John MacCulloch

“ The vitrified forts of Scotland, more solid and less exposed to the ravages of art, have but partially yielded to the universal enemy, time. The more slender structures intended for habitation, have disappeared in the lapse of years, or have suffered from the taste of other improvers. ”

“ The hill of Dun Mac Sniochain is formed of limestone, lying in schistus, similar to that which constitutes the neighbouring island of Lismore. The schistus and the limestone alternate, but the latter is the predominant rock. The hill itself is perfectly insulated in a great alluvial plain. To the west this plain is bounded by the mountains of Benediraloch, which descend abruptly into it, approaching at their nearest point within half a mile or less of the fort. These mountains are formed of the old rocks common to this country, granite, gneiss, mica-slate, quartz rock, and porphyry. ”

“ On the top of the rock there is a deep deposit of rounded stones, consisting of fragments of the older rocks. The pudding-stone of Craig Phadric differs completely from that of Lorn. It contains no fragments of the greenstone amygdaloid, there being no greenstone beds in its vicinity, as there are on the Oban coast. The pebbles which it does contain are of quartz, gneiss, granite, and the other associated rocks. The paste which cements them is of a granular texture, entirely and essentially different from that of the Lorn pudding-stone, and belonging to a very different class of substances. ”

“ As the combustion proceeds fresh fuel is added, until the whole wall is baked into one solid brick. The coincidence of the effects of this actually existing process with those of one long since forgotten, seems to prove almost to demonstration, that similar means have been practised in the ancient military works of Scotland to produce structures so analogous to those now commonly used in India, and that the “baking” of buildings in this country must be considered in the light of a lost art. ”

“ They have been supposed by some to be merely beacons, and that the vitrification has been the result of the combustion of those heaps of wood which were used for signals. The supporters of this opinion have asserted that they always occupy the highest elevation, and that many of them are so placed as to be visible from each other. This is not true. The fort at Amworth is not on the highest ground it might have occupied, nor is the fort of Dun Mac Sniochain so situated: but they are both on the strongest ground. ”

“ There is no limestone to be in that country but by a very distant land carriage, or a very circuitous route by sea. It is evident that a commercial system of some sort must have been established before the inhabitants of these countries could have cemented their buildings with lime, however they might have been acquainted with its properties. It is equally a matter beyond the power of modern investigation to discover whether they were the works of the aboriginal Caledonians or of their Danish invaders. ”

“ It is particularly remarkable, that although the plain and shore are covered with fragments, yet these are almost entirely fragments of the primary rocks. I state this for the purpose of obviating a supposition that may be adduced to nullify the argument which I am about to derive of a previous intention in the builders to vitrify their work, from their having neglected to use that rock on which the building was erected, and which was not adapted for the purposes of vitrification. ”

“ Neither analogy nor examination of the remains throws the least light on the subject, a subject which as it is beyond the reach of historical or traditional evidence, seems equally divested of all those circumstances from which truth is sometimes elicited. ”

“ Many of them are of an amygdaloidal structure, containing imbedded grains of calcareous spar, zeolites, and green earth, and some are perfectly cavernous and scoriform. Besides these pebbles of trap, there are rounded pieces of quartz of different colours, white, gray, and red, cemented in the common ground. In the specimens which I examined I could not trace any other kind of rock. The paste by which the whole is cemented is of a peculiar quality. ”

“ Where the strongest and highest ground coincide, a case very common in hilly countries, (I speak of military strength of ground as connected with ancient modes of warfare) there, as at Craig Phadric, they naturally occupy the summit. ”

“ It consists of rounded pebbles of different magnitudes, cemented by a paste of a mixed white and brown colour. The pebbles are generally small, and are much more numerous under the size of an orange than above it. There are very few of considerable magnitude. They exhibit for the most part different varieties of trap, or greenstone, all of which have been rounded previously to their entanglement. Of these there are purple, red, gray, and dark blue specimens, varying as much in solidity of texture as they do in colour, and more or less homogeneous in their appearance. ”

“ The ability to detect calcareous stones, the means of quarrying them in certain situations, and the power of transporting them from great distances to places where they do not naturally exist, must have been possessed by these people before they could have directed to any useful purpose this naked truth derived from their conquerors. ”

“ The history of infant society shows on the contrary instances of acute reasoning, of ready invention, of perseverance and prowess, which would be in vain sought among the enlightened populace of modern times, nay even among those who are far removed above that rank. ”

“ Nor indeed would a work which was intended for defence from within admit of a greater height of wall than five feet, or that over which a man might look, a height which is equal to that of the ancient British field works, if this may be determined from some of the perfect fragments which remain in Cornwall. ”

“ Both the outside and inside of the walls near the ground are rendered much thicker than their true measurement shows, by a heap of loose stones accumulated against them, and this renders it difficult in the present state of things to ascertain their real dimensions. ”