Part 5

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 gleegashing (gliogadaich) as if a pot-hook were clashing 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 grass. If thy couple of calves eat that tuft of grass, 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."

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.]

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 shore 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 passages from one to the other. The diameter of this gigantic booth is 46 feet, and is nearly circular in plan. The height of the doors and passages about 2-1/2 feet; and under the smokehole (farlos), in two of the chambers, the height was 6-1/2 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.)

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

a. dwellings.

b. fosgarlan or porch.

c. cuiltean or milk cupboards.

d. doors.

e. farlos or smokehole.

"One of a group of three at the garry of Aird Mhor, close to the shore and near the mouth of Loch Resort, Uig, Lewis. This compound both has evidently been intended for two related families ... but there is no interior communication between the dwellings." (Op. cit. p. 144.)]

PLATE IX.--Compound "Both" situated near the above.

(From Plate XIV. of Vol. III. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

GROUND PLAN AND SECTIONAL VIEW OF SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN BOTH AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, MEAL NA H-UAMH, MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]

PLATE X.--"Both" and Underground Gallery at Meall na h-Uamh, Huishnish, South Uist.

(From Plate XXXIII. of Vol. VII. of Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, First Series.)

"I have next to notice," says Captain Thomas (op. cit., p. 164), "that form of bo'h, Pict's house, or clochan, whichever name may be adopted by archæologists, to which a hypogeum or subterranean gallery is attached.... [The present example] is in South Uist, about half a mile inland from Moll a Deas (South Beach); and the Moll is about one mile and a half to the south of Husinish (Husness, i.e., Houseness). The site of the bo'h is called Meall na [h-] Uamh, or Cave Lump [more correctly, the Mound of the Cave, or 'Weem.'] It consists of a partly excavated oval dwelling chamber (a), 7 feet by 14 feet on the floor; the dome roof has fallen in; there are two cuiltean, or niches in the wall. A low curved subterranean passage (b), about 2-1/2 feet square and 20 feet in length, leads into an elongated bee-hive chamber (c), 13 feet by 5 feet, and 6-3/4 feet high; from thence an entrance (d), 2 feet by 2 feet, admits to a small circular chamber or cell (e), 5 feet in diameter and 5 feet high. The main passage inclines downwards, so that the floor of the second chamber (c) is nearly 3 feet lower than that of the first (a); and that of the inner one (e) a foot below the second (c)."

GROUND PLAN OF BOTH AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, OR TIGH LAIR, NEAR MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]