SECTION XII.

_Characteristics of Early Celtic Art.

Fragments of Early Literature._

⭘ Celtic Art as developed on Metal Work――Mirrors, Rings,

Brooches, Chains; Crosier of St. Fillan

⭘ Cummene’s Life of St. Columba――Adamnan, Abbot of Iona: his

Life of St. Columba; its characteristics――Other fragments of

Latin Writings――Earliest Specimen of Gaelic Writing

⭘ The Ferleiginn: the Monasteries as Schools――Legends, Stories,

and Rhymes common among the People――Conclusion of the

Introduction

CHAPTER II.

_Critical Estimate of the Result of Norman Feudalism

on the Civilisation of Scotland._

⭘ Statement of the Historical Question――Commencement of the

Plundering Expeditions of the Normans; infested France

and threatened Paris; Normandy ceded to Rollo, who became

the first Duke――The succeeding Dukes; Rising of the

Peasantry――Robert the Magnificent; Birth of William the

Conqueror――Robert the Magnificent attempted to invade England

⭘ William the Conqueror ascended the ducal throne; his struggle

with the Nobles: He ordered the mutilation of thirty-two of

the Citizens of Alençon――Character of the Feudal Government

of Normandy――William prepared for the Invasion of England;

he defeated Harold, and proceeded to subdue the English

People――His Death and Character

⭘ Uncivilised and Savage Characteristics of the Normans; Norman

Feudalism almost destitute of the essential elements of

Civilisation

⭘ Effects of the Norman Conquest upon the English People; it

created new Historic Conditions――Result of the Introduction of

Norman Feudalism into Scotland

CHAPTER III.

_Narrative. Introduction of Feudalism._

⭘ Reign of Alexander I., and Earl David――Election and

Consecration of Bishops of St. Andrews

⭘ Accession of David I.――Commencement of the Introduction of

Feudalism――David misapprehended its Nature and Tendency;

Rising against the King; the Province of Moray forfeited to

the Crown――Invasion of England; Battle of the Standard

⭘ Death of Prince Henry; his children; Death of David I.――Reign

of Malcolm IV.; Local Risings――Accession of William the

Lion――Invasion of England; Capture of the King of Scots;

Surrender of the Independence of the Kingdom to Henry II.,

but restored by Richard I.

⭘ Risings in Galloway and the North; Disaffection of the People

――Progress of Feudalism

⭘ Reign of Alexander II.; Rising in the North――Alexander and

King John――Argyle subjected to the Crown; Diocese of Lismore

erected――Local Risings――Policy of the King; his death――Councils

of the Scottish Church

⭘ Coronation of Alexander III.; Policy of the Nobles during his

Minority――Interference of Henry III.

⭘ Alexander III. resolved to subject the Western Isles――Haco’s

great Expedition; its failure and cession of the Isles to

Scotland――Death of Alexander’s children――Meeting of the

Estates; Death of the King

⭘ Guardians appointed; Robert Bruce aspired to the Throne

――Marriage Project of Edward I.――Treaty of Brigham――Death

of the Maid of Norway

CHAPTER IV.

_Social Condition of the Nation in the

Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries._

⭘ Feudal Organisation: the King, Revenue, Crown Officials;

King’s Council; Legal Functionaries

⭘ Early Specimens of Charters; Charters made a requisite

condition of holding Land, and a test of Freedom and Civil

Rights; Thus many of the People were deprived of their

Rights――Powers and Privileges granted by the Kings to the

Norman Nobles――Connection of the Church with Feudalism and

the Land――Hereditary tendency of Feudalism

⭘ Law――Crime――Forms of Trial and Punishment――Compurgators

――Ordeals――Wager of Battle, Hot Iron, and Water――Origin of

Jury Trial――Indications of Improvement――Sanctuaries

⭘ Early Towns: Royal Burghs; their Relations to the Crown

――Trading Communities to the north of the Grampians――Court of

the Burghs――Laws of the Burghs――Government and Organisation

of the Burghal Communities; Guild Brethren――Markets――Burghs of

Regality and Barony――Church Burghs

⭘ Coinage; Weights and Measures; Commerce of the Kingdom;

Commercial Treaty with Flanders――Home Manufactures; Hand

Craftsmen――Seals of the Kings, Nobles, and Bishops

⭘ Reorganisation of the Church――Dioceses and Parishes; Monastic

Ideal; Celibacy――Schools

⭘ Literature of the Period: Chronicles; Records

⭘ Architecture: Castles; Churches

⭘ Husbandry; Herds of Cattle; Dairy Produce; Grain Crops;

Mills, Brewhouses――Crown Lands――Church Lands――Condition

of the Occupiers and the Toilers of the Land――Bondmen and

Serfs――Conclusion

CHAPTER V.

_Disputed Succession. War of Independence._

⭘ Edward I. resolved to decide the fate of Scotland; the Nobles

and Clergy admitted his claim of feudal superiority, and the

Claimants of the Crown acknowledge him as their Lord Superior;

they granted Edward seisin of the Kingdom; he took possession

of the Castles, and began the swearing-in process

⭘ Claims of the Competitors for the Crown; Edward’s proceedings;

the issue lay between Bruce and Baliol; they argued their

Claims at great length, but the Lord Superior gave judgment in

favour of Baliol

⭘ Baliol crowned at Scone; his position in Scotland――The Lord

Superior insulted and humiliated the vassal King――A Parliament

at Scone; perilous state of Scotland――Treaty between France

and Scotland――Position of the Scotch Nobles

⭘ Commencement of the War of Independence――Edward I. massacred

the Citizens of Berwick――Baliol renounced his allegiance――The

Scots defeated――Edward’s march through Scotland――Baliol

deposed――Edward’s Measures for the Government of Scotland

⭘ The Scotch Nobles and the People――Wallace appeared as the

National Leader, attacked parties of the Invaders; Organised

an Army and captured Castles――Battle of Stirling Bridge

⭘ Wallace’s efforts to promote Industry; appointed Guardian of

the Kingdom; the Difficulties he had to contend with――Edward I.

again invaded Scotland――Wallace’s Tactics――Battle of Falkirk

――Wallace resigned the Guardianship

⭘ New Guardians elected――Wallace proceeded to France――Edward

continued his efforts to subdue the Scots――A Papal Bull

against his Claims on Scotland――A Truce

⭘ France and the Pope deserted the Cause of Scotland――Battle

of Roslin――Another great Invasion――Edward’s March through the

Kingdom; his Negotiations with Comyn and the Nobles; their

submission――Wallace must surrender unconditionally to Edward

⭘ Siege and Surrender of Stirling Castle――Edward’s efforts

to capture Wallace; Menteith seized Wallace――Execution of

Wallace――Influence of Wallace’s career on the Scots――Edward’s

new form of Government for Scotland

CHAPTER VI.

_War of Independence. Robert Bruce._

⭘ Position of Bruce; a Bond between him and Bishop Lamberton

――Bruce’s tragic meeting with Comyn――Bruce mounted the Throne

of Scotland; his adherents few in number――Edward I. proclaimed

severe measures against him; Bruce’s small army defeated, and

his followers captured and executed

⭘ Bruce reduced to great extremities; forced to wander in the

woods and mountains; he retired to the Island of Rathlin;

but the tide turned, and in May 1307, he defeated a body of

English Cavalry――Death of Edward I.

⭘ Bruce defeated the Comyns and broke their power――The Scottish

Clergy recognised Bruce as their King――Step by step the

Castles and the Country were recovered from the Invaders

⭘ Battle of Bannockburn

⭘ Bruce’s Policy after the Battle; Attempts to make

Peace; intervention of the Pope; Bruce and his Adherents

Excommunicated――An Address to the Pope

⭘ Attempts to make Peace; invidious Policy of the English

Government――A great Invasion of Scotland resolved on;

Bruce’s tactics led to the failure and defeat of the English

Army――Renewal of the Alliance with France

⭘ The English Government sued for Peace――Independence of

Scotland acknowledged; Stipulations of the Treaty

⭘ Closing years of Bruce’s Reign――Marriage of his Son――His

Residence and Life at Cardross――Letter to his Son――His Death

CHAPTER VII.

_Narrative to the Return of James I._

⭘ Succession of David II.; Regency of Randolph; his Death

――Edward Baliol claimed the Crown, and invaded the Kingdom;

his supporters; Efforts of Andrew Moray and the National

Party――Invasions of Edward III.

⭘ Baliol and his English supporters driven out of the Kingdom

――Return of David II.――Invasion of England; Battle of Durham,

defeat of the Scots, and Capture of the King――The English

seized the Southern Counties

⭘ The Steward elected Regent――The King’s Ransom; great difficulty

of paying it――Parliamentary Proceedings; Measures adopted

――Position, Action, and Character of David II.――Arrangements

about the payment of the balance of the Ransom

⭘ Death of David II.――Accession of Robert II.――Settlement of the

Succession to the Throne――Renewal of the Alliance with France

⭘ Border Warfare――Arrival of French Troops; a Raid into England;

Departure of the French――Battle of Otterburn

⭘ A Regent appointed――Death of Robert II.――Accession of Robert

III. The Wolf of Badenoch; Turbulence of the Nobles; Weakness

of the Crown――Duke of Rothesay appointed Lieutenant-General

of the Kingdom――Recommencement of War on the Borders; English

Invasions; Henry IV.

⭘ A Plot against the Duke of Rothesay, seized and imprisoned;

his Death――Prince James captured by the English――Battle of

Harlaw――Death of the Regent; his son succeeded him――Return of

James I.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Reign of James I._

⭘ James I. crowned at Scone; his first Parliament; Inquiry

concerning Crown Lands; He resolved to reduce the power of the

Nobles; Arrest of Sir Walter Stewart, Thomas Boyd, the Earl of

Lennox, and Sir Robert Graham――Proceedings of Parliament――The

Duke of Albany and Thirty Nobles and Knights seized and

imprisoned; Trial and Execution of Albany, his Sons, and the

Earl of Lennox

⭘ A Parliament at Inverness――Seizure and Imprisonment of the

Lord of the Isles, and a large number of Highland Chiefs;

Risings in the Highlands――Marriage of the King’s Daughter with

the Dauphin of France――The King’s Ransom never paid

⭘ Policy and Legislation of James I.――Administration of Justice

――His relations with the Church; a Heretic Executed――James

encouraged Industry

⭘ James’ Encroachments upon the Nobles; Forfeiture of the Earl

of March, the Earldom of Mar annexed to the Crown――A Plot

formed against the King: Sir Robert Graham and the Earl of

Athole; the Plot matured; Murder of James I.――Capture and

Execution of his Murderers

CHAPTER IX.

_Narrative to the Battle of Flodden._

⭘ Succession of James II.――Struggles among the Nobles during the

King’s Minority; Execution of the young Earl of Douglas and

his Brother――William, Earl of Douglas, assumed the title of

Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and summoned a Parliament:

A Struggle with the Crown became inevitable

⭘ Marriage of the King――The Livingston Faction crushed, and

their Lands forfeited――Proceedings of Parliament――The Earl

of Douglas and his Allies; Murder of the Earl of Douglas;

Civil War; the new Earl of Douglas defied the King; Battle

of Brechin; at last the King defeated the Douglas Tribe, and

forfeited their Lands

⭘ Siege and Capture of Roxburgh Castle; Death of the King;

James III., a boy, Crowned; the Government conducted by

Bishop Kennedy and the Earl of Angus; Death of Kennedy; then

the Nobles recommence their plotting; the Faction of the

Boyds assumed the supreme power――Relations of Denmark and

Scotland; Marriage of the King――Fall and Forfeiture of the

Boyds――Parliamentary Proceedings

⭘ Character of James III.――Treaty between the Lord of the Isles

and the King of England; Proceedings against the Lord of the

Isles; Earldom of Ross annexed to the Crown; the Lord of the

Isles created a Peer――The King incurred the enmity of the

Nobles; his brothers――Death of the Earl of Mar, and Flight of

the Duke of Albany; he plotted against the Crown of Scotland

――Menacing attitude of England: the Scottish Parliament and

Edward IV.

