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But enough for these characters at large, as I must now enumerate the figures which appear upon the Ross-shire and Cromartyshire sculptures. They are ten in number, counting only those which are most generally in use. The Crescent and Sceptre occurs four times (thrice upon the Rosemarkie cross, the only known example in Scotland), the Double Disc and Sceptre thrice, and the Double Disc without Sceptre once. These have been already alluded to. The Single Disc occurs twice on the Hilton stone, and may represent a brooch, or the round target carried by the Picts, the ornamentation greatly resembling that of the targets of the last century; but as the two Discs occupy the usual place of the Double Disc, below the Crescent and Sceptre, they must be looked upon as an imperfect representation of the Double Disc. The Elephant occurs but once, on the Shandwick stone, where it appears with two sheep between the legs, and an animal, apparently a dog, in front of the head. It has been ornamented with a Celtic zig-zag pattern now much worn. Dr Stewart states that Polyænus, a writer of the second century, describes Cæsar as routing the Britons under Cassolaulus, by sending an elephant against them. It is therefore quite possible that the Picts had heard of such an animal, and it has been shrewdly conjectured that the first Celtic sculptor who essayed its portraiture, did so from a description, and that all who followed him copied from the same example, until at last it became stereotyped. That the figure is purely conventional is proved by the fact, that while the sheep is represented with his wool, the eagle with his feathers, and the monster with his scales, even in the most elaborate carvings of the Elephant, the ornamentation never gets beyond the filling in of the outline with an intertwisted Celtic pattern. Two Mirrors appear on the Rosemarkie stone, and one upon the Hilton stone, where it is accompanied by the Comb. They are not, however, of the usual form. The Eagle appears thrice. We find the Fish, apparently the salmon, upon a rough monolith at Edderton, which it occupies along with the Double Disc and Sceptre. The Torque, or Neckplate, shares the unhewn standing stone at Strathpeffer, with the Eagle. The Harp is found but once, and is of the usual clarsach pattern. It may be mentioned that the hieroglyphics and symbols are almost entirely confined to Pictish territory, one stone only so ornamented being found in the old Northumbrian Kingdom, at Edinburgh, and one sculpture on a rock at Anwoth, in the Kingdom of Strathclyde. I am not aware of any having been found in Dalriada. I am, therefore, myself, strongly of opinion that the symbols and hieroglyphics on the rude standing stones and sculptured crosses must alike be regarded as the work of the Pictish nation, the predecessors of the modern Highlander.

I will commence my account of the Sculptured Stones of Ross and Cromarty with a description of the sarcophagus at Kincardine.

"In the church-yard," says the Statistical Account, in 1840, "there is a stone about five feet in length, and two in breadth and thickness; it is hollow and divided into two cells, one considerably larger than the other. The ends and one of the sides are covered with carved figures and hieroglyphics; an imperial crown, and a man on horseback in the act of darting a lance or javelin, as also what appears to be a camel, are still

*The eagle on the Shandwick stone appears in the middle of a hunting scene. Dogs and stags are of course very common in these hunting scenes, but it is worthy o note that they never appear upon any of the stones as purely conventional signs.

plainly distinguishable. It is probable that it is the half of a Sarcophagus or stone-coffin, and tradition describes it as the tomb of a Prince of Loellin, who died of his wounds in the neighbourhood, and had his remains deposited there." "Loellin," I take it, means Lochlin, which would seem to argue that the Prince was a Scandinavian leader, a fact which is by no means improbable.*

* Did this Sarcophagus once really hold the body of a Norse Chief? Ekkials. bakki, that is the estuary of the Ekkial or Oykel, separated Sudrland, or Sutherland (so called by the Northmen because it was the most southern part of the Earldom of Ness and Katanes which belonged to them), from the rest of Scotland proper. As its immediate vicinity was a sort of debateable ground, it is not surprising to read in the sagas of fierce battles having taken place here between the two rival races. About the year 1034, we learn from the Orkneyinga Saga, that a bloody encounter took place between Kali Hundason, King of Scotland, and Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney. (a) The Saga says that the site of the engagement was "Torfnes on the south side of Baefiord." Mr Anderson suggests that this may be Tarbet Ness, Baefiord being the Dornoch Firth; but it is highly improbable that the Scottish King would have marched his great host of

(a) The identity of Kali Hundason has been frequently disputed, many antiquaries finding it impossible to reconcile the existence of such a person with the narratives of the older Scottish historians. The Orkneyinga Saga, and the Saga of Olaf Tryggrison, both state that Earl Sigurd the Stout married a daughter of Melkolf or Malcolm, King of Scotland, and that their son was Earl Thorfinn. Fordun's succession of the Scottish Kings runs thus:-Malcolm MacKenneth slew Gryme MacKenneth MacDuff at Auchnebard, and becoming King reigned from 1004 to 1034, and was succeeded by his grandson Duncan, the son of his only daughter Beatrice, by Crinan, Ab-thane of Dul, and Steward of the Isles. Wyntoun, following Fordun, says:Quhen dede we, thus this Kyng Gryme (at Bardory Malcolme ras Kyng, that slayne had hyme:

And thretty wyntyre in Scotland

Kyng this Malcolme wes regnand.

