It is by some supposed that the Hill of Noth, in the parish of Rhynie,
Aberdeenshire, had at one time been a volcano in full operation: others,
again, maintain that the scoria found on and in the neighbourhood are
portions of a vitrified fort, which had at one time stood on its summit. I
am not aware that the matter has been investigated since our advancement in
the science of geology has enabled us to have a more intimate knowledge of
these things than formerly. The last statistical account of Scotland has
suffered severely in its Aberdeenshire volume, in consequence of the
temporary deposition of the "seven Strathbogie clergymen." The accounts of
their several parishes were written by parties only newly come to reside in
them, and who appear to have taken little interest in it; and Rhynie is one
of these. Those who argue for its having been a volcano, say that it is
very possible that there may at one time have been an electric or magnetic
chain connecting it with subterranean fire in some other quarter of the
world; and that by some convulsion of nature, the spinal cord of its
existence had been broken, and life became extinct. This hypothesis has
been acted on, in accounting for the earthquakes which occur at Comrie in
Perthshire. The great storm which devastated the princely estates of Earl
Goodwin in Kent (circa anno 1098), and now so well known to mariners as the
Goodwin Sands, is also said to have laid waste the parish of Forvie, in
Aberdeenshire. On the occasion of the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755, a
flock of sheep were drowned in their cot in the neighbourhood of
Lossiemouth, near Elgin, by the overflowing of the tide, although far
removed from ordinary high-water-mark. Assuming this mountain to have been
a volcano, are there any others in Great Britain? While on the subject of
mountains in that quarter, there is another which also demands attention
for quite a different reason, the Hill of Dun-o-Deer, in the parish of
Insch: a conical hill of no great elevation, on the top of which stand the
remains of a vitrified fort {286} or castle, said to have been built by
King Gregory about the year 880, and was used by that monarch as a
hunting-seat and where, combining business with pleasure, he is said to
have meted out even-handed justice to his subjects in the Garioch. It has
long been the popular belief that this hill contains gold; and that the
teeth of sheep fed on it assume a yellower tinge, and also that their fat
is of the same colour. Notwithstanding this, no attempt at scientific
investigation has ever been made. The operations on the line of the Great
North of Scotland Railway, now in progress in the immediate neighbourhood,
may possibly bring something to light. This line passes for many miles
through a country particularly rich in recollections of the "olden
time"--cairns, camps, old chapels, druidical circles, sculptured stones,
&c. and where ancient coins, battle-axes of all the three periods, urns and
elf-arrow heads, Roman armour, &c., have been disinterred by the ordinary
labours of the field. Within a short distance of its route lies the Hill of
Barra, where the famous battle was fought, anno 1308, between the "Bruce"
and the "Comyn;" the Bass at Inverary, the Hill of Benachie, with the
remains of a fortification on its summit, said to have been erected by the
Picts; the field of Harlaw, famed in song, where the battle was fought in
1411, in which Donald of the Isles was defeated. There are many traditional
ballads and stories relating to Benachie and Noth. There is a ballad called
"John O'Benachie" and another, "John O'Rhynie, or Jock O'Noth" and they do
not appear in any collection of ancient ballads I have seen. It is said
that long "before King Robert rang," two giants inhabited these mountains,
and are supposed to be the respective heroes of the two ballads. These two
sons of Anak appear to have lived on pretty friendly terms, and to have
enjoyed a social crack together, each at his own residence, although
distant some ten or twelve miles. These worthies had another amusement,
that of throwing stones at each other; not small pebbles you may believe,
but large boulders. On one occasion, however, there appears to have been a
coolness between them; for one morning, as he of Noth was returning from a
foraging excursion in the district of Buchan, his friend of Benachie, not
relishing what he considered an intrusion on his legitimate beat, took up a
large stone and threw at him as he was passing. Noth, on hearing it
rebounding, coolly turned round, and putting himself in a posture of
defence, received the ponderous mass on the sole of his foot: and I believe
that the stone, with a deeply indented foot-mark on it, is, like the bricks
in Jack Cade's chimney, "alive at this day to testify." Legendary lore and
fabulous ballads aside, it would indeed be strange if something interesting
to the antiquary does not turn up in such a mine as this. It is curious,
however, that in all the operations antecedent to covering Great Britain
with, as it were, a network of iron, so very few discoveries should have
been made of any importance, either to the antiquary or geologist.