ADDRESSED TO DR. PERCIVAL.

SIR,

October 30th. 1792.

I have tranfmitted to you the following account of an ancient Mode of Sepulture, that has taken place at one particular period. in this country. Your communicating it to the Members of the Literary and Philofophical Society of Manchester, will much oblige,

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

ALEX. COPLAND.

King's Grange, in parish of Urr,

Stewartry of Kircudbright.

[READ NOV. 30, 1792.]

THE

HE tumuli or heaps of ftones thrown promifcuously together, called by the people of this country Cairns, being more frequent in this diftrict than in any other part of Great Britain, there have been frequent opportunities of late years to examine their contents, from the Proprietors carrying away the ftones, in order to conftruct dry ftone fences, E e and

and other buildings neceffary for the improvement of their lands. About the middle of the Cairn, and on a level with, or a little elevated above, the earth's furface, there are always feveral thin flat stones laid horizontally in a circular form, with their edges clofe applied together, without any cement, upon which are generally found entire bones, their fragments, or reddifh coloured earth, like ashes, and fometimes entire urns, pateræ, or clay veffels, flightly burnt, turned with their mouths down, over ashes or fragments of bones, that appear to have • been fubjected to the action of fire. The heads of fpears and arrows, both of brass and iron, with large rings of these metals, have, at times, been met with. These urns or pateræ are feldom quite entire; they, and the afhes or fragments of bones, are generally furrounded by flat ftones, fo laid, without any cement, as to form niches about one foot and a half long, by ten or twelve inches broad, and from twelve to fourteen inches deep. But the fize of thefe divifions varies greatly. In fome inftances, they are more than three feet long by two broad, in which the bones are always found more entire; but in others they are very fmall, when they are found to contain no fragments of bones, but only a little red coloured earth, like

alhes:

*These rings were of a fize that would have fuited the ends of their fpears.

afhes; and, in a few cafes, thefe divifions have been obferved to be conftructed in a circular form. The number of thefe niches varies, from two to twenty, or more, under one Cairn. No regularity appears in the laying of the ftones, except that the bafe is always filled up by large, round ftones, laid in concentric circles round the above-mentioned pavement of flat ftones; all the remainder of the Tumulus being conftructed of globular ftones thrown together, from the fize of (or a little larger than) a man's head to that of his fift, and without any flat ftones at top; but the Cairns generally put on the appearance of perfect cones, ending moftly in one large round stone at the apex. In many of them fmall fragments of bones are found equally difperfed through every part, which, with their frequency in this corner, there being about a hundred of them in the neighbouring parifh of Grofmichael, and one or two at leaft in each farm through the greatest part of this parish of Urr, tends to fhew that these Cairns have been the common Cemeteries, or places for depofiting the bones of the dead belonging to the whole neighbourhood. They are always fituated on ground a little elevated above that which furrounds them. There is reafon to conclude, that wherever the remains of any Chief of a District, or Founder of a Clan, came to be deposited, not only the rest of his Family, but alfo his whole Ee 2 Dependents

Dependents or Clan would wish to have their bones depofited in the fame spot.

From the people in this country having for a long time very little intercourfe with their neighbours, as Galloway continued feveral hundred years an independent Sovereignty from the reft of Scotland,* being one half surrounded by the Sea, and the remainder by ranges of very high Mountains, it is probable that they continued the practice of burning their dead, longer than in other parts of the Ifland, and, in all probability, for fome time after their converfion to Christianity. From the following defcription of a Cemetery, that feems to partake of a mixed nature, viz. both of burning and inhuming, and from the inftrument of iron being found almoft perfect, and very little hurt by ruft, which appeared to have been used for confuming the corpfe, with a small quantity of fuel, it is probable that the burning of dead bodies has not been in difufe fo many hundred years as is generally imagined.

Having occafion to build a dry fione fence on my ground, the workmen, in order to get ftones, eafily went for that purpose to what had the appearance of an old inclosure. It was fituated on a piece of ground

See a Differtation on the Kingdom of Galloway in Archæologia, vol. 9th, of the Antiquarian Society, by Robert Riddell, Efq. of Glenriddell,