Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1906-01-27

Antiquarians. Differ as to Who Built
"Brochsr Found IN Scottish Highlands
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Especial Correspondence.)

Those who wander north of the
CALIFORNIAN Canal cannot fail to notice
the many grassy knobs dotted over
the counties of Inverness, Ross, Suth-
erland and Caithness, as there are al
together over 200 of them, while in
the Orkneys there are seventy, and IN
the Shetlands seventy-five- South OF
the Canal not a dozen of them are to
be found.
These knobs usually have a cir
cumference of about hundred and
twenty yards, and rise above the sur
rounding level ground to a height OF
from ten to fifteen feet They are
found in the middle of meadows, on
high banks of rivers, on the edge of
sea cliffs, far inland, on heath-covered
moorlands, and sometimes on some
little island in a lake, or out at sea;
but they are generally SO placed that
one is visible from another
To strangers who ask, Highlanders
are likely to answer that they are
'3tullochs," "duns,' OF "Picts' houses"
but for himself such hillock is
thought of only as the abode of fairies,
and not by any means to be presump-
tuously interfered with if he is to live
at peace with his good neighbors-"
Wondrous were the feasts and revel-
ries these mysterious beings held in
them, according to the tales told
around the Highland firesides.
The Green-Coated Little Folk.
1t was on their submits that on
fine moonlight nights belated travel
ers saw green-coated little folk engage
in their dizzy dances, and if, especial
ly at the New Year, men refreshed
themselves from the jars in which
they were carrying home the neces-
sary supply of whisky, and if while
doing SO, they rested not far from
such a hillock, they heard coming
from it the sounds of pipes which by
it's sweetness enticed them nearer and
nearer, and then they saw streaming
through an open door in it's side
bright light. If, as sometimes hap
pened, one holder than his neighbors
ventured in to have just one reel, he
found, unless the door were pinned
open by some iron instrument. that
the exit was closed on him, to be
opened again only after seven years
had passed, during which he was will
ing to continue his dance. At the end
of that time he was set free, and went
home another Rip Van Wrinkle.
1t is because such tales have been
ingrained into generation after genera
ton of Highlanders that, to the pres
ent day, they prefer to give wide
berth to these sbrochs" after night
fall; and when some Southron, fired
with archaeological zeal, wishes to
open and examine one of them, the
native workmen demand higher
rate of pay than for any other kind
of work, and also stipulate that at
such uncanny work courage must be
kept up by numerous drains.
Exploring the Brochs.
Though within living memory
:'brochs'' have not been used as burial
places, almost the first things the ex-
cavators find are one or two skele-
tons, which, from the situation in
which they are found, are burials
made long after the buildings have
become grassy mound. AS the rub
bish is being removed, every shovelful
ought carefully to be examined by
someone who understands what may
be of antiquarian value, but so many
have now been opened, and the re-
suits so uniformly identical, that the
story of one seems almost certain to
be that of all.
When the covering earth has been
removed from any of them there al
ways stands a circular wall of from
ten to twenty feet in thickness, with
no opening of any kind from the out
side save one doorway. which pierces
the wall like a tunnel. and measures
about five feet in height and two and
a half in. width At about six feet
from the outside there is check for
a door, by a fagstone placed edge
ways in the floor, and an abutment
formed in the masonry. A few inches
further in are bar holes. Further back
still, and on one or both sides, are
guard chambers. little rooms built
into the solid masonry. The large