MAESHOWE', an artificial mound with an interior chamber, of unknown antiquity, situated on the main-land of Orkney, about 9 m. in a westerly direction from Kirkwall, and little more than a mile front the famed standing stones of Stennis. Maeshowe is. described as follows by Dr. 'William Chambers in a work (MY Holidays) privately circu lated in 1867: " It is situated in an open, heathy spot; outwardly there is little to be seen—only a circular grassy tumulus, or barrow, as it is called by antiquaries, measuring 36 ft. high, and about 92 ft. in diameter at the base, at which a low door presents itself. Made aware of our errand, a. girl from the neighboring farin-house arrives with the key of the door, a couple of candles, and a box of lucifer matches. We have also bits of candles with us; and with the whole lighted, we enter the aperture, crouching as we advance along a passage varying from a width of 2 ft. 4 in. at the entrance, to 3 ft. 4 in. at the opening into the interior chamber. The height, low at first, expands to 4 ft. 8 incites. The passage is formed by slabs of stone, above, below, and along the sides. On issuing into the central chamber, our candles at first feebly enable us to comprehend its dimensions. These we at length discover. We are in a vault built of slabs of stone, measuring 15 ft. square, except at the corners, where there are buttresses. The height is 13 feet. On each of the sides, except that with the entmnce, at a heiett of 3 ft. from the floor, there is a square opening to a cell or recess, the largest of which is 7 ft. in length by 4 ft. 6 in. in breadth. The roof of the vault had originally been constructed with slabs advancing successively layer above layer to the center; but as a result of recent repairs, when the structure was cleared out and restored to something like its former condition, the roof is now partly composed of arched masonry, with an aperture for ven tilation. As can be easily supposed, this strange subterranean _chamber is cold and! clammy. The slabs of stone are wet with damp, and nothing induces a protracted stay but the wish to examine certain Runic inscriptions and emblematic or fanciful figures •-carved on a few of the stones. These carvings were discovered only at the opening and repairing the chamber, an operation underta:ken at the instance of Mr. James Farrer, 2a.r., a learned and enthusiastic antiquary. Iv a privately circulated work on Maeshowe, by Mr. Farrer, and also in a work by Mr. J. 31. Mitchell, the carvings have been .explained partly through the assistance of Norwegian scholars. All refer to Vikings
.and other Scandinavian heroes, or to transactions in the middle ages. According to Mr. -Farrer's interpretation, it signifies: Molf Kolbainson carved these runes to Gliaut -Gbaut being possibly a comrade who fell in battle. 31r. Mitchell's translation runs thus: Tholfe Kobainsson cut these runes (on) this cave.' Such is a pretty fair spechnen of the interpretations of the different inscriptions; scarcely two persons to-reeing in the sig nification. [We have reason to believe that the diversity here referreeto arises from the fact that imperfect transcriptions of the Runes had been submitted to the foreign scholars -who acted as interpreters. We are sorry to learn that damp is likely soon to deface Ciese interesting inscriptions.] Several purport to refer to hidden treasure, a circum :stance which throws a degree of ridicule over the whole, for no one carves inscriptions cm stones, telling the world where money is secretly deposited. Of the emblematic or fanciful figures, nothing can be rnade. One is a figure of a horse with an anjmal like an otter in its mouth, a second is a winged dragon, and a third is a worm knot. These figures may represent the names of ships, or may be whimsicalities signifying nothing.
" There is nothing in these runes to explain the origin or use of the structure. We are left to conjecture that it was erected as a sepulchral vault in extremely remote times; and being opened by Scandinavian rovers, in the hope of discovering hidden treasure, they used it as a resort or hiding-place, and carved the inscriptions which still remain to attest their visits. Obviously the building and the passage communicating with it mere erected on the open plain, and then covered with the earth which forms the -tumulus. There is at sotne distance an environing mound and ditch, still pretty entire. The whole structure bears a resemblance to the vaulted tumuli in other parts of the British islands.' In one at Newgrange, on the banks of the Boyne, near Drogheda, the -walls are composed of tall blocks set on end; whereas, at Maeshowe, the slabs are built -one above another (without mortar), as in an ordinary wall. This general resemblance - points to a common origin." Capt. Burton's Ultima Thule (1875) asserts a resemblance or connection between the runes of Maeshowe and a Syrian cipher called El Mushajjar. For a minute account of Maeshowe, see a paper by Mr. John Stuart, secretary of the Scottish society of antiquaries, 1867.