{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40290/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40290","id":"gutenberg_40290","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40290","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Ethnology -- Great Britain","Folklore -- Great Britain","Great Britain -- Antiquities, Celtic","Picts","Scotland -- Antiquities"],"text":"THE TESTIMONY OF TRADITION.\n\n\nBY THE SAME AUTHOR.\n\n ANCIENT AND MODERN BRITONS: a Retrospect.\n 2 vols., demy 8vo, 24s.\n\n ACCOUNTS OF THE GYPSIES OF INDIA. Collected\n and Edited. With Map and 2 Illustrations.\n Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\nLondon : Kegan Paul, Trench, Tr\u00fcbner & Co., Ltd.\n\n\n[Illustration: THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE, NEW GRANGE, COUNTY MEATH.\n(_From the South._)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nTESTIMONY OF TRADITION\n\n\nBY\nDAVID MACRITCHIE\n\nAUTHOR OF \"ANCIENT AND MODERN BRITONS\"\n\n\n_WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n\nLONDON\nKEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TR\u00dcBNER & CO., LIMITED\n1890\n\n\n\n\nLONDON:\n\nPRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,\n\n70 TO 76, LONG ACRE, W.C.\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nA large portion of this work has already appeared in the form of a\nseries of articles contributed to the _Arch\u00e6ological Review_\n(Aug.-Oct., 1889, and Jan., 1890), but these have here undergone\nsome alteration and have been supplemented to a considerable extent.\n\nWith regard to the correctness of the deductions drawn in the\nfollowing pages from the facts and traditions there stated, there\nmay easily be a difference of opinion. And indeed one writer, Mr.\nAlfred Nutt, in the course of a very learned dissertation on the\nDevelopment of the Fenian or Ossianic Saga,[1] has expressed his\ndissent from the theories advanced in the articles referred to. It\nwould be out of place to enter here into a consideration of the\ngrounds of Mr. Nutt's objections, even if that did not demand an\nundue amount of space; but it may be pointed out that the articles\nupon which his criticism is based only state very partially the case\nwhich even the following more enlarged version is far from\npresenting fully. But what is of much greater importance is, that\nthe theory which I have here endeavoured to set forth has the\npeculiar advantage of possessing a tangible test of its worth. What\nthat test is will be readily seen by every reader. If the result of\nfuture arch\u00e6ological excavations should be to confirm tradition (as\nit is needless to say the writer of these pages believes will be the\ncase), the question then will be one, not of interpreting tradition\nso that it may square with current beliefs, but of modifying or\naltering these beliefs, where they are distinctly in disagreement\nwith tradition.\n\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[1] Appended to the collection of \"Folk and Hero Tales from\nArgyllshire\" which forms the second volume of the series entitled\n\"Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition\" (London, 1890; published by\nthe Folk-Lore Society).\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n PREFACE v\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n Shetland Finns--Orkney Finnmen--Finn Localities--Kayaks\n and Kayak-men--An Orkney Kayak of 1696 1-11\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n \"Zee-Woners\"--Piratical Mer-folk--Landsmen and Mermen--\n Iberian Skin-boats--Boats made by Norway Finns--\"Marine\n People\" of the Hebrides--Probable Finns in Galloway 12-25\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n \"Inhabitants of the Isles of this Kingdom\"--The Isles in\n the Seventeenth Century--\"Barbarous Men\" 26-32\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n Homes of the Finns--Norwegian Suzerainty 33-38\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n Finnish Influence in Norway 39-42\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n The Feinne--The Battle of Gawra--The Feenic Confederacy 43-50\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n Feens or Cruithn\u00e9--Fin in the Kingdom of the Big\n Men--Dwarfish Tyrants 51-57\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n Pechts or Dwarfs--Pechts' Houses--Earth-Houses in\n Greenland--\"Interlude of the Droichs\" 58-65\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n How the Pechts Built--Pecht-lands--The Builders of\n Corstorphine Church--\"Unco wee bodies, but terrible\n strang\" 66-74\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n Strongholds of the Feens--The _Broch_ and the\n _Sith-Bhrog_ 75-79\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n Fians and Fairies--Tenth-Century Fairies--Continental\n Fians and Fairies--Finn and his Dwarf in Sylt 80-88\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n Witchcraft of the Trollmen--The King of the Sidhtir of\n Munster--The \"Great-Beamed Deer\" of the Feens--Reindeer in\n Scotland in the Twelfth Century--Pechts and Fairies 89-100\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n Hollow Hillocks--The Settler and the Mound-Dwellers--\n \"Hog-Boys\"--Maes-How--Interior of the Chambered\n Mound--A Dwarf's House in Sylt--The Little People in\n Scotland--Fairy Mounds 101-118\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n The Brugh of the Boyne--The Brugh as Described in\n 1724--Gaels _versus_ Dananns--Dananns, Fir Sidhe, or\n Fairies--Cruithne=Feinne--Inmates of the Brugh--Plunder\n of the Boyne Hillocks in 861--_Sith Eamhna_--Tales of\n Adventures in \"Weems\"--The Dowth Mound 119-140\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n Goblin Halls--The Castle Hill of Clunie--Tomnahurich,\n Inverness--The Palace of the King of the Pechts--Pecht\n Localities--The Fairy Knowe of Aberfoyle--Chambered\n Mounds 141-155\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n Scott's \"Rob Roy\"--Shaggy Men--Red Fairies of Wales--\n Brownies and Forest-Men--The Ainos--A Hairy Race--Modern\n \"Pechts\"--Cave-Men--Dwarf-Tribes and Reindeer--_P\u00ffgmei\n Vulgo Screlinger Dicti_ 156-175\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n Platycnemic Men--_Ur-uisg_=_Mailleachan_ 176-180\n\n\n Appendix A.