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Literary Intelligence.-Travels in Africa.

TRAVELS IN AFRICA.

At the Royal Geographical Society, Dec. 12th, an interesting paper was read, communicating some particulars of the recent discoveries in the interior of Africa by M. DOUVILLE, a French gentleman lately returned from South Africa. This enterprising traveller, who was the author of the communication, landed first at Benguela, in 1827, but shortly afterwards proceeded to Loando, and thence to the mouth of the river Bengo, or Zenza; the latter being the proper name, and the former only known to the Portuguese quite at its mouth. From this point he proceeded in a direction nearly east, examining the districts of Bengo, Icolo, Golungo, and Dembos, the latter an object of especial dread both to the natives of the adjoining provinces and to the Portuguese themselves, in consequence of a remarkable echo, that repeats the peals of thunder, which in the stormy season are almost incessant, so as to produce a truly awful detonation.

The next provinces which M. Douville examined, were those of Ambacca and Pungo Andongo, the geological formation of which he describes as extraordinarly rent and torn by volcanic action, now extinct. And thence he turned directly south through Haco, Tamba, and Bailundo, independent provinces, occupied by a fierce, warlike people, from whom, however, he met with little molestation.

From Bailundo, M. Douville was obliged to return to Benguela; but, after a very short repose, he again set forth, and proceeding S.E. first traversed the province of Nano, and thence arrived at Bihé, situate in 13° 37' south latitude, and 20° 14' east longitude from London. The general elevation of this country is about 7000 feet above the level of the sea; all its rivers are rapid, and make a very loud noise in their beds.

From Bihé the route pursued was first N. and then towards the N.E.. into the states of the Cunhinga. Thence M. Douville sent a large portion of his effects, under the care of native and Mulatto bearers, direct to Cassange, which was the point towards which he purposed ultimately proceeding, while he himself turned west, to examine a volcanic mountain on the confines between Libolo and Quisama, whence he was tempted to return to Loando for a short time, examining the provinces of Cambambé, Massangano, Muchima, and Quisama, ou his way. These are all subject to the Portuguese, except Quisama, which, though maritime, has preserved its independence; and where the inhabitants, who suffer from a want of water in the dry season, have contrived a very singular sort of reservoir. A large tree, not the Adansonia, but called there" Imbondero," is abundant in the country, averaging 60 feet girth near the ground, and growing to the height of 100 feet, with spreading branches, and bearing

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a large fruit resembling a melon in consistence, but insipid in taste, and considerably larger. This tree, then, they cut over about 60 feet from the ground, and hollow out to a considerable depth, almost, indeed, to the ground, but without otherwise cutting it down, or stripping it of its branches, which continue to flourish; and the water received in the cavity in the rainy season constitutes a provision in the dry. The trees are also used, occasionally, as prisons; and criminals are sometime starved to death in them.

From Loando, M. Douville proceeded to Ambriz; thence in a direction nearly east to rejoin his bearers at Cassange, and from this point the most remarkable part of his journey commenced. Crossing the Zahire, (which he identified with the Couaugo, and ascertained to rise in the S.E., and not, as has been imagined, N.E. from its mouth, but which receives at the same time many and even very considerable confluents from the N.E.) he penetrated to the northward, visiting states of which the names even have been hitherto unknown,-ascertaining the existence and position (between 30 and 5° of south latitude, and 290 and 30° east longitude from London) of a great lake, called by the natives Couffoua, but which he considers to be the lake Maravi of our maps; in all respects resembling lake Asphaltes, or the Dead Sea, in its own properties, and surrounded by dark, fetid mountains, which are called " stinking" in the language of the country, (mulunda gia caiba risumba); thence crossing the equator in about 300 east longitude, and gaining the parallel of 20 north; but then, wasted by fatigue and disease, having lost his wife, turning again to the south-west, and reaching the coast near Ambriz. The entire circuit accomplished was about 2000 leagues; including a direct line of 400 leagues from the seacoast; above 200 leagues further than had ever before been accomplished, and to where the rivers flowed east.

