Fians, Fairies and Picts Part 4

PLATE III.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Uig, inhabited in 1859._

(From Plate XII. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

See p. 47, _ante_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE IV.

BEEHIVE-HOUSES (BOTHAN) MEABHAG, FOREST OF HARRIS.]

PLATE IV.--_Bee-Hive Houses at Meabhag, Forest of Harris._

(From Plate X. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

At the date of Captain Thomas's visit (1861) a man was still living who had been born in one or other of these dwellings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE V.

GROUND PLAN OF RUINED _BOTH_ AT BAILE FHLODAIDH, ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ISLAND OF BENBECULA.

_a_. "scarcely 18 in. wide."]

PLATE V.--_Ground Plan of Bee-Hive House, Island of Benbecula._

(From Plate x.x.xII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VI.

SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MOUND DWELLING, CALLED _BOTH STACSEAL_, SITUATED MIDWAY BETWEEN STORNOWAY AND CARLOWAY, LEWIS, HEBRIDES.

"A hole (_e_), called the Farlos, is left in the apex of the roof for the escape of the smoke, and is closed with a turf or flat stone as requisite."

_Height of Dome, 7 feet._

_a, b. Doorways._

_c. Fireplace._

_d. Row of stones for seats._

_e. Centre. (Distance from e to end of cells, 7 feet.)_

_f, g, h. Cells or bed-places._

_f is "2 feet wide and 15 inches high at the inner end; is 5 feet long and 3 feet high at the mouth. The opposite cell (g) is of the same dimensions. The third cell (h) is 4 feet wide at the mouth, 5 feet long, decreasing to 2 feet wide at the head, where it is 16 inches high."_

The above is given by Captain Thomas as an example of such dwellings "having oven-like bed-places around the internal area. This interesting summer house ill.u.s.trates the most antique form of dormitory; but in the winter houses the floor of the bedroom was raised three or four feet above the ground." (Compare the side cells in Maes-How, Orkney.)]

PLATE VI.--_Chambered Mound (Both Stacseal), near Stornoway, Lewis._

(From Plate x.x.xII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

With reference to the _farlos_, or smoke-hole (otherwise "sky-light"), which, in this instance, is at a height of 7 feet from the floor of the dwelling, Captain Thomas remarks:--"A man, on standing upright, can often put his head out of the hole and look around" (_op. cit._, vol.

iii., p. 130 _n._). This suggests the following story, told by Mr. J.F.

Campbell (_West Highland Tales_, vol. ii., pp. 39-40):

"There was a woman in Baile Thangusdail, and she was out seeking a couple of calves; and the night and lateness caught her, and there came rain and tempest, and she was seeking shelter. She went to a knoll with the couple of calves, and she was striking the tether-peg into it. The knoll opened. She heard a gleegas.h.i.+ng (_gliogadaich_) as if a pot-hook were clas.h.i.+ng beside a pot. She took wonder, and she stopped striking the tether-peg. A woman put out her head and all above her middle, and she said, 'What business hast thou to be troubling this tulman [mound] in which I make my dwelling?' 'I am taking care of this couple of calves, and I am but weak. Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them to that breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of gra.s.s. If thy couple of calves eat that tuft of gra.s.s, thou wilt not be a day without a milk cow as long as thou art alive, because thou hast taken my counsel.'

"As she said, she never was without a milk cow after that, and she was alive fourscore and fifteen years after the night that was there."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VII.

GROUND PLAN OF _BOTHAN GEARRAIDH NA H'AIRDE MOIRE_, UIG LEWIS, HEBRIDES.

_a. Dwelling apartments._

_b. Fosgarlan or Porch._

_c. Cuiltean or Milk cupboards._

_d. Stonebench or Bedplace._

_AB. Line of Section._

_CD. View as represented as restored._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VIII.

SECTION AND ELEVATION OF _BOTHAN GEARRAIDH NA H'AIRDE MOIRE_, UIG, LEWIS, HEBRIDES, AND VIEW OF SAME IF RESTORED.]

PLATES VII. AND VIII.--_"Agglomeration of Bee-Hives" at Uig, Lewis._

(From Plates XV. and XVI. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)

"By far the most singular of all these structures, and probably unique in the Long Island, is at Gearraidh na h-Airde Moire, on the sh.o.r.e of Loch Resort. I cannot describe it better than by bidding you suppose twelve individual bee-hive huts all built touching each other, with doors and pa.s.sages from one to the other.

The diameter of this gigantic booth is 46 feet, and [it] is nearly circular in plan. The height of the doors and pa.s.sages about 2 feet; and under the smokehole (_farlos_), in two of the chambers, the height was 6 feet.... I am informed that, so late as 1823, this _both_ was inhabited by four families." (Captain Thomas, _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. iii., p. 139.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE IX.

PLAN AND ELEVATION OF A BOTH _at Gearraidh Aird Mhor, Uig, Lewis._

_a. dwellings._

_b. fosgarlan or porch._