station, or that, their road being more direct, v has been substituted for x, in the distance to In medio. Some have supposed that the Romans having no way formed through this pass in the Grampians, the distance from Tamea to the nameless station had only been computed; but, had this been the case, it must have been from the time occupied in their march, and, as crossing the Grampians would be tedious and harassing, the length of the road, by computation, was more likely to be greater than to fall short of the actual measurement. As antiquaries differ about the site of In medio, so also they entertain different opinions concerning the origin of the name. Some suppose it means, in the middle of the river, Inchtuthil having formerly been an island in the Tay: others think it means, in the middle of the forest; and there seems no reason to doubt that this was the medio nemetum of Ravennas: a third party are of opinion it means, in the middle of the Great Valley, or Strathmore. It is not in the mid-way of the distance; notwithstanding, it may perhaps mean, the middle station between ad vallum, or the Wall of Antoninus, and Ptoroton—5 stations being on this side, and 5 on that; though the names of those on this side be not all mentioned in the 10th Iter, as they are in the 9th; thus,-Alauna, Lindum, Victoria, Hierna, Orea→ In medio nameless station, Tamea, Tuessis, Varis, Ptoroton. Whatever may have been the origin of the name, we incline to think Meiklour was the situation, chiefly because the distance to Orea by the Iter, is VIIII Roman, or 8 English miles, which corresponds exactly with the distance from Meiklour to Bertha. From Inchtuthil it is somewhat less; and from Cupar Angus considerably more, being 10 English miles. 58 ROMAN ROAD FROM BERTHA TO CUPAR ANGUS. In the 10th Iter, the distance between Orea and Victoria is XVIII Roman miles, whereas, in the 9th, it is XXIII. This last suits with the real distances of the existing vestiges of Roman works, and other circumstances; it is therefore to be preferred, and the first rejected as erroneous but the difference is unlucky, as it shews that the distances in the Itinera cannot be depended upon absolutely, though their agreement with the actual measurements are wonderfully near. We shall now take leave of Richard, having gone over his valuable Itinera, and noticed all the stations that he mentions, north of the wall of Antoninus, the subject being not only curious in itself, and interesting to the antiquary, but also important in a historical point of view, evincing that the Roman dominion in Scotland, for some time, extended to the Moray Firth. What an astonishing people were the Romans! After the lapse of seventeen hundred years, we are still able to trace their roads, and to follow their footsteps; some of their stations are, apparently, as palpable as on the day they left them, in the second century; and we can examine even the temporary camps, which they occupied only for a short time, a few days, or perhaps a single night: so entire are the intrenchments, and so perfect was their system of castrametation, we can, for the most part, calculate the number of troops that these camps would contain! Returning to Orea, we find a Roman causeway proceeding from Bertha towards Cupar Angus; and it is probable that it joined the 9th Iter at Esica, on the South Esk, as it has been traced at various places in that direction. From Derder's Ford, it goes through the camp at Grassy Walls, and in a north-east direction passes Byres, and crosses the high ground in the parish of Cargill, giving off branches to Inchtuthil and Meiklour, and was doubtless joined by the 10th Iter, at one of these stations, or at Cupar Angus. We shall now endeavour to give some account of the Roman remains found in this quarter; premising, that, as there are not fewer than four camps within a distance of six miles, it is by no means likely that they were all occupied by the same army at different times. The most westerly, is Inchtuthil, formerly an island of nearly 200 imperial acres in extent, and is, in general figure, a triangle, on the north point of which stands Delvin House. Steep on all sides, and elevated about 50 feet above the neighbouring plain, the situation is naturally strong.