716 Proceedings of the Boyal Society 
bride and bridegroom stood on tiptoe on each side of the stone and 
joined hands over the top, whilst the friends of each party sur- 
rounded the stone to witness the engagement. The Stone of Odin, 
in the Orkneys, at which marriages were celebrated, was held in 
peculiar veneration; for in one case where a man was pro- 
secuted for deserting his wife, it was stated to be an aggravation 
of his offence, that they had been married at the Stone of Odin. 
3. A third class of names given to boulders had relation to them 
as commemorative of important events. 
Thus there is in Badenocli the “ Clach an Charra,” or Stone of 
Vengeance, so called because a profligate and tyrannical feudal 
baron was killed by his own people near it.* 
There is in Lewis the “ Clach D'hoisf or Stone of D’hois, a 
boulder of gneiss, weighing about 120 tons. It is called after a 
person named D’hois, who slew a giant near the boulder, and who 
also himself died immediately after, from the wounds received in 
the conflict.! 
4. Some boulders were used to mark the boundaries of estates, 
parishes, and counties, and are still in many parts of Scotland 
recognised as affording evidence on that subject. 
In Ross-shire, the boundary between the districts of Urray and 
Contin is marked by the boulder called u Clachloundroni y 
A great boulder is said to indicate the spot where the three 
counties of Dumfries, Ayr, and Lanark meet. 
The line of boundary between England and Scotland was in the 
eastern borders originally indicated by boulders, several of which 
still remain. 
5. Some of the boulders have curious popular predictions con- 
nected with them. 
Thus, near Invergowrie, on the north side of the Frith of Tay, 
there were in the days of Thomas the Rhymer two boulders 
entirely surrounded by the water, of which the seer sang — 
“ When Gows of Gowrie come to land 
The day of judgment’s near at hand.” 
These two boulders, called the Grows (probably because always 
frequented by sea-gulls), are now no longer surrounded by water. 
* Proceedings Soc. of Scotch Antiquaries, voi. vi. 328. 
t This Boulder and its legend reported to the committee by Captain Thomas, 
R.N. 
