Fians, Fairies and Picts by David MacRitchie
page 43 of 72 (59%)
page 43 of 72 (59%)
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_g_. niches in wall. _i_ _j_ _k_ _l_. various utensils.] PLATE II.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, Lewis._ (From Plate XXXI. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.) _Fig. 8._ Captain Thomas selects this as "the most modern, and at the same time the last, in all probability, that will be constructed in this manner"--viz., "roofed by the horizontal or cyclopean arch, _i.e._, by a system of overlapping stones." "The woman who was living in it [about 1869] told us it was built for his shieling by Dr. Macaulay's grandfather, who was tacksman [leaseholder] of Linshader ... and I conclude that it was made about ninety years back."[72] _Fig. 9._ Sir Arthur Mitchell says of this compound "bee-hive" house:--"The greatest height of the living room--in its centre, that is--was scarcely 6 feet. In no part of the dairy was it possible to stand erect. The door of communication between the two rooms was so small that we could get through it only by creeping. The great thickness of the walls, 6 to 8 feet, gave this door, or passage of communication, the look of a tunnel, and made the creeping through it very real. The creeping was only a little less real in getting through the equally tunnel-like, though somewhat wider and loftier passage, which led from the open air into the first or dwelling room."[73] [Footnote 72: _Op. cit._, p. 161.] |
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