A P P E N D I X.
N U M B E R V.
P A R A L L E L ROADS in GLEN^ROT.
AL L the defcription that can be given of the Parallel Roads, or
Terraffes, is, that the Glen of itfelf is extremely narrow, and
the hills on each fide very high, and generally not rocky. In the!
face of thefe hills, both fides of the Glen, there are three roads at fmallj
diftances from each other, and directly oppofite on each fide, Thefe!
roads bave been meafured in the completed: parts of them, and found!
to be 26 paces of a man five feet ten inches high. The two higheft,
are pretty near each other, about 50 yards, and the loweft double!
that diftance from the neareft to it. They are carried along the!
fides of the Glen with the utmoft regularity, nearly as exaft as drawn!
with a line o f rule and compafs.
Where deep burns or gullies of water crofs thefe roads, they avoid!
both the defcent and afcent in a very curious manner -r fo that on the!
fide where the road enters thofe hollows, they rather afcend along!
the Hope, and defcend the oppofite fide until they come to the level!
without the traveller being fenfible of afcent or defcent. There arej
other fmaller glens falling into this Glen.-Roy. The parallel roads!
furround all thefe fmaller ones ; but where Glen-Roy ends in the open!
country, there are not the fmalleft veftiges of them to be feen. The!
length of thefe roads in Glen-Roy are about feven miles. There arej
other two glens in that neighbourhood, where thefe roads are equally
vifible, called Glen-Gluy, and Glen-Spean, the former running north-1
A P P E N D I X. 395
well: anti the latter fouth from Glen-Roy. Both thefe roads are much
about the fame length as Glen-Roy.
It is to be obferved that thefe roads are not caufeway, but levelled
out of the earth. There are fome fmall rocks, though few, in the
courfe of thefe roads. People have examined in what manner they
made this paffage through the rocks, and find no veftige of roads in
the rock ; but they begin on each fide, and keep the regular line as
formerly. So far I am indebted to Mr. Trapaud, Governor of Fort
Auguftus.
I cannot learn to what nation the inhabitants of the country attri-
bute thefe roads : I was informed that they were inacceffible at the
call: end, open at the weft, or that neareft to the fea, and that there
[ w e r e no traces of buildings, or Druidical remains, in any part, that
could lead us to fufpeft that they were defigned for oeconomical or
[religious purpofes. The country people think they were defigned
for the chace, and that thefe terrafles were made after the fpots were
cleared in lines from wood, in order to tempt the animals into the
[open paths after they were rouzed, in order that they might come
within reach of the bowmen, who might conceal themfelves in the
woods above and below. Ridings for the fportfmen are ftill common
in all great forefts in France, and other countries on the conti-
1 nent, either that they might purfue the game without interruption
! of trees, or fhoot at it in its paffage.
Mr. Gordon, p. 114, of his Itinerary, mentions fuch terrafles, to
the number of feventeen or eighteen, raifed one above the other in
the moft regular manner, for the fpace of a mile, on the fide of a hill,
in the county of Tweedale, near a village called Romanai and all'o
Hear two fmall Roman camps. They are from fifteen to twenty feet
E e e 2 broad,