A new expedition to explore the interior of Africa is about to be undertaken by two enterprising individuals, named COLTHURST and TYRWHITT, who are not sent out by Government, though it countenances their zeal and courage by affording them a passage to the western coast of Africa in a vessel belonging to the public service. The plan proposed is to land either at the mouth of the Benin, Bonny, or Old Castlebar, and thence immediately advance into the interior. It is their intention, we understand, to proceed in a northerly direction till they shall meet with the Bahr el Abiad, and then to trace the course of that river from its source to its termination. Their object is to solve the problem of the mighty Nile; and we are glad to find that they have letters for the Pasha of Egypt, and recommendations, in Arabic, to various native chiefs who might aid them in their great and perilous undertaking.

PART II.]

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ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.

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VITRIFIED FORTS OF SCOTLAND AND THE ORKNEYS.

In our previous volumes we have occasionally noticed these curious remains of an unknown but distant period as being peculiar to Scotland. (See our vols. XCIV. ii. 260; xcvII. i. 624, &c.) Considering the interest they are calculated to excite in the minds of the antiquary, the historian, and the philosopher, the following general disquisition, accompanied by some curious facts and recent discoveries, may not prove uninteresting.

By a vitrified Fort (says Dr. HIBBERT in the "Archæologia Scotica," vol. iv.) is implied an area of ground, often of a round or elliptical form, and evidently selected for some natural defence possessed by it, which is further protected by one or more inclosing ramparts, formed by stones; these stones showing, to a greater or less extent, marks of vitrification, by which they are cemented together. None of these vitrified forts exhibit, as from many writers we should be erroneously led to suppose, any regular masonry in their structure. Unhewn fragments of stones, and water-worn bouldors, sometimes mingled with smaller gravel, appear in a quantity almost exceeding belief, following the contour of the summit of a mountain, or, as in the instance of a fort which is situated in the Kyles of Bute, following the contour of a small holm or islet, elevated a few yards only above the level of the sea; and in cases where, owing to the more exposed nature of the ground, a stronger defence is demanded, a double or even treble rampart of the same rude materials added.

The vitrification which characterizes these forts is, in some few of them, displayed to

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extent that is perfectly astonishing; while in other instances it is with difficulty to be detected. In short, no two forts in their degeees of vitrification are in any respect conformable to each other; and it is of importance to add, that throughout Scotland similar forts appear, having no marks of vitrification whatever. These forts first met with scientific attention about half a century ago, when various theories were proposed to account for the origin of their vitrification, which theories may be reduced to the following heads :

1. The notion that the vitrification observable in these forts was the result of volcanic agency.

2. The theory, that vitrification was artificially induced, as a cement for the consolidation of ramparts of loose stones.

3. The theory of Dr. Anderson, that vitrification was promoted by the employment of a peculiar vitrescible ore.

4. The theory of Lord Woodhouselee, GENT. MAG. Suppl. CI. PART II.

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that fire has not been employed in the construction, but towards the demolition of such forts as display the marks of vitrification.

5. The opinion that the vitrification of these forts was the result of beacon-fires.

This theory has met with many supporters, particularly among the contributors to Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland. But the most able advocate of this opinion is Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Bart. in an article on vitrified forts, written by him for Dr. Brewster's Encyclopædia, and in his published letter addressed to Sir Walter Scott, on the vitrified fort of Knockfarril. The chief arguments for this opinion are, that the marks of fire are indicative of an accidental rather than of an intentional effect, and that vitrified forts are generally situated on lofty insulated hills, in such a chain or mutual connection as to allow of telegraphic communications to be conveyed from one station to another at a considerable distance.