⭘ Muster of the Scotch Army――The Nobles seized the King’s

Favourites and hanged them, and imprisoned the King; the Duke

of Albany assumed the Government, but soon fled――A Party of

the Nobles continued to Plot against the King; induced his Son

to join them and rose in Rebellion――Battle of Sauchie Burn,

Death of James III.

⭘ Proceedings of the Dominant Faction――James IV.――Church Affairs

⭘ Forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles――Policy of the Government

towards the Celtic People

⭘ Foreign Relations of Scotland――Characteristics of James IV.;

his welcome to Perkin Warbeck; recognising him as Prince

Richard――James mustered an Army and crossed the Tweed in

support of Perkin’s claim to the Throne of England, but the

Expedition failed, and Perkin was sent away

⭘ A Truce with England was concluded after Perkin’s Departure

――James IV. was popular; and he had several Natural Children

――Marriage Treaty between James and the Princess Margaret of

England; celebration of the Marriage

⭘ Foreign Relations: Death of Henry VII.; Henry VIII.――Sea Fight

between the English and Scottish Captains――War between England

and France――James IV. resolved to support his old Ally,

mustered his Army, and invaded England; Battle of Flodden

CHAPTER X.

_Social Condition of the Nation in the

Fourteenth and ♦Fifteenth Centuries._

♦ “Fifthteenth” replaced with “Fifteenth”

⭘ Origin of the Scotch Parliament; admission of the

Representatives of the Burghs; import of certain Phrases;

Functions assumed by Parliament; the Judicial Committee of

Parliament; the Lords of the Articles――Attempts to establish

a Court of Supreme Jurisdiction; Proceedings of the Judicial

Committee and of the Lords of Council――Church Courts

⭘ Power of the Nobles; rise of new Families during the War of

Independence, but Robert I. increased the feudal power and

privileges of the Nobles; Subsequently they entered into bonds

with each other and marriage alliances, which often led to

lawless proceedings and anarchy; All the efforts of James I.

and the succeeding Kings failed to restrain their oppressive

lawlessness

⭘ Deplorable State of the Nation――The small-landed Proprietors

and Tenants greatly oppressed

⭘ State of Agriculture――The Crown Lands; the Tenants and

Occupiers of these Lands――Church Lands

⭘ Condition of the Tillers of the Soil――Causes which led to the

emancipation of the Bondmen and Serfs

⭘ Burghal Communities; the Border Burghs; Characteristics of the

People of the Borders

⭘ The Northern Burghal Communities

⭘ Burghs of the Central Region of the Kingdom; Burgh Rents

――Custom of the Burghs――Number of Sheep in the Country――The

Earl of Douglas and others evaded the payment of Custom, and

often seized the Money in the hands of the Collectors――Revenue

of the Crown

⭘ Commerce of the Kingdom――Seasons of Dearth――Description of

Imports

⭘ The Coinage; depreciation of the Currency; value of Scots

Money at the end of the Fourteenth Century, and at the end

of the Fifteenth

⭘ Characteristics of the Daily Life, and the Laws of the Burghal

Communities――The Chamberlain’s Court: Inquisitoral System of

Inspection; Ale Tasters, and Official Fixers of the Price of

Food and Goods; Forestallers and Regraters――The Burgesses of

Guild

⭘ Position of the Craftsmen; Acts of Parliament touching them;

mode of incorporating the Craftsmen, illustrated from the

Records of Edinburgh――State of Mechanical Skill

⭘ Cities and Burghs of the Church

⭘ Defence of the Country; Military Habits of the People; Armour

and Weapons; the Organisation of the Army――Tactics of the

Scots――Introduction of Artillery

⭘ Probable Population of the Nation――Roads and Inns――Defective

Sanitary Conditions; Pestilence――Lack of Medical Science

⭘ Drinking Habits; Chief Festivals――Rural Sports and Games

⭘ Sumptuary Enactments: Dress of the different Ranks of Society;

Household Goods; Ornaments and Plate

⭘ Price of the staple Necessaries of Life――Condition of the

Vassals, Tenants, and Labourers on the Crown Lands――Wages of

Workmen

⭘ The State of Crime――Beggars, Sorners, Oppressors, and

Vagabonds were numerous; Modes of Punishing them; Defects

in the Administration of Justice――Functions of the Sheriff:

Murder, Robbery, Rape, and Theft; Custom of saving Criminals

from Punishment; Various forms of Punishment; Penance――Crime

in the Burghs――Social Vice

⭘ Architecture――Castles, Churches

⭘ Wealth of the Church; Monasteries; Nunneries; Friars;

Hospitals

⭘ Religious Feeling of the People: Avowed Motives for assigning

Money and Property to the Church――Pilgrimages; Processions;

Relics; Sunday――Conclusion of the Chapter

CHAPTER XI.

_Literature of the Nation in the

Fourteenth and Fifteenth ♦Centuries._

♦ “Centurees” replaced with “Centuries”

⭘ The Lowland Scotch Language, influence of the Celtic genius on

it――Early Celtic Ballads and Tales; Celtic Heroes――Specimen of

Gaelic Poetry――Origin of Rhyme

⭘ Lowland Scotch Ballad Literature――Thomas the Rhymer――Early

Specimens of the Language――Ballad on the Battle of Otterburn,

Battle of Harlaw; Sir Patrick Spens――Romantic Rhymes; Fairies

and Elves――Holland’s _Howlat_; Cockelbie’s _Sow_

⭘ Barbour: his Life; his _Metrical Story of Robert Bruce_

――Literary Merits of his Work; its Historical Value――The

Achievements of Bruce celebrated by other Poets

⭘ Andrew Winton’s _Chronicle_; its Characteristics

⭘ James I.; his Attainments and Energy; his Writings; _The

King’s Quair_

⭘ Blind Henry, the Minstrel; his mode of Life; his Rhymed

Book on Sir William Wallace; the Materials from which it was

composed; its great popularity

⭘ Robert Henryson; his Life; Characteristics of his Writings

⭘ Sir John Rowll’s Poem――Fordun’s _Chronicle_――Increasing

Importance of the National Literature

CHAPTER XII.

_Education, Music, and Art of the Period._

⭘ Schools: the First Educational Act――Origin and Institution

of the University of St. Andrews――The Institution of the

University of Glasgow――Establishment of the University of

Aberdeen――Constitution of the Scottish Universities――Early

Scottish Teachers of Philosophy

⭘ Scottish Music: Singers, Harpers, Fiddlers, and Pipers――Musical

Instruments――Dramatic Plays

⭘ Painting――Seal Engraving――Seals of the Period――Conclusion

♦INDEX

⭘ Listing

♦ added to Contents listing

THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND.

CHAPTER I.――INTRODUCTION.

SECTION I.

_The Scope of the Work._

IN every stage of a nation’s career from barbarism to civilisation,

there are many conditions involved. The underlying causes of progress

in the early stages being so remote and varied that they often elude

investigation; still, if some of the salient points of the process

can be reached, the social phenomena may be partially realised: if the

surrounding circumstances of early tribes can be ascertained, patient

research may elicit valuable results. It is exceedingly interesting to

search for the causes and the influences which have operated upon the

life of our early ancestors in their many struggles. To trace the light

of consciousness dawning, and experience slowly becoming more effective,

gradually dispelling the mists of far-gone ages――the spirits, myths,

and legends, which enveloped the minds and affected the thoughts and

emotions of our early kindred――till the flickering rays of intelligence

ascended the horizon, and the shadows and myths receded, step by

step into the background. Yet the many retarding influences and

circumstances constantly recurring, and the difficulties and obstacles

encountered at every turn, were only slowly overcome by the persistent

energy of man. As time rolled on, original thought was developed,

new influences and agencies arose and came into operation, which

tended to subdue the ruder features of the race and to promote social

organisation and advance culture; and when these became effectual,

the people gradually emerged from the trammels of ignorance and

superstition, and at last enjoyed a more secure and happier life.

Any attempt to indicate the causes which have induced a number of

scattered tribes, almost living in a primitive state, to pass through

the various stages of progress to a comparatively high civilisation,

must examine many conflicting agencies. The difficulties of truly

assigning the effects of different causes, especially in the early

stages, are very great, where ascertained facts are few and the

phenomena so obscure; while the natural tendency of the human mind to

generalise upon incomplete data is not easily resisted. Scotland offers

a fair and tempting field for the study of this subject. Inasmuch as we

find man living there in a very early stage, and can trace the social

organisation of tribes, their conflicts issuing in the foundation of

a monarchy, and the development of an intense nationality; and the

beginnings of industry, of art, and of culture among the people, and

their continuous progress, through the various stages of civilisation,

onward to the present time. In this period, extending over four

thousand years, we can study the various agencies and influences,

and the different historic conditions which successively arose, and

controlled the stream of events and moulded the historic phenomena.

Thus the aboriginal race which long occupied the country, were subdued

and absorbed by another race, which in turn were invaded by powerful

enemies, but the natives made a vigorous resistance. After this, other

migrations and invasions followed, issuing in new historic conditions,

which contributed to the extension of the kingdom, and the development

of the nation. In the natural course of events the kingdom fell under

the influence of foreign interference, which led to new invasions and

determined attempts to conquer the nation. The people resisted, and a

long struggle for liberty and independence ensued, which, in its heroic

features of resistance to oppression and the importance of its ultimate

result, is unmatched in the annals of any nation. While later, internal

political and religious conflicts were manifested in a variety of forms,

and constitute an exceedingly interesting and important part of the

national history. Thus, although some countries have a greater history

than Scotland, few have a longer, a more eventful, or a more peculiarly

interesting one.

The work does not profess to present an exhaustive political history.

This branch will be treated according to its comparative importance

in the different periods, and the relative value of its facts and

phenomena, viewed as a factor in the general movement of the nation.

The main aim of the work being to reach the moral and intellectual

factors of progress, and especially to present ample details of the

material and social conditions of each period; and thus embracing all

the causes, agencies, and influences, in a connected scheme, to unfold

the successive stages of the progress, the culture, and the development

of the civilisation of the people.

As the term civilisation, in its widest import, includes all

the material and intellectual products, the religion and social

organisations and institutions of a civilised nation, a disquisition

on the elements of these complex subjects would be out of character in

this section. From my standpoint, historically, civilisation began with

the first conscious efforts of man, whenever he began to act with an

end in view, such as to make weapons to defend himself or implements

to procure food: and this is sometimes called the primitive state,

from which mankind have gradually advanced in culture, more or less,

according as surrounding nature, circumstances, and historic conditions,

were favourable to their progress, or the reverse. To trace and explain

such a progress and development in the limited area of Scotland is

the conception and end of this work; so the prehistoric ages will

be treated in a concise and connected form onward into the historic

age, and associated with the manifold causes, circumstances, changes,

and influences, which have operated upon the people, and ultimately

resulted in our present stage of civilisation.

The primary causes of civilisation may be shortly indicated thus:――1,

The human mind itself; 2, Surrounding nature, including climate,

soil, and natural products; 3, Historical conditions; and 4, Social

and material conditions. The mind of man is the prime factor of

civilisation, and unless this is recognised no satisfactory explanation

of development and progress can be given. For the internal power of

the mind is the only natural and conceivable cause of the origin of

civilisation; insomuch, that without it civilisation is inexplicable.

Still, the circumstances in which man finds himself placed may have

an important effect upon him. In the early stages, climate, soil, and

natural products have a potent bearing on the direction which man’s

progress might take; if he can live without much effort, as when his

wants are supplied by nature in abundance, he will feel inclined to

enjoy himself in ease. But the increase of numbers sooner or later

begins to affect him, and exertion in the form of migration or in other

ways at last becomes necessary, and outward movements and conflicts

would then commence. When historical conditions arise, they become

the chief external causes of relative changes in the state of society,

but such changes may not be always favourable to progress, though they

often tend in that direction. The social and material conditions are

exceedingly important factors in civilisation. It is principally the

social feeling which originates society, and binds mankind into groups,

tribes, and nations. Religion also often operates as a social influence,

in association at first with the instinct of self-preservation, and at

later stages in association with the higher emotions.