--_The Brugh of the Boyne_ 181-189\n\n Appendix B.--_The Skr\u00e6lings_ 190-193\n\n Index 195-205\n\n\n\n\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE, NEW GRANGE, COUNTY MEATH _Frontispiece._\n\n KAYAKKER IN HIGH SEA _To face page_ 12\n\n WIGWAMS OF THE JURA ISLANDERS IN 1772 \" 24\n\n MAES-HOW, ORKNEY \" \" 108\n\n SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND PLAN OF MAES-HOW \" 108\n\n THE INTERIOR OF THE \"HOW\" \" 109\n\n SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE \" \" 120\n\n DOORWAY OF THE BRUGH \" 121\n\n ENLARGED SECTIONAL VIEW OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER,\n BRUGH OF THE BOYNE \" \" 122\n\n GROUND PLANS OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH OF\n THE BOYNE (From Drawings of 1724 and 1889) \" \" 124\n\n EASTERN RECESS OF CENTRAL CHAMBER, BRUGH OF THE BOYNE \" \" 126\n\n DOWTH (_Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath_), COUNTY MEATH \" \" 136\n\n PLAN OF DOWTH \" 137\n\n PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER AT DOWTH \" 138\n\n BEE-HIVE CHAMBER, DOWTH \" 139\n\n KNOWTH (_Uaimh Cnoghbhai_), COUNTY MEATH \" \" 140\n\n THE DWARFS OF GERMAN FOLK-LORE \" \" 164\n\n AN AINO PATRIARCH \" 168\n\n AINO OF 1804 \" 170\n\n A \"GOOD FAIRY\" OF TRADITION \" 173\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nTESTIMONY OF TRADITION.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\nIn one of an interesting series of papers on \"Scottish, Shetlandic,\nand Germanic Water Tales,\"[2] Dr. Karl Blind remarks as follows:--\n\n It is in the Shetland Tales that we hear a great deal of\n creatures partly more than human, partly less so, which\n appear in the interchangeable shape of men and seals. They\n are said to have often married ordinary mortals, so that\n there are, even now, some alleged descendants of them, who\n look upon themselves as superior to common people.\n\n In Shetland, and elsewhere in the North, the sometimes\n animal-shaped creatures of this myth, but who in reality\n are human in a higher sense, are called _Finns_. Their\n transfiguration into seals seems to be more a kind of\n deception they practise. For the males are described as\n most daring boatmen, with powerful sweep of the oar, who\n chase foreign vessels on the sea. At the same time they are\n held to be deeply versed in magic spells and in the healing\n art, as well as in soothsaying. By means of a \"skin\" which\n they possess, the men and the women among them are able to\n change themselves into seals. But on shore, after having\n taken off their wrappage, they are, and behave like, real\n human beings. Anyone who gets hold of their protecting\n garment has the Finns in his power. Only by means of the\n skin can they go back to the water. Many a Finn woman has\n got into the power of a Shetlander and borne children to\n him; but if a Finn woman succeeded in reobtaining her\n sea-skin, or seal-skin, she escaped across the water. Among\n the older generation in the Northern isles persons are\n still sometimes heard of who boast of hailing from Finns;\n and they attribute to themselves a peculiar luckiness on\n account of that higher descent.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Tales of the descent of certain families from water beings\n of a magic character are very frequent in the ... North. In\n Ireland such myths also occur sporadically. In Wales ...\n the origin from mermen or mermaids is often charged as a\n reproach upon unhappy people; and rows originate from such\n assertions. In Shetland the reverse is, or was, the case.\n There the descendants of Finns have been wont to boast of\n their origin; regarding themselves as favourites of\n Fortune....\n\n * * * * *\n\n But who are the Finns of the Shetlandic story? Are they\n simply a poetical transfiguration of finny forms of the\n flood? Or can the Ugrian race of the Finns, which dwells in\n Finland, in the high north of Norway, and in parts of\n Russia, have something to do with those tales in which a\n Viking-like character is unmistakable?\n\n * * * * *\n\n Repeated investigations have gradually brought me to the\n conviction that the Finn or Seal stories contain a\n combination of the mermaid myth with a strong historical\n element--that the Finns are nothing else than a fabulous\n transmogrification of those Norse \"sea-dogs,\" who from eld\n have penetrated into the islands round Scotland, into\n Scotland itself, as well as into Ireland. \"Old sea-dog\" is\n even now a favourite expression for a weather-beaten,\n storm-tossed skipper--a perfect seal among the wild waves.\n\n The assertion of a \"higher\" origin of still living persons\n from Finns ... would thus explain itself as a wildly\n legendary remembrance of the descent from the blood of\n Germanic conquerors. The \"skin\" wherewith the Finns change\n themselves magically into sea-beings I hold to be their\n armour, or coat of mail. Perhaps that coat itself was often\n made of seal-skin, and then covered with metal rings, or\n scales, as we see it in Norman pictures; for instance, on\n the Bayeux tapestry. The designation of Norwegian and\n Danish conquerors, in Old Irish history, as \"scaly\n monsters,\" certainly fits in with this hypothesis.\n\n * * * * *\n\n But however the Finn name may be explained etymologically,\n at all events Norway appears in the Shetland tales, and in\n the recollection of the people there, as the home of the\n \"Finns.