feminine termination. Thus, beginning at the top, and with the Egyptians. The human soul was regarded by reading from right to left, we have nine signs respec- them as a direct emanation from the Deity, who himself tively agreeing with the nine letters K-L-E-O-P-A- animated all nature as the soul of the universe; and T-R-A-the small oval and semicircle on each side of their dead, therefore, invariably bore some of the the last bird, or A, marking the feminine termination. emblems, and were bound up so as to resemble the By means of the Rosetta Stone, Dr Young was led form, of Osiris, the judge of the dead, and the ruler to another important discovery, from which it appears over the world of spirits. It was only those, however, that the sacred symbols were used not only as the who, by a virtuous life, were fitted for the change, that representatives of things, but also of sounds; so that, were immediately after death reunited to their divine by a combination of them as alphabetic characters, source. One of the most frequent subjects of Egyptian such new names as those of the Greek and Roman painting represents the final judgment of the soul in conquerors are inscribed on Egyptian monuments with the presence of Osiris. The actions of the deceased the like symbolic writing as those of the ancient are weighed in the scales of truth. The god Thoth Pharaohs. Already history and chronology have re- stands as the recording angel noting the result; and if ceived valuable additions from observations based on it proves imperfect, the soul is condemned to return to these discoveries; the royal cartouches have been iden- earth, according to the Egyptian doctrine of transmigratified on nearly all the most important Egyptian monu- tion, in the form of some unclean animal-most frements; and historic traditions, which had been rejected quently that of a pig-and must endure a purgatorial as unworthy of credit, have received unexpected con- penance of tedious duration ere it can return to the firmation. The same eminent English scholar above human form, and again appear before the dread tribunal referred to succeeded in deciphering upwards of 200 of Osiris. In addition to this transmigratory doctrine, hieroglyphic symbols; and from the double meaning the Egyptian creed included the idea of a great cycle, at which these frequently bear, both as symbols and pho- the end of which all things were to return to their former netic characters, we discover one important reason for state. It is supposed by some writers that the practhe rude and imperfect mode of picture writing being tice of embalming originated in the desire of preservretained by a people far advanced in civilisation, and ing the body in a fit condition to receive the soul on its possessed of a written language in ordinary use. An- return to inhabit its former dwelling. This, however, other, though secondary reason, for this has been over- is extremely doubtful. Such an idea may have added looked; namely, the value of hieroglyphics as archi- strength to the popular inclinations when it became tectural embellishments. That they were frequently ingrafted on to their creed; but it is unquestionable used for this sole purpose, is apparent from the intro- that the same practice continued long after all belief duction of a series of royal cartouches as features of in the ancient mythology of Egypt had ceased; and it decoration, as on the pillars at Luxor; nor can any is much more probable that it had its origin, like the one look on a drawing of one of the great temples, or sepulchral rites of all other nations, in the natural even of an obelisk or sarcophagus, without being satis- feelings of affection and respect for the dead. fied that the hieroglyphics form an essential and important feature of decoration, independent of their value as symbolic or phonetic characters. To the list of hieroglyphics deciphered by Dr Young, M. Champollion and others made considerable additions; and so much confidence is now felt in these interpretations, that during the present year (1849) a movable font of hieroglyphics has been cut in Paris, by means of which the inscriptions of ancient Egypt may be multiplied, and generally distributed, with the same facility as a common handbill. This is certainly not the least wonderful of the results of modern intelligence and inventive skill; and whether or not the treasure prove equal to the long-cherished expectations regarding it, it can hardly be doubted that these Egyptian mysteries will not much longer remain concealed. ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES. Quitting the antiquities of Egypt, which have attracted the attention of intelligent inquirers from the days of Herodotus to our own, we turn to the magnificent monuments of Assyrian art. These, though probably contemporaneous with the sculptures of Thebes and Memphis, have been explored almost for the first time by the indefatigable traveller Austin Henry Layard, who has already had the satisfaction of seeing the first fruits of his labours deposited in the British Museum, before returning to the scene of his singularly interesting excavations on the banks of the Tigris. Within the vast mounds to which a faithful tradition has attached the name of Nimrod the mighty Hunter, our indefatigable countryman has discovered monuments In treating of hieroglyphics, those which were in use of ancient art and imperial magnificence which amply by the Aztecs, and are still visible on the ancient mo-justify the title that has for ages associated it with one numents of Mexico, must not