In a communication read to the Philosophical Society of Manchester, by Dr. Milligan, the author is of opinion that these beacon-fires were in use among the earliest inhabitants of Caledonia; and he supposes that, as the invasion of Agricola was attended by a fleet on the coast of Scotland, the fires seen in the interior of the country, which Tacitus describes as the flames of dwellings kindled by the inhabitants, might bave been signal-fires communicating from hill to hill, as, for instance, from Stonehaven to Bute, where a line of vitrified forts may be traced; and that this telegraphic communication was the prelude of the battle of the Grampians. Various other writers, however, assign to these forts a much later date, particularly the contributors to Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Reports. They conceive that they were in chief requisition as beacons during the descents of the Northmen, which lasted several centuries. This last opinion many, if not most, of the vitrified sites which have been examined, tend greatly to support. The coasts of Scotland began to be annoyed by the predatory visits of the Vikingr about the end of the eighth century; but it was not probably until the Scots had obtained a complete ascendency over the Picts, by which both were united under one government, that systems of beacons were formed to provide against the sudden descents of the Scandinavians, who invaded them from the Danish or Norwegian shores, or from countries which they subsequently colonized, namely, from Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Hebrides, Ireland, or the Isle of Man. The

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Vitrified Forts of Scotland and the Orkneys.

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Murray Frith, as we learn from ancient Sagas, was one of the most couvenient landing-places for the Northmen; and hence we must look to this locality for the greatest proportion of vitrified sites. The number of such as have been traced within sight of each other, in a direction east to west from Banff to Dingwall, and in a direction north to south from Cromarty to Fort Augustus, may be estimated at twenty; but it is probable that their actual amount will be eventually found to be much more. vitrified eminences appear near Huntly, connected apparently with the line of coast extending from Kinnaird's Head to the month of the Dee. More south, a chain of vitrified sites, nine or ten in number, appears to have conveyed signals from the line of coast which stretches from Kincardine to the Tay, being prolonged from Stonehaven or Dundee to the neighbourhood of Dunkeld or Crieff. On the west coast, again, we find similar vitrified sites at Bute, Cantire, Isla, Loch Etive, Loch Sunart, Fort William, or at Arisaig. The number which subsists on the west yet remains to be ascertained; about twelve have been enumerated. At Galloway, three occur, apparently as siguals against the marauding colonists of Ireland.

At the hill of Cowdenknows, on the borders of Berwickshire, although its suminit has been fortified, it is on the flank of this eminence, where little or no defence appears, but which commands the view of a considerable tract of country to the north and north-east, that a small cairn of vitrified stones is to be detected. In many other places, also, vitrification is rather to be observed on the unprotected side than upon the defended summit of a hill; which circumstance might lead us to suppose, that signals of alarm were often intended to be concealed from an invading enemy, with the design that a readier chance of success might be afforded to stratagems of repulsion. or surprise.

Wallace, who wrote in the year 1700, has stated, that even at that late period "the people (of Orkney) had in every isle a warthill or ward- hill, which is the most conspicuous and elevated part of the isle, on which, in time of war, they keep ward; and when they see the enemies' ships approaching, they put a fire, thereby to give notice to the adjacent isles of the nearness of the enemy, and to advertise them to be on their guard, or to come to their help; this they distinguished by the number of fires.

Most of the vitrified forts show internal evidence of their having been in use for some such incidental purposes as beacon-signals. Where the stones which have received the full force of the fires appear of inconsiderable depth, a complete fusion of the part has taken place; but, in other examples, the fused matter has run among the stones in small streams. In almost every case vitrifi

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cation appears in patches, the cementing process not being a continuous, but a very limited effect.

6. The probability that inany of the sites in which vitrified remains occur, were places of rendezvous for tribes or clans, upon all public occasions of peace or warfare.

7. The ancient densely-wooded state of Scotland, of which the number of vitrified sites, and the occasional intensity and extent of their vitrification, serve as indications.

The forests of Scotland, from the fifth to the fourteenth century, far exceeded in abundance or magnitude those of South Britain. Among the produce of them are enumerated the oak, the pine (pinus sylvestris or Scots fir), the birch, the hazel, the broad-leaved or Wych elm, the roan tree (or mountain ash), the common ash, the yew, the alder, the trembling poplar (populus tremula), the bird cherry (prunus padus), and the saugh or sallow.

Keeping, then, this ancient wooded state of Scotland steadily in view, it is by no means illogical to extend rather than to limit the causes which would induce our ancestors in a country overspread with trees, where arable land was also much wanted, to allow the spoils of dense woods and thickets to be kindled upon every occasion of rejoicing, of religious sacrifice, or of alarm upon the approach of an invading enemy. In fact, the effects indicative of immense piles of blazing forest trees, the vitrifying action of which would be heightened by favouring currents of wind, as by a blast furnace of surpassing intensity, are most truly marvellous, ofttimes appearing to vie with the result of volcanic incandescence.

