306 On Urns and A ntiquities of the Cheviot Hills. 



a spear head, is peculiar, for on each side of a central ridge is a 

 segmental perforation, and hence this form has been called ' the 

 eyed-spear head.' * It is not uncommon in Scotland and Ireland, 

 but is rare in England, and has not been observed in Scandinavia. 

 All these weapons are beautifully fashioned, and show not only 

 metallurgic but also artistic skill." He then repeats Lord 

 Ravensworth's opinion of the supposed reason why the weapons 

 were left sticking in the moss, points downwards.f I have met 

 with a passage in "Rob Roy," chap, xxvii., which if descrip- 

 tive of a genuine custom, and not an invention of the author, 

 may illustrate this disposition of the weapons, when the owners 

 were resting. The scene in a Highland inn discloses three 

 guests, two of them Highlanders, seated at an old oaken table. 

 "Each of the Highlanders had their naked dirks stuck upright 

 in the board beside him — an emblem, I was afterwards informed, 

 but surely a strange one, that their compotation was not to be 

 interrupted by any brawl. A mighty pewter measure, containing 

 about an English quart of usquebaugh, was placed before these 

 worthies." 



For figures of these weapons I am indebted for electros to Dr 

 Evans, and to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries. — See 

 Figures 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. The scale of some of the figures is 

 yth. The originals are in the Museum of the Earl of Ravens- 

 worth at Ravens worth Castle : and casts of them in bronze are 

 deposited in the Museum of the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle ; 

 and a cast of the peculiar sword handle — Fig. 23 — is in the Aln- 

 wick Castle Museum. Mr Blair has sent me some measurements 

 from the models at Newcastle. The sword with the peculiar 

 handle is, according to Mr Tate, 2 feet long, which is perhaps 

 over-stated ; the greatest breadth of the blade is If inches ; whole 

 length of blade, including section of handle, 17^ inches; oval 

 portion of handle omitted in the engraving, 2 inches ; breadth 

 of the open interval in the lunate part of the handle If inches ; 

 of its outer tips 2£ inches ; length of section of handle above this 

 termination 1 inch. The scale of the figure is Jth. " The pom- 



* Dr Daniel Wilson, in his " Archaeology," states that this specimen is 

 similar to one from Ardesier Point, being one of what he calls " the 

 simple form of the eyed or perforated spear;" he refers it to his "Archaic 

 or Bronze Period." G. T. 



f The bronze swords discovered at Ewart Park, in 1814, were found in a 

 perpendicular position, as if stuck down on piirpose. 