He states that Malcolm gave his daughter "Bethok fayre" to "Cryny" Abbot of Dunkeld, and that on the death of the King their son Duncan succeeded him. Fordun says of Duncan (the Duncan who was slain by Macbeth), that "he enjoyed the security of peace at the hands of all, both abroad and at home." Mr Anderson thinks that, if the Saga is correct as to the date of the battle (1034), Duncan must be Kali Hundason, and that, notwithstanding Fordun's remark about a peaceful succession, a very pretty quarrel might have arisen between Duncan and Thorfinn, concerning the division of the Scottish Kingdom, they both being maternal grandsons of King Malcolm II. Skene, however (High'anders, chap. v.), is of opinion that while the Highlanders were opposing the succession of Kenneth MacAlpine's family, and were endeavouring to re-introduce the Pictish mode of succession, Malcolm, Maormor of Murray, by the defeat and slaughter of Kenneth MacDuff at Monievaird, succeeded in seizing the Scottish crown. He states that this Malcolm made peace with Earl Sigurd the Stout, and gave him his daughter to wife, and that after reigning from 1004 to 1030, he was succeeded by Malcolm MacKenneth MacDuff (a descendant of Kenneth MacAlpin), whom he identifies with Kali Hundason. Speaking of these conclusions he says:-"It will be observed that the author has here altogether departed from the generally received history, and that in place of Malcolm II., said to have reigned thirty years, he has placed two Malcolms, of different families, the first of whom reigned twenty-six and the latter four years. This view he has adopted in consequence of finding the most remarkable coincidence between the Irish Annals and the Norse Sagas, both of which agree in these particulars." Professor Munch shares these views with Skene. Skene gives as his authorities-1, Orkneyinga Saga; 2, Flatey Book; 3, Annals of Tigernac; 4, Annals of Ulster. No. 3 states that Malcolm MacMaelbrigd MacKnadri, King of Alban, died in 1029, and that Malcolm MacKenneth, King of Alban, died in 1034; and No. 4 corroborates this, but does not say that Malcolm MacMaelbrigd was king. Skene would seem, however, to have changed the opinions expressed in the Highlanders (1837), for in his preface to the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots (1867), and in that to Felix Skene's translation of Fordun's Scoticronicon (1872), he states that Malcolin MacKenneth reigned from 1001 to 1034. Further, in the latter, he states that Malcolm had two daughters, one married to Crinan the father of King Dun an, and the other to Earl Sigurd, father of Earl Thorfinn. He then goes on to say that there was war between Duncan and Thorfin, owing to the territory each claimed in right of his mother. and that Thorfion established his power in the North, thus identifying Duncan with Kali Hundason of the Saga. The Duan Albanach, the Chronicle of the Scots (Colbertine MS.), the Chronicle of the Scots and Fiets, the Register of the Priory of St Andrews, the Cronicon Elegiacum, the Scalacronica, the Chronicle of Huntingdon, the Chronicle of the Piet and Scots (Sir T. Phillipps), the Chronicle of the Scots (Cottonian, Claudius), the Chronicles of the Sets (Cottonian, Vitellins), the Chronic on Rythmicum, and the Irish version of the Pictish Chronicle give Malcolm MacKenneth a rei ́n of 39 years; and the Prophecy of St Beehan 35. There ar Threfore ten Latin and tw- C¢€¢ MSS, in favens (12) years, one Celtic of 5., and two Celtic of 5 years' reign, the two latter interpolating a King Malcolm MacMaclbrigd with a reign of 25 years. I have not room here to pursue this interesting enquiry further.

