SUPPOSED UPHEAVAL OF SCOTLAND, 43 
masons’ tools; and the impression is, that they had previously formed part of 
a wall or building, of which they were the ruins, and in which wall the tablet 
had been fixed. 
At the point of the knoll, close to what had been the original sea-margin, 
and about one or two feet above the present level of ordinary spring tides,— 
viz., at B, a portion of a building was discovered, a few yards in length, consisting 
chiefly of large whinstone boulders. This building still exists, and I examined 
it carefully. It is on the west side of the point of the knoll, and may originally 
have reached to a higher level, so as to form a vertical bulwark. The building 
is evidently of great antiquity. It had been covered up by rubbish, aud was 
discovered only by accident. The line of this building points towards the place 
where the tablet was found, so that if the building had continued on the same 
line, it would have passed through or near the site of the tablet. The relative 
positions of this old wall and the tablet, are shown in Sketch II. 
The size of the slab is 9 feet in length, 3 feet in height, and 8 inches in thick- 
ness, It is of the ordinary sandstone rock occurring in the adjoining cliffs, and 
weighs probably about 14 tons. 
The stone has been sculptured, to represent three separate panels, on one 
of its sides. The centre panel, which is also the largest, bears an inscription ; 
each of the side panels contains figures of men and animals. In one of the 
panels, a Roman soldier on horseback is galloping over the naked bodies of 
men, with shields of the shape used by the Britons. In the other panel, a 
sacrificial scene is represented at an altar, with the standard displayed of the 
particular Legion mentioned in the inscription. All the figures as well as the 
letters are in alto relievo; and it is important to notice, that the sculpture is in 
perfect preservation, there being not the slightest trace of mutilation or injury 
of any kind, on the figures, letters, or projecting ornamental pilasters. 
In the account of the slab given in the “Transactions of the Society of 
Antiquaries,” it is stated, that “on the top edge of the tablet, towards the back, 
and on each end, there are dove-tailed recesses, by which it appears to have been 
held up.” These recesses clearly indicate, that it was intended to place the stone 
in a building, so as to keep it in a proper position, to show the sculpture. The 
tablet was lying on its sculptured face, and in three pieces, the fragments 
being so close to one another as to suggest the idea, that in falling forward, 
the tablet broke by its concussion on the ground. There was soil over the 
tablet to the depth of about 2 feet, or 24 feet ;—for as long as can be remem- 
bered, garden crops had grown above it. The inscription on the tablet, when 
freed from its verbal contractions, reads thus :—‘‘ Imperatori Ceesari Tito A¢lio 
Hadriano Antonino Augusto Pio, Patri Patriz, Legio Secunda Augusta, Per 
millia passuum 4652 fecit.” It will be observed that in this inscription it is 
not explained, what it was which the Legion constructed—“/fecit” or “ per- 
VOL. XXVII. PART I. M 
