244 



The Picts. 



served for fastening the victim, while that near its side was pro- 

 bably made use of as an altar for the immolation, 



" At Applecross, in the West of Ros3-sbire are standing stones 

 similar to these ; some of which are formed into a circle, and others 

 into a triangle; 1 with one in the midst of them, perforated in the 

 same manner. Yery near these too, are tumuli or mounds of 

 earth, such as those mentioned near the stones of Stennis. Ano- 

 ther of these circles, composed of stones of the same nature, and in 

 the same circumstances, stands in a moor, near Beauley, in Inver- 

 ness-shire." 



The frequent subjection of the counties of Caithness and Ross 

 by the Earls of Orkney, may account for the existence of monu- 

 ments and circles in the Northern districts of Scotland, similar to 

 those which are frequently met with in Orkney. It is not impro- 

 bable that the Aborigines of Scotland were the Northern division 

 of the Picts, who had emigrated at a very early period from the 

 Jutland Chersonesus to Orkney and the Northern districts of Scot- 

 land, or to some extent formed a detachment of the same Aborigi- 

 nal race who colonized England, long antecedent to its discovery 

 by the Phoenicians. In either hypothesis, to this source may pro- 

 bably be traced the enmity which existed between the Southern 

 and Northern Pictish races, and which terminated in the conquest 

 of the former by the Hibernian Scots, and their subsequent invasion 

 of Cumberland and Wales. 



The inference I would venture to draw from tMs account of 

 the circular structures in Orkney is, that all such circular build- 

 ings and stones whether in this country, Scotland, Ireland, or 

 elsewhere, are monuments of the very earliest ages, and existing 

 proofs of the one universal religion which prevailed for many cen- 

 turies after the deluge, whether in the Patriarchal or a more sub- 

 sequent age. There need therefore be no controversy caused by 

 the different races who are presumed to have been their builders, 

 whether ancient Phoenicians or Celts, the ancient Cymbri, Caledo- 

 nians, or Picts. 



1 Perhaps a Dracontic temple as at Abury. 

 H. Bull, Printer, Saint John Street, Devizes. 