The thirteenth or fourteenth centuries form the closing period to which we must limit the data of vitrified sites. The English, in their expedition against Scotland, endeavoured to clear the soil of its encumbering woods; and it is recorded that, in au expedition of the Duke of Lancaster, eighty thousand hatchets were heard resounding through the forests, which at the same moment were consumed by spreading fires. Lastly, as Mr. Tytler has added, many districts were soon afterwards brought into cultivation, and converted into fields and meadow-lands. After the period of the destruction of Scottish forests, it would be futile to expect that any records would indicate the continuance of vitrifying causes. The hill which, as a signal of war, once proudly blazed with the lavish conflagration of stately trees, is now illumined with little more than a paltry tar-barrel! Sic transit gloria mundi.

With these preliminary observations, we shall now proceed to notice some interesting facts, as connected with recent discoveries.

In a late Number of the Philosophical Magazine, the particulars of a vitrified fort found at Dunnochgoil, in the Isle of Bute,

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PART II.]

Vitrified Forts at Dunnochgoil and Elsness.

were communicated by Samuel Sharp, Esq. This fort (observes the writer) is on a rocky point at the south-west corner of the Isle of Bute, perhaps the point nearest to the Isle of Arran. It is at some distance from trees, habitations, and higher ground. There remains now little more than the ground-plan, which may be traced by the vitrified foundations; but at one part the wall is more than a foot high, built of rough stones not much larger than bricks, and by vitrification formed into one solid mass, much like the slag of a furnace. 'The parts can best be described by reference to the following figure.

From 9 there is a gradual ascent to the outer chamber efg h, which appears to have been surrounded on two sides ef and fg by vitrified walls. Between the outer chamber and the inner one, a b c d, there is a slight descent, which may however formerly have been a ditch of some depth. This chamber was apparently fortified by vitrified walls, not only outwards on the sides a b and bc, but also on the side cd against the outer chamber. The remains of the wall are mostly little more than foundations, but for part of the way between b and c it is more than a foot high.

There were no traces of art to prove that the neighbouring height n was any part of the fort, though it is made probable by the absence of all remains of wall on the side a dhg. The walls were probably only two or three feet thick, which, at least on three sides, was all that was necessary where the situation made them only accessible to missiles; and if there were originally any others besides those mentioned, they were

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probably not vitrified, as no traces of them are now apparent: the ground below is scattered with fragments of rock, some of which doubtless formed the walls.

The heights were estimated by guess, and the distances by pacing, and have no claims to exactness. ab perhaps 70 feet' above the shore, nearly perpendicular; bc ef ditto, not so perpendicular; 15, n 40, a rather steep. ascent; ad and hg 40, nearly perpendicular.

Between d and h the side is kept perpendicular by building, without vitrification or apparent cement. Each chamber is about 40 paces long, and 25 paces wide, the space between the chambers 3 paces, the gradual ascent from 9 above 100 paces.

The sides bab and bfq are each about 100 yards from the sea; and near b are the traces of a landing-place on the beach, which however must be either modern or accidental, as they could hardly have withstood the waves of so many centuries.

Dr. Macculloch, after describing in the Geological Transactions, vol. ii. the Fort of Dun MacSoiochan, near Oban, combats at length and successfully the opinion, that the vitrification was the effect of natural causeз; but the opinion could never have been held by one who had seen this fort in Bute, where the traces of art are so evident and so undeniable. The wall inust have been first built, and then made compact and solid by vitrification, which must have required a considerable fire to be moved from place to place, as the work proceeded.

In the Edinburgh Journal of Science, for Oct. last, there appears an interesting communication by Dr. Hibbert, on the discovery of some very extensive vitrified remains at Elsness, in Orkney; where no such remains have heretofore been discovered. Although we read in the Orkneyinga Saga of numerous beacon-signals having been lighted up in Orkney and Shetland, yet, as these islands, from remote historic times, had been destitute of forests, no fire had been raised of sufficient intensity to leave any marks of vitrification whatever upon the mounds of stone on which the inflammable materials had rested.