\" And this home--as I see from an interesting bit of\n folk-lore before me--is evidently in the south of\n Norway....\n\n \"Before coming to this important point, I may mention a\n Shetlandic spell-song ... [which] refers to the cure of the\n toothache; the Finn appearing therein as a magic\n medicine-man:--\n\n A Finn came ow'r fa Norraway,\n Fir ta pit t\u00f6th-ache away--\n Oot o' da flesh an' oot o' da bane;\n Oot o' da sinew an' oot o' da skane;\n Oot o' da skane an' into da stane;\n An dare may do remain!\n An dare may do remain!\n An dare may do remain!\n\n In this, though not strictly and correctly, alliterative\n song, the Finn is not an animal-shaped creature of the\n deep, but a man, a charm-working doctor from Norway....\n Presently we will, however, see that the Finns of the\n Shetlandic stories are martial pursuers of ships, to whom\n ransom must be paid in order to get free from them. This\n cannot apply ... to a mere marine animal or sea monster:\n for what should such a creature do with ransom money?... As\n to their animal form, Mr. George Sinclair writes:--\n\n \"Sea monsters are for most part called 'Finns' in Shetland.\n They have the power to take any shape of any marine animal,\n as also that of human beings. They were wont to _pursue\n boats at sea_, and it was dangerous in the extreme to say\n _anything against them_. I have heard that _silver money\n was thrown overboard to them_ to prevent their doing any\n damage to the boat. In the seal-form they came ashore every\n ninth night to dance on the sands. They would then cast off\n their skins, and act _just like men and women_. They could\n not, however, return to the sea without their skins--they\n were _simply human beings_, as an old song says:\n\n \"'I am a man upo' da land;\n I am a selkie i' da sea.\n An' whin I'm far fa every strand,\n My dwelling is in Sh\u00f6ol Skerry.'\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n There are many such folk-tales in the northern Thule. A\n man, we learn, always gets possession of the Finn woman by\n seizing the skin she has put off. One of these stories says\n that the captured Finn woman would often leave her husband\n to enjoy his slumber alone, and go down amongst the rocks\n to converse with her Finn one: but the inquisitive people\n who listened could not understand a single word of the\n conversation. She would, it is said, return after such\n interviews with briny and swollen eyes.\n\n The human family of this Finn were human in all points\n except in hands, which resembled web feet. Had the foolish\n man who was her husband burnt or destroyed the skin, the\n Finn woman could never have escaped. But the man had the\n skin hidden, and it was found by one of the bairns, who\n gave it to his mother. Thereupon she fled; and it is said\n that she cried at parting with her family very bitterly.\n The little ones were the only human beings she cared for.\n When the father came home, he found the children in tears,\n and on learning what had happened, bounded through the\n standing corn to the shore, where he only arrived in time\n to see, to his grief, his good wife shaking flippers and\n embracing an ugly brute of a seal. She cried:--\n\n \"Blissins' be wi' de,\n Baith de and da bairns!\n Bit do kens, da first love\n Is aye da best!\"\n\n whereupon she disappeared with her Finn husband and lover.\n\n * * * * *\n\n ... I here give what Mr. Robert Sinclair says of the\n capture of Finn brides by Shetlanders:\n\n \"Each district, almost, has its own version of a case where\n a young Shetlander had married a female Finn. They were\n generally caught at their toilet in the tide-mark, having\n doffed the charmed covering, and being engaged in dressing\n their flowing locks while the enamoured youth, by some\n lucky stroke, secured the skin, rendering the owner a\n captive victim of his passion. Thus it was that whole\n families of a mongrel race sprang up, according to\n tradition. The Finn women were said to _make good\n housewives_. Yet there was generally a longing after some\n previous attachment; if ever a chance occurred of\n recovering the essential dress, no newly formed ties of\n kindred could prevent escape and return to former\n pleasures. This was assiduously guarded against on the one\n side, and watched on the other; but, as the story goes,\n female curiosity and cunning were always more than a match\n for male care and caution; and the Finn woman always got\n the slip. One or two of these female Finns were said to\n have the power to conjure up from the deep a superior breed\n of horned cattle; and these always throve well. I have seen\n some pointed out to me as the offspring of these\n 'sea-kye.'\"\n\n In answer to my question, the Shetland friend lays great\n stress on the fact of the Finn woman being wholly distinct\n from the Mermaid....\n\n * * * * *\n\n Of the Finn man my informant says:--\n\n \"Stories of the Norway Finns were rife in my younger days.\n These were said to be a race of creatures of _human origin_\n no doubt, but possessed of some power of enchantment by\n which they could, with the use of a charmed seal-skin,\n become in every way, to all appearance, a veritable seal;\n only _retaining their human intelligence_. It seems that\n any seal-skin could not do; each _must have their specially\n prepared skin_ before they could assume the aquatic life.\n But then they could live for years in the sea. Yet they\n were not reckoned as belonging to the natural class of\n 'amphibia.' As man or seal they were simply Finns, and\n could play their part well in either element. Their feats\n were marvellous. It was told me as sheer truth that they\n could _pull across to Bergen_--nearly 300 miles--in a few\n hours, and that, while ordinary mortals were asleep, they\n could make the return voyage. Nine miles for every warp\n (stroke of the oar) was the traditional speed....