The lower and narrower forms of moral tendency spring out of human

nature and the necessities of life――the social and sympathetic feelings.

The higher sentiments and emotions, and the definite ideas of right

and wrong, of justice, honesty, truth, and so on, were only developed

slowly, and with extreme difficulty. The very sentiment and idea upon

which justice itself rests is distinctly progressive; as at first it

appears obscure and often contorted, so it has only been gradually

growing in clearness, in purity, and in comprehensiveness. How far it

is even yet from being perfect needs no exposition.

Following the lines above indicated, the geographical and physical

features of the country will be described, seeing that they have had an

influence on the development of the inhabitants. The direct action of

climate, soil, and food, on man is difficult to estimate, and varies

in different quarters of the globe; its operation is obscure, as it is

independent of volition, and man is merely passive under it. But the

indirect action of external nature is more potent on the development

of man, for it presupposes a reaction on his part under the stimulus

of his wants and activities, and in this relation the influence of

physical agencies upon man and society, especially in the early stages,

were everywhere felt.

We may safely assume that man has always sought to gratify the

inherent cravings of his being. His primeval feelings and passions were

strong, and sometimes bounded into activity with endless degrees of

force; hence the varied ethnic affinities of races, the diversity of

historical conditions, tribal and political conflicts, conquests, and

amalgamations, which have contributed to produce such manifold results

throughout the world.

Myth appears to spring from the same source as science; originally it

was simply man’s early attempt to interpret his surroundings. In the

myth-making stage of culture, man was ignorant of the causes of the

natural forces around him, hence he was eagerly looking for something

to give him an explanation of external phenomena. He found an

explanation in his own will and feelings; and so every moving object,

animate and inanimate, was thought to be impelled by a force akin to

his own mind. All the mental powers that man found in himself were

transferred to external nature. Thus the ancient world became inhabited

by multitudes of spirits, demons, and gods. Long after the original

mythical meanings were lost, new explanations were fastened on names

and words, and thus the process proceeded;¹ until the attainment of

definite knowledge dethroned the swarms of spirits, gods, demons, and

witches.

¹ _Celtic Mythology_, by Alexander Macbain, M.A.

SECTION II.

_Geographical and Physical Features of the Country._

Scotland is separated from England by the River Tweed, the Cheviot

Hills, the Liddel Water, and the Solway Firth; the Cheviot range

naturally tended to fix the southern limit of the country. The boundary

line runs in a slanting direction from Berwick-on-Tweed to the Solway

Firth, a distance of seventy miles, and except on this line Scotland is

surrounded by the sea. On the east side lies the North Sea, on the west

the Atlantic Ocean; the North Channel, between the south-western part

of the country and Ireland, is only thirteen and a half miles broad at

the Mull of Cantyre, and the most southerly part of the coast is washed

by the Irish Sea. The west coast is nearly in a line with the east of

Ireland, and the greater part of Scotland lies west of England; and

the south-eastern end of the island approaches so near the continent

of Europe that the opposite coasts of England and France are only

twenty-one miles apart from each other at the narrowest point of the

Channel. Between Scotland and Norway there are 300 miles of sea, and

between Denmark and Scotland 400 miles of sea. These natural facts,

as we shall find, had an important bearing on the early history of the

island.

The coasts of Scotland are very irregular, and broken, and rocky. On

the whole of the west coast there are numerous arms and inlets of the

sea, which penetrate far into the interior of the country, while here

and there the land extends out to the sea in numerous islands and

surf-beaten rocks. Amongst the most noted of these inlets of the sea

are Lochs Linnhe, Torridon, Duich, Hourn, and Nevis; on the south and

north coasts the bays and inlets are not so numerous, though on the

northern there are the Firths of Moray, Inverness, Beauly, Cromarty,

and Dornoch. The east coast is much less indented than the other sides,

but on it are the two important estuaries of the Forth and Tay. Owing

to these numerous firths, inlets, and arms of the sea, the coast-line

of Scotland measures about 2,500 miles, which affords many industrial

and commercial advantages.

The Orkney Islands lie off the northern mainland, and are separated

from Caithness by the Pentland Firth――a dangerous channel――6 miles

broad, and noted for the strength and rapidity of its tides and

currents. This group of islands amounts to upwards of sixty, but most

of them are small, and others merely bare rocks, and only twenty-nine

are inhabited. The largest of the group is about thirty miles in

length. The surface of these islands mostly consists of heathy wastes,

intersected with rocks, swamps, and lochs; there are scarcely any trees,

and the cultivated portions yield oats and green crops. The only towns

are Kirkwall and Stromness. The climate is rather moist, but not severe.

The Shetland ♦Islands lie about one hundred miles off the northern

coast of Scotland, and they are separated from the Orkneys by seventy

miles of sea. This group exceeds one hundred islands, but more than

the half of them are small holms or rocky islets, and only about thirty

of them are inhabited. These islands have a less favourable climate

than the Orkneys; they are more rugged, and the agriculture is poor;

but the Shetland sheep yield a fine soft wool, which is much valued.

The inhabitants chiefly live by fishing, and Lerwick, their only town,

has a harbour which is frequented by the vessels of different nations

as a haven of refuge. The Shetlands are only two hundred miles from

Norway, and hence they became important in relation to the ethnology

and colonisation of the northern and western coasts of Scotland.

♦ “Island lies” replaced with “Islands lie”

The Hebrides or Western Isles lie on the western side of Scotland, and

are very numerous. They stretch along the western shores nearly to the

coasts of Ireland, and are regarded as the natural breakwater of the

north-west coasts. They consist of two chief groups: 1, those lying

close to the mainland, as Mull, Islay, Skye, and others, called the

inner group; 2, those lying to the west of the Channel of Minch, and

usually called the outer islands. These outer ones form a continuous

group of 140 miles in length, and so close together that they have

been regarded as one, and named the Long Island. Lewis is sixty miles

long, being the longest of the group, and the longest island belonging

to Scotland. Probably some of these islands were inhabited at an

early period, and they became connected with the ethnology and the

colonisation of the west of Scotland; and also with the introduction

of Christianity, and thus were associated with the early history of the

country.

The islands in the Firth of Clyde are Bute and Arran, the two Cumbraes,

and the Rock of Ailsa. The climate of Bute is mild, and its central

and southern parts are well suited for tillage and pasture, but its

northern extremity is rugged. Arran is remarkable for its lofty hills

and glens, and only a small portion of it is suitable for cultivation.

Ailsa Craig lies in the broad part of the Firth, and is simply an

insulated rocky hill, about two miles in circumference, and rising in

steep cliffs to 1,098 feet above the sea. It is a great resort of the

solan goose and immense numbers of other sea birds.

On the east coast there are only a few detached islets. The Bass Rock,

on the south side of the entrance of the Firth of Forth, is a mass

of basalt rising perpendicularly to 400 feet. The islands of May,

Inchkeith, and Inchcolm, are all in the Forth. The Bell Rock lies 14

miles east of the entrance of the Firth of Tay, and is the site of a

notable lighthouse.

Turning now to the mainland, the country presents to the eye an

exceedingly varied prospect. The fine diversity of mountains and wooded

heights, rivers and valleys, narrow glens and ravines, and lakes,

present stretches of charming scenery, and in other parts a succession

of picturesque scenes of rugged and wild scenery, striking and imposing

from the grandeur of their outstanding features. Many of the valleys

and glens in every quarter of the country present scenery of exquisite

beauty when seen in a fine summer-day in all their verdant glory. The

existing aspects of external nature are the result of the operation

of forces which have been working for untold æons, stretching far back

into eternity. If we could recall the echoes from that vasty deep,

and figure in imagination the successive phenomena as they appeared,

then we might form some faint idea of the sublimity and the infinite

significance of the great work of creation. The space which Scotland

now occupies, and after the formation of its rocks, was repeatedly

submerged by the ocean, and also at different periods enveloped in

mountains of snow and glacier ice. The action of immense moving masses

of glacier ice have contributed much to deepen and smooth the glens and

the lochs, and to modify the contour of the mountains and hills;¹ while

the wasting powers which rain, frost, wind, and the sea possess, have

all contributed to produce changes on the surface of the earth, and

formed the many contrasts, the varied and picturesque features of the

grand and beautiful scenery of the country.

¹ Dr. A. Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, pages 81‒87, 1887.

“While land-ice is thus a most powerful geological agent in

new-modelling the surface of the earth, its operations are

not entirely confined to the dry land. As already stated,

it creeps along the sea bottom for some distance from land

until flotation comes into play, when large masses break off

from the ice-cliff, and rising up and floating, sail away

seaward as icebergs. These ice islands carry with them any

soil or rock-rubbish which may have fallen upon them from

inland cliffs while they formed part of the ice-sheet of the

country. The debris so borne off is, of course, thrown down

upon the sea bottom as each berg melts away, after a voyage

of perhaps hundreds of miles. Year by year whole fleets of

these bergs are sent southwards in the arctic regions, so

that the bed of the northern seas must be strewn with earth

and boulders. As only between an eighth and a ninth part of

a mass of ice appears above the sea water on which it floats,

the bulk of many bergs must be enormous. One rising two

hundred feet above the waves――not an uncommon height――must

have its bottom more than seven hundred feet below them,

and the thickness of the ice cap at its outer edge must be

there about two thousand feet. The Antarctic ice-sheets and

icebergs are of still more colossal dimensions.”

The mountain ranges and the river system of the country may be briefly

indicated. The Highlands are naturally marked off by mountains from

the eastern Lowlands and the central valleys of the Forth and Clyde.

The Grampian range of mountains stretches from near the coast of

Kincardineshire across the country to Ardnamurchan on the west coast.

These mountains vary greatly in figure and elevation; the average

height of their higher summits runs from 3000 to 4000 feet above sea

level, and their greatest height is reached at the top of Ben Nevis,

which rises 4,406 feet, but it is not quite within the limit of

perpetual snow. To the north of the Grampians ranges of mountains run

off in successive waves to Cape Wrath, the shores of the North Sea,

and the Moray Firth, and southward along the west coasts to the Mull of

Cantyre, gradually diminishing in height as they approach the coasts,

where the river valleys widen out into limited plains. These mountains

are mainly formed of masses of rocks consisting of gneiss, granite,

schist, and other crystalline rocks, and bands of quartzose, which are

associated with some strips of limestone.

The scenery of the Highlands presents many varied and striking features,

associated with much similarity and wonderful order. The craggy array

of peaks overhanging the narrow passes and glens, often present to the

eye a marked similarity of bend and slope, of figure and contour; still

taking the whole of the Highlands, a rich variety of contrasts can

easily be observed. Many of the Highland valleys present exceedingly

picturesque and beautiful scenery.

Glenmore, or the Great Glen, is a remarkable feature in the physical

structure of the Highlands. It extends from the Moray Firth at

Inverness to the Sound of Mull, a distance of about one hundred miles,

and separates the Highlands into two regions. In its middle portion

there are three lakes――Loch Ness, the source of the beautiful river

Ness, which flows through the town of Inverness; Loch Oich, and Loch

Lochy. These lochs are very deep. “The deepest soundings in Loch Ness

gives a depth of 129 fathoms opposite the Falls of Foyers; in Loch Oich,

23 fathoms; in Loch Lochy, 76 fathoms.”¹ The lochs are situated in the

midst of varied and beautiful scenery; and the Caledonian Canal now

connects them by navigable channels from shore to shore.

