146 Mr. George Tate on Aiicient Sculptured Rocks, 8fc. 



The figures on this stone have a more artistic appearance 

 than most others, which is partly due to the care with which 

 they have heen formed, and partly to the moulding action of 

 the elements ; the incised circles and grooves are deep, 

 usually from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch ; some are 

 even half-an-inch ; the hollows or cups are deeper still, some 

 being as deep as one inch and a half. In size, the figures 

 range from three inches to two feet nine inches in diameter ; 

 the common size is fifteen inches. Twelve years ago, the 

 lower part of the stone was concealed by a covering of peat 

 nine inches in depth. 



This marvellous rock is wdthin an ancient British camp, 

 which occupies an angle formed by the bend of the Routing 

 Linn Burn, and is defended on the north and west sides 

 partly by deep gullies, and on the other by four strong 

 rampiers and ditches. Like some other camps of the same 

 age, it has attached to it a large area enclosed by a supple- 

 mental rampier ; and it is within this area, about midway 

 between the camp and the external rampier, that the in- 

 scribed rock stands. To the northward about 100 yards is a 

 barrow, under which were interred the remains of some 

 ancient Briton, to whom the mysterious inscriptions had a 

 definite meaning. 



Hunter^s Moor. — North-westward, nearly a mile from 

 Routing Linn, on a high ridge on Hunter's Moor, a large 

 surface of rock, some forty yards by twenty, having a gentle 

 slope to the northward, is partially uncovered. In one part, 

 which has been entirely cleared of turf, fourteen figures are 

 scattered over an area of 15 feet by about from 5 to 7 feet — 

 {Plate II., Jigs. 1, 2.) Some of the figures are of the common 

 type, one of which is 28 inches in diameter ; but others pre- 

 sent new features ; and several are curiously united by 

 straight and curved grooves. Across the entire diameter of 

 a group of four concentric circles, runs a groove connecting 

 them with other combined figures. An irregularly shaped, 

 rounded, angular figure, encloses two hollows or cups ; and 

 united to this is a broad oval figure. One figure around four 

 cups approaches to the reniform. This stone derives addi- 

 tional interest, because similar to a stone at Stonehaven, 

 figured in the Sculptured Stones of Scotland. On that stone 

 there is none of our typical figures, but there are circles with 

 cups, and combinations of figures, which resemble those on 

 the Hunter's Moor Rock ; and therefore leading to the 

 conclusion, that it too, belongs to the same family and age. 