Elsness, lying to the south of the island of Sanday, is a promontory rather more than a mile long from north to south, and about half a mile broad. It was evidently the stronghold of a Scandinavian chief, one of the ancient sea-kings, being dignified by the presence upon it of the remains of a burgh, or circular fort, as well as of a large sepulchral tumulus, which bears the name of Egmond's How, and of a number of smaller cairns ranged near it in a semicircular form, which, perhaps, were likewise the ancient resting-places of the brave. Another contiguous site, which, by means of a low continuous mound of earth, is made to take the form of a large crescent, indicates by this particular structure the place of a

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Vitrified Forts at Elsness in Orkney.

weaponshaw, or the site where a tribe was accustomed upon any hostile alarm to repair fully armed. Again, about three quarters of a mile to the north of Elsness, close to the ancient church named Mary Kirk, may be traced the limits of an ancient ting, where, in Pagan times, the functions of the priest and the judge were combined.

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But the most interesting remains of which Elsness can boast, are the beacon cairns with which it is studded over ;-many of these exhibiting unequivocal testimony of a vitrification quite as intense as is to be traced in any vitrified fort of Scotland.

These round cairns, of which Dr. Hibbert counted more than twenty, are from three to five yards in diameter, and elevated from two to three feet above the surface of the ground. The stone fragments, of which they are composed, which had evidently been collected from the beach, consist of what geologists would name an argillaceous schist; being, in this instance, an equivalent of the Mansfield slate. Their fusibility they have chiefly derived from the felspar, or rather the alkali, which they contain. The bitu. minous matter which may often be found to enter into their composition, and which, if constantly present, would materially add to their fusibility, is but an occasional occur

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factorily, than by contrasting them with the appearances induced on subjacent stones by the fires of the kelp-burners of Orkney; where, if vitrification is at all produced, it is slight in the extreme, and rarely cements stones to an extent exceeding a few inches. This difference would indicate that a vitrification, in order to be considerable, must be a work of time, demanding that the same cairn, for perhaps a century or more, should be the unvaried site on which beacon-fires were kindled.

The cairns of Eisness are not, however, all vitrified alike. On some of them a single burnt stone could not be detected, while in other instances a cairn would almost put on the appearance of one compact burnt mass. Too many of them also were concealed by a thick sward, so that their character for vitrification still remains indeterminate.

From these facts we may proceed to the following conclusions :

For three or four centuries, that is from the 10th to the 14th, the Scandinavian province of Orkney, always impatient of the control of the mother country, had no enemies to contend with so formidable as the kings of Norway, who frequently paid them hostile visits, to reduce them to submission. Against these incessant invasions the Orcadians were generally well prepared by keeping up a careful watch in their more northerly isles, which, upon the first approach of an enemy from the shores of Norway, should convey signals to a fleet anchored in a convenient port, and ready to put to sea, there to contend with its foes long before they could possibly land. These simple historical circumstances are abundantly unfolded to us in the Orkneyinga Saga. Our inquiry, therefore, becomes comprised in the following questious; First, In what part of Orkney were its ancient gallies most commonly moored? And secondly, In what manner were timely signals conveyed to the fleet thus moored to arm and put to sea?

The first of these questions is soon resolved. It is evident, that, as hostile attacks were chiefly to be dreaded from the north, the most northerly harbour which could afford good shelter and depth of water for ships, provided also that it was situated on the east coast of Orkney, would be preferred: as these two circumstances of situation united, would be requisite for readily clearing out to oppose a hostile fleet, advancing in its proper course from Norway. Now, the most northerly island, lying also to the east of the Orkney group, is North Ronaldsay;-but here there is no harbour whatever. Nor is the island of Sanday, the next in succession, much more fortunate; its navigation being greatly obstructed by surrounding shoals of sand, whence the island has derived its name. In short, there is no port whatever which could have afforded any convenience to early war ships,

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