A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans : with an ...

7 HISTORY OF TBB HIGHLAND!).
Vates might eventually rise to the liigh and liuiioiirahw liigniiy ol
Druids the propriety of writing tiieni down as priests of the second and
third order seems very questionable. Besides the imnuinities before-
mentioned enjoyed by tiie Druids, tliey also possessed both civil and
criminal jurisdiction: they decided all controversies among states as
well as among private peisuiis ;
and wiioever refused to submit to their
awards was exposed to the most severe penalties. The sentence ol
excommunication was pronounced against him ; he was forbid(!en access
to the sacrifices or pid)lio worship ; he was debi'.rred all intercourse
with his fellow-citizens, even in the common affairs of life ; his company
was universally shunned as profane and dangerous ; he was refused the
protection of law ; and death itself became an acceptible relief from the
misery and infamy to which he was exposed.* " Thus," according to
Hume, " the bands of government, which were naturally loose among
Uiat rude and turbulent people, were happily corroborated by the terrors
«f their superstition."
As connected in some degree with religion the modes of sepulture
among tlie Pagan people of North Britain come next To be noticed
These have been various in different ages. The original practice of
interring the bodies of the dead gradually gave way among the Pagan
nations to that of burning the bodies, but the older practice was resumed
wherever Christianity obtained a footing. The practice of burning the
dead at the time we are treating of was common among the inhabitants
of North Britain ; but the process of inhumation was not always the
same, being attended with more or less ceremony according to the rank
of the deceased. Many of the sepulchral remains of our pagan ances-
tors are still to be seen, and have been distinguished bv antiquaries
under the appellations of Barrows, Cairns, Cistvaens and Urns.
Among the learned tlic Barrows and Cairns, when they are of a round
shape and covered with green sward, are called tumuli, and liiUoihs by
the vulgar. These tumuli are circular heaps resembling a Hat cone
and many of them are oblong ridges resembling the hull of a ship
with its keel upwards. The most of them are composed of stones,
some ofthera of earth, many of them of a mixture of earth and stones, and
a few of them of sand. There is a great distinction however between
the Barrow and the Cairn ; the first being composed solely of earth,
and the last of stones. The cairns are more numerous than the bar-
rows. Some of these cairns are very large, being upwards of 300 feet
in circumference ami from 30 to 40 feet in height, and the quantity
of stones that has been dug from their bowels is almost incredible.
Many of these tumuli have been subjected from time to time to the
prying eyes of antiquaries ; and, as their researches ai-e curious, a
short notice of them may be interesting to the general reader. A\'ith-
• The aqiuv rr ipiis iiiterdiclio of tile Koman law, and ttie letters of Miteiioiiiniuiiiiit;
aui'ieiitly familmr ti». Imt now, happily, unknown in the municipal jurisprudence of on/
natl^'c country were puaiidhments evidently traceable to the Druidical times.