¹ “Its very straightness is enough to suggest that the

Great Glen owes its direction to a line of dislocation. I

ascertained in the year 1864 that the line of the fracture,

or of one continued in the same line, can be seen along the

western side of the Moray Firth, where the Jurassic beds

of Eathic and Shandwick are thrown down against the Old Red

Sandstone. Hence the downthrow at this end of the line is to

the east side. It seems to me that this line has been from

a very early geological period up, indeed, to the present

day, a line of weakness in the crust of the earth. The

prolongation of the tongue of the Old Red Sandstone up

the valley of Loch Ness appears to show that the valley is

older than that formation; the dislocation of the Eathic

and Shandwick shales proves disturbance even after the

Lias; and the agitation of the waters of Loch Ness, during

great earthquakes in modern times, shows that, even yet,

underground movements tend to reveal themselves along

the same old line. Hence it may be reasonably conjectured

that the fracture along the line of the Great Glen has

been repeatedly modified during the subterranean changes

of successive geological periods.” Geikie’s _Scenery of

Scotland_, page 234.

Some parts of the Highlands consist of barren moor, such as the Moor

of Rannoch, extending to 400 square miles, which is little better than

a desert. Its surface is level and a part of it covered by a bog; it

produces no vegetation, except a few fir trees, but granite covers many

miles of it. To the north of it another sterile tract lies between Ben

Nevis and the shores of Loch Ericht.

The Lowland region is marked off on the one side by the lines of the

Highland mountains, and on the other by the southern uplands. From

St. Abb’s Head to the cliffs of Portpatrick a range of hilly ground

runs across the country from sea to sea; and in East Lothian and

Edinburghshire, the long chain of the Lammermuir Hills rises into steep

heights. The surface of the Lammermuirs, like most of the southern

hills, is pretty smooth and covered with heath or coarse grass, except

where the peat covers the hollows, and where the streams keep open

their channels through the bare drift or hard rock. The tops of these

hills are usually broad, smooth, and grassy; but on the western ridges

they descend abruptly into the plains, and present gulleys and narrow

glens, through which the drainage flows into the low grounds. These

heights of the Lammermuirs fairly represent the general features of

the scenery of the country between the North Sea and the Vale of the

Nith, although in the higher parts of the region the smoothness and

verdure of the hills are exchanged for the rocky scarfs, bare crags and

cliffs, and deep narrow defiles, which remind us of some parts of the

Highlands.¹

¹ Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, page 281, _et seq._

The Lammermuirs, the Moorfoots, and the Pentland Hills, form a range

running from east to west; further south, the Cheviots, the Moffat

Hills, and the Lowther Hills, form a continuous range extending in

a zig-zag course from east to west. The general features of these

southern and border hills are remarkably uniform throughout; they are

mostly covered with pasture nearly to the tops, and a great part of

this region is naturally a pasture land.

The Lowlands of southern Scotland consist of a series of fertile

valleys, some of which are of considerable extent. It may be observed

that a different local topography prevails; as the term dale, instead

of strath or glen, is used to indicate a stretch of low lying ground,

a cultivated valley or a pastoral one. Amongst these notable local

districts are Tweeddale, Teviotdale, and Lauderdale, which belong to

the basin of the Tweed; Liddlesdale, Eskdale, Annandale, and Nithsdale,

each of which belong to the respective rivers of the same name, and

slope toward the shores of the Solway Firth; the vale of Yarrow, the

vale of Gala, and Ettrick, which have been rendered famous in the

national songs and poetry.

But many parts of the central Lowlands are dotted with hills, and

even long ranges. The Sidlaw Hills commence in the vicinity of Perth,

thence extending in a north-east direction and terminating by a

rapid declivity on the side of Strathmore, but descending in a fine

succession of terraces towards the North Sea. The Ochil Hills, with

their offshoots, occupy much of the peninsula of Fife, and in some

parts rise to a considerable height; Ben Glack is 2359 feet above sea

level.

Among the influences of external nature few have a more important

bearing upon the people than the water courses of the country. The

Watershed of Scotland runs southward from Cape Wrath to the head of

Loch Quoich, whence it turns eastward between Lochs Lochy and Oich,

then sweeping round the top of Strathspey and over the hills above the

head of Loch Laggan, and thence following a curving southerly course

past the west end of the Moor of Rannoch and the Brae Lyon mountains

to Crianlarich, thence across Ben Lomond and south-eastward over

the Campsie Fells into the broad Lowland valley: whence skirting the

south-western parts of Linlithgow and Mid-Lothian, it sweeps up into

the Pentland Hills, and then south between the valleys of the Clyde and

Tweed to the Hartfell Heights, thence it strikes across to the Cheviot

Hills. To the west of this line the water flows into the Atlantic, and

to the east, into the North Sea or the Firths connected with it. Owing

to the steep and mountainous nature of the west side of the Island, the

Watershed keeps much nearer to the Atlantic than to the North Sea; and

hence the greater part of the country is drained into the latter. In

the northern half of Scotland no large river enters the Atlantic; on

the western side of the Watershed as it runs through the counties of

Sutherland, Ross, and Inverness, nearly all the great valleys which

enter the sea come down from the south-east, and have their seaward

portions filled by the tides of the Atlantic. Thus they form the series

of inland sea lochs, narrow firths, and fords which characterise the

western shores of the country.

On the north-east side, the Ness, the Spey, the Deveron, the Don, the

Dee, the North Esk, the South Esk, and the Tay, and a number of smaller

rivers, carry the drainage of the mountains into the sea. The principal

rivers of the Central Lowlands are the Tay, the Forth, and the Clyde.

The Tay descends from the heights of the Highlands, and as it were

issues into the Lowlands through the narrow defile of Birnam, winds

by Perth and gradually opens into a fine estuary; and pours a greater

body of water into the sea than any other river in Britain. The Forth

rises on the eastern side of Ben Lomond; and issues from the Highlands

through the narrow defile of Aberfoyle; and winding on it passes by

Stirling and Alloa, and enters its estuary. The Clyde rises from the

Moffat Hills in the Southern uplands, flows northward, winding its

course through the broad meadows, cultivated fields, fine woodlands,

and beautiful stretches of scenery. The basins of the Forth and Clyde

are not separated by ranges of hills, between the two rivers, the

ground undulates across the great coal and iron fields from Campsie

to the Pentland Hills.

The numerous rivers and streams give rise to a corresponding variety of

defiles, straths, dales, and valleys. Besides those already mentioned,

there are in the north-eastern side of the ♦country, the valleys of

the Dee, the Don, the Deveron, the Spey, and the Ness; and the notable

ravines of the Findhorn, Nairn, and Beauly. Much of the best cultivable

land of the country lies in the valleys, on the banks and haughs of the

rivers.

♦ “county” replaced with “country”

Caithness presents a tract of comparatively flat land; and in the lower

parts of Moray, Banffshire, and Aberdeenshire, there are considerable

stretches of pretty level ground; but the greatest extent of level land

in Scotland is the plain of Strathmore, which runs from the banks of

the river Forth to the vicinity of Stonehaven, where it is terminated

by the eastern Grampians. This plain is nearly ninety miles in length,

and its breadth varies from sixteen miles at its widest part along

the course of the Forth and Teith to less than a mile at its northern

extremity. It is the largest extent of level and cultivable land in

Scotland. The Carse of Gowrie lies along the banks of the beautiful

estuary of the Tay, it is two or three miles broad, and one of the most

fertile spots in Scotland. The Carse of Stirling lies on the south side

of the Forth, and is remarkably fertile.

The Central Region extending between the Firths of Forth and Clyde

presents a striking feature in the physical configuration of the

country. The two Firths penetrate inwards on opposite sides, and

opening out the mouths of the rivers, nearly cuts the country into two

halves; and at this point reduces its breadth to forty miles. These

natural features have had a controlling influence on the stream of

events for ages: 1, In relation to the origin of historical conditions;

2, In relation to military and political conditions; 3, In relation

to national defence and political independence; 4, In relation to

the development of industry and commerce. The details of these will

successively appear in the sequel of the work.

Lakes are still pretty numerous in Scotland; although in early times

they were far more numerous. During the last hundred and fifty years

many lochs have been drained and turned into cultivated land; while the

natural processes of growth have transformed others into mosses. They

are most numerous in the Highland and Middle divisions of the country.

Loch Lomond is the largest one in the Kingdom; it is twenty-four miles

long and seven miles broad at its widest part. It contains upwards of

thirty islands, many of which are richly wooded. For some time it has

been held to be scientifically proved, that the greater part of the

lochs of Scotland were formed or at least deepened by the action of

glacier ice; some of them are scooped out of solid rock, the immense

weight of a great moving mass of ice having effected this result.

Although the country is comparatively poor in soil, it is rich in

the raw materials of industry. Limestone, greenstone, freestone,

flagstone, slatestone, and granite of various colours are abundant.

The carboniferous rocks extend from Fife Ness to the coast of Ayrshire,

and cover the greater part of the Central Region――the coal, iron,

and shale district. It has been estimated that the total depth of

the carboniferous strata cannot be less than 6000 feet.¹ The richest

portions of the coal fields are in Clydesdale, Lanarkshire, and

Renfrewshire; the counties of Ayr, Fife, Stirling, Edinburgh, and

Linlithgow, follow in order; and in most of these counties more or

less valuable beds of ironstone, shale, and limestone, are intermixed

with the coal. Broken strata of coal have been found as far north as

Sutherlandshire. Lead and copper are found in small quantities; gold

also has been discovered in several parts of the country, though not

in sufficient quantities to repay the labour of searching for it. About

twenty years ago, a number of persons employed themselves searching for

gold in Sutherlandshire, and though small quantities were found, the

occupation did not prove remunerative.

¹ Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, page 329, 1887.

Within the limit of the close of the latest geological epoch, the flora

and fauna of the country may be briefly noticed. The character of the

vegetation varied in different localities, and according to altitude

on the mountains. Heaths, and here and there a straggling alpine plant,

graced the higher brows of the mountains; lower down, on their ribs,

waving ferns and other wild growths shot up; around their base, and

some 1500 feet upward on their sides, trees of pine and oak spread out

their trunks and branches. The oak also abounded on the low grounds,

and other indigenous trees, such as the birch, hazel, alder, willow,

and juniper, all lived and grew wonderfully. In the boggy valley and

glen, marsh plants, sea growths, and other wild flowers sprang up.

In the more level and dry grounds, natural grasses, and wood wherever

the conditions were suitable covered the scene. How many of the fruit

bearing trees and bushes were indigenous I am unable to tell; that

there were wild fruit of various kinds need not be doubted.

Passing to the fauna of the country, vast multitudes of trout swarmed

in the streams, rivers, and lakes; and immense shoals of fish, then as

now, inhabited the firths and bays, and the encircling ocean. Touching

the feathered species, there were several kinds of game, wild ducks,

and fresh water and sea fowls were plentiful. Rapacious birds of the

hawk and owl varieties, and the golden eagle were common. The British

Islands are very rich in birds, nearly three hundred species are known,

some of which are nowhere else found. The small singing birds of the

country are well known, and need not be enumerated, for in spring and

summer they enliven the garden, the wood, the valley and the mountain.

Among the higher indigenous animals there were one or two species of

the ox, from which the native cattle were probably derived. The sheep,

red deer, and the roebuck were common; and the dog and the horse appear

to have been domesticated at a very early period. The hare, the fox,

wild cats, weasels, fumarts, and other wild animals, some of which have

long been extinct in Scotland, such as the wild boar, the wolf, the

beaver, and others, were common. The wolf held out for many centuries

into the present era, and Acts of Parliament were passed in the

fifteenth century, commanding the people to muster at certain seasons

every year to hunt and destroy them.

Although the main outline of the country was the same then as now;

yet the external surface and face of the country then presented a very

different aspect to that which we see around us in every quarter at the

present time. There was more water over the whole country; the Firths

of Forth and Clyde rose some thirty feet above the present level of

their tides; and the ground on which Leith, Dundee, Arbroath, Ayr,

Greenock, Cromarty, and many other towns on the coast now stand, was

then either wholly or in part covered with water. The rivers too were

then much larger than they are now, and in many places their waters

spread over a wider area. Then there were ♦innumerable lakes and

swamps, black mosses and moors; and vast forests which swept in long

withdrawing glades across the country. Thick clouds of mist often

enveloped the land and water, and a severer climate prevailed. The

reigning silence was only broken by the howl and snort of the wild

beasts which roamed throughout the country. Such was the state of the

country, when man first planted his foot on the soil of Scotland, and

found himself surrounded by the conditions and the natural resources

of the home, which I have briefly described; and how far he has turned

them to account this history should show.

