Sufficient evidence has been produced to evincej that thefe Obeliflcs were l° n £ 
prior to any chapel or monaftery’s being eredted in Caledonia j therefore the 
repeated embelliffiment of the Crofs, and with fuch peculiar ornaments, fo cor ' 
refponding in form to thofe on ancient banners, and on the mifials of the e ar > 
miffionaries of the evangelical faith, not only fcarce leave a doubt of their p 31 ’"' 
ticular origin, but tend to fupport the explication given of the other fymbol s > 
and the line of information, which has been traced in thefe ftridtures, concernkS 
our northern Obelifks. 
Whatever gradual advances knowledge and Chriftianity made from the fouthe 1 " 11 
parts of the kingdom, letters and infcriptions came with and bear teftimony t0 ‘ 
But the figures on thefe Obelifks, along with the ornamental Crofs, which ^ e:C 
carved fome time before even Saxon characters were known, have undoubtedly? 111 
a great meafure, been derived from the miflals of thofe who, from the Ro>^ 
empire, were commiffioned to convey the truths of Chriftianity, and were zealo 0 ^ 
to publifh them, with every appendage of grandeur, through the unenlighten e 
kino-doms of the north. Thofe apoftolic teachers would be too much engaged 111 
publiftiing the important doctrines which they had in charge, to find leifure t° 
learning the populace to read. Artifts therefore could eafier carve memorials 0 
the facts, emblematically alluded to by the illuminations j and thefe reprefentatio 11 * 
would be remembrancers, more eafily comprehended, and more generally undc f 
flood, than any monumental infcriptions which could have been prefcribed. T 
eredtino- of ftones to commemorate remarkable events, is an almoft univer 
adlice from the earlieft ages. The facred hiftory abounds with inftances of lC ' 
pr 
and every Caledonian mountain bears its undoubted teftimony, “ where ftones 3 
-- ra ifed on high, to fpeak. to future times with their grey heads of mofs.” So c 
the ekcumftances which probably confpired to produce the Obeliflcs 
were 
under review.. 
The allufion of the animals of the chace, and of domeftic ufe, is eafily 
flood ; the figure praying, and the angel above with four wings, from the abo v ^ 
channel of information, derive a ready explanation : but the import of the XSfi ^ 
fenger underneath, which at firft feemed like a hieroglyphic of Time, (hall at P r ^ 
fent” be left to engage the attention, and is fubmitted to the decifion ,of the curio ' a • 
or to the learned in antiquarian difquifition. 
