B26 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



hillside, and even on the tops of the hills. They arc 

 extraordinarily numerous, there being, it is said, some 

 thousands of them. These are the cleits, which are used 

 by the islanders for storing their peat, hay, corn, &c, and 

 in the larger ones the sheep are frequently kept in winter. 

 They vary a good deal in size, the larger ones being those 

 nearest the village. They are constructed* with no little 

 skill, the walls being of boulders cleverly fitted together 

 without mortar, the superimposed courses gradually 

 approaching each other as they rise higher, until the top- 

 most ones are sufficiently near together to be bridged 

 over with flat slabs of stone. The top is covered with a 

 thick layer of turf, forming a rude dome-like covering. 

 It is easy to recognize in the construction of these little 

 buildings the hand of the architects of the beehive houses. 

 St. Kilda possesses scant monuments of antiquity, but 

 a few interesting relics of pre-historic times have escaped 

 the ravages of time. The most interesting* of these is an 

 underground dwelling on the hillside a little above the 

 village, which goes by the name of the " Fairy House." 

 It is a low passage-like structure, built into the hill, the 

 walls being composed of large blocks of stone, and roofed 

 over with large slabs. It is about 20 feet in length from 

 its present entrance, some three feet in breadth about the 

 middle, narrowing towards the roof, and about four feet 

 in height. Leading out of it on one side is a small oval 

 chamber roofed with slabs of stone, and the remains of 

 a similar chamber now roofless and filled in with rubbish 

 just outside the present entrance, shows that the building 

 was formerly of greater extent than now. This structure, 

 which was to a great extent covered up and filled with 

 rubbish, was excavated by Mr. Kearton (2) at the time 

 of his visit, and a spear head and other objects of interest 

 supposed to belong to Viking times were discovered in it. 