\"\n\n Here, then, the Finns are men of human origin; remaining\n intelligent men in their sea-dog raiment; coming from\n Norway; not swimming like marine animals, but rowing\n between Shetland and Norway--namely, to the town of Bergen,\n which lies in the southern ... part of Norway. As strong\n men at sea, they row with magic quickness.... Each one of\n them ... must have his specially prepared skin.... There is\n nothing here of the swimming and dipping down of a seal.\n\nWe have followed Dr. Karl Blind so far. But, while recognizing the\nvalue of his statements and comments up to this point, it is\nnecessary to give only a modified assent to some of his subsequent\ndeductions, and to flatly deny the correctness of others; because\nhis researches in \"Shetlandic folk-lore\" have clearly been too\nlimited in their extent, or rather, he has omitted to check those\ntraditions by any possible contemporary records. Some of those tales\nwere received from a Shetland woman \"who strongly believed in the\nFinns, and declared herself to be a descendant of them.... She was,\nshe said, the 'fifth from the Finns,' and she attributed great\nluckiness to herself, although she was as poor as poor could be.\"\nOne of her stories is of her father's great-grandfather; and as this\nancestor of the woman's is not spoken of as a \"Finn,\" it would seem\nthat she was \"fifth from the Finns\" through another branch of her\nlineage. But, at any rate, this progenitor in the fourth degree\ncannot have belonged to a much later period than the middle of the\neighteenth century. However, we shall see these Shetland Finns more\nplainly described if we turn to the latter part of the seventeenth\ncentury.\n\nIn \"A Description of the Isles of Orkney,\" written by the Rev. James\nWallace, A.M., Minister of Kirkwall, about the year 1688, one reads\nas follows:--\n\n Sometime about this Country [Orkney] are seen these Men\n which are called _Finnmen_; In the year 1682 one was seen\n sometime sailing, sometime Rowing up and down in his little\n Boat at the south end of the Isle of _Eda_, most of the\n people of the Isle flocked to see him, and when they\n adventured to put out a Boat with men to see if they could\n apprehend him, he presently fled away most swiftly: And in\n the Year 1684, another was seen from _Westra_, and for a\n while after they got few or no Fishes, for they have this\n Remark here, that these _Finnmen_ drive away the fishes\n from the place to which they come.\n\nAgain, in Brand's \"Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, etc.\"\n(1701), it is stated:--\n\n There are frequently _Fin-men_ seen here upon the Coasts,\n as one about a year ago on _Stronsa_, and another within\n these few Months on _Westra_, a gentleman with many others\n in the Isle looking on him nigh to the shore, but when any\n endeavour to apprehend them they flee away most swiftly;\n Which is very strange, that one man sitting in his little\n Boat, should come some hundred of Leagues, from their own\n Coasts, as they reckon _Finland_ to be from _Orkney_; It\n may be thought wonderfull how they live all that time, and\n are able to keep the Sea so long. His Boat is made of\n Seal-skins, or some kind of leather, he also hath a Coat of\n Leather upon him, and he sitteth in the middle of his Boat,\n with a little Oar in his hand, Fishing with his Lines: And\n when in a storm he seeth the high surge of a wave\n approaching, he hath a way of sinking his Boat, till the\n wave pass over, lest thereby he should be overturned. The\n Fishers here observe that these _Finmen_ or _Finland-men_,\n by their coming drive away the Fishes from the Coasts. One\n of their Boats is kept as a Rarity in the _Physicians Hall\n at Edinburgh_.\n\nThis last fact was first stated by Wallace (1688; previously\nquoted), who remarks:\n\n One of their Boats sent from Orkney to Edinburgh is to be\n seen in the Physitians hall with the Oar and the Dart he\n makes use of for killing Fish, [and it is stated by Mr.\n John Small, M.A., &c., in his edition[3] of this book that\n the boat spoken of was \"afterwards presented to the\n University Museum, now incorporated with the Museum of\n Science and Art, Edinburgh\"; and a note appended to the\n second edition also states that \"there is another of their\n boats in the Church of Burra in Orkney.\"]\n\nWallace's book has also a note ascribed to the author's son, to the\nfollowing effect:\n\n I must acknowledge it seems a little unaccountable how\n these _Finn-men_ should come on this coast, but they must\n probably be driven by storms from home, and cannot tell,\n when they are any way at sea, how to make their way home\n again; they have this advantage, that be the Seas never so\n boisterous, their boats being made of Fish Skins, are so\n contrived that he can never sink, but is like a Sea-gull\n swimming on the top of the watter. His shirt he has is so\n fastned to the Boat, that no water can come into his Boat\n to do him damage, except when he pleases to untye it....\n\nThere is, it will be seen, some difference of opinion as to the\nplace whence these Finn-men came. The Shetlandic folk-lore indicates\nBergen, on the south-western coast of Norway; Brand regards Finland\nas their home; while Wallace takes a still wider range. This last\nwriter (who is the first in point of time) says this of\nthem:--\"These _Finn-men_ seem to be some of these people that dwell\nabout the _Fretum Davis_ [Davis Straits], a full account of whom may\nbe seen in the natural and moral History of the _Antilles_, Chap.\n18.\" At first sight, and according to modern nomenclature, the\nconnection between the Antilles and Davis Straits seems very remote.