Prehistoric Remains
both customs having the authority of high antiquity. It is not certain that both methods were adopted at the same period, but it is not impossible. Round the graves of this vanished race fancy and curiosity linger, though “when the funeral pyre was out, and the last valediction over, men took a lasting adieu of their interred friends, little expecting the curiosity of future ages should comment upon their ashes; and having no old experience of the duration of their relicks, no opinion of such after considerations.” Yet their graves appeal to the popular imagination, and the belief that these fairy knowes, as they are called, are the scenes of the nocturnal gambols of the hillfolk is widespread Many of these grass-covered mounds which lie heavy on the forgotten dead are doubtless as old as the brochs, and have been used as places of sepulture by the ancient inhabitants. They are chiefly met with in the neighbourhood of
brochs—are low, flattish, circular mounds
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