be altogether overlooked. of the earliest settlements of the human race. Though They are much ruder than those of Egypt, and only completely distinct in character and style from the resemble them in the element of picture writing monuments of Egypt, these relics of old Assyrian art common to both, unless it be added that the Aztecs still present such affinities to them as might be antiappear to have made a similar use of the cartouche. cipated from the productions of contemporaneous races This rude substitute for writing appears to have been and creeds somewhat similarly situated as to climate the only one known to the natives of America. An and locality. Like the ibis and hawk-headed deities of illustration of the mode of using it in extraordinary Egypt, the Assyrian marbles present frequent repeticases is given in the account preserved of the Indian tions of the eagle or vulture-headed god-a human scouts, who informed their master Montezuma of the form conjoined with the head of a bird of prey. Among arrival of Cortez and his followers, by sketches of the the sculptures of both countries the sphinx occurs. Not Spaniards, their ships, horses, firearms, &c. greatly dissimilar in character, and akin to it, are those most remarkable monuments of Assyrian arts and mythology--the colossal human-headed lions and bulls which the wild Arab sheik, who witnessed their exhumation, pronounced to be the idols which Noah cursed before the Flood!' On the discovery of the winged human-headed lions (see fig.), Mr Layard was filled with admiration and delight. These magnificent specimens of Assyrian art,' he remarks, were in perfect preservation; the most minute lines in the details of the wings and in the ornaments had been retained with their original freshness. I used,' adds the enthusiastic traveller, 'to contemplate for hours these mysterious emblems, and muse over their intent and history. What more noble forms could have ushered the people It is probable that, even should the Egyptian hieroglyphics be thoroughly mastered, the amount of knowledge derived from the inscriptions on the temples and tombs will fall far short of what the patient sagacity of modern archæologists has already deduced from the paintings and sculptures, and from the actual relics discovered in the catacombs. No features of national manners are found by the archeologist so well worthy of study as the modes of sepulture, and the relics frequently deposited in the tomb along with the deceased. Among such the catacombs of Egypt occupy a prominent rank. By means of the sepulchral rites of the people, a clue may frequently be obtained to the nature of their religious belief; and this is peculiarly the case into the temples of their gods? What more sublime | ditional light on this new chapter in the history of images could have been borrowed from nature by men early nations. who sought, unaided by the light of revealed religion, to embody their conception of the wisdom, power, and The cave temples of Elephanta and Ellora, and the numerous ruined temples scattered throughout the Indian empire, form another most interesting branch of monumental remains connected with one of the early races of the human family. Certain general resemblances are traceable among all these relics of Eastern art and ancient mythology. Much undue weight, however, has frequently been attached to this, as though it pointed to some intimate intercourse or great similarity in faith and manners among those widely-separated races. The worship of the cow, both in ancient Egypt and in India, has frequently been referred to as conclusive evidence of an intimate connection between the religions of these two countries. During the war in Egypt some sepoys of our Indian army, who crossed from the Red Sea to the Nile, were attracted, on their visit to the temple of Dendera, by the sculptured representation of the cow of Athor, and immediately prostrated themselves before it. This has been regarded by several writers as triumphantly proving the kindred character and common source of the two creeds; but the argument will not stand close investigation. Had the Indian sepoys been arrested by some of the arbitrary and unintelligible symbols of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which possessed to them a sacred meaning, some importance might justly be attached to it; It may suffice to add, that these wonderful monu- but the selection of the cow by two agricultural nations ments of Eastern art are generally covered with in- as a sacred symbol, may admit of very easy explanascriptions in the cuneiform or arrow-headed character, tion without supposing them to have had any previous which now furnish a no less interesting subject of intercourse. Mr James Fergusson, the most recent inlearned investigation than the hieroglyphics of the vestigator of the antiquities of Hindoostan, after perEgyptian monuments, and give promise of no less valu-sonally examining the architectural remains of Egypt able disclosures. To facilitate this, these primitive and India, denies that they have any essential features Assyrian characters have been reproduced by the skill in common; and all the latest inquiries into the of English workmen in a complete font of movable subject of Indian antiquities seem to lead to the contypes, so that copies of all such cuneiform inscriptions clusion, that the ideas which have been so generally as may be discovered can now be multiplied and dis- received of the immutability of the Hindus, and the tributed to any extent. primeval antiquity of their remains, have been based