♦ “inumerable” replaced with “innumerable”

The influence of climate, soil, food, and other natural agencies on

man, and the early inhabitants of Scotland, have now to be considered.

According to the brief statement in the first section, it is extremely

difficult to distinguish in the early stages of society, what is due

to external agencies on the one hand, from what is due on the other to

the internal energy of man himself. Still the co-relative potency of

external influences and natural agencies on the destiny of the human

race can hardly be questioned. At once discarding visionary notions,

and endeavouring to grapple with the real and living world; we find

men naked upon the earth amid the forces of nature, and on every side

ferocious and venomous creatures to contend against; while he had

everything to learn, how to protect himself and to fight and struggle

for his life. Thus we must see the importance of the surrounding

conditions and circumstances. Here man had to shield himself from

the biting cold and frost, there from the scorching and burning sun;

everywhere he found himself face to face with numerous forces which

might have hurt or destroyed him.

Looking then to the climate and soil of Scotland in prehistoric times,

the difficulty of obtaining food and protection from the cold and frost

incident to the country, would have been the first matters to seriously

affect the early inhabitants. The limited quantity of vegetable roots

and wild fruit, which the soil spontaneously produced, must have

rendered a supply of food from this source exceedingly precarious; and,

prior to cultivation in so sterile a country, the early inhabitants

could hardly have subsisted on vegetable food. The only remaining

source of food in sufficient abundance was the wild animals, fowls, and

the fish swarming in the waters. But it demanded much exertion and some

ingenuity on man’s part to procure a supply of this description; owing

to the coldness of the climate, however, and his imperfect means of

sheltering himself, animal food was most suitable for him, as it is

best fitted to keep up the warmth of the body. The results of these

external conditions on the spirit and habits of the early inhabitants

may be easily realised. The exertion and risk incurred in pursuing

and slaying wild animals would naturally ♦develop habits of daring and

determination; and the very efforts necessary for his self-preservation

tended to develop his faculties. In short, we may easily comprehend

how the circumstances in which man found himself placed in this quarter

of the globe, were admirably calculated to develop a fund of energy,

a spirit of independence, and a physical constitution capable of great

and heroic endurance.

♦ “develope” replaced with “develop”

The natural structure of the country was favourable to lawless freedom.

Geographically there are few countries less adapted to the requirements

of a central despotism than Scotland. As the obstacles interposed by

nature rendered regular communication between the different parts of

the country almost impossible for ages, the results of these structural

features of the country have been enormous, and they will again and

again force themselves upon our notice. Here I am mainly concerned

with the effort to understand their early effects. Their outcome

was exhibited in the form of a number of little local rulers planted

throughout the country――sometimes called chiefs, at other times nobles,

and they long possessed the supreme power in Scotland, though not

always its nominal holders; and they offered a prolonged and determined

resistance to the formation of an effective central authority.

The general features of a country may be considered in relation to the

imagination, and also in relation to the understanding. The appearances

presented by external nature to the eye and the senses mainly operates

through the imagination, and this process has been supposed to have

originated many of the superstitions which have afflicted mankind,

such as those primitive notions of spirits and ghosts, myths, legends,

and so on, which arose in the infancy of the race. Generally, it

may be said, that whatever in the aspects of nature is calculated to

inspire feelings of fear, terror, or bewilderment, and everything that

raises in the mind an idea of the uncontrollable and unfathomable,

has a tendency to inflame the uncultured imagination. In the early

prehistoric ages, when men looked around and contrasted their own

powers with the forces of nature, they were apt to become painfully

conscious of their own helplessness and their dependent condition.

Hence have sprung up the mythologies and polytheisms of the world.

In those regions of the earth, where nature is seen on a grand and

imposing scale, the impressions produced on the mind would be the most

effective and abiding.

But the mountains and rivers of Scotland, though numerous, cannot be

considered as being on an exceedingly grand scale, when compared with

those of other countries. The aspects of these mountains and rivers

could scarcely have presented an unsurmountableness calculated to

overawe or stagger the minds of the people, although doubtless in the

early stages these outstanding features of the country had some effect

upon the feelings of the inhabitants. The rolling and raging waves

of the sea, the rocks, and torrents streaming down the mountains,

the storms and mists, have all been considered as suggesting and

intensifying the superstitions of the Scots.¹ It seems to me that the

influence of these natural agencies on the peculiar characteristics of

Scotch superstition have been greatly overdrawn. There were many other

ways in which their superstitions might have arisen, even supposing

that the Scots had any superstitions essentially peculiar to themselves.

¹ Buckle’s _History of Civilisation_, Volume II., page 181;

Burton’s _Criminal Trials in Scotland_, Volume I., pages

240‒248.

In relation to the understanding, on the other hand, the influence of

the mountains and hills, the rivers, the lakes, the firths, and the sea,

on the mind and daily life of the inhabitants, is clearly manifested.

This will appear on all sides as we proceed with their history. The

hills and elevated rocks were selected as the appropriate sites for

strongholds; and the lakes were utilised for a similar purpose. We

find the banks of rivers, the heights near the side of an estuary, and

the elevated positions in the vicinity of the sea shore, all chosen

with remarkable sagacity as the fittest sites for the habitations

of communities. Here we can trace with something like precision the

co-relative action of external nature on the understanding of man;

here we can see him picking out the spots best suited for his purposes,

and exerting that faculty which has enabled the human race to obtain an

undisputed supremacy upon the earth.

SECTION III.

_Historic Interpretation――Ethnological Problem._

I. Whether man was originally descended from some species of extinct

or still surviving apes,¹ does not come within the scope of my subject.

But to render my principle of historic interpretation clear, it is

necessary to make a brief statement. Man from the beginning of his

career upon the earth has been in possession of his physical organism,

his external senses, and his psychical faculties. Although in the early

stages his mental powers were undeveloped, still he had the use of

his external senses and the capacity of thinking, however limited his

views might have been. For in the order of human development thought

necessarily preceded language, and always has preceded it. In spite of

the opinion of an eminent writer, who has asserted and reiterated that

thought and language is absolutely identical, a notion well calculated

to introduce confusion into the subject.² In nature and reality, if

thought had not preceded language, the rational origin of language

itself would be inconceivable. Is there not evidence recorded of

individuals, who have thought much without using articulate language? I

have observed an infant of three months old manifest distinct evidence

of memory in relation to inanimate objects. I have also observed

infants of eighteen months, who had a clear idea of the relation

of cause and effect, and showed a wonderful power of reasoning and

a spirit of inquiry. It is the internal psychical capacity of the

mind-thinking power, which renders language itself possible. In the

early stages of the human race it is certain that man did think hard

and long too――thousands of years before he had even a very limited

vocabulary of articulate speech; and we know that alphabets and written

languages were only of comparatively recent origin. Instead of language

being absolutely identical with thought, it is merely an instrument for

the expression and communication of thought, and an instrument to some

extent fortuitously formed, as is shown by the multitude of different

languages; and even the most highly developed ones are inadequate to

express the infinite combinations and relations of thought.

¹ “My own theory of the matter, however, is slightly different

from this. For, while accepting all that goes to constitute

the substance of Mr. Darwin’s suggestion, I think it almost

certain that the faculty of articulate sign-making was a

product of a much later evolution, so that the creature

who first presented this faculty must have already been

more human than ape like. This Homo alius stands before the

mind’s eye as an almost brutal object, indeed, yet still

erect in attitude, shaping his flints to serve as tools and

weapons, living in tribes or societies, and able in no small

degree to communicate the logic of his recepts by means of

gesture-signs, facial expressions, and vocal tones. From

such an origin the subsequent evolution of sign-making

faculty in the direction of articulate sounds would be

an even more easy matter to imagine than it was under the

previous hypothesis. Having traced the probable course of

this evolution, as inferred by sundry analogies; and having

dwelt upon the remarkable significance in this connection

of the inarticulate sounds which still survive as so-called

‘clicks’ in the lowly formed language of Africa; I went

on to detail sundry considerations which seemed to render

probable the prolonged existence of the imaginary being in

question――traced the presumable phases of his subsequent

evolution, and met the objection which might be raised on

the score of Homo alius being Homo postulatus.” _Mental

Evolution of Man_, by G. J. Romanes, M.A., LL.D., page

429, 1888. This volume is part of an attempt to strengthen

the theory of evolution, by showing how the psychological

barrier between man and the brute may be overcome. The

effort is carried on with vigour and considerable ingenuity.

² _Gifford Lectures_, pages 24, 356, 406, by Max Müller, 1888.

From the historic standpoint, languages may be called the products

of social organisation. Thus different tribes, communities, and

nations originate and develop languages in harmony with their special

circumstances, social state, and stages of civilisation. The evolution

of language everywhere is partly a natural and partly an artificial

process, springing out of the growth of the varied organisations,

states of society, and human culture; and hence the multiplicity and

diversity of languages throughout the world.

But the laws of thought are not dependent on language, or necessarily

identical with any form of speech. Thought can create mere arbitrary

signs, such as the formula and symbols used in science, which in

themselves have no meaning until the mind and the laws of thought

assign to them ideas, powers, and so on, which represent quantity

and quality and explain the infinite relations of the universe.

But, excepting Max Müller, did any one ever assert that the symbols

themselves were identical with the ideas, thoughts, and reasonings

involved in mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry?

In the earliest stage of society man’s thinking faculty appears to have

been comparatively narrow, owing to his limited experience. Still it is

an ♦indispensable requisite of a historic principle of interpretation

to take account of the inner psychical faculties of man as a factor in

the origin of the first stage of society, in the subsequent creation

of historical conditions, and throughout the entire development

of civilisation. The psychical characteristics of tribes are more

important than their physical peculiarities, and when both sides

of these characteristics are strongly marked, they tend to make new

historical conditions, to produce relative changes, and thus advance

civilisation. There is little progress in human society until a series

of intersective relations arise and begin to operate and affect the

positions and circumstances of tribes, and then onward and progressive

movements gradually proceed.

♦ “indispensible” replaced with “indispensable”

In the interpretation of the prehistoric ages and early culture the

first requisite is a just conception of human nature, to recognise the

natural rights of all communities, and human rights, wherever there is

evidence of their existence. For it must be remembered that there has

been an almost perpetual tendency among the more powerful peoples to

cruelly oppress the weaker and less fortunate communities.

Touching the investigation of the remains, relics, and the phenomena

of a people in a given area, the first question is, what are the facts?

The relation of such facts as can be ascertained, and their meaning,

have to be explained. Following the natural course of development in

Scotland, we find a people using stone and taking the materials within

their reach, adapting them to suit the ends and circumstances of their

daily life. Associated with this people and their stage of culture

we find a series of remarkable structural remains which demands the

greatest care and discrimination to interpret, owing to the remoteness

of the period and the very imperfect knowledge of these people now

obtainable. Explanations of unfamiliar phenomena are often apt to be

wrong, unless when carefully made, and only relevant points admitted

as evidence.

Proceeding down the stream of time we find a people using bronze,

and manufacturing their weapons and implements in this material. They

developed a culture which is specially connected with the products of

this industry, and they occasionally adorned their persons with fine

ornaments of jet and gold. This people erected stone circles in which

they placed the remains of the dead, and they also erected unchambered

cairns over the remains of the dead. But there is an overlapping of

the bronze and iron periods, which causes difficulty in the sequent

arrangement of certain classes of remains, and in such cases I have

endeavoured to make the best use of circumstantial evidence. In

Scotland there is a remarkable overlapping of all the three stages

of stone, bronze, and iron; and, therefore, though bronze and iron

implements may be found associated with the earth houses and the

crannogs, it does not follow that their origin and period of occupation

should be assigned to the iron age.

The discrimination and estimation of historical evidence, and

prehistoric evidence in particular, is a difficult and arduous task.

