and there is no reason why they might not be contemporary; although it is very exceptional to find subsidiary works detached, and particularly so far detached from the main fort, as here. Indeed, the only other example I can recall of a detached work with a trench is not very far off, and in the same county, at Bonchester.

But the rectilinear works, with their slight proportions and want of trenches, seem to have been intended for indefensible enclosures, though for what precise purpose does not appear. The absence of entrances would seem to disqualify them from being cattle kraals; and even if cattle were got into them, the enclosing mounds do not seem sufficient to keep them there. Possibly they, and the straight mound near the east end of the interior of the main fort, may have had to do with the gardens or cultivated enclosures of a croft or summer shieling, which may have existed here in comparatively recent times. Certain it is that the rectangles were posterior in date to the main fort, as the principal one, and the fragment probably of another, encroach on the end of the fort and stand upon the ruins of its rampart and trench.

"The Clints" Fort.

Upwards of 500 yards south-east of the group a fort is marked on the Ordnance map close to the public road, and "The Clints" is printed close to it. It is about 180 feet lower than the group, or 820 feet above the sea. I saw it on my first visit, but have no note of its condition. On the Ordnance map it is drawn as a circle about 90 feet in diameter, with a simple mound remaining to the north, while the south half is represented by a dotted line, as if barely traceable, with a deep intake to the south-west.

II. EARTHWORK ON FLANDERS MOSS, MENTEITH,

In Menteith and the Lennox primitive fortresses of any kind are so rare that a peculiar interest attaches to this example (fig. 2). It is situ

1. In Jameson's Scottish Dictionary, “Clint” is defined as (1) a hard or flinty rock (South of Scotland, Lothians); (2) any pretty large stone of a hard kind (South of Scotland): "Clints," limited to the shelves of a river (Clydesdale).

ated 2 miles east of the south-east corner of the Lake of Menteith, and half a mile east by north of Ballingrove farmhouse, close to the west side

10 20 30 LO 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120

of the Flanders Moss, a great level bog about 2 miles square. The work stands on the bog, but very near the firm ground to the north-east, as

if the builders desired to have the protection of the bog, and at the same time to have a not too difficult access to the "redoubt." Although of low profile, it is conspicuous from its green colour, in contrast with the grey and brown of the bog.

The figure is quadrangular, but no one angle is a right one, as the sides have all different lengths, measuring along the top of the rampart 65, 67, 72, and 83 feet respectively. The slope of the scarp is about 12 feet long, and that of the counterscarp 14 feet; the trench is 12 feet wide, and 3 to 4 feet deep down to the present flat, boggy surface, but it was probably deeper when originally dug out.

The interior is level, and has no trace of a rampart on the north and west sides; but on the east a slight but well-preserved one runs northwards from the south-east angle for about 20 feet, and there are distinct enough remains of another along the south side.

The entrance has apparently been through the south-east angle of the outer mound, and so northward along the trench, flanked by the 20-feet rampart; but now the trench can be passed dry-shod only at a single point opposite the north end of the 20-feet rampart.

The dimensions over all are about 160 feet each way, and of the interior 75 by 70 feet. The origin of this work is obscure, but it is more probably late mediæval, or even post-Reformation, in date, than prehistoric.

II.

NOTICES OF (1) TWO STONE CISTS EACH CONTAINING TWO DRINKINGCUP URNS, ONE FROM PITTODRIE, IN THE PARISH OF OYNE, AND THE OTHER FROM WHITEHOUSE, IN THE PARISH OF SKENE; (2) A LATE-CELTIC HARNESS MOUNTING OF BRONZE FROM SHEELAGREEN, IN THE PARISH OF CULSALMOND; (3) A STONE MOULD FOR CASTING FLAT AXES AND BARS FOUND AT PITDOULZIE, IN THE PARISH OF AUCHTERLESS; AND (4) TWO STAR-SHAPED BEADS OF PORCELLANEOUS PASTE FROM ABERDEENSHIRE. BY J. GRAHAM CALLANDER, F.S.A. SCOT.

I. TWO STONE CISTS, EACH CONTAINING TWO DRINKING-CUP URNS. The Pittodrie Cist.-Some ten years ago the two cover-stones of a cist were exposed through a tree having been blown over in the woods immediately adjoining Pittodrie House, at the foot of Benachie, Aberdeenshire. The cist was placed on a small ridge steeper on the western than on the eastern side, running in a northerly and southerly direction; and the cist, if anything, was a little to the west of the summit. There are no signs of a cairn ever having been erected over the grave, which must have had only eight or ten inches of soil above the cover-stones before the tree grew over it. The exact spot where the cist was found is in the parish of Oyne, and lies directly north-east of Pittodrie mansion-house, about 103 yards due west of the dwelling-house on the home farm. The grave was exposed towards the end of the year, but it was not till the following spring that it was opened and examined. When the cover-stones were lifted, the cist was seen to be nearly full of water which had accumulated since its first exposure. After the water was baled out the grave was found to be half full of soil. An urn was found standing upright near the north-west corner of the cist under the smaller cover-stone, and it was removed complete. While clearing the soil out of the chamber another urn was discovered near the centre of the grave, but, as it was covered with earth, it was unfortunately broken by the spade before its presence was noticed. No other relics of man

were observed, and, after the cist had been emptied, the cover-stones were replaced in their original positions and the grave was covered up.

George Smith, Esq., of Pittodrie, the proprietor of the ground, having kindly granted me permission to re-examine the cist, I visited the site on 3rd January of this year, and had the cover-stones slightly raised. Owing to the south wall of the cist having collapsed, either when the tree was overturned or when the cist was first opened, and the opposite wall showing signs of giving way, I did not care to raise the stone further, for fear of destroying the structure altogether. I was thus unable to get the exact measurements of the different stones of which the cist had been built, but had to be content with ascertaining the orientation, and length, breadth, and depth of the chamber.

The western end of the grave was formed by a single slab, and the northern side by two slabs, all of the local red granite. These stones were nicely squared and fitted quite closely. Benachie granite weathers in such a way as to make it easily broken into slabs-indeed, many slabs are to be found on the hill-and so it would not be such a difficult matter to square the ends and sides of such blocks. The eastern end of the grave was formed by the solid rock, and the southern side partly by the rock and partly by much smaller stones than had been used on the opposite side. The chamber is 6 feet long, 2 feet 10 inches broad, and 1 foot 8 inches deep. The longer axis of the grave is 10 N. of E. and 10° S. of W. magnetic-almost exactly true E. and W., after allowing for the difference between magnetic and true north. The larger cover-stone, which covered the whole cist except a small part of the north-west corner, is roughly oblong in shape. It measures 6 feet at its greatest length, 3 feet at its greatest breadth, and it is from 8 to 10 inches in thickness; the smaller stone is about 15 inches in length and breadth, and 6 inches in thickness. These two stones, like the slabs in the cist, are of red Benachie granite.

Both urns are of the drinking-cup type. No. 1 (fig. 1), which was found in the north-west corner of the cist, and which was removed whole, has a long, almost straight lip, which contracts from the mouth