THE VITRIFIED FORT.
The party arrived at the hotel about the middle of the afternoon. After
getting somewhat settled in their rooms, Grimkie ordered dinner at five
o’clock, and then, while Mrs. Morelle and Florence were occupied in
their chamber, he and John went out to take a walk.
They spent their time during their walk in rambling along the principal
streets of the town, occupying themselves with looking at the curious
dresses of the people, hearing the little children talk broad Scotch in
their play, and examining the objects displayed in the shop windows.
Many of these objects were very curious, especially the bracelets, and
pins, and brooches, made of Scotch pebbles, many of which were of the
most singular forms, being made after the fashion of the different
clans of Highlanders, as they wore them in ancient times.
“You may depend upon it my mother will buy some of these pins,” said
John.
There were also a number of curious articles made of wood painted in
tartan, according to the fashion of the different clans, such as boxes,
card-cases, needle-books, pen-holders, paper-folders, and many other
such things.
When the time drew near which had been appointed for dinner, the boys
went home, and very soon after they arrived the dinner was brought in.
While they were at table, Grimkie asked his aunt, whether she was not
glad, so far, that she had come.
“Yes,” said she, “very glad indeed. We have had a delightful voyage
among the mountains and lakes, but I feel tired and I have a great idea
of going into lodgings here for a week to rest and recruit.”
“Oh, mother!” exclaimed Florence, “we have not had anything to tire
us. We have had nothing to do but to sit quietly on the deck of the
steamer, and look at the scenery.”
“It is not my body that is tired,” said Mrs. Morelle, “but my mind. I
have been continually wondering and admiring for four or five days,
and I am tired of wondering and admiring. I want to be quiet a little
while, to rest my mind, and get ready to begin again. And the best way
to do that is to go into lodgings. I see lodgings to let on several of
the houses along the street.”
The English system in respect to accommodations for strangers at
private houses, as well as that of the hotels, is entirely different
from the usage which prevails in America. Instead of boarding houses,
they have what is called lodging houses. In one of these houses, the
party travelling, if they wish to remain some days in any place, and
to spend the time in a more quiet and domestic way than by remaining
at a hotel, take apartments and keep house, precisely as if they were
in their own home. After looking at the different rooms, and hearing
the prices of each, they select as many as they require, and take
possession of them, paying so much a day for them. The price which they
pay for the rooms, includes the necessary service, and the _cooking_ of
the food, but not the purchase of it. The lodger may either purchase
the food for himself, going to the market for it every day, just as
if he were keeping house at home, or he may request the landlady to
purchase it for him. In case he adopts the latter plan, the landlady
keeps an account of what she expends, and brings him in the bill every
morning.
In a word, at an English lodging house a lady stopping to rest for a
week, finds herself keeping house, just as if she were at home, with an
experienced, capable, and motherly woman to act as her housekeeper,
and to do every thing that she requires. She can arrange the expenses
too just as she pleases, for every thing except the price of the rooms,
which is agreed upon beforehand, is under her immediate control.
English ladies when they take lodgings in this way, usually go out
themselves to the grocers and to the markets, to purchase their
provisions and supplies—but American ladies, not being so well
acquainted with English marketing, usually give the landlady a
memorandum in the morning of what they would like during the day, and
the landlady then makes the purchases.
In addition to the domestic quiet and repose which the traveller
obtains by taking lodgings, when he wishes to remain in any town for
several days, there is a great advantage in the arrangement, in point
of economy. The expense is only from one-third to one-half, for the
same rooms and style of living, at the lodging-houses of what it costs
at the hotels.
Mrs. Morelle had often experienced the advantage of stopping
occasionally for a week, and going into lodgings, when she had been
travelling in Europe before. But the children knew nothing about the
system. They were, however, always ready for any new plan which was
proposed, and in coming into Inverness they had seen so much to
attract their attention that they were perfectly willing to remain
there a week. So it was determined that they should remain at the hotel
that night, and the next morning go and look out for lodgings.
But the next morning Mrs. Morelle found herself so well rested, by a
good night’s sleep that she began to feel inclined to go on.
“The next portion of our journey is by the stage-coach, Grimkie, is it
not?” said she.
Grimkie said that it was. They were to go by a circuitous route,
following the indentations of the shore to Wick, and there to wait for
the Edinburgh steamer.
“And I believe,” said Grimkie, “that the steamer only goes once a week,
and it touches at Wick every Friday night, at midnight.”
“At midnight,” repeated Mrs. Morelle.
“Yes, Auntie,” said Grimkie, “but that will not make any difference. It
will be as light as day.”
“That will be funny,” said John.
“Let us send for Boots,” said Mrs. Morelle, “and ascertain exactly how
it is.”
So Grimkie rang the bell and asked the waiter to send up Boots, and
when he came they obtained from him all the necessary information.
He said that the coach left Inverness every evening at eight
o’clock—that it travelled all night—that about two o’clock it crossed
a wide ferry called the Mickle Ferry—a mile wide—that it arrived at
Wick about ten o’clock on the following day, and that the steamer would
arrive from Edinburgh in the course of Friday night, and they would
have to go on board early on Saturday morning.