on theories unsupported by evidence. Already the colossal elephant which gave name to Elephanta has progressed so rapidly to decay, as to excite just doubts of its great antiquity at the time of its discovery; and if the general diffusion of the religion of Buddah in India is correctly fixed at a period little more than 150 years B. C., it is obvious that the remains of temples dedicated to that religion must no longer be classed along with those of Egypt. Mr Fergusson assigns them a far more recent date than even this might imply. He has carefully studied them, and made drawings of their various details; and in his Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindoostan,' he advances the opinion that the most ancient of the cave temples are not many centuries old. India, however, has undoubtedly formed an early seat of civilisation; traces of which are apparent both in the faith and the manners of the more ancient races that still occupy the country, though these are much too slight to justify many of the arguments that have been deduced from them. Impressed, indeed, as all European thinkers are, with the influence of religious opinions which have been slowly developing their powers during many centuries, they are too ready to take for granted the same slow development in judging of Eastern creeds. Recent investigations prove, on the contrary, that the religion of the Sikhs, and those of many other Indian sects, have sprung up and been adopted by whole races almost in our own time. Many of the Assyrian monuments referred to consist of slabs sculptured in low relief, and still bearing traces of the bright colours with which they were originally decorated. They recall in a striking manner the allusion to the images of the Chaldeans by the prophet Ezekiel, written not many years before the gorgeous temples of Assyria were buried in the desolate heaps on the banks of the Tigris; from whence, after the lapse of so many centuries, they have been exhumed by a wanderer from the remote and unknown British Isles. The Hebrew prophet, referring to the sins of Jerusalem, says, 'She doted upon the Assyrians...; for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion; girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads; all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: she doted on them,' &c. Though The whole investigations of the archeologist into the the character of these early monuments of Assyrian art remains of the ancient occupants of Europe, tend to is entirely distinct from those of Egypt, Mr Layard's in- confirm the idea derived from the sacred records, that teresting excavations have brought to light curious evi- we must look to the East as the cradle of the human dences of the intercourse between Egypt and Assyria; race. The Celtic, the Sclavonian, and the Teutonic and farther investigations can hardly fail to throw ad-races, whose descendants, distinct or intermingled, now gratory tribes which ultimately crossed the English Channel, and first peopled the British Isles. In treating, therefore, of the archæology of Great Britain and Denmark, we refer, to a great extent, to what they possess in common with the rest of Europe. people nearly the whole of Europe; and even the Zin- | furnishing evidence of temporary locations of the migali, or wandering gipsies, who are scattered without being incorporated among them, are but successive waves of the same great tide of population which has gradually flowed onward towards the north-west, until, like a pent-up flood, it has at length overflowed its ancient barriers, and is peopling the new world of America with these same descendants of the early nomade tribes of Asia. It is in tracing out the annals of these aboriginal races that the labours of the archaeologist are chiefly productive of valuable results, deciphering what may be termed the unwritten history of man, and bringing to light the lost records of our earliest ancestry. The investigations of the archeologist carry us back at once to a period of which history takes no note, placing before us clear and intelligible records of the character and habits, and of the amount of civilisation of the aboriginal tribes of Europe and the British Isles, many centuries before the Romans carried the arts of peace in the train of their conquering legions. Intelligent chronologists have thought themselves successful in tracing the passage of the Celta towards the western parts of the old world 2100 years before Christ; and Higgins, an able archæologist, in treating of the Celtic Druids, has brought forward evidence, founded on their astronomical knowledge, to prove their colonisation of Britain about 1600 years before the Christian era. This curious calculation is based on the knowledge we possess of the religious festivals of the Druids, the dates of which were affected by that slow movement of the seasons through the signs of the zodiac caused by the precession of the equinoxes. The direct archæological evidence which may be brought to bear on the subject, confirms such speculations by proving the existence of a native population in Britain at a very early period. Such speculations are possessed of peculiar interest and value. If the dates of this remote chronology can be established, they enable us to connect the infant history of our own country with the great historic nations of antiquity, and lead us to this striking chronological coincidence, that just about the time when the patriarch Jacob journeyed into Egypt to behold his long-lost son, the nomadic Celts were crossing the English Channel, and