In estimating prehistoric evidence great care and caution is requisite,

since owing to the imperfect character of the materials on which to

form a direct conclusion, recourse to inference is tried: and many

of the inferences which have been drawn in this department rests on

no sufficient evidence; the merest shadow of analogy, far fetched

instances from some other quarter of the globe――utterly inapplicable to

the point in hand, some allusion or conjecture found in Greek and Roman

literature, have been often adduced as evidence, which it is heresy to

question.

Even written materials, and national documents, when viewed as

matter of historical evidence, must be discriminated, and their value

estimated according to circumstances and the characteristics of the

times to which they belong. Thus, surrounding circumstances is always

an element of more or less value in estimating every description of

historical evidence.

Strange as it seems, the intelligence of mankind has often been in

advance of their means. This appears to have been the case in the

earlier stages of human progress. Even now intellect is in advance of

the means of attainment amongst the highest civilised nations. This is

the case in physical science generally; and when we look at ethical and

social science, it is plain that intellect is far ahead of the means of

attainment. For instance, it is well known that unequal and defective

laws produce disastrous results. So the difficulty in this lies not in

the want of knowledge, but about the most efficient remedies, and the

most effective means of applying them to remove the evils. On these

points men hold different opinions, and so the evils continue. Such

has been more or less the experience of mankind from the dawn of

consciousness to the present hour. Man knew about many things long

before he could command the requisite means to accomplish them; and

therefore the mere wrecks and fragments of the handiwork of prehistoric

peoples are not a complete index of their intelligence and powers. This

has to be taken into account in our interpretation, and in our final

estimate of the culture of such peoples. We can easily realise that

similar difficulties, and much greater ones, beset our early ancestors,

than those which still beset many of our own efforts.

But the description of prehistoric objects would have little interest,

unless we knew about the people who produced and used these things

in their daily life, something touching the race then inhabiting the

country, and whence they came. To this question I will now turn.

II. For long it was the fashion to fix the cradle of the human race

somewhere in the centre of Asia. It was said, that all the early

movements of mankind were always from the East to the West: that

all the migrations of the tribes which had peopled Europe, came at

intervals in successive hordes from the East. It was also said, that

the progress of civilisation had followed the sun from the East to the

West. In the first edition of this volume (1877) I ventured to make the

following statement:――“Touching the idea so generally embraced, that

the early invasions of Europe have always been from the East to the

West, I confess that I cannot see the necessity for this assumption.

Its wide prevalence is probably largely due to long fixed habits of

thought. Why should the central region of Asia be deemed the cradle

of the human race? This does not relieve the problem of any of its

difficulties. It is just as easy to conceive man originating in one

place as in another; in the heart of Africa, America, or Europe, as in

Asia, especially as the race had spread over all these quarters of the

earth long before we have any records. What can all our science tell us

about the spot where man first came into existence? Imaginary theories

are swiftly formed on a point of which nothing is known. There is

little or no philosophic ground for this Eastern origin of the race;

and it is vain to cover our ignorance in the garb of knowledge.”

The only semblance of a reason for imagining that the centre of Asia

was the cradle of the race, is the assumption that it was warm in

this region, and therefore primitive man could easily have lived and

multiplied there; but of course we cannot know whether it was warm

or not at the period of man’s first appearance on the earth.

Recently vigorous attempts have been made to shift the cradle of the

great Aryan race from the centre of Asia to Europe. In the early part

of this century comparative philology gave currency to the relationship

of the far-spread family of Aryan languages. Then shortly after a

theory was formed to the effect that these allied languages had all

originally sprung from a clan somewhere located in Asia, in Bactria, or

the banks of the Oxus. But it is now strongly contended that Europe was

the centre in which the ancestors of the Aryan race first saw the light,

and that there is no Aryan race in the same sense that there is an

Aryan language, and that the question touching the origin of the Aryans

can only refer to the ethnic affinities of those various races which

have acquired Aryan speech. The real problem is among which of these

races did Aryan language arise, and where was the cradle of that race?¹

This is not likely to be soon solved.

¹ _The Origin of the Aryans_, by Isaac Taylor, LL.D., page 7,

1890. J. G. Rhode first advanced the theory that central

Asia was the cradle of the Indo-European race, and based

his arguments mainly on geographical indications. Pott’s

argument is founded on the notion that “the path of the sun

must be the path of culture.” _Ibid._, pages 9, 10. Hegel

also strongly maintained that the spirit of humanity, in its

historic manifestation, followed the course of the sun from

the east to the west, and at last culminated in the German

nation, which being interpreted meant in himself――in his own

system of philosophy.

In 1848 Jacob Grimm ennunciated the theory that――“Few will

be found to question that all the nations of Europe migrated

anciently from Asia,” and so on. In 1859 Max Müller adopted

Grimm’s theory, and superimposed on it a fine flowing poetic

strain, which captivated multitudes of people. The same

year Pictet published the first volume of his _Origines

Indo-Européennes_, in which he presented an elaborate theory

of the successive Aryan migrations from Central Asia. He

brought the Celts south of the Caspian and through the

Caucasus to the north of the Black Sea, and then up the

Danube to the extreme west of Europe; and the Greeks and

Italians by a route, south of the Caspian, through Asia

Minor to Greece and Italy; while the Slavs and Teutons

marched north of the Caspian through the Russian steppes.

Taylor’s _Origin of the Aryans_, pages 11‒12.

Amongst the causes which tended to discredit the Asiatic origin of the

Aryans may be mentioned the evidence of the antiquity of man presented

by geology, prehistoric investigation, anthropological study, and

craniology. From the results obtained in these branches of inquiry, it

became apparent that man in Europe was the contemporary of the mammoth,

the reindeer, the musk-sheep, lion, elephant, bear, and other animals,

which are either locally or wholly extinct. It further appeared that

man had inhabited France and the south of Britain at the close of the

quaternary period.¹ When this was at last recognised, views of man

and traditional notions which had long prevailed began to recede into

the region of delusion. It was then asked whether there was any real

evidence of these great successive migrations from Central Asia? “Is

there any reason for supposing that the present inhabitants of Europe

are not in the main the descendants of the neolithic races whose rude

implements fill our museums? If not, what has become of these primitive

peoples?”² After it had been shown that the skulls of the primitive

inhabitants of central France were of the same type as those of

the present inhabitants, and that the skulls of the Spanish Basques

belonged to another neolithic type, and similar results obtained in

Denmark, Britain, and Eastern Europe, the logical conclusion from such

facts seemed clear.³

¹ _Prehistoric Europe_, by J. Geikie, LL.D., pages 19‒23,

74, 89, 92, _et seq._, 114, 360, 378, 544‒556; _The Ancient

Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain_,

by J. Evans, pages 430‒462, 578‒621.

² Taylor’s _Origin of the Aryans_, page 19.

³ _The Human Species_, by A. De ♦Quatrefages, 1879. This

authority says:――“In the quaternary period there is more

precise information about man than of several of the

existing races. The caves which he inhabited, those in which

he buried his dead, and the alluvial deposits formed by

rivers which have borne away his corpse, have preserved

numerous bones for our study. As many as forty different

places in all, especially in the western portion of Europe,

have supplied our museums with as many as forty skulls, more

or less intact, and numbers of fragments of the cranium and

face, as well as a great number of the bones of the trunk

and limbs, and even some entire skeletons,” page 287.

“In fossil, as well as in modern skulls, we find between

races and individuals oscillations of a more or less

striking character. Although these are often of less extent

in known fossil races than those observed in existing

populations.” _Ibid._, page 293.

“In all fossil races we find the essentially human character

of the predominance of the cranium over the face. With them,

as with us, the bony framework which contains the brain

becomes longer, narrower, or shorter, at the same time

increasing in size; it rises or is flattened, but always

possesses a capacity comparable to that of the present day.”

_Ibid._, page 295.

“We admit, then, two dolichocephalic races――those of

♦Canstadt and of ♦Cro-Magnon. The more or less brachycephalic

races are four in number. Under the name of Furfooz races we

have included two races discovered in that famous locality,

(the valley of the Lesse, in Belgium). The Grenelle race

(name of a place near Paris) and that of La Truchere also

take their names from the localities where they were found.”

_Ibid._, page 301. He gives many interesting details of

these several races, but the evidence on which some of the

details rests does not come up to my standard.

♦ “Quaterfages” replaced with “Quatrefages”

“Constadt” replaced with “Canstadt”

“Cro-Magon” replaced with “Cro-Magnon”

It was seen that the Aryan languages must either all have originated

in Europe, one member, the Indo-Iranian, separating from the rest and

migrating to its present region, or they must all have originated in

Asia, and then migrated severally to Europe, still retaining in their

new homes the precise relative positions which their mutual connections

prove must have originally existed. Which of the two alternatives is

the more probable? That of a single migration, of a people whom we

know to have been nomads at no very remote period, or six distinct

migrations of six separate peoples, of which there is no evidence that

they ever migrated at all, and whose traditions assert that they were

aboriginal?¹

¹ Taylor’s _Origin of the Aryans_, pages 22‒23.

According to Dr. Schrander two positions are settled――that from the

earliest period of which there is evidence we find Asiatic Aryans on

the Jaxartes, and the European Aryans in Northern Europe. He maintains

that not a shred of evidence has been adduced to show that any

migration of the European Aryans from the East ever occurred. At the

earliest period the European Aryans seem to have been moving toward

the south and the south-east; and he has now finally placed the main

original home of the Aryans on the Middle Volga where it is joined by

the Sanna.

As yet, however, there is not a concurrence of view among scholars and

inquirers, some holding that Central Europe was the original cradle

of the Aryans, others Eastern Europe, and some Northern Europe. The

problem itself has often been discussed with needless heat. French

and German scholars range themselves on opposite sides, and each

representative of the two nationalities vehemently contends in turn

that his ancestors alone were the pure primitive Aryans.¹

¹ ♦Poesche writes thus:――“The true scientific theory, which

uplifts itself calm and clear, like the summit of Olympus,

over the passing storm-clouds, is that a noble, fair-haired,

blue-eyed people vanquished and subjugated an earlier race

of short stature and dark hair. In opposition to this is the

French theory, without scientific foundation, originating

in political hatred, which asserts that the primitive Aryans

were a short and dark people, who Aryanised the tall, fair

race.” _Die Arier_, page 44.

M. Chavée maintains that the mental superiority lies with

the other race:――“Look at the beautifully formed head of the

Iranians and Hindus, so intelligent and so well developed.

Look at the perfection of those admirable languages, the

Sanscrit and the Zind. The Germans have merely defaced and

spoilt the beautiful structure of the primitive Aryan speech.”

Again, Ujfalvy remarks: “If superiority consists merely

in physical energy, enterprise, invasion, conquest, then

the fair dolichocephalic race may claim to be the leading

race in the world; but if we consider mental qualities, the

artistic and intellectual faculties, then the superiority

lies with the brachycephalic race.” Another Frenchman, De

Mortillet, in his _Le Préhistorique_, strongly maintains

that the civilisation of Europe is almost entirely due to

the great brachycephalic race.

The German writers further argue, “That while the peasantry

and middle classes over the greater part of Europe

are brachycephalic, the nobles and landed proprietors

approximate rather to the long Teutonic type. This, they

say, is a proof that a brachycephalic aboriginal people was

conquered and Aryanised by Teutonic invaders.” _Origin of

the Aryans_, pages 227, 229.

♦ “Posche” replaced with “Poesche”

Dr. Taylor has presented the following conclusions:――“The four European

types of race may be traced continuously in occupation of their present

seats to the neolithic period; and in the case of the Italic and Swiss

pile dwellers, and the round barrow people of Britain, we must believe

that their speech in neolithic times was Aryan――either Celtic or Italic.

