or CARNES, the vulgar name of those heaps of stones which are to be seen in many places of Britain, particularly Scotland and Wales.—They are composed of stones of all dimensions thrown together in a conical form, a flat stone crowning the apex; (see Plate CXXVII.).

Various causes have been assigned by the learned for these heaps of stones. They have supposed them to have been, in times of inauguration, the places where the chief-tain-elect stood to show himself to best advantage to the people; or the place from whence judgment was pronounced; or to have been erected on the road-side in honour of Mercury; or to have been formed in memory of some solemn compact, particularly where accompanied by standing pillars of stones; or for the celebration of certain religious ceremonies. Such might have been the reasons, in some instances, where the evidences of stone-chests and urns are wanting: but these are so generally found, that they seem to determine the most usual purpose of the piles in question to have been for sepulchral monuments. Even this definition might render them suitable to other purposes; particularly religious, to which by their nature they might be supposed to give additional solemnity.—According to Toland, fires were kindled on the tops or flat stones, at certain times of the year, particularly on the eves of the 1st of May and the 1st of November, for the purpose of sacrificing; at which time all the people having extinguished their domestic hearths rekindled them from the sacred fires of the cairns. In general, therefore, these accumulations appear to have been designed for the sepulchral protection of heroes and great men. The stone-chests, the repository of the urns and ashes, are lodged in the earth beneath: sometimes only one, sometimes more, are found thus deposited; and Mr Pennant mentions an instance of 17 being discovered under the same pile.

Cairns are of different sizes, some of them very large. Mr Pennant describes one in the island of Arran, 114 feet over and of a vast height. They may justly be supposed to have been proportioned in size to the rank of the person, or to his popularity: the people of a whole district assembled to show their respect to the deceased; and, by an active honouring of his memory, soon accumulated heaps equal to those that astonish us at this time. But these honours were not merely those of the day; as long as the memory of the deceased endured, not a passenger went by without adding a stone to the heap: they supposed it would be an honour to the dead, and acceptable to his names.

Quamquam fyllinas, non est mora longa: licet, Infecto ter pulvere, curras.

To this moment there is a proverbial expression among the highlanders allusive to the old practice: a suppliant will tell his patron, Curri mi cloch er do charme, “I will add a stone to your cairn,” meaning, When you are no more, I will do all possible honour to your memory.

Cairns are to be found in all parts of our islands, in Cornwall, Wales, and all parts of North Britain; they were in use among the northern nations; Dahlberg, in his 323d plate, has given the figure of one. In Wales they are called carneddau; but the proverb taken from them there, is not of the complimentary kind: Karn ar dy ben, or, “A cairn on your head,” is a token of imprecation.