\nBut it must be remembered that the traditional country of \"Antilla,\"\nor the \"Antilles,\" probably included the modern Atlantic seaboard of\nNorth America; and that, when that territory was invaded by the\nNorsemen of the tenth century, it was found to contain a population\nof exactly the same description as those \"Finn\" races--people of\ndwarfish stature, who traversed their bays and seas in skin-covered\nskiffs.[4] However, Wallace's theory is obviously untenable. It is\nmost improbable that any Eskimo of Davis Straits would attempt the\ntrans-Atlantic passage in his tiny _kayak_, supporting life on the\nvoyage by eating raw such fish as he might catch. Indeed, the feat\nis almost an impossibility. Moreover, it is quite clear that those\nFinn-men were voluntary and frequent visitors to the Orkneys, and\n(more especially) to the Shetlands; and the \"Fin-land\" from which\nthey came is stated by the Shetlanders to have been no further off\nthan Bergen, on the Norwegian coast.[5]\n\nIt is quite evident that \"the Finns of the Shetlandic story\"\nformed a branch of the \"Ugrian race of the Finns\"; and that some of\nthem \"came ow'r fa Norraway\"--whether as \"wizards,\" or as fishermen,\nor as pirates (for they figure in all these characters). The\ndescription of their skin-covered canoes is of itself quite\nsufficient to show that those \"Finns\" of Orkney and Shetland were of\nthe Eskimo races. So that those \"sea-skins,\" without which the\ncaptive Finn women could not make their escape, were simply their\ncanoes. And the exaggerated stories of the speed with which the\nFinns could cross from Shetland to Bergen have their foundation in\nthe fact that those little skiffs can be propelled through the water\nat such a rate that the hunted Finn was enabled to \"flee away most\nswiftly\" from the clumsier boats of his pursuers. The speed of the\nkayak is very clearly illustrated in an account of the doings of one\nof \"these people that dwell about the _Fretum Davis_,\" who was\nbrought to this country in 1816, and who, in that year, showed the\ngreat superiority of his skiff in a contest with a six-oared\nwhale-boat at Leith. \"He paddled his canoe from the inner harbour,\"\nsays the _Scots Magazine_ of that year (p. 656), \"round the Martello\nTower and back in sixteen minutes, against a whale-boat with six\nstout rowers, and evidently shewed his ability to outsail his\nopponents by the advantages he frequently gave them, and which he\nredeemed as often as he chose.\" This, it will be seen, was simply a\nrepetition of the scenes described a hundred and twenty years\nearlier, in the Orkney and Shetland groups; the chief difference\nbeing that those earlier Eskimos had their home in Europe, and not\nin any part of the western hemisphere. Of course, the Shetland\nbelief that the Finns could \"pull across to Bergen in a few hours,\"\nand that \"nine miles for every warp (stroke of the oar) was the\ntraditional speed,\" is obviously an exaggeration. But the distance\n(which is nearer 200 than \"300\" miles) might almost be traversed in\nthe course of the long midsummer day of those northern latitudes--by\nsuch seafarers, and in such craft.[6]\n\nBut, while the \"seal-skin\" of the traditional Finn was primarily his\nskin kayak, it is likely enough that he is also remembered as the\nwearer of a seal-skin garment; and that from this has arisen the\nconfusion of ideas regarding this magic \"skin.\" \"His boat is made of\nseal-skins, or some kind of leather,\" says Brand, in describing the\nFinn-man; but he adds that \"_he_ also hath a coat of leather upon\nhim.\" And Dr. Wallace tells us that the Finns \"have this advantage,\nthat be the seas never so boisterous, their boats being made of fish\nskins, are so contrived that he can never sink, but is like a\nsea-gull swimming on the top of the water.\" And he continues: \"His\nshirt he has is so fastened to the boat that no water can come into\nhis boat to do him damage, except when he pleases to untie it.\" Dr.\nRink, in referring to the kayaks of those \"Finn-men\" who inhabit the\nregions surrounding the Fretum Davis, uses similar terms: \"The deck\nalone was not sufficient; the sea washing over it would soon fill\nthe kayak through the hole, in which its occupant is sitting, if his\nclothing did not at the same time close the opening around him. This\nadaptation of the clothing is tried by degrees in various ways\nthroughout the Eskimo countries, but it does not attain its\nperfection except in Greenland, where it forms in connection with\nthe kayak itself a water-tight cover for the whole body excepting\nthe face.\"[7] But, in making this last statement, Dr. Rink is\nspeaking of the nineteenth-century representatives of this race; and\nin ignorance of the fact that the \"Eskimos\" of the North Sea had\nlong ago realized the necessity for this waterproof covering.[8]\n\nThis waterproof \"shirt\" is also specially mentioned in connection\nwith the Finn kayak that the two Scotch writers of the seventeenth\ncentury refer to. Wallace, it will be remembered, says of the Orkney\nFinn-men that \"one of their boats sent from Orkney to Edinburgh is\nto be seen in the Physicians' Hall, with the oar and the dart he\nmakes use of for killing fish.\" At the time when Wallace wrote, in\nor about the year 1688, there is no doubt that the boat was so\ndeposited. But, although the second writer, Brand, makes the same\nstatement, it is evident that he only did so on the authority of his\npredecessor. Because, four or five years before Brand's book\nappeared, the Finnman's kayak had been presented by the Royal\nCollege of Physicians to the University of Edinburgh. The way in\nwhich the Physicians' College had obtained the boat was through the\npresident of the college, Sir Andrew Balfour, eminent as a\nphysician, botanist and naturalist, and a great collector of all\nsorts of curiosities. At his death in 1694, his collection passed to\nthe University of Edinburgh, by bequest. But, for one reason or\nanother, the Finnman's boat still remained in the Physicians'\nCollege. This will be seen from the following extract from the\nMinute Book of that College, which records the transfer of the boat\nto the University of Edinburgh, two years after Sir Andrew Balfour's\ndeath. The date of the Minute is 24th September, 1696.