We are, therefore, forced to adopt the view that one of the four races

must be identified with the primitive Aryans, and that this race,

whichever it was, imposed its Aryan speech on the other three. It is

most reasonable to believe that the Aryan civilisation originated with

the broad-headed race of Central Europe, which possessed the skill to

construct, with rude stone tools, the pile dwellings of Switzerland and

Italy. And on archæological grounds we have come to the conclusion that

the Slavo-Celtic race, as represented in the round barrows of Britain,

and in the pile dwellings of Central Europe, comes nearest to the

primitive Aryans as disclosed by linguistic palæontology. Aryan speech

may have been evolved out of a language of the Ural Altaic class; the

grammatical resemblances pointing to a primitive unity of speech, just

as the physical resemblances point to a primitive unity of race. There

must have been some ruder form of speech from which the elaborate Aryan

inflection was evolved, and there is no other known form of speech,

except the Ural Altaic, which can be regarded as the germ out of

which the Aryan languages may have sprung. We have also arrived at the

conclusion that the Celto-Slavic race best represents the primitive

Aryans, whose speech may have been evolved out of a language of the

Ural Altaic class. We may, therefore, conjecture that at the close of

the reindeer period a Finnic people appeared in Western Europe, whose

speech, remaining stationary, is represented by the agglutinative

Basque, and that much later, at the beginning of the pastoral age, when

the ox had been tamed, a taller and more powerful Finnic-Ugric people

developed in Central Europe the inflective Aryan speech.”¹

¹ _Origin of the Aryans_, pages 217, 242, 295‒296.

Whether the Aryan language was originated in Europe or not, it seems

pretty evident that its origin must stretch back to a period at least

three or four thousand years before the Christian era. But identity or

relationship of language by no means proves identity of race; at the

utmost it only raises a presumption in favour of a common racial origin.

Language belongs to the organised community, not specially to the

race; so it can only prove social contact, not racial kinship, unless

where other evidence is available, such as physical characteristics,

religious beliefs, similar customs and habits. Tribes and races

sometimes lose their own speech and adopt the tongues of others,――a

social phenomena which occurs from various causes operating in the

ceaseless evolution of human society.

I have briefly touched on the early inhabitants of Europe, and the

questions of the origin of the Aryan race and languages, merely

preparatory to the treatment of the ethnology of Scotland. No relics

of Palæolithic man have been found anywhere in Scotland.¹ Although

such relics, and even fragments of human bones have been discovered

in the southern parts of the island, yet it is not usually maintained

that these earliest tribes or cavemen survived through the subsequent

geological and climatic changes, and continuously occupied the country

on to the polished stone age.² I now come to the ethnological problem

in the limited sense in which it relates to Scotland; but this question

cannot be treated at all without reference to the southern part of the

island and to the Continent.

¹ Geikie’s _Prehistoric Europe_, page 428.

² “We have seen that during the last glacial epoch Palæolithic

man retreated with the reindeer and its congeners, and

occupied the valleys of Southern France. What is his

subsequent history? Did he return northwards with the Arctic

and Alpine animals to re-occupy the Belgian and English

caves in Postglacial times? As a matter of fact, he did

not.... It is open, of course, to argue that the Neolithic

race or races were identical with the Palæeolithic tribes,

who had somehow acquired a knowledge of husbandry, spinning,

and pottery; who had learned to domesticate certain animals,

and to finish their implements more perfectly.... All this

is possible, but, on the other hand, it is so extremely

improbable that, until some positive evidence in favour

of such a view be advanced, we may well leave it out of

account.... Other writers are of opinion that the man of the

reindeer period in Southern France probably remained where

he was, to become absorbed in the new wave of population

that swept into Europe at the close of the glacial period....

There are certain appearances in some Pyrenean caves, as

in that of Gourdan, described by M. ♦Piette, which lead

to the suspicion that the interval between the Palæolithic

and Neolithic ages in Southern France may not have been

prolonged.” _Ibid._, pages 546, 551‒552.

♦ “Pette” replaced with “Piette”

The earliest prehistoric race in Britain of whom we have reliable

evidence, was a long-headed people of comparatively short stature.

Their physical characteristics resembled the Berber race and North

African tribes, and they probably migrated from that quarter into

Europe at a very remote period. They seem to have spread over the

Spanish peninsula, the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean,

Sardinia, Corsica, Southern Italy, and a great part of France; but they

do not appear to have extended to Germany or the north-east of Europe.

They were non-Aryan in race and in speech, and probably spoke Numidian

dialects akin to the inscriptions of that character. This race arrived

in the south of Britain about the beginning of the polished stone

period: and gradually spread over the Island, and even reached the

Orkneys.

They appear to have inhabited the Island alone for a very long period.

They constructed the long barrows of England: and the chambered cairns

of Caithness, Argyle, and Orkney. In Scotland they also seem to have

constructed the curious underground structures called earth-houses, as

will be shown in the sequel.

The first migration of a race of people of Aryan descent, who spoke a

Celtic dialect, came from the Continent of Europe, and arrived on the

southern or eastern shores of Britain, long before the close of the

stone period. It is almost certain that there were several unrecorded

migrations of Celtic tribes from the coasts of France and Belgium to

the southern parts of Britain. These tribes spread very slowly over the

country, and subdued, and intermixed with the long headed race which

had preceded them in the occupation of the Island. The new-comers soon

realised the advantage of living on friendly terms with the original

inhabitants, instead of attempting to exterminate them; as all the

available evidence tends to show that the two races peaceably and

slowly amalgamated. The skulls and remains of the two peoples have

often been found lying together in the same barrows.¹

¹ _British Barrows._ By Wm. Greenwell, pages 126‒129, 559‒632.

The earlier race, sometimes called Iberians, Basques, and other names,

were a short limbed people, only averaging about five feet five inches

in height, the tallest of the men reaching five feet six inches, and

the shortest of the women four feet eight inches. Their heads were long

and narrow, of the type termed dolichocephalic: their physical frame

was not strong, though some individuals of the race possessed well

developed muscular powers. It is said that they were dark and swarthy

in complexion. On the other hand, the newly arrived Celtic tribes were

of the brachycephalic type――a people with broad heads and very powerful

physical frames; their average height was about five feet nine inches;

and the female sex was also tall, very handsome and muscular.¹

¹ _Ibid._, pages 559‒632, 680, 682, _et seq._ Strabo, when

speaking of the inhabitants of the interior of Britain,

says of the Coritavi, a tribe in Lincolnshire:――“The men are

taller than the Celts of Gaul; their hair is not so yellow

and their limbs are more loosely knit. To show how tall they

are, I may say that I saw myself some of their young men at

Rome, and they were taller by six inches than any one else

in the city.” Elton’s _Origins of English History_, page 240,

1882.

The Celts imposed their Aryan speech on the aboriginal race, and became

the ruling people.¹ They formed themselves into strong but separate

tribes. Owing to a number of natural causes and circumstances, the

movement of the Celtic people into the interior of the country,

northward and westward, was extremely gradual and slow:――1, They had to

come to an understanding with the original inhabitants as they advanced,

even though there was little fighting; 2, A large part of the country

was then covered with swamps, fens, and dense forests; 3, The natural

barriers of rivers and firths which often overflowed their valleys,

and of mountain ranges; 4, The difficulties connected with procuring

a sufficient supply of food; and 5, The difficulties of protecting

themselves from the severe colds and frosts, as the climate was

much colder than the sunny region which they had left. Taking these

conditions and circumstances into account, which must have greatly

impeded the onward and outward movement of the Celts in overrunning the

Island, we may reasonably assume that from the time the first Celtic

tribes landed in the south of England, to the time when they reached

the quarter now called Scotland, at least a century had elapsed. After

they had crossed the borders, it must have taken more than another

century to overrun Scotland and reach the extremities of the northern

Highlands. If we recall the fact, that it took the Romans with all

their resources, appliances, and disciplined legions, upwards of forty

years to conquer their way from the South of England to the Firth of

Forth, we will easily realise the probable truth of what has just been

indicated.

¹ Some recent writers have in a half-hearted way maintained

that one of the prehistoric races of Britain was of a

Finnish type from the Baltic region; but there seems to

be a lack of evidence to support this view. See _Origins

of English History_, by Elton, pages 126, 144, 151, 160,

167‒179. The evidence adduced by this writer in support of

the Finnic origin of the men of the Bronze age in Britain is

altogether unsatisfactory, and indicates a lack of knowledge

touching the conditions of the prehistoric ages.

As I have said, there were probably several unrecorded migrations

or invasions of Celtic tribes from Gaul or Belgium into Britain. The

result of this would have been a continuance and an intensification

of the onward and outward movement of the people; and ultimately the

creation of real historical conditions, which in turn and in process

of time, would account for all the varieties of Celtic language in the

British Islands.

At a much later period, and after the foundation of the Gaulish empire

in the sixth century B.C., invasions of Britain from the Gaulish

territories took place. About the end of the second century B.C.,

the King of Soissons had extended his sway over a portion of southern

Britain; and those Gaulish people, who came over during the later

period, settled along the southern and eastern shores of England, and

carried on a commercial traffic with their kindred on the other side of

the Channel. But they did not then penetrate far into the interior of

the country. In 58‒50 B.C. Cæsar conquered Gaul; and in 55‒54 he twice

attempted to conquer Britain but failed; and nearly a century elapsed

ere the Romans made another effort to conquer the Island.

Thus, at the opening of the Christian era, the whole area of Scotland

was inhabited by people speaking an Aryan language――called Celtic. But

this people themselves, as we have seen, were not a pure Celtic race;

on the contrary, they had intermingled with and absorbed that original

short-stature and long-headed race, whose blood runs in their veins

more or less to this day. The same may be said of the whole of England,

excepting the narrow strips along the southern and eastern shores which

had been colonised by the later migrations and invasions of the Gauls.

I must now turn to Ireland and its early inhabitants.

Into the maze of Irish ethnology and endless legends I cannot enter at

length, but it is necessary to state a few facts. Ireland was inhabited

in the Stone age, and probably by tribes akin to the short stature

people which we have found occupying Britain. Celtic tribes migrated to

Ireland at a very early prehistoric period, either from the Continent

or from the southern shores of Britain. This Island was not invaded

by the Romans, and consequently its early inhabitants were permitted

to follow their own course of development uninterrupted by external

interference till a much later period than Britain. The population

of Ireland seems to have multiplied rapidly, and became crowded at a

comparatively early period; and they began to molest the western shores

of Britain in the early centuries of the Christian era. Migrations

from Ireland to the western parts of Scotland became frequent; and

an intercourse based on ethnic affinities sprung up between the two

countries. The details of this connection will appear in the sequel.

About the seventh century the Scandinavians began a movement through

the ocean towards the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and onward to the

northern quarter of Scotland, which they ultimately reached; and hence

became an element of the ethnology of Scotland. This movement will be

detailed in the subsequent narrative. The Angles or Saxons reached the

southern borders of Scotland about the middle of the sixth century, and

settled in Lothian. Their subsequent movement and intermixture with the

earlier inhabitants, and the gradual spread of their language, will be

treated at length in the sequel. The last ethnic influx was the Norman

Invasion; and in so far as it effected Scotland, it will be specially

discussed in its appropriate order.

The origin and the consecutive relations of the constituent elements

of the ethnology of the people of Scotland as briefly indicated in the

preceding pages, may now be summarised:――1, The aboriginal people were

a race of short stature, with long narrow heads; 2, They were invaded

and subdued by a taller and broad-headed race, of Aryan descent, and

speaking a Celtic dialect, and ultimately these two races amalgamated;

3, At a later period, Gaulish tribes settled on the south and

south-eastern shores of England; 4, Migrations from Ireland, of tribes

speaking Celtic, to the western parts of Scotland, began early in the

Christian era and continued for several centuries; 5, The movement of

the Scandinavians to the Shetland and Orkney Islands, onward to the

Western Isles and the northern mainland of Scotland; 6, The invasion

and settlement of the Saxons in the south of Scotland; 7, Finally, an

influx of Norman nobles. Such simply stated, were the real ethnological

elements out of which the Scottish nation was ultimately developed.

Thus the subject is freed from a mass of legends and the obscuring

accretions of many generations.

SECTION IV.

