Fig. 32. Fig. 33. Fig. 34. Fig. 35. Sculptured Stones at St Blane's Church, Bute. From drawings by Mr Pechell, supplied by Mr R. W. Schultz.

Grave-slab (fig. 34), 5 feet 10 inches in length, but imperfect at the lower end, 11 inches in width at the head, tapering to 9 inches at the foot, the edges bevelled and ornamented with a chevrony running pattern, on the lower part a square figure with triangular ornament round the margin, over that a pair of shears, and over that, occupying four-fifths of the length of the stone, a stem with alternating branches, all set at the same angle and each terminating in a quadrilobate leaf. Over this branching stem is a circular interlacement of four oval rings with a geometrical quatre-foil, the whole forming a symbolic cross with a circular head, in the manner frequently seen on the grave-slabs of the West Highlands of 13th century or later.

Grave-slab (fig. 35), 6 feet 4 inches in length by 1 foot 9 inches in breadth at the top, and 1 foot 6 inches at the foot, having in the upper part a panel 16 inches square, sub-divided into four squares like the last, in each of which are two oval interlinked rings placed diagonally, with at diamond-shaped boss in the centre. The rest of the stone seems to have been covered with foliaceous ornamentation.

Not the least interesting among the many relies recovered during the progress of the excavations is the book clasp of brass, here figured (fig. 36) of the actual size. It measures 13 inches in length by inches in breadth, thus indicating a volume of considerable thickness. The

ornamentation, which consists of a scroll of foliage, prettily arranged, with an oval in the centre enclosing a peculiarly shaped cross fitcher, seems to indicate a date somewhat later than the majority of the other articles found.

II.

NOTES ON SOME CUP-MARKED STONES AND ROCKS NEAR KENMORE, AND THEIR FOLK-LORE. BY REV. J. B. MACKENZIE, F.S.A. SCOT., KENMORE.

In the Proceedings (vol. xxix. p. 94), I have described a remarkable cup- and ring-marked boulder discovered in 1894, on the slope of the hillside of the Braes of Balloch, a little more than 1000 feet above sealevel, and about a quarter of a mile to the east of the house at Tombuie. Its precise situation is about 100 yards to the south of the fence which separates the arable land from that portion which was partly arable, but mostly moorland pasture, and within a few yards of the old road from the arable land to the hill. The boulder, which is about 4 feet in length, and the same in breadth, is of a hard, coarse schist, presenting a fairly level surface, which is almost completely covered with boldly marked sculpturings of concentric circles surrounding small central cups. The manner in which they have been pecked out by a pointed instrument is clearly visible even in the small-sized photograph, of which a reproduction is here given (fig. 1) from the previous volume of the Proceedings.

Since then I have frequently visited the site of the boulder, and examined its neighbourhood, because I felt sure that it must be associated with something older if I could but light upon it; but it was only this summer that I found at least a portion of what I expected. Not far from the boulder, on the top of a knoll, the rock comes to the surface, and here I found two rows of cups of the ordinary plain pattern (fig. 2), deep, large, and well marked, but without enclosing circles. It was only by peeling off the turf which had almost covered the flat rock surface

that I came upon them. In the one row there are four cups, and in the other five. From these cups the sculptured boulder is distant 80 feet to the south-west, and the ruin of a beehive-shaped building 300 feet south. The latter is not nearly so perfect as when I first saw it. The rabbits have taken up their abode among the rubbish, and in digging them out many of the stones have been displaced from their former and apparently original position.

These rock cups appear decidedly more ancient than anything on the boulder which I have previously described. The sculpture on its upper portion seems more archaic in character than those further down, while lowest of all, and apparently unconnected with what is above, there is a symbol which is often introduced among sculptures of the Christian period. The work done on the lower half of the stone is almost as fresh as when newly executed, and shows quite distinctly the marks of the tool used. A tool like the modern granite pick would leave marks of a similar kind. This portion is thus distinct, because soon after it was finished it got covered up by the soil as it is now. One cannot look at it without asking oneself: How came it about that this laborious work is no sooner finished than it is abandoned? War or some such catastrophe dispersing the tribe may have been the cause; but I rather incline to the opinion that it was the advent of Christianity which led to the abandonment of the old high place, and to the building, in its stead, of a Christian church on Sybilla's Isle in the lake below. The old high place is now lonely enough on the edge of the heathery moor, but it was not so in even comparatively modern times. On all sides you see the ruins of hamlets and wide traces of former cultivation. Then, also, till quite recent times, the main road from Crieff to the far highlands passed it closely by. After this the old road went on past the circles of upright stones at Croftmorag, and at that point entered what is

It is from this spot that Sir Walter Scott, in The Fair Maid of Perth, makes the Glover get his first view of Loch Tay.

2 These are figured at p. 356 of vol. xxiii. of the Proceedings. Most likely they are monumental, but no one can say, till the spade is freely used in its exploration. The name means the Croft of the little princess, and points that way.