[9] \"The qlk\n[whilk] day y^e colledge considering y^t dr Balfour's curiositys are\nall in y^e Colledge of Edr & amongst them y^e oars of y^e boat & y^e\nShirt of y^e barbarous man y^t was in y^e boat belonging to y^e\nColledge of physitians & y^t the same boat is likly to be lost they\nhaving noe convenient place to keep it in doe give the s^d boat to\ny^e colledge of Edr ther to be preserved & y^t it be insert there\ny^t its gifted by y^e royall Colledge.\"\n\nFrom this extract we gain the additional information that the\n\"Shirt\" or \"Coat of Leather\" of the \"barbarous man\" himself had also\nfound its way to the University Museum of Edinburgh; presumably\nthrough Sir Andrew Balfour also, or perhaps through his friend and\ncolleague, Sir Robert Sibbald (known as the author,[10] _inter\nalia_, of a \"Description\" of the Orkney and Shetland Isles).[11]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[2] Contributed to _The Contemporary Review_ of 1881, and _The\nGentleman's Magazine_ of 1882.\n\n[3] A reprint of 1883: William Brown, Edinburgh.\n\n[4] _Antiquitates American\u00e6._ _See_ Appendix B.\n\n[5] It may be from them that an inlet at Bergen is called \"_Fens_\nFiord.\" Bergen is so much associated with the \"Finns\" of Shetlandic\ntradition that it is at least worthy of notice that a special caste,\nknown as _Strils_ (pronounced \"Streels\"), who are very primitive in\ncharacter, and who are regarded by the neighbouring Norwegians as of\na different stock from their own, still inhabit the numerous islands\nthat protect Bergen from the ocean. \"They speak Norwegian after a\nfashion of their own, but it is very difficult to understand them,\nand there is reason to suppose that their idioms have a Samoyede\nroot.\" (\"Bergen,\" by Lieut. G. T. Temple, R.N., in _Good Words_,\n1880, p. 767 _et seq._)\n\n[6] A recent visitor to the Greenland branch of that family states\nthat \"a skilled Eskimo can, in his kayak, go even eighty miles in\none day.\" The length of the day is, of course, an important matter.\nDr. Nansen, the traveller referred to (who made the above statement\nin his paper read before the Scottish Geographical Society at\nEdinburgh on 1st July, 1889) gained his experience of kayaks during\nwinter, when the Greenland day is very short. If the eighty miles\nwere done _then_, the speed is marvellous. It is so, indeed, in any\ncase. When Dr. Nansen reached Godthaab in October, the nearest\nEurope-bound ship was lying at a place 240 miles to the south, and a\n\"kayaker\" was despatched thither to try and detain the vessel, which\nwas to sail in the middle of the month. Though unsuccessful in his\nmission, he reached the vessel in plenty of time. The dates of his\njourney are not given. But the mere fact of the man being thus sent\nas an express messenger argues that a very high rate of speed was\nrelied upon.\n\n[7] \"The Eskimo Tribes,\" Copenhagen, 1887, p. 6.\n\n[8] It may be mentioned that the variety worn by the Alaskan Eskimo\nis not of seal-_skin_. It is described as a \"peculiar waterproof\ncoat called a camalinkie, made from the entrails of the seal, and is\nnearly as fine as tissue paper, almost every inch of it being\nquilted, to strengthen it. The Aleut wears this curious garment when\nseated in his canoe.\" (\"Seal Hunting in Behring Sea\"; contributed to\nthe _Scotsman_ of Sep. 20, 1889, by Edward C. Richards.)\n\n[9] For this extract I am indebted to the courtesy of the President\nand Council of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.\n\n[10] More correctly, the editor and publisher of a previous MS.\n\n[11] It is an unfortunate circumstance that, owing to the lamentable\nindifference of the custodiers of the Finnman's canoe subsequent to\nthe year 1696, it seems impossible to say whether or not that vessel\nis still preserved. In 1865 the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art\nbecame possessed of the collection of the University, and in that\ncollection were two kayaks, with regard to which nothing definite\nwas known at the time of transference. If the University \"preserved\"\nthe Finnman's kayak, as the College of Physicians expected, then it\nmust be one of these two, as these were the only kayaks in the\nUniversity Museum in 1865. (In the hope of obtaining a definite\nsolution of this question, I have given a description of that kayak\nwhich appears to be the most likely to be the Finnman's, in a paper\nread before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on 10th February,\n1890.)\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\nAnyone familiar with the shape of the long, narrow, skin-covered\nskiff of the Eskimo (which, as has just been pointed out, is\ncompletely \"decked,\" with the exception of the round aperture in the\nmiddle, where the rower sits--his legs being thrust in front of him,\nunderneath the \"deck,\") will see that when the Finn had fastened his\nseal-skin garment to the sides of the aperture, he and his boat were\none. Thus not only could \"no water come into his Boat to do him\ndamage,\" but he appeared (to people unacquainted with his anatomy)\nas some amphibious seal-man--\"a selkie i' da sea,\" as the Shetland\nrhyme goes. This resemblance is even further borne out by the\nability of the kayaker to overset himself and his kayak, and then to\nre-appear on the surface of the water, without either himself or his\nskiff suffering any injury, as both were impervious to water. This\nfeat is evidently a delight to the kayaker, and the Eskimo already\nreferred to as having displayed his skill at Leith in the year 1816,\nperformed this manoeuvre many times, to the great astonishment of\nthe onlookers. Thus the Finnman of the North Sea, who presumably\nindulged in this amusement, like his representatives in Greenland\nto-day, was thereby rendered still more like a creature of the deep,\n\"a perfect seal among the wild waves,\" as Dr. Karl Blind\nremarks.