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Continued entries/extra info

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Aberdeenshire Parish of Kintore

Camies' Stone Continued

"Camus, slain there, it being
only a mile from the field of
battle. There, to this day, is to be seen an obelisk,
whereon little is engraven, to evince the truth thereof; for, upon the east side is the figure of Moses (if I mistake not)
giving out the Law, engraven in three divisions: and on the side towards the west, upon the upper part, is the effigies of
our Saviour on the Cross; below which is the representation of a horseman shooting with a cross-bow. This is all I
could observe at that time; but nine years after I note that treatise, a plough, turning up the ground near this obelisk,
discovered a large sepulchur, believed to be that of Camus, inclosed with four great stones. Here, a large skeleton was
dug up, supposed to have been the body of Camus. It appeared to have received it's death by a wound on the back part of
the head, seeing a considerable part of the skull was cut away, and probably by the stroke of a sword.'"

"There is nothing in the appearance of the cross, or in the emblems on it, to lead to the conclusion that it was
intended to communicate a Danish leader who had fallen in action; indeed a base inspection of the Cross seems
almost sufficient to confute the notion. But it has been doubted whether the Danes had any leader named
Camus: it is not a Danish name, and it is not found in the older chronicles. The name of the place, too, is
spelled in old writs, and even to this day, Cambestowne, and is found in other parts of Scotland as at
Commestoune or Comiston on Kincardineshire, where also Camus is said to have fallen; and in Castian
de Camys, in Inverness-shire; Villa de Cambus and Cammis, Cambusbarsloy, and Cammismore
in Perthshire: Cambuskenneth, Cambusmichael, etc; but it is useless to accumulate instances. To these, however,
may be added the Camus Stone, which formerly stood near the Borough Muir of Edinburgh, and
the Camus Stone of Kintore, Aberdeenshire"

The name of this Stone is locally pronounced 'Camies',
it is probably a corruption of 'Camus' - there is a farm called Camiestone, on which the Stone stands;
there is a place also called "Camies' Grave", the reputed burying place of the supposed Danish General.

There is another on the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh & another in one of the Border Counties. The whole story of Camus
I think is a work of fiction. Camiestone & Cambistowne are two entirely different words. Stone, if accented, is a stone, if
unaccented is a town. This rule applies almost universally. "Camie" is a Scotch word derived from Gaelic Cairn crooked
sloping hence CamieStone may be sloping stone. In Kintore also was Cross. Carnshach with the same meaning & also
Souton Stone in Key(?). No doubt some one may have been buried at "Camies Stone" but not "General Cambus." JMD