peopling the savage coasts of the British Isles. It gives new life to our ancient annals, long buried in fable and error. We behold in idea the British Druids raising their ponderous altars and temples amid our northern forests, while the priests of Isis were consecrating on the banks of the Nile the giant monuments of ancient Thebes, and while the great Jewish lawgiver was setting up the pillars of the twelve tribes in the wilderness of Sinai. The evidence from whence we trace the records of the Eastern wanderers who first disputed with the wolf and the wild boar of the primeval forest their right to the uncultivated soil of our insular home, while it confirms such curious speculations, also satisfies us that these rude aboriginal tribes were almost destitute of any rudiments of the arts of civilisation. In Denmark, in Ireland, and in the north of Scotland, the evidences of this primeval race abound to a degree unknown in other parts of Europe, where the wave of Roman invasion has obliterated many of the traces of aboriginal occupants. But it is in number and variety chiefly, and not in any peculiarity of characteristics, that the Celtic antiquities of these countries are distinguished from those of the rest of Europe. The similarity, indeed, which is discoverable in the Celtic remains not of Europe only, but of Asia, place the fact beyond doubt, that in treating of the British aborigines, we are referring to the same races whose relics can still be traced on the vast plains of Central Asia. Within the last few years tumuli have been frequently opened in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, resembling in every respect those of the earliest and rudest character which are found on the downs of Wiltshire, or scattered over the Orkney Islands, and BRITISH ARCHEOLOGY. The evidences we possess of the national character and habits, and of the various degrees of civilisation of the aborigines of Great Britain, are derived from their ancient dwellings and sepulchres: from cromlechs, barrows, cairns, and tumuli; from their weapons, ornaments, and pottery; and from the remains of their boats and agricultural implements. Remote as is the period the history of which it is sought to recover, the evidence on which we have to reason is neither scanty nor isolated. Scattered over the uncultivated downs of England and Scotland, there still remain numerous examples of the rude dwellings of our barbarian ancestry which have escaped the wasting tooth of centuries, or the more destructive inroads of the plough, and afford abundant indications of the barbarism which surrounded the homes of our forefathers. On the Yorkshire moors, on the extensive plains of Wiltshire, on the Sussex downs, and even on the cultivated hills of Surrey, as well as in Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, and in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, the ruined dwellings of the ancient British savage still speak to us in no uncertain language of the unskilled and simple condition in which he lived. 1. THE STONE PERIOD. Subdividing into periods, which are warranted alike by reality and convenience, we shall advert first to the Pit and Cave Dwellings. Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in his valuable work on ancient Wiltshire, remarks- We have undoubted proofs, from history and from existing remains, that the earlier habitations were pits, or slight excavations in the ground, covered and protected from the inclemency of the weather by boughs of trees and sods of turf.' These locations are almost invariably found in groups, showing the gregarious and social habits of man in the rudest stage; but the low state of their occupants, physically and mentally, is apparent from the character of the simple dwellings. They consist of mere excavations in the earth, of a circular or oblong form, and averaging about eight feet in diameter. They are excavated generally about three feet below the surface, and surrounded with a raised edge, save where an opening is left, which no doubt served for door and window, and probably for chimney also. On digging in the centre of these pit-dwellings, ashes and charred wood are found, the evidences of their domestic fires; and with them occasionally flint arrow-heads, mixed with bones and other refuse, indicating their connection with the earliest race whose weapons are known to us. The ancient names of some of these primitive locations, such as that of Pen Pits in Wiltshire, retain an evident allusion to their characteristics. Another class of dwellings, examples of which still remain, may be considered as the earliest improvement on these primitive lairs. They also consist of pits, but edged with stones, and occasionally accompanied with small circular field enclosures, as if indicating the rudiments of a pastoral life-the folding of sheep or cattle. The use of stone in the construction of their dwellings appears to have led to extensive changes in the habits of the early Britons: but it is curious to find that in this advanced stage the dwellings are still subterranean; while some of them are on so large a scale, as to suggest the probability of their being adapted to the habits of a people who sheltered themselves, like the Esquimaux and the Greenlanders, from the inclemency of a northern winter. An account of very curious and little-noticed remains of this class in Aberdeenshire is preserved in the Archeologia Scotica,' vol. ii. These consist of a number of subterraneous habitations, | The barrows of the Wiltshire downs, so long the obspread over a district