(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MOUND DWELLING, CALLED _BOTH
STACSEAL_, SITUATED MIDWAY BETWEEN STORNOWAY AND CARLOWAY, LEWIS,
HEBRIDES.
"A hole (_e_), called the Farlos, is left in the apex of the roof for
the escape of the smoke, and is closed with a turf or flat stone as
requisite."
_Height of Dome, 7 feet._
_a, b. Doorways._
_c. Fireplace._
_d. Row of stones for seats._
_e. Centre. (Distance from e to end of cells, 7 feet.)_
_f, g, h. Cells or bed-places._
_f is "2 feet wide and 15 inches high at the inner end; is 5 feet long
and 3 feet high at the mouth. The opposite cell (g) is of the same
dimensions. The third cell (h) is 4 feet wide at the mouth, 5 feet long,
decreasing to 2½ feet wide at the head, where it is 16 inches high."_
The above is given by Captain Thomas as an example of such dwellings
"having oven-like bed-places around the internal area. This interesting
summer house illustrates the most antique form of dormitory; but in the
winter houses the floor of the bedroom was raised three or four feet
above the ground." (Compare the side cells in Maes-How, Orkney.)]
PLATE VI.--_Chambered Mound (Both Stacseal), near Stornoway,
Lewis._
(From Plate XXXII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
With reference to the _farlos_, or smoke-hole (otherwise "sky-light"),
which, in this instance, is at a height of 7 feet from the floor of the
dwelling, Captain Thomas remarks:--"A man, on standing upright, can
often put his head out of the hole and look around" (_op. cit._, vol.
iii., p. 130 _n._). This suggests the following story, told by Mr. J.F.
Campbell (_West Highland Tales_, vol. ii., pp. 39-40):
"There was a woman in Baile Thangusdail, and she was out seeking a
couple of calves; and the night and lateness caught her, and there
came rain and tempest, and she was seeking shelter. She went to a
knoll with the couple of calves, and she was striking the
tether-peg into it. The knoll opened. She heard a gleegashing
(_gliogadaich_) as if a pot-hook were clashing beside a pot. She
took wonder, and she stopped striking the tether-peg. A woman put
out her head and all above her middle, and she said, 'What business
hast thou to be troubling this tulman [mound] in which I make my
dwelling?' 'I am taking care of this couple of calves, and I am but
weak. Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them to that
breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of grass. If thy couple of
calves eat that tuft of grass, thou wilt not be a day without a
milk cow as long as thou art alive, because thou hast taken my
counsel.'
"As she said, she never was without a milk cow after that, and she
was alive fourscore and fifteen years after the night that was
there."
[Illustration: PLATE VII.