[12]\n\n[Illustration: KAYAKKER IN HIGH SEA.]\n\nIt is to the apparently amphibious nature of this peculiar people,\nthat one may trace much--if not all--that has been recorded of\nmermen and mermaids; who, in other words, were seamen and seamaids.\nThe conventional mer-man is portrayed as visible above water from\nthe waist upward. And that the kayaker presents a similar appearance\nmay be seen from a description given of an Eskimo flotilla by one\nwho has had personal experience of the Hudson's Bay regions,[13]\nwherein it is stated that, at some distance from the land, \"the low\nkayaks\" of the Eskimos, being almost quite flush with the water, \"it\nseemed as if their occupants were actually seated on the water.\" The\naccompanying spirited sketch by Mr. A. R. Carstensen of a modern\nEskimo, as he appears \"when the waves come upon him with all their\nfury,\" helps much to make one realize the appearance of the Orkney\nFinnman, whether in storm or in calm.[14] It is easy to see how a\nrace of \"_zee-woners_\" such as these could gradually become\nremembered as an actually amphibious people.\n\nThose legendary mermaids who are described as using combs and\nmirrors were plainly allied to these Finn-women. It is manifest that\nno amphibious woman (the possibility of whose existence is not here\ndenied) would carry a mirror and a comb about with her; or that\nshe--whose chief element was the water--would be for ever engaged in\nthe mad task of arranging hair which every plunge in the sea would\ndisarrange most effectually. But those female Finns, whom the\namorous Shetlanders captured before they could regain their\nskin-canoes are described as \"engaged in dressing their flowing\nlocks\" at the eventful moment: a most natural proceeding on the part\nof any woman who has just landed from a sea-voyage (whether these\nparticular women had come all the way from Bergen, or which is\nlikely--from some outlying island of the Northern groups). The\n_reality_ of those merwomen of Shetland is manifest throughout the\ntales relating to them. They bear children to their Shetland lovers;\nthey \"were said to make good housewives;\" and their descendants in\nthe Shetland Islands to-day are, presumably, as \"real\" and human as\nany of Her Majesty's subjects. That most of those unwillingly-wedded\nFinn-women tried to regain their liberty at the first opportunity is\nseen from the repeated statement that the Shetland husband was\nalways careful to hide the \"sea-skin\" of his Finn wife. But, in many\ncases the Finn-woman appears to have decided to throw in her lot\nwith her Shetland husband and people.\n\nAlthough Bergen was latterly the home of those Finns who came to\nShetland, it is most probable that many of the stories regarding\nthem related to a time when they still retained possession of\ncertain districts in the Shetland islands. When they were\n\"frequently\" seen off the Orkney coast, quietly fishing, it is most\nimprobable that their homes were among the Fiords of Norway--more\nthan two hundred miles away. It seems clear that they retained their\nhold upon Shetland longer than Orkney; but even in some parts of the\nlatter archipelago they were apparently pretty much at home in the\nyear 1700. This was the date of the Rev. Mr. Brand's tour, and a\nremark of his leads one to such a conclusion. It must be remembered\nthat those Finns were regarded as wizards and witches by the more\nignorant classes: \"the belief that witches and wizards came from the\ncoast of Norway disguised as seals was entertained by many of the\nShetland peasantry even so late as the beginning of the present\ncentury.\" And they were regarded as, in some sense, supernatural\nbeings. Now Dr. Blind, in suggesting that the \"skins\" of the Finns\nmay have been (as in one aspect they actually were) their outward\ngarments, \"made of seal-skins, and then covered with metal rings or\nscales\"--in assuming this, Dr. Blind is quite in agreement with a\nstatement made by Brand in 1700; which is to this effect, that\n\"supernatural\" beings were, at the date of his visit, \"frequently\nseen in several of the Isles (the Orkneys) dancing and making merry\n_and sometimes seen in Armour_.\" It ought not to be forgotten that\nalthough the Finn fisherman \"fled away most swiftly,\" when chased by\na considerable party of his foes, yet \"it is worthy of note that the\nsupposed object of [the Finn invaders] ... was _plunder_;\"[15] that\n\"they were wont to pursue boats at sea;\" that \"_silver money was\nthrown to them_ to prevent their doing any damage to the boat;\" and\nthat \"it was dangerous in the extreme _to say anything against\nthem_.\"[16] Whether such attacks were made in their small\nskin-canoes, or whether they used larger vessels, it is evident that\nthey were formidable marauders; and that, as Dr. Blind suggests, and\nas the Rev. Mr. Brand records, those Finn pirates were \"sometimes\nseen in Armour.\"\n\nBut neither the belief in Mer-men, nor the existence of\ntraditionary pedigrees deduced from such people, forms a distinctive\ncharacteristic of the Shetland Islands. Just as there are\nShetlanders who trace their lineage to one or more ancestors of Finn\nblood, so are there similiar family traditions in many parts of the\nBritish Islands. \"It is believed that there are several old Welsh\nfamilies who are the descendants\" of Mer-folk; and similar examples\nare found \"in the traditions of the O'Flaherty, O'Sullivan, and\nMacnamara families.