[53] Notices of remains found in tumuli and cists, of gigantic stature, frequently occur in the Statistical Accounts and other local records, but the statements are generally too vague to be of any value. Erroneous opinions, I believe, most frequently arise from comparing the _femur_ or thigh-bone with the apparent length of the thigh, by persons ignorant of anatomy. Nothing, however, more readily secures distinction among a rude warlike people than the personal strength accompanying superior stature, if combined with corresponding courage; it need not therefore excite surprise if the larger tumuli should occasionally be found to cover the remains of some primitive chief of gigantic stature. [54] The account which Tacitus gives of the simpler rites of the ancient Germans probably more nearly accords with those of the primitive Britons: "Funerum nulla ambitio; id solum observatur, ut corpora clarorum virorum certis lignis crementur. Struem rogi nec vestibus, nec odoribus cumulant; sua cuique arma, quorundam igni et equus adjicitur."--Tacit. de Morib. Germ. cap. 27. [55] Ipsum cremare apud Romanos non fuit veteris instituti, terra condebantur.--Hist. Nat. lib. vii. c. 54. [56] Cases occur where the original tumulus has been adopted as a place of sepulture long subsequent to its original construction. Care is therefore required to discriminate between superficial interments of late date, and the original cist or urns; but it is rarely difficult to detect the evidences of intrusion. The slight depth at which they are generally interred affords in itself a striking contrast to the labour exercised by the constructors of the sepulchral mound. It is also to be borne in remembrance, that all the urns found in tumuli are not sepulchral, or proofs of cremation. [57] De Bell. Gall. lib. vi. chap. 19. [58] Dr. Hodgkin read a paper at the meeting of the British Association, held at York in 1844, on the dog as the associate of man, chiefly with a view to shew how much the study of the inferior animals which, by accident or design, have accompanied man in his diffusion over the globe, is calculated to throw light on the affinities of races. [59] Ure's History of Rutherglen, p. 124. [60] Ure's History of Kilbride, pp. 216-219. [61] By N. K. Sjöborg. Two vols. quarto. Stockholm, 1822. [62] Graham's Antiquities of Iona, Plate III. [63] Worsaae's Primeval Antiquities, p. 109. [64] Sinclair's Statist. Acc. vol. xix. p. 441. [65] New Statist. Acc. vol. x. p. 717. [66] Petrie's Eccles. Architect. of Ireland, pp. 103-5. [67] Add. to Camd. Brit. in Radnorshire. [68] New Statist. Acc. vol. iv., Kirkcudbright, pp. 132, 133. [69] Pennant's Tour, vol. i. p. 156. [70] New Statist. Acc., Dumfriesshire, vol. iv. p. 475. [71] Itiner. Septen. Append. pp. 171-177. [72] Dumfries Journal, June 24, 1828. MS. Communication, Soc. Antiq. Scot., Andrew Brown, Esq., read March 9, 1829. [73] Sinclair's Statistical Account, vol. i. p. 292.