The children were all very much pleased to learn that they were to ride
in the stage-coach all night, and even Mrs. Morelle did not object to
it on the whole. She concluded, however, not to remain at Inverness,
as she had at first intended, but to go directly on as far as Wick. It
was on Wednesday, when the party arrived at Inverness, and in order to
be in time for the steamer of that week, it would be necessary to leave
that very evening, and this she determined to do.
“And then,” said she, “when we arrive at Wick, in case the weather is
favorable we will go on board the steamer and accomplish our voyage.
If it is not favorable then we can go into lodgings and spend our week
there.”
“Yes, Auntie,” said Grimkie, “John and I will like that very much,
for then we can see the fishing boats go out and come in. Wick is the
greatest place in the world for the herring fishery. The guide book
says there are fifteen hundred large fishing boats that belong there.”
The plan being thus arranged, Grimkie and John went to the coach to
“book” as they called it, for Wick. They were very desirous, of taking
outside seats for themselves, and inside seats, which are much dearer,
for the two ladies; but Mrs. Morelle was afraid to have the boys sit
outside all night, for fear that they might get asleep and fall off.
So she requested them to take the four inside seats for the party,
promising that if there was room outside, and the coachman had no
objection, they should ride there a part of the time.
Accordingly, Grimkie went to the coach office, and took all the four
inside seats and paid the fare. The clerk said that the travellers must
be at the office, with their luggage at a quarter before eight.
When the two boys returned to the hotel, they found a large open
carriage before the door, and Mrs. Morelle and Florence preparing to
take a drive around the environs of Inverness to see the scenery. Mrs.
Morelle invited the two boys to join the party, which invitation they
were of course very ready to accept. Grimkie proposed, too that, in
the course of the ride the carriage should stop at the foot of Craig
Phadric, and that they should all go up and see the remains of a
vitrified fort that he said existed there.
In furtherance of this suggestion, he opened one of his books and read
an account of the vitrified forts.
These forts are objects of great curiosity to tourists and
antiquarians. They exist in various parts of the country, and are so
ancient that not only all records, but even all traditions of their
origin is lost. They are referred to in the very earliest accounts
of the country that exist, as ruins and remains exhibiting the same
appearance then as they now present, and enveloped in the same mystery
in respect to their origin.
There are a great many of these old forts in different parts of the
country, and the thing which chiefly characterizes them, and the one
from which they derive their name, is that the stones of which the
walls are composed instead of being cemented together by mortar, are
fused, or vitrified, as if by the action of great heat, into one
continuous mass. It is not possible to ascertain the exact nature
of this vitrification, for the walls of these forts have nearly
disappeared, leaving only long ridges of ruins, covered in the main
with earth, and turfed over; and in many cases immense trees are
growing upon them. Portions of the old walls, however, appear here and
there above the ground, and by a little digging they may be uncovered
at any point along the line, when the stones, melted together, are
brought to view.
A great many different suppositions have been advanced by antiquarians
to account for the origin of these works. Some suppose that they were
erected in times before the use of cement was known, and that the
people of those days resorted to this mode of consolidating their
masonry, not knowing any other. They think that they laid up the wall
first in the usual way, selecting such stones as would vitrify by heat,
and then built immense fires against them, and kept up the heat by
replenishing the fires continually until the effect was produced.
It has been supposed that in order to concentrate the heat, and
economize fuel, the builders were accustomed to build a second wall
outside the first, and very near it, leaving only interval enough for
the fuel to be laid in.
It must be confessed, however, that some persons who have examined
these remains, have suggested that perhaps the vitrification was not
produced purposely at all, but was an accidental effect, resulting
from the building of great beacon fires on the hills where the forts
stand, perhaps long after the forts themselves fell to ruin. It is
a fact that the vitrified forts are generally situated on commanding
elevations. It is also a well-known fact that in ancient times it was
the universal custom, in all this region, to extend the alarm through
the country in case of war, by immense beacon fires built upon the
hills; and it has been suggested accordingly, that it might have been
in some accidental way like this, and not by any special design and
process of art, that the vitrification was produced.
Grimkie had read accounts of these forts in the different books that
he had consulted, and was very desirous of visiting one of them. He
was influenced in this desire, not only by a wish to see the fort, but
he also wished to procure a specimen of the stones fused together to
carry home, and add to the museum at the Chateau. And thus it was that
he proposed to his aunt, when they were getting into the carriage to go
and take their ride, that they should drive first to the foot of Craig
Phadric, and so go up and see the fort.
“How high is Craig Phadric?” asked Mrs. Morelle. “Is it as high as Ben
Nevis?”
“Oh no, Auntie,” replied Grimkie. “It is only two or three hundred feet
high.”
“Because I don’t feel quite able to undertake a second Ben Nevis just
yet,” said Mrs. Morelle.
“It will be nothing like Ben Nevis, Auntie,” said Grimkie. “They never
would make a fortification on such a mountain as that. Besides you
will not be obliged to go any farther than you like. If we find it too
steep, or too high, we can turn back again at any time.”