of nearly two miles in diameter. jects of Sir Richard Colt Hoare's diligent and successThe situation had originally been a forest, as appears ful researches, naturally formed a prominent object of from many large trunks of trees still dug up there; investigation; and it was determined that the longbut it is now a dry moor. The roofs of these dwellings buried mysteries of Silbury Hill should at length be have been uncovered from time to time by the plough- explored. A tunnel was accordingly opened in the share striking against them. The entrance to them side of the hill, and carried on till it had nearly appears to have been between two large stones, placed reached the centre, when the operations of the excain a sloping direction at one end, between which the vators were suspended until the arrival of the members entrant has to slide to a depth of about six feet, when of the Institute. When the work of excavation was he finds himself in a large vault, occasionally upwards resumed, the tunnel was carried to the very centre of of thirty feet long, and from eight to nine feet wide. the hill, a distance of 144 yards from the entrance, Upwards of fifty such subterranean dwellings have but without any discovery being made. It had been been found in one district. The walls incline inward, thought exceedingly probable that the mound might so as to approach the form of an arch; and across these prove internally to consist chiefly of an artificial strucare laid large stones, some of them five and six feet in ture of stone; a cairn, in fact, covered over with earth, length, and above a ton in weight. Where the ground as has been found to be the case in some of the largest in the neighbourhood of these ancient cave dwellings tumuli hitherto opened. When the excavation had has escaped the inroads of the plough, small earthen proceeded so far as completely to disprove this, it was enclosures, similar to the ruder pit dwellings already still confidently anticipated that, on reaching the described, are almost invariably found near them, centre, a cromlech or kistvaen would be found, with having no doubt formed the summer habitations of the its usual sepulchral contents, and most probably acconstructors of these massive subterranean retreats. companied with relics of corresponding importance to the magnitude of the superincumbent earth-pyramid. All these speculations, however, have proved to be unfounded, though it is still possible that, before the search is abandoned, the kistvaen, which was supposed to lie concealed within this vast tumulus, may be found, contrary to the wonted custom in these ancient sepulchral mounds, at some distance either above or below the natural surface of the ground. The research, so far as it has proceeded, has at least sufficed to show that neither the cromlech nor the cairn must be invariably looked for in the larger tumuli. Tumuli, Barrows, and Cairns. The raising of mounds of earth or stone over the remains of the dead is a practice which may be traced in all countries to the remotest times. The simplest idea that can be suggested to account for its origin is, that as the little heap of earth displaced by the interment of the body would become the earliest monument by which survivors were reminded of departed friends, so the increase of this by artificial means into the form of the gigantic barrow would naturally suggest itself as the first mark of distinction to the honoured dead. To this simplest construction the term barrow should be exclusively reserved, while the tumulus is distinguished by its circular form. The latter name, however, includes a considerable variety. Sir Richard Colt Hoare has distinguished fourteen different kinds of barrows. Among these he includes the pond barrow, which was certainly not sepulchral, but should be classed with the pit dwellings alreadying road, accidentally discovered an opening into a described. Others of the distinctive features marked by him are such slight or rare variations from the ordinary type, that their recognition, as essentially differing from the others, only tends unnecessarily to complicate the inquiry. The following are the most marked and distinct, their names indicating their shape:-1. The cone barrow; 2. The bell barrow; 3. The bowl barrow; 4. The female barrow, called by Stukely the Druid barrow. It is slightly elevated, and enclosed with a vallum, or wall of earth, and its usual contents seem to justify the name here assigned to it. 5. The twin barrow, which consists of two conical mounds enclosed by a foss, one of them being generally larger than the other. The others are more or less modifications of these forms and arrangements, and no such peculiarities in their contents have yet been observed as to justify their being regarded as essentially distinct. The most remarkable monument of the latter class is that of Newgrange, another large artificial mound, or rather cairn, in the county of Meath, near Drogheda. This Celtic monument presents the appearance of a hill about 400 feet in diameter, and about 70 feet high, the top of which is covered over with a luxurious growth of trees. So early as the year 1699, some labourers employed in removing stones for the repair of a neighbourpassage formed of large, upright, and horizontal stones, which communicates with three large chambers similarly constructed in the centre of the mound. This remarkable tumulus was explored and minutely described by Governor Pownall in 1770. The roof and walls of its chambers are curiously ornamented with rude carvings; and within these recesses were found