Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 4.djvu/357

 arrow. It is equally evident that it could not have been any part of the design of this work to bring the supposed roads within a limited and fixed distance, as although the vertical distance of the lines is equal, their horizontal one varies extremely according to the inclination of the ground, so that approximate lines which are in some cases but 100 feet asunder will in others be separated to 1000 and more.

If we consider them lastly as intended for a species of decoy it will be necessary to discover by what means the deer were to be enticed into them: the hunters who now drive the forests of Ben Gloe or Mar would smile at him who should attempt to drive a herd of deer into a fenced lane. In fact they bear no resemblance to any practicable species of decoy, and we have fortunately still preserved in the island of Rum vestiges of a real decoy used for this purpose. It appears to have consisted of two stone dikes arising high in the hills and gradually contracting in their dimensions till they terminated in a tall circular enclosure, in which the deer were at length confined and killed. It may be added finally that the great number of these lines as well as their proximity are also arguments against this notion.

Viewing them indeed in the most vague light as roads, even if we do not attempt to assign an object for them, they are either deficient in the qualities which a road requires, or they do not exhibit the marks by which it would be characterized, or lastly they are arranged in a manner so capricious as to render a motive for their disposition unfathomable.

Wherever the hill is formed of a soft alluvium they possess the greatest breadth, while, on the contrary, wherever the ground is rocky, they are scarcely to be traced. It is plain that they should, if they had been roads, have exhibited superior permanence in the most durable materials. We cannot escape this objection by saying