J. Croll. — Boulder-clay of Caithness. 271 



ments, and, for the most part, roughly moulded by the hands ; a 

 number of implements of bone, such as needles, arrow-heads, combs, 

 knives, chisels, etc., very similar to those found in the Swiss Lakes ; 

 a vast quantity of bones of oxen (of several varieties, including 

 ^os longifrons), sheep, goats, deer, swine, dogs, &c. ; of shells, in 

 great abundance, especially those of the Patella and Littorina ; a very 

 rude querne, etc. All of these have been deposited in the Museum 

 of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and are considered, by 

 those best qualified to judge, as belonging to an age as remote as 

 the Eoman period, or perhaps extending even beyond it ; an opinion 

 confirmed, perhaps, by the absence of every trace of metallic imple- 

 ments, notwithstanding the most diligent efforts to discover any 

 such lyy laboriously sifting the whole of the soil, within and about 

 the building. 



Now the peculiar geological interest of this ancient habitation con- 

 sists in this : that it lies on the rock, not more.; as to its lower part, 

 than 22 or 23 feet above high- water mark ; and assuming, as I 

 think we fairly may, that its age extends beyond the historical 

 period, it certainly does seem to me to furnish a very cogent argu- 

 ment against the theory of any material rise of the land since that 

 time. Even as it is, the spray during storms sweeps so unpleasantly 

 over it, that it is difficult to conjecture why so exposed a site should 

 be chosen for a dwelling at all. Were it, however, but a little fur- 

 ther depressed the sea would, in bad weather, make a clean- breach 

 over it, and render habitation there simply impossible^. 



VI. — The BouLDEK-ciiAT OF Caithness a Pfeonucr of Land-iob, 



By James Cuoll, of the Geological Survey of Scotland., 



(PLATE X.) 



Part ii. 



[Continued from the May Numher, p. 209i) 



WE must consider that the ice from Scotland and England was 

 but a fraction of that which entered the North Sea. The greater 

 part of the ice of Scandinavia must have gone into this sea, and if 

 the ice of our island could not find water sufficiently deep in which 

 to float, far less would the much thicker ice of Scandinavia do so. 

 The Scandinavian ice, before it could break up, would thus, like the 

 Scottish ice, have to cross the bed of the North Sea and pass into 

 the Atlantic. It could not pass to the north, nor to the north-west, 

 for the ocean in these directions would be blocked up by the Polar 

 ice. It is true that in the southern part of Norway there is a 

 comparatively deep trough of from one to two hundred fathoms, 

 extending along the shore. But this is evidently not deep enough 

 to have floated the Scandinavian ice-sheet. But even supposing it 

 had been sufficiently deep, the floating ice must find its way to the 

 Atlantic, and this it could not have done without passing along the 

 coast. But its passage would not only be obstructed by the mass of 

 ice continually protruding into the sea directly at right angles to its 