The sculptures on the sarcophagus occupy three panels, the centre panel. being on one of the sides, with a smaller one at each end. On the left of the centre panel stands a post or pillar, surmounted by what the writer of

Scots, Irish, and Islesmen, into such a confined position as the peninsula of Tarbet, where there would be nothing for them to subsist upon. Moreover Earl Thorfinn had land levies besides his ships, and would hardly have selected such a site for a battlefield. Skene says that the fight took place "on the southern shore of the Beauly Firth." It is evident, therefore, that he, like Professor Munch, has been attracted by the similarity of sound betweet Beafiord and Beaufort. The Saga is not very explicit as to the whereabouts of the combatants immediately before the battle. It states that Thorkel Fostri had collected men about Breidafiord (the Moray Firth) prior to it, and that he afterwards met the Earl in Moray. The King was marching from the direction of Satiri (Kintyre). It is therefore just possible that the Earl having received his reinforcements from the Isles by sea, might have met the King near Beauly. But in this case, as the King advanced from the south-west or west, he must of necessity have cut off Earl Thorfinn from his own country, and as the Earl would have had no room in his ships for his land levies in case of defeat, and as history shews us that the Northmen very seldom fought without having secured a means of flight in case of disaster, I think the weight of evidence is against Mr Skene's idea (shared by Professor Munch)-—viz., that Baefiord is the Beauly Firth. It is much more probable, therefore, that the Earl preferred to give battle with his back to his own dominions, into which he could easily retreat, especially as he knew the King's force was much the largest. The following quotation, however, I think, settles without a doubt the site of the battle. The Orkneyinga Saga was written about 1225, and therefore in this case relates events which were then nearly 200 years old, and apparently to make the matter clearer it quotes Arnor Jarlaskald, Earl Thorfinn's bard, who was present at the battle, and distinctly states that it was fought on the south side of the Ekkial or Oykel. Mr Anderson's conjecture may still be correct, and Dornoch Firth being the continuation of the estuary of Oykel would represent Baefiord. Arnor sings:

Reddened were the wolf's-hit's edges
At a place-men call it Torfness;
It was by a youthful ruler

This was done, upon a Monday.

Pliant swords were loudly ringing
At this War-Thing south of Ekkiel,
When the Prince had joined the battle
Bravely with the King of Scotland.

The battle commenced and the Earl fought valiantly, a sword in one hand and a spear in the other. The King then ordered up his standard, and here the fight was hottest, till the King was slain and his army fled. The Earl pursued, leaving his ships behind him, for the Saga says he afterwards returned to them, in order to sail to Caithness. The Scots therefore fled with too great precipitation to bury their own dead. Neither the Saga nor Arnor Jarlaskald mention any great Scandinavian warrior as having fallen on the occasion, and it is therefore within the bounds of possibility that the victors, finding the body of the King, decently interred it at the church of Kincardine. The fact of its being interred by Northmen might easily give rise to the tradition of the burial being that of a Prince of Lochlin, for though it may be argued that the Scots would surely know of the fall of their King, it must be borne in mind that the district of the Öykel was a sort of no-man's land, which did not actually come under Scottish dominion until long afterwards. The slain would undoubtedly receive Christian burial, for though Earl Sigurd the Stout, Thorfinn's father, was only converted to Christianity by force, by Olaf Tryggvison (being offered the alternative of baptism or death), and actually died under his enchanted Pagan banner, the Raven, at Clontarf, his son seems to have been better affected towards the new religion, and indeed built the first Norse church in the Islands, Christ's Kirk in Birsay, in which he was buried.

Torfness is a term of general application, meaning simply "turf or moss headland.” I am of opinion, after a very careful examination of the chart of the estuary, that the site of the battle should be sought south of Bonar Bridge, either near East Fearn Point (at low water 16 feet deep and about 300 yards across), or else in the neighbourhood of Scart Point (at low water 20 feet and about 400 yards across), and both of

the Statistical Account conjectures to be an Imperial crown.' To this seem to be fastened two long snakey-necked animals of uncertain breed, and very difficult of recognition, which are represented sitting on their haunches opposite each other, with their heads turned over their shoulders. To their right kneels a figure facing them, the arms being crossed over the breast, and above this there is a recumbent creature, apparently a sheep. On the extreme right are seen two persons riding an animal. The left panel contains a figure on horseback, bearing in his uplifted right hand a club-like instrument, and carrying in his left a spear. His horse appears to be trampling something underfoot, and below the horse's neck a round object is seen, which might pass muster for a human head, but which is too much abraded to be readily discerned. In the right panel stand two figures, clad in conical caps, and long tunics reaching below the knee, and holding long spears in their outer hands, while between them they hold up by the feet a headless human body. That these fignres represent Scandinavian warriors can hardly be reasonably doubted.t I must also

which would have afforded safe and sufficient anchorage to the Orkney fleet. The Earl could have had his ships in the Oykel ready to ferry across his land forces in case of defeat, and these would have been well on their way to Wick and Thurso long before a pursuing force unprovided with ships could follow them by way of Invershin, while the Earl, his troops ferried over, would have at once stood out to sea.

Whether the Kincardine Sarcophagus once held the body of Kali Hundason, or even of any Norse sub-chief, is another matter.

