of Edinburgh, Session 1871 - 72 . 
639 
possible, the tomb of the celebrated Orkneyan Jarl, Thorfinnr 
who was, according to the 1 Orkneyinga Saga,’ buried at Haug 
seift, now known as the Howe of Hoxa. The Howe is ap¬ 
parently a long-shaped natural mound of considerable height, 
on which artificial mounds were probably made, as traces of 
them can still be seen, as well as of a massive stone wall 
encircling a great portion of the top of the mound. On the 
north end of the mound are the ruins of a large circular struc¬ 
ture, which, on being excavated between twenty and thirty years 
ago, was found to be the remains of a brough or round tower. On 
proceeding to the spot last summer, and carefully examining the 
mound, I found that it would involve much time, labour, and 
expense to make a satisfactory examination. I determined, there¬ 
fore, to excavate a smaller mound, evidently wholly artificial, at a 
short distance from the Howe of Hoxa, but connected at one time 
with it, as traces of an avenue of stones leading from the one to 
the other were still to be seen. I expected to find a chambered 
tomb, but to my surprise a structure resembling the ordinary 
brough, but far less symmetrical than such buildings usually are, 
was revealed. I am inclined to think that it was sepulchral in 
character, although of a type unique, so far as my experience goes. 
The passages or galleries were still roofed in many parts by flag¬ 
stones laid across from wall to wall. The excavations did not pro¬ 
duce many relics, but amongst these were bits of dark pottery and 
several vertebras of whale much scorched by fire. One of the ver¬ 
tebras, about 1 foot in diameter at the broadest part, and 9^ inches 
in height, had been fashioned into a rude vessel by scooping out the 
central or more porous part of the bone, as is often the case. It 
was found about two feet beneath the surface of the mound at A, 
on what appeared to be the floor of the interior of the structure, 
and it and the other vertebrae were buried beneath the ruins, which 
seemed to have fallen upon them. The tooth was found at B, and 
not far off a piece of freestone, convex on one side and slightly 
concave on the other. The concave side was tolerably smooth, 
apparently due to friction of a freestone rubber passing frequently 
over its surface. Similar stones were found in the brough of 
Hoxa, when it was cleared out some years ago. They much 
resemble the slightly hollowed stones found at New Grange, in 
