]
PLATES XIV., XV., AND XVI.--_Maes-How, Orkney._
These plates represent the "Pict's house" referred to by Captain Thomas
(pp. 50-51, _ante_), with regard to which he says:--"Maes howe was for
three families--grandees, no doubt; but the numbers it was intended to
hold in the _beds_ may be learned by comparing them with the Amazon's
House, St. Kilda."
The structure last named is described by Captain Thomas and Mr. T.S.
Muir in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_ (pp. 225-228), where it is
stated:--"The Amazon's House is of the same class with our earliest
stone buildings--belonging to the era of cromlechs, stone-circles,
Picts' castles, &c.; but while in other parts of Britain the style and
type have vanished for a thousand years, in the Outer Hebrides we find
them (in the Bothan [_i.e._, 'boths' or 'bee-hive houses'] of Uig)
continued to the present day." The following additional remarks by
Captain Thomas are also of interest in this connection:--"It appears
that besides the Tigh na Bhanna ghaisgach (Ty-na-Van-a-ghas-gec), or
Amazon's House--and of whom all tradition, except her name, has
gone--there are the remains of other submerged dwellings and hypogea.
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