_The Stone Age._

In this section and the following one, an attempt will be made to

indicate the state of the inhabitants in the earliest times. Although

the relics, implements and structures, which they have left, may

not always be available for eliciting clear information, still these

remains when well sifted yield valuable results. In such an expository

narrative, touching prehistoric matters, dates can rarely be assigned;

but the natural sequence of development may be followed, and several

stages of early civilisation explained.

Beginning with the group of things which may safely be assumed to

have been an indispensable requisite in the circumstances of the daily

life of the people, namely, their weapons, tools, and implements. The

greater number of our stone implements and weapons have been casually

found in the ground, in draining, ploughing, making roads, in peat

mosses, the beds of rivers, on the margins of lochs, and on the sandy

wastes near the sea shore. It must be observed that all these stone

tools and weapons are not strictly assignable to the stone age, for

such stone objects are sometimes found in bronze age graves, and in

association with many other circumstances, which clearly indicate a

survival of some kinds of stone objects and implements into a much

later period. Moreover, various kinds of stone implements seem to

have continued in use long after the introduction of bronze.¹ So far

as investigation has been made, there appears to be almost universal

evidence of a stone age over the globe at one time or another, which

shows that the early culture of the human race has proceeded on

wonderfully similar lines in the most distant regions of the earth.

On the other hand, there is often no satisfactory evidence of the same

wide and distinct character of a passing from the stone age and through

the bronze age. But the causes of this are easily understood, and will

become clear as we proceed.

¹ “Sir William Wilde informs us that in Ireland stone hammers,

and not unfrequently stone anvils, have been employed by

country smiths and tinkers in some of the remote country

districts until a comparative recent period. The same use

of stone hammers and anvils for forging prevails among the

Kaffirs of the present day. In Iceland, also, perforated

stone hammers are still in use for pounding dried fish,

driving in stakes, for forging and other purposes.” Evans’

_Ancient Stone Implements_, page 11, 1872. For other

instances of the use of stone for various purposes in the

Shetland and Orkney Islands, see _Past and Present_, by Dr.

A. Mitchell, pages 121‒129.

The stone weapons, tools, and objects, which have been found in

Scotland, may be separated into several groups, according to the

purposes for which they were used: such as axes, spear and arrow heads,

knives, saws, borers, and scrapers.

Axes, including hammers, are of two kinds, those with a hole for a

shaft and those without a hole, and the first class is not so numerous

as the other. The axes with a hole for a shaft present a greater

variety of form, and are often ornamented, while the others are plain.

They are rarely made of flint, but often of granite, schist, basalt,

greenstone, and other kinds of stones. They vary much in size, and are

distinguishable into three varieties, thus: 1, those with an edge at

both ends; 2, with an edge at one end only; 3, with both ends blunt or

rounded. Those with an edge at both ends are the rarest of the three

forms. A fine specimen of this class in greenstone was found in a

bronze age grave, in a stone circle, at Crichie, Aberdeenshire. Other

examples have been found in Orkney, and in the Island of Coll, in an

unfinished condition. It has been supposed that these stones were used

as battle axes.¹

¹ Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, pages 306‒307, _et seq._

The second class, with the edge at one end only, is more common. A

fine specimen was found associated with a cremated interment in an

urn, which was turned up by the plough near Ardrossan, in Ayrshire. It

is formed of granite, with an ornamental band of three incised lines

round the concave edges pierced by the shaft hole, and the shorter end

finished like a hammer with a rounded face. They have been found in

every quarter of the country, and often in an unfinished state. The

hole for the handle was usually pierced from both sides, so the boring

has not always met exactly. They vary much in size and form, and in

degrees of finish and polish. The third class, hammer-shaped at both

ends, has been called a war hammer. A very fine specimen of it was

found in the parish of Urquhart, Elginshire, formed of a whitish flint,

and finely polished.¹

¹ _Ibid._, pages 309‒319, 320, 321; Wilson’s _Prehistoric

Annals of Scotland_, Volume I., pages 102‒194; _Proceedings

of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, Volume IV.,

pages 55, 379; Volume V., pages 214, 240; Volume VI., pages

42, 86, 310, 332; Volume VII., pages 101, 102, 499; Volume

VIII., pages 264, 232; Volume IX., pages 55, 384; Volume X.,

page 460; Volume XXIII., pages 205, 210.

The class of stone axes without a hole for the shaft are very numerous.

They vary greatly in size and shape, from 3 inches in length to 15;

some of them are of flint, others of different kinds of stone, and many

of them are smoothed and polished over the surface. The smaller ones

seem to have been tools, which were used for various purposes, but

a number of the larger ones, which are more carefully polished and

finished, have been considered weapons.

Arrow-heads show two distinct forms――the leaf-shaped and the triangular,

and it seems probable that the leaf-shaped class may have been the

earliest form. But both forms, with barbs and a central stem, were

found in a chambered cairn at Unstan, in Orkney. They are all usually

made of flint, and none of them are large; some of them have barbs

but no stem, others have barbs and stems both. Many of them are

beautifully shaped, and some specimens are finely serrated along the

edges. Arrow-heads have occasionally been found still in the shaft;

an example of a leaf-shaped one was found in 1875 in a moss at Fyvie,

Aberdeenshire, with the shaft entire to the length of nine inches. The

arrow-heads and spear-heads differ from each other only in size.¹ A

very large collection of both arrow and spear heads may be seen in the

National Museum at Edinburgh, in provincial museums, and private

collections.²

¹ Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, pages 354‒365.

² There are upwards of thirty provincial museums in Scotland,

which have collections of Scotch antiquities both in stone

and bronze, more or less extensive and valuable. Reports on

these collections may be seen in the twenty-second volume of

the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_.

There is a series of tools and implements, mostly of flint, which seem

to have been used for various purposes in connection with the daily

life of the people. These are knives, saws, scrapers, borers, and

flaking tools, and we may endeavour to form some idea of the process

of their manufacture. The ground-work of all these tools is a flake of

flint, struck from a prepared core in such a way that it presents a

more or less cross-section. These flakes may be of any length up to six

inches, but in Scotland, where it is difficult to find large blocks of

flint, the flakes are commonly short. Flakes just as when struck off

the core of flint have sometimes been found along with the core itself.

Such flakes may be used for many purposes, and many of them show

evidence of having been so used without any preparation of the edge.

The natural edge, however, soon becomes blunt and broken, so when a

cutting tool of this kind was intended for constant use, it was worked

along its edges and trimmed to a point resembling a shoemaker’s knife,

or of a somewhat oval form. Many flint knives, trimmed for cutting or

scraping, have been found throughout the country, some of which are

single-edged and others double-edged. But knives, formed of various

kinds of stone, have frequently been found, of slatestone, greenstone,

schist, and other stones, flat, well-made, and highly finished.¹

¹ _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_,

Volume III., pages 252, 439; Volume VII., pages 121‒136,

212‒219; Volume VIII., pages 64, 66; Volume XI., pages

172‒174; Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, pages 365‒371.

Dr. Evans, perhaps the highest authority on stone tools

and implements in Britain, has the following on flint

flakes:――“The inner or flat face of a flake is that produced

by the blow which dislodged it from the parent block, core,

or nucleus. The outer, ridged, or convex face comprises the

other facets. The base, or butt-end of a flake, is that at

which the blows to form it were administered, the other end

is the point. Flakes may be subdivided into――1. External, or

those which have been struck off by a single blow from the

edge of a nodule of flint. Many of these are as symmetrical

as those resulting from a more complicated process of

manufacture. 2. Ridged flakes, or those presenting a

triangular section. One face of these sometimes presents the

external crust of the flint; in others the ridge has been

formed by transverse chipping, as was the case with the long

flaxes of Pressigny, but this method appears to have been

almost unknown in Britain. 3. Flat, where the external face

is nearly parallel to the internal, and the two edges are

formed by narrow facets. These several varieties may be long

or short, broad or narrow, straight or curved, thick or thin,

pointed or obtuse.” _Ancient Stone Implements_, pages 248‒49.

A flint saw is simply a flake trimmed to a jagged edge, instead of

being sharpened by chipping or grinding. They are mostly of very

small size, and in some specimens the teeth are formed with remarkable

regularity and fineness. Though not so common as flint-knives, they

are not rare, and there are upwards of sixty specimens in the National

Museum.¹

¹ Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, page 372.

Flint tools, seemingly intended for awls or borers, are not very common

in Scotland. Two kinds have been found――a long-pointed tool, which may

have been used for piercing holes in skins or other soft material, and

a shorter-pointed tool which may have been used for drilling holes in

harder material. Another class have been called flaking tools; they are

long and chisel-shaped, and usually appear blunted, worn, and rounded

at the ends, as if from attrition against a hard substance. They are

supposed to have been used for trimming and chipping other flint and

stone tools. The tool called a flint-scraper is a round-nosed flake,

with a semicircular end chipped to a bevelled edge, and usually flat

on the under side, with the upper side trimmed to a ridged form. There

are several varieties of this tool, and they seem to have been used for

various purposes. Some of them are double-edged, others circular; and

they also vary much in size. There seems to be no doubt that the larger

ones were used for scraping hides and preparing leather. It also seems

highly probable that the smaller class of these tools were used for

a distinctly different purpose――that of producing fire with a nodule

of pyrites of iron――in the same way as the flint and steel in our own

times to strike a light. For the purpose of producing sparks, pyrites

is as effective as iron, and they were so used among the Romans until

a comparative late period. Pyrites of iron abound in the chalk-beds

of England, but when they are exposed upon the surface of the ground

decomposition in no very long time removes all appearance of them.¹

¹ Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, pages 373‒376; Evans’

_Ancient Stone Implements_, etc., pages 269‒287, 367, _et

seq._

Flint is nowhere very abundant in Scotland, but there are some

localities which afford transported nodules in greater abundance than

others, and in these there is always evidence of a long-continued

and widespread industry in the manufacture of tools and weapons from

the raw material. A site of such a manufacture was discovered at the

confluence of the Leochel and the Don in Aberdeenshire, though flint

is not native in the neighbourhood.¹ There is evidence of many such

sites of flint manufactures, which, when closely examined, the mass of

splinters “usually reveals the fact that among them are many flakes,

cores, and unfinished implements, and not unfrequently hammer and

anvil-stones, and even perfectly finished knives, saws, arrow-heads,

or axes, may be occasionally found, although the rule is that only the

waste products of the manufacture are met with. From these and from

experimental knowledge of the qualities of the material the processes

of the fabrication may to some extent be inferred. The tools were

apparently, for the most part, naturally formed pebbles of quartz of

a shape and size convenient for the purposes for which they were used.

The larger pebbles, often of the shape and size of a cobbler’s lapstone,

seem to have been used as anvil-stones, while the smaller pebbles, of

such size and shape as could be conveniently grasped in the hand, have

been used as hammer-stones.”

¹ _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_,

Volume IV., page 385.

“When the inferences deduced from an examination and comparison of the

chips, flakes, and cores, which compose the refuse of these ancient

flint workshops, are compared with the results of the methods still

employed, whether of savage arrow-makers or civilised manufacturers of

gun-flints and strike-a-lights, the ancient methods of workmanship are

found to coincide with the natural properties of the material and the

modern processes so far as they go. But the ancient flint-workers went

further than modern knowledge and modern skill can follow them. There

are some of their processes which have not been discovered by modern

science, and some of their products which cannot be imitated by modern

skill, with all its ingenuity of contrivance and all its resources of

means and appliances.”¹

¹ Anderson’s _Bronze and Stone Ages_, pages 374‒5; Evans’

_Ancient Stone Implements_, etc., pages 13‒48.

In this very brief account of the weapons, implements, and tools, of

our early ancestors of the stone age, we can discern clear evidence of

the knowledge, the ingenuity, and the skill which they possessed and

exercised in the practical uses which they made of the means within

their reach. These products of their industry, associated with their

daily life, shows one side of a striking form of culture, considering

the surrounding conditions and circumstances. There is another side of

this culture, in some respects even more remarkable, and to it I will

now turn.