“Ah!” replied Mrs. Morelle, laughing, “that is the way you got me up to
the top of Ben Nevis, by pretending that I could turn about whenever I
pleased.”
“Oh no, Auntie! I did not _pretend_,” said Grimkie. “You really _could_
turn about whenever you pleased. I think I was very honest about it.
Though I confess I hoped all the time that you would get to the top.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Morelle, “you were honest, and I am very glad that you
managed as you did, and that it ended in my going to the top of the
mountain. And we will go to Craig Phadric now. I won’t promise to go
up, but on the way you shall tell us about the vitrified fort, as you
call it, that we are to see there.”
So they all got into the carriage, and directed the coachman to drive
to the foot of the Craig Phadric.
On the way Grimkie gave his aunt an account of the particulars in
respect to vitrified forts, which have been stated above. His aunt
was very much interested in what he said, having never heard of the
vitrified forts before. She became still more interested in the idea
of making the ascent, when she came to see the hill itself, which was
in full view as the carriage crossed the bridge. It was a high hill,
well wooded except upon one side, where the rocks were exposed to view,
naked and precipitous.
After ascending by a winding road for some time, the coachman stopped
the horses near a small farm house, close under the hill, and on
getting down from the carriage the party saw a small path leading
through the woods up the ascent. They took this path and after
following it for about ten minutes through various meanderings and
windings they found themselves upon the summit.
Here the remains of the fort lay before them, though they were all
somewhat disappointed in the appearance of them. They had expected
to see some solid walls with the outside surface of them fused into
a black and glass-like slag. Instead of this, however, there were
only long embankments of earth, forming an immense parallelogram
which occupied the whole top of the hill. These embankments as well
as various detached mounds which were connected with them in various
places in the form of outworks, were almost entirely grassed over,
and from the firm and compact turf which enveloped them, immense trees
were growing everywhere. Indeed, the whole of the ground occupied by
the fort was covered with a forest of ancient and venerable-looking
trees, the effect of which was to impart an air of strange solitude
and solemnity to the scene, which made it extremely impressive. Mrs.
Morelle said that though she was a little disappointed in what she saw,
she was far more than repaid by what she _felt_, in walking over the
ruins, or rather the remains, and that she would not on any account
have failed of visiting the spot.
After rambling about for some time, Grimkie at length found several
places where portions of the old wall were exposed to view, and though
they were mere shapeless masses of stones that he thus found, they
appeared to be fused together by heat. After pounding among them for a
while he succeeded in obtaining several good specimens of the curious
conglomerate, to carry with him to America. He selected also a very
pretty specimen, the smallest that he could find, for Florence, and
others similar to it for Mrs. Morelle and John.
After satisfying themselves with an examination of the fort, Grimkie
led the way out of the wood toward the brow of the precipice, which
formed the side of the hill next the town. Here they enjoyed a
magnificent prospect of the whole valley, with the river Ness flowing
through the center of it, the bridge over it, leading into the town,
the town itself, and the castle by its side. Florence thought that this
view was far more worth seeing than the fort.
“So do I,” said John. “In fact I don’t think much of the fort. I’ve
seen just such banks as those on the Heights of Dorchester once, when I
was in Boston.”
“True,” said his mother, “only those were not a hundred years old, and
these are probably two thousand.”
“That does not make any difference in the looks of them,” replied John.
“No,” said his mother, “but it makes some difference in the _feelings_
with which we regard them.”
“It does not make much difference in mine,” said John.
Just then John saw something alive running off through the woods.
“It is a rabbit,” said he, and he darted off at full speed, taking aim
at the same time with his specimen of the vitrification. Grimkie called
him to come back, but before he had time to obey the stone flew from
his hand through the air, and at last struck the trunk of a tree very
near where the rabbit had disappeared, and rebounded from it with great
force.
“Johnnie!” said Grimkie, speaking in a very stern voice. “It is very
lucky for you that you did not hit that rabbit.”
“Why so?” asked John.
“If you had hit him and killed him, you would have been a poacher. Any
body that kills any kind of game in this country, unless the owner of
the land gives him leave, is a poacher. Did not you ever read the story
of Black Giles the Poacher?”
“Yes,” said John; “but he did things a great deal worse than killing
rabbits out in the woods. I tell you these rabbits don’t belong to any
body. I don’t believe the _land_ here belongs to any body. It is _wild_
land.”
“We should find that it belonged to some body,” replied Grimkie, “if
people should catch us killing rabbits here.”
John had a sort of instinctive feeling that Grimkie was right, but he
consoled himself for his discomfiture in the argument by saying that at
any rate he came within one of hitting the rabbit.
The subject here dropped, as the reporters in Parliament say, and the
whole party returned down the hill.
“Now, Auntie,” said Grimkie, as they rode back to the hotel, “the clerk
said we must be at the stage office at a quarter before eight. Would
you like to ride there?”
“If it is not far,” said his aunt, “we can walk just as well, and so we
shall see more of the town.”
“Yes,” said Grimkie, “I should like that, and Mr. Boots will carry our
luggage for us.”