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THE CELTIC IVIAGAZINE. 197ground. To the north, the Eoss-shire mountains, with the proud Een\Vyvis towering in the midst of them, are distmctly visible. In the lowgrounds the HigMand Capital, Avith its romantic environs, and intersectingriver, and beautiful islands, may be viewed to every advantage ;whileto the north-east the ]\roray Frith, lessening in breadth as it approaches,and the turretted fortifications of Fort-George in the distant horizon,decorate the attractive landscape.On the top of this hiU there are the vestiges of a vitrified fort of extensivedimensions. There are likewise many other similar forts in various parts ofScotland, but the greater number of them lie in the counties of Aberdeen,Forfar, Fife, Kincardine, Banfi", ]\toray, Argyle, Bute, and Inverness.But those that have been discovered and described, are far more numerousin the county of Inverness than in aU the other counties put together.The only Lowland shires in Avhich forts of this description have beenobserved, are GaUoAvay and Berwick. Dr Hibbert describes a number of" Cairns " in tlie Orkneys, containing masses of vitrified substances,which he calls Beacon-cairns.It is cimous to remark hoAV the same appearances to different observerslead to the most opposite conclusions. The majority of scientific gentlemenwho have visited these forts, have entertained no doubt that the vitrifiedsubstances on the tops of those hUls are vestiges of the Avorks of art,and the remains of structures reared for tlie purpose of defence. TheBisliop of Derry, Pennant, and a fcAv others, Avere of a diff'erent opinion,and maintained that they Avere not the remains of any artificial Avork, butthe traces of volcanic agency. The Bishop of Derry inspected Craig Phadruig,and carried specimens from it of Avhat he called the laA'a, to theEoyal Society of London. In the Transactions of that Society for 1777,there appeared an account of Craig Phadruig, called a " volcanic hiU,"near Inverness, in Avhich the Avriter pronounces that hill to be an extinguishedvolcano ; and the Secretary adds a note stating, that these specimens,having been examined by some of the members AveU acquaintedwith volcanic production, Avere judged by them to be real lava. SuchAvas likcAvise the opinion of Andreav Crosbie, Esq., Avho in 1780 furnishedthe Pliilosopliical Society of Edinburgh Avith a paper, in Avliich he offeredsome curious conjectures, by Avhich he supposed the Avhole of this hiU tohave been tliroAvn up from the bottom of the sea, by the operation of intestinefire.Lord Woodhouselee, so Avell kuoAvn in his day for his legal acumen,scientific knoAvledge, and genial manners, made a personal Adsit to CraigPhadruig in 1 782, and to other similar forts in the north. HaAdng read thepublished accounts of ^Ir Williams, of the Bishop of Derry, of Crosbie,and others, his lordship stated that the perusal of these diiferent opinionsexcited his curiosity to examine such of the hiUs as lie in that country,and that he proposed to speak of the result of that examination, but toconfine himself chiefly to Craig Phadruig. Craig Phadruig, said he, is asmall conical hiU Avhicli forms the eastern extremity of that ridge ofmountains Avhich bounds Loch Ness upon the north side. It is situatedabout a mUe to the north-Avest of Inverness, and is accessible on twodifferent quarters. On approaching Craig Phadruig upon the west side,