1852.] 



Northern Antiquities, 



131 







fv\ 7y\7\l 





Part of an ornament. Catacombs. 



Coptic cross, 600 B. C. 



Sometimes Runic stones are found as sculptured slabs — in one case 

 a set of them have obviously formed a stone coffin : there are probably 

 about two hundred of them still in existence betwixt Edinburgh and 

 Caithness — by far the largest and most magnificent is Suenos pillar, 

 in Murrayshire, of which, so far as I know, there is no correct or trust- 

 worthy representation in existence ! 



The merely ornamental portions of the sculptures consist of the 

 most elaborate tracery, in which the interlacement of serpents and 

 lizards, or monstrous creatures betwixt the two, are prevalent. Several 

 favourite Egyptian ornaments make their appearance, and though the 

 workmanship be rude in the last degree, the sculptor having obviously 

 begun without a drawing, or without so much as outlining the design 

 meant to be engraven, as may be seen from the way in which the 

 figures are distorted and crammed together at the place last finished, 

 it is clear the conception of the original designer was an able and an 

 elegant one. 



The pictorial part of the sculpture consists of the representation of 

 deer-hunts, where we have the great blood-hounds pulling down the 

 deer, with all varieties of lesser dogs — trumpeters, and bowmen, and 

 spearmen, on foot, and richly-attired riders on horse-back ; — of religi- 

 ous or other processions of men, with arms or branches in their hands, 



s 2 