* The old works remaining consist of four parts: 1st, a camp 1500 feet square; 2dly, a square redoubt, near the east point of the island, on the top of the bank, and overlooking the Tay; 3dly, a long intrenchment to the westward of the camp, extending across the island from the top of one bank to the top of the other, and inflected near the middle; and 4thly, a strong intrenched post at the extreme point of the island, towards the west. The contour of the camp can be distinctly traced; excepting a part of the north side, which has been washed away by the river, and the angle at the village of Inchtuthil, which has been ploughed down: portions of the other works mentioned, have likewise been washed away. A place so well calculated for defence, was probably fortified in their own way, and inhabited by the natives; yet, from the style, and particularly from the figure of the large camp, there is reason to believe, that all, or the greater part, of the * A Roman bath was found at Delvin. MAITLAND, Hist. Scot. page 149. intrenchments were raised by the Romans. The camp, upon the Polybian system, would hold 11,000; and, by the system of Heginus, 29,000 men. General Roy thinks the form different from the camps of Agricola, and the intrenchments stronger than those supposed to have been thrown up by that commander. The post at the west point of the island is semicircular, with an imperfect breast-work, following the curvature of the bank, and is secured on the land side by five ramparts, running parallel to each other across the point. In the area are five tumuli, and part of a square prætorium : besides these tumuli, there are two others, situated between the camp and the square redoubt, and the largest of these is called "The Women's Knowe." The works at Inchtuthil are generally supposed to be either. Pictish or Danish. The tumuli, and particularly those in the semicircular post, favour this conjecture, it being unusual to see the area of Roman works filled with mounds: but, though the Romans might be the original constructors of the whole, or at least of the greater part of the works in this island, there is no inconsistency in supposing, that, after their departure, the Picts or Danes, might take possession, and new-model them, in some respects, according to their own taste. Boece says, that the Picts had a town here, called Tulina, which they deserted and burnt on the approach of the Romans. The natives may have had a town here in the first century, and may have acted in the manner described by Boece; but the story appears to be a mere fable, founded on fumantia tecta, "smoking roofs," which, according to Tacitus, were seen by the Romans after the defeat of Galgacus. As for the name Tulina, it is likely the barbarous natives could not even have pronounced a word so soft. Inchtuthil is derived from the Gaelic, and simply signifies "The North Island;" in contradistinction to two or three which lie to the southward. It is, however, not improbable, that the famous Vikingr,* Regner Lodbrog,† occupied this Roman During the middle ages, the Gothic tribes, who then held Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, became formidable, as pirates, to all maritime Europe. They scoured every sea, and ravaged every shore. They conquered England, the greater part of Ireland, the Shetland and Orkney Isles, the Hebudes, or Western Isles, and the Isle of Man. They also took possession of several peninsulæ, or tongues of land, in the West Highlands, with Caithness and Sutherland, and part of Buchan. Upon the main land, however, they were independent only for a short time, and held their possessions subject to the Scottish kings. They repeatedly ravaged Pictavia, and every coast of North Britain; yet, such was the hardihood of the ancient inhabitants, they were unable to make any permanent conquest in Scotland. They took possession of Picardie and Normandy, in France; and, from Normandy, they again conquered England. They ravaged the shores of the Mediterranean sea, and conquered Sicily in short, their exploits are almost unparalleled in the annals of the world. They first appeared on the east coast of England in 787, and some years afterward, on the shores of North Britain. Their piracies were gradually left off, as Christianity was introduced into the northern kingdoms, toward the end of the tenth, and during the eleventh century. These rovers were distinguished, generally, by the name of Northmen; but they called themselves Vikingur, or Vikingr, that is, Sea kings. The etymology of Vikingr is uncertain: it has been supposed to be derived from Vik, a haven, or Vig, a ship, or perhaps Vijg, a warrior, Gothic Dialects, Andreas, Ihre, &c. A great proportion of our British nobles are descendants of these Vikingr, or Northmen. : + Regner Lodbrog, king of Denmark, was one of the most famous of the Vikingr, and for many years, during the earlier part of the ninth century, he made every shore of Europe tremble. It was his misfortune, however, to fall at last into the hands of Ella, king of Northumberland, a country which Regner had |