But this is very well
shown in Plates VI. and VIII. Of the "agglomeration of beehives"
pictured in the latter, Sir Arthur Mitchell observes:--"It has several
entrances, and would accommodate many families, who might be spoken of
as living in one mound, rather than under one roof" (_op. cit._ pp.
64-5). Of another such dwelling, now ruined, he says that it could have
accommodated "from forty to fifty people."
This last, however (Plates XI. and XII.), represents another variety of
earth-house, the chambered mound or beehive, with an underground gallery
leading to it. Of this kind two examples are here shown. And in Plates
I. and XIII. will be seen specimens of wholly subterranean structures.
It is difficult, and indeed hardly necessary, to distinguish between one
variety and another of what is practically the same kind of building;
but to this last class the term "earth-house" is most frequently
accorded in Scotland. In the broader dialect it is "yird-house" or
"eirde-house," which at once recalls the form "jord-hus" in the saga
which tells of Leif's adventure underground in Ireland. The term _weem_
is also applied to these places in Scotland.
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