*This is possibly intended to represent an ancient market-cross. The Cross of Rosemarkie is a stone shaft, having for a capital a ducal crown.

+ It will be observed that among the figures on the sarcophagus are:-1, Two figures riding on one animal; 2, Two figures in Scandinavian dress holding a headless body; 3, A figure riding, and having at his saddle-bow something like a human head. The scenes represented in these sculptures bear such a strong analogy to those attendant on the death of one of the Norse Earls of Orkney, that I cannot refrain from mentioning them here. When King Harald the Fair-haired of Norway had subdued the Vikings of the Orkneys, he gave the Islands in fief to Earl Rögnvald of Moeri, the father of Hrolf or Rollo the Ganger, the conqueror of Normandy. Rögnvald, in turn, handed them over to his brother Sigurd, who became Earl, and pushed his conquests to the confines of Moray and Ross. He thus became involved in hostilities with Maormar Melbrigd Tonn or the Buck-toothed, and it was arranged that the two chiefs should meet with forty men each to settle their differences. Earl Sigurd arrived with forty horses but with eighty men, two men being mounted on each horse, and Melbrigd seeing he had been treacherously dealt with, resolved at least to die bravely. They met in the neighbourhood of the Oykel, and the Saga of Olaf Tryggvison describes what followed :-"There was hard fighting immediately, and it was not long till Earl Melbrigd fell and all his men with him. Earl Sigurd and his men fastened the heads [of the slain] to their saddle-straps in bravado, and so they rode home triumphing in their victory. As they were proceed ng, Earl Sigurd, intending to kick at his horse with his foot, struck the calf of his leg against a tooth protruding from Earl Melbrigd's head, which scratched him slightly; but it soon became swollen and painful, and he died of it." This account is so circumstantial, that one is almost tempted to find a parallel between it and the sculptured record. Earl Sigurd the Powerful died about A.D. 875, and it is distinctly stated in the Saga that he was "hoy-laid" or "buried in a mound at Ekkialsbakki." Tradition has kept alive the remembrance of his last resting-place, for "Siward's hoch," or "haug," as it was known in the twelfth century, has passed through the various forms of Sytheraw, Sythera and Siddera, until at last it has been corrupted into the modern Cyder Hall. Unless therefore, we can prove that the Kincardine stone coffin was removed from a tumulus near this place, which is on the opposite side of the estuary of Oykel, I am afraid we must abandon the theory of its being connected with the Norse Earl Sigurd. Melbrigd or Maelbrigd was, according to Skene, Maormar of Mar,

say that I fail to detect any animal having the least resemblance to a camel. The whole sarcophagus, however, is much weather-worn.*

The slab-stone at Rosemarkie has been broken across, but is otherwise in a good state of preservation. It is divided into three panels, with a border running along one side. The two end panels and the border are ornamented with a common Celtic raised zig-zag pattern; the centre panel is more elaborate. A border of uncarved stone has been left all round the slab, and as it is only carved on one side, there is every probability of its having formed the lid of a stone coffin. I am not aware of its having any tradition attached to it, but in this and all other cases, should readers of the Celtic Magazine be aware of any local history affecting particular standing stones, I shall take it as a great favour if they will kindly favour me with the particulars.

(To be Continued.)

Correspondence.

GAELIC SOCIETY BURSARIES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.

12 Lombard Street, Inverness, 18th Aug. 1881.

DEAR SIR,-In your full report of the proceedings of the last Annual Assembly of this Society-at which I had not the privilege of being present-you quote a suggestion made in a letter from me to the Secretary, that the Society should offer a prize for the best essay on "the best means of attaining the objects we have in view."

The objects of the Society are very comprehensive, though embraced within the compass of a few lines in the second article of our "Constitution." They are as follows:-"The objects of the Society are the perfecting of the members in the use of the Gaelic language; the cultivation of the language, poetry, and music of the Scottish Highlands; the rescuing from oblivion of Celtic poetry, traditions, legends, books, and manuscripts; the establishing in Inverness of a library to consist of books and manuscripts, in whatever language, bearing upon the genius, the literature, the history, the antiquities, and the material interests of the Highlands and and Highland people; the vindication of the rights and character of the

*The camel twice appears upon Scottish stones: once in the Island of Canna, where the representation is excellently well done, showing the hump and the peculiar contour of the animal's head; and again at Meigle in Perthshire, where it is shown as lying down. The camel was known to the Picts, and the Annals of Innisfallen state that in 1105 one was given by the King of Alban to Mucertac O'Brien, observed that while the camel is well drawn, and represented in different positions, the "elephant on the other hand never changes its conventional form, except chec upon a stone at Largo, where it bears a strong resemblance to the walrus,

It

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