714 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
2. The second class of names by which particular boulders are 
known, have reference to the uses to which these stones were 
put. 
In remote periods in the history of Scotland, when there were no 
maps, roads, or even names of parishes, it was important to have 
some other means of indicating spots or districts where people 
required to congregate for special purposes. 
One of the boulders reported to the Committee (in the Island of 
Harris), still goes by the name of “ Clachan Treudackf or the Ga¬ 
thering Stone. 
What were the special purposes for which our early forefathers 
gathered together is of course not easily discovered. But the 
ancient names of the boulders seem to throw light on the sub¬ 
ject. (1.) Such names as “ Glach-sleuchdaidhf or Stones of Wor¬ 
ship (in the parish of Kirkmichael); “ Clack an t-Tobairt or Stone 
of Sacrifice ; “ Clack na Greinef Stone of the Sun ; u Clack na 
k' Annait.” Stone of Victory, (a Scandinavian deity); and u Clack 
mkor a Clief Great Stone of Che, (another deity), seem very plainly 
to indicate that these boulders were used as trysting-places for 
worship ; and they were all the more suitable if they were looked 
upon with superstitious awe, on account of their supposed connec¬ 
tion with spiritual agency. On two of the boulders reported to 
the Committee, there are artificial circular markings, other examples 
of which are very numerous throughout Scotland; and though 
archaeologists are not yet agreed as to the meaning of these marks, 
one theory is, that they were symbols of a religious character. It 
is well known that these great stones were in some way or other, 
hindrances to the reception and diffusion of Christianity in most 
of the countries of Western Europe ; for between the years 500 and 
800 there are numbers of decrees and edicts requiring these stones- 
to be destroyed, as being objects of superstition. There are some 
archaeologists who go so far as to maintain that the word “ Kirk ” 
is actually synonymous with the word “ Circle,” meaning the circle 
of stones where Celtic worship was performed. 
(2.) Another use to which these boulders were applied was 
Sepulture. There is in Berwickshire, a boulder known by the name 
of the “ Pech or Piet’s Stone,” round which human bones in very 
large quantities were found a few years ago ; and similar discoveries 
