These plates represent the "Pict's house" referred to by Captain Thomas
(pp. 50-51, _ante_), with regard to which he says:--"Maes howe was for
three families--grandees, no doubt; but the numbers it was intended to
hold in the _beds_ may be learned by comparing them with the Amazon's
House, St. Kilda."
The structure last named is described by Captain Thomas and Mr. T.S.
Muir in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_ (pp. 225-228), where it is
stated:--"The Amazon's House is of the same class with our earliest
stone buildings--belonging to the era of cromlechs, stone-circles,
Picts' castles, &c.; but while in other parts of Britain the style and
type have vanished for a thousand years, in the Outer Hebrides we find
them (in the Bothan [_i.e._, 'boths' or 'bee-hive houses'] of Uig)
continued to the present day." The following additional remarks by
Captain Thomas are also of interest in this connection:--"It appears
that besides the Tigh na Bhanna ghaisgach (Ty-na-Van-a-ghas-gec), or
Amazon's House--and of whom all tradition, except her name, has
gone--there are the remains of other submerged dwellings and hypogea.
Miss Euphemia MacCrimmon, the oldest inhabitant of that far-off island,
tells that a certain Donald Macdonald and John Macqueen, on passing a
hillock, heard churning going on within. And about thirty years ago,
when digging into the hillock to make the foundations of a new house,
they discovered what seemed to be the fairies' residence, built of
stones inside, and holes in the wall, or croops, as they call them, as
in Airidh na Bhannaghaisgach."[74]
It will be noticed that the "beds" in Maes-How are on a higher level
than the floor of the main chamber. "In the winter houses," observes
Captain Thomas,[75] "the floor of the bed-place was raised 3 or 4 feet
above the ground."
The original use of Maes-How is a matter of opinion, and some have
assumed it to belong to the class of sepulchral mounds, although there
is no evidence in support of this belief. For many reasons, the opinions
of Captain Thomas are endorsed by the present writer. It may be added
that, prior to 1861, when the mound was opened, local tradition had
declared that it was the residence of a "hog-boy," or mound-dweller.
[Footnote 74: _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._ (First Series), vol. vii. p.
172.]
[Footnote 75: _Op. cit._, p. 164.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.