Scotland/Scots > Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

i6z A JOURNEY TO THE
fion for water, it could not have been a
fortrefs. In Sky, as in every other place,
there is an ambition of exalting whatever
has furvived memory, to feme important
ufe, and referring it to very remote ages.
I am inclined to fufped:, that in lawlefs
times, when the inhabitants of every moun¬
tain flole the cattle of their neighbour,
thefe inclofures were ufed to fecure the
herds and flocks in the night. When they
were driven within the vvat1, they might
be eafily watched, and defended as long as
could be needful; for the robbers durft not
wait till the injured clan fhould find them
in the morning.
The interior inclofures, if the whole
building were once a houfe, were the cham¬
bers of the chief inhabitants. If it was a
place of fecurity for cattle, they were pro¬
bably the fhelters of the keepers.
From the Dun we were conduced to
another place of fecuiity, a cave carried a
great