large stone urns or basins, which still remain. It would be in vain,' says Mr Wakeman, an Irish antiquary, in describing the cairn of Newgrange- it would be in vain to speculate upon the age of a work situate upon the banks of the Boyne, which, if found upon the banks of the Nile, would be styled a pyramid, and perhaps be considered the oldest of all the pyramids of Egypt. Undoubtedly the whole class of Celtic tumuli and cairns may justly be reckoned as belonging to the same order of monumental erections, of which the Egyptian pyramid is the most perfect form. Duns, Borghs, Vitrified Forts, &c. The cairn is only another and more artificial form of the tumulus, and is frequently found in combination with the latter. Silbury Hill, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, is the largest tumulus in Britain, and pro- Next to the sepulchral monuments of remote ages, bably in the world. This vast artificial conical mound their fortifications form the most durable, as well as of earth measures 2027 feet in circumference, it covers the most characteristic evidences of their skill and dean area of five acres and thirty-four perches of land, grees of civilisation which remain to us. The construcand its perpendicular height is 170 feet. The immense tion of offensive and defensive weapons is the very labour required in order to explore the contents of this earliest proofs which the rude and solitary savage huge pile, long preserved it from the investigations of affords of that intelligence and design which distinthe antiquary, though forming the most remarkable guishes him from the brutes. This is succeeded by the object of its class, and occupying a place among the domestic and social relationships from whence spring Celtic monuments of Wiltshire, where antiquarian society, ranks, laws, and all the primary elements of research has been conducted with a degree of zeal and civilisation. Among the first evidences of such prointelligence worthy of earnest scientific investigation.gress is the union for mutual defence, and the conAt length, during the present year (1849), the Archæo-struction of strongholds for the safety of the commulogical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland accepted nity, and the protection of their goods when threatened of an invitation from the citizens of Salisbury to hold by invading foes. The summits of numerous hills in their annual congress in that ancient cathedral town. Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, retain traces of ancient CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. hill forts of various descriptions, from the rude earthen the protection of beacon-fires. One of the most interesting examples of the ancient Similar in character to these latter strongholds are which tends to throw any doubt on the result of these careful researches is that of Dr Macculloch, who affirms that, in situations where the most accessible materials The only argument for constructing a stone fort are such as are incapable of being vitrified, suitable materials have been selected and brought with great labour from a distance. Further information is, however, needed to confirm this point. Granite, porphyry, limestone, sandstone, and what is called puddingstone, are all more or less easily fusible by fire, and capable of being reduced to the vitreous state of the materials found in these singular erections, when mixed with the accumulated ashes of burned wood as a flux, and repeatedly exposed to fire. The prevalence of one or other of these fusible materials in almost every district of Scotland, renders exment of Dr Macculloch, or the evidence it would afford of the practical skill and ingenuity of the ancient Caleceedingly doubtful any opinions founded on the argudonian. We shall see, however, that the arts of the native Briton, as well as of the ancient tribes of Northern Europe, included at a very remote period that of smelting ores and working in metals; so that the fusing of their castellated ramparts, for the purpose of more effective defence, is not at all inconsistent with their other acquirements. the northern and western isles of Scotland belong to a later period than the ancient British duns, and are The borghs or circular stone forts which abound in most commonly ascribed to Danish invaders. They consist of circular structures, tapering towards the top, built of unhewn stones, and constructed without the use of cement; within the outer wall, which inclines inward from its tapering form, an inner perpendicular wall is attached to it by large cross stones, which form look into the central area. a series of flights of stairs, lighted by loopholes which in some respects to the Scottish borghs are the Nuraghes of Sardinia, first described by M. PetitA class of buildings bearing a singular resemblance Radel, in a work published at Paris in 1826. The largest of these singular erections are more complicated than the Scottish borgh, consisting of a circular central tower, tapering towards the top, and flanked at four points by smaller towers, united by a solid mass of masonry, which forms a square base to the whole building. Others of these, however, are simpler in form, and present considerable resemblance to the Scottish borgh; though they appear, when perfect, to have been covered over with a stone dome, or arched roof, and are considered to have been sepulchral monuments, like the more ancient catacombs and pyramids of Egypt. Round Towers. subject of controversy during the greater part of half a only two examples of them are found in Scotland, and |