives 

 who had been slain and placed beside their masters ? and have wo in them dis- 

 covered traces of an aljoriginal race of colonists of the Orkneys, akin to the Fins 

 or Esquimaux, whose snow houses the so-called Picts'-houses so closely resemble in 

 form and structure, making due allowance for the difference between the materials 

 employed in their construction ? 



There is another class of tumuli in Orlmey known as "Picts'-houses." They 

 usually resemble the Bowl-barrows externally, but when examined the so-called 

 " Pict's-house " is found to be a mass of building, generally circular at the base, 

 containing in its centre several small chambers or cells surrounding a lai-ger cham- 

 ber. Each cell is connected by a low short passage with the central chamber, and 

 from the latter a passage extends to the outside of the structure, which is circum- 

 scribed by a low wall or facing, generally about 2 feet in height. The walls of 

 each chamber converge till at the top or roof they are only a foot or two apart, 

 and the opening is covered in by flagstoues placed across it. Occasionally human 

 skeletons Iiave been found in such buildings ; but most archoBologists were of opi- 

 nion that the Picts'-houses were not sepulchral. The opening of Maes-how in 

 Stenness, and especially of a chambered mound in its neighboui'hood, showed, how- 

 ever that they had been used as tombs, as Mr. Petrie had supposed. A subsequent 

 discovery of a " Pict's-house " within the ruins of a " Brough," or Round Tower, 

 containing human skeletons along with bones of the Ox, Sheep, &c., and two rude 

 stone implements of peculiar form, afforded still more conclusive evidence of the 

 sepulchral character of the " Picts'-houses," and proved beyond a doubt that, even if 

 originally erected as dwellings, they had subsequently been used as chambered tombs. 

 It would be premature at present, Mr. Petrie observed, to attempt to determine the 

 age of the "Picts'-houses," but the "Broughs," with which they appear to be in- 

 timately connected, were imdoubtedly existing merely as ruined buildings, and in 

 many instances presenting externally only the appearance of huge barrows, when 



