Cairnie, Aberdeenshire. Other examples will come under our notice, all indicating the prevalence of the custom above referred to, so consonant with barbarian ideas of rank, and with the rude conceptions of a future state which still linger in parts of the Asiatic continent, where the philologist has traced the evidences of a common origin with the wandering tribes that found their way across the continent of Europe and peopled the British Isles. This, however, in passing: the reader will find no difficulty in separating fact from fancy when judging for himself. The Long Barrow has been stated to belong apparently to the rude primeval period; but the number of examples which have been carefully examined are still too few to admit of very positive conclusions being assumed. A remarkable group of Scottish long barrows occurs in the immediate neighbourhood of the Pass of Keltnie, Perthshire. One of them was opened in 1837, and found to contain unburnt bones, along with which were discovered several rude horn lance-heads and pieces of bone artificially cut. The state of preservation in which these were, when compared with the rapid decay of the human remains almost immediately on their exposure to the air, opens up an interesting inquiry in relation to these primitive sepulchral deposits. The very different conditions in which the contiguous bones are found seem at first sight incompatible with the idea of their having been deposited along with the original occupants of the barrow. But the fragile texture of the human skeleton, when compared with that of the lower animals, is well known. Professor Goodsir informs me that his investigations have led him to the direct conclusion that the bones of the lower animals decay much less rapidly than those of man. The state of the skeletons of dogs and horses found in the tumuli confirms this conclusion, which is probably sufficiently accounted for by the greater delicacy of structure characterizing the human osteology. But independently of this, bone implements finished and deposited in a cist or tumulus in a perfect state, would be much less directly exposed to the influences affecting the skeleton amid the decomposition of the vascular tissues. It may be noted along with these observations on early tumuli, that a large conical cairn in the vicinity of the long barrows of Keltnie was demolished in 1836. It contained eleven cists, several of which inclosed cinerary urns, but no metallic relics were found in them.