256 ON THE TRAVELLED STONE 



from Dolcross Castle, an ancient building conspicu- 

 ously situated on the ridge of the country at some 

 miles distance ; and accordingly I found, on exa- 

 mination, that by placing myself at the stone, and 

 looking at Dolcross, the post marking the former si- 

 tuation of the mass, appeared quite in the line be- 

 tween these two points, andon trying thebearing with 

 a pocket-compass, I found that the direction of the 

 wind must have been from the E. S. E., and that 

 the straight line or furrow described by the stone in 

 the course of its voyage across the sands, lay in a 

 direction from E. S. E. to W. N. W. 



When the old miller got up on the morning of Sa- 

 turday the 20th, the storm, and the drifted snow, 

 were such, that he could hardly make his way to his 

 barns, though they are but a few yards distant from 

 his dwelling-house. He found all his doors blockad 

 ed, and buried under the wreathes of snow, so much 

 so indeed, that there was not the vestige of an en- 

 trance left to any of them, and the drift still con- 

 tinued to be so very violent, that he, and a boy who 

 was with him, had nearly lost themselves in return- 

 ing again to the dwelling-house. When the weather 

 had moderated in some degree, and the storm and 

 snow had cleared away, so that he could see across the 

 little bay, he remarked to his wife with much asto- 

 nishment, and no inconsiderable alarm, " that the 

 mickle stane was awa'," and the good woman could 

 hardly believe her eyes when she looked out and 

 saw that it was in reality gone from the spot it had 