\"[17] \"The inhabitants of the Isle of Man have a\nnumber of such stories, which may be found in Waldron;\"[18] and the\ntale of Macphail of Colonsay and \"The Mermaid of Corryvreckan\" is\nnot the only Hebridean illustration of this feature. The references\nthat are made to mermaids in the prefatory remarks to Leyden's\nversion of the Corryvreckan story are quite in keeping with the\nShetland traditions. That is, there are certain attributes ascribed\nto those mer-women which, on the surface, are incredible; but which\nthe knowledge that is given to us by Brand and Wallace renders quite\nintelligible. The \"train\" or \"tail\" of the mermaid has only to be\ntranslated \"canoe\" or \"kayak,\" and what was formerly nonsense\nbecomes sense. For example, the statement that \"the mermaid of\nCorrivrekin possessed the power of occasionally resigning her scaly\ntrain,\" is only a jumbled reminiscence of the fact referred to by\nDr. Wallace who, when speaking of the mer-men, says: \"His\n[seal-skin] shirt has been so fastened to the Boat, that no water\ncan come into his Boat to do him damage, except when he pleases to\nuntye it, which he does ... when he comes ashore.\" In the other\nphraseology, he \"possessed the power of occasionally resigning his\nscaly train.\"\n\nIn the remarks prefacing Leyden's \"Mermaid\" (in The Minstrelsy) it\nis stated that \"mermaids were sometimes supposed to be possessed of\nsupernatural power.\" The Shetland peasantry, also, believe (or did\nbelieve) that \"_witches_ ... came from the coast of Norway disguised\nas seals.\" And \"Ranulph Higden says 'that the _witches_ in the Isle\nof Man anciently sold winds to mariners, and delivered them in\nknots, tied upon a thread, _exactly as the Laplanders did_.'\"[19] At\none time--if not now, Lapland was regarded as a stronghold of\n\"magic.\" Butler in referring to one of the things \"in which the\nLapland Magi deal\" makes selection of this practice of \"selling\nwinds\" to sailors;[20] the \"Magi\" being (in this detail) feminine.\nBut the British Islanders have practised many \"Lapp\" mysteries: and\nthere is a distinct \"Ugrian\" element among the British people;\nneither of which facts are at all at variance with the traditions\nthat derive the descent of many modern Britons from sea-faring\ntribes of \"Finns\" and other Mer-folk.\n\nOne account[21] states, with regard to the mer-woman, that \"the\nsailors pretend to guess what chance they had of saving their lives\nin the tempests, which always followed her appearance.\" Apparently,\nthis refers more particularly to Norway. In the Channel Islands a\nsimilar belief exists regarding the mer-man, who is styled \"the King\nof the _Auxcriniers_.\" \"_Il est le baladin lugubre de la temp\u00eate_,\"\nsays M. Victor Hugo, in describing this mer-man of the Channel.[22]\nThe probable explanation of this belief is that, when a tempest was\nthreatening, those solitary rovers--knowing that their fragile\n\"sea-skins\" could never outride a heavy storm--made hastily for the\nnearest coast. Indeed, when one looks at those delicate little\nvessels, wholly dependent upon the thoroughness of the stitching\nthat unites the various pieces of skin together, one can only wonder\nat the daring of the people who ventured in them a hundred miles and\nmore from any land. \"Nothing but a plank between one and Eternity\"\nis not so dangerous as it sounds; for planks can float one when the\nworst happens. But what is to be made of half-a-dozen bits of\nwhalebone or wood, with one thin covering of seal-skin stretched\nover them? The giving of a stitch, or the smallest fracture in the\nskin--and both skiff and skiff-man are under the water.\n\nTo point out the various characteristics of the traditional mer-men\nand mer-women, and to suggest an explanation of each, is more than\nneed be attempted here. But it is enough to remark that the mere\nfact that marriages between \"men\" and the mer-folk were possible and\nfrequent, is quite sufficient to prove that there was no radical\ndifference between the two races. When one reads of mer-women\nbearing children to land-men, and \"making good house-wives\" to them;\nor, when one learns that the mer-men were given to \"deceiving\nwomen,\" then one may feel pretty certain of their humanity.\n\nIt has been noticed that one of their skin-boats, or kayaks, was\n\"kept as a Rarity\" in the Museum at Edinburgh, and that another was\npreserved \"in the Church of Burra in Orkney.\"[23] There are many\nBritish traditions of such boats in connection with such people;\nalthough the names by which those skiffs are popularly remembered\nare as unreasonable as the \"scaly train\" of the Finn-woman of\nCorryvreckan. In Sutherland it is said that those people used to\ncross the Dornoch Firth in \"cockle-shells;\"[24] while one man\nrecords having seen them quitting the coasts of the Isle of Man \"in\nempty rum puncheons,\" in which vessels he \"saw them scudding away as\nfar as the eye could reach.\"[25] It is very likely that those\ntraditional \"witches\" who went to sea in \"sieves\" were also\nidentical with those who came from the coast of Norway \"disguised as\nseals;\" and that the _sieve_ was nothing else than the _kayak_.\n\nThat the Finns of Orkney and Shetland used the long, narrow _kayaks_\nof the modern Esquimaux and Samoyeds is unmistakable: and the same\nshape of skiff has probably been employed by British and other\nEuropean \"mer-men\" for an immemorial period. But other varieties of\nthis kind of boat have been used. For example, the natives of those\nislands and promontories which form \"the Rosses\" of Donegal are\ndescribed (in the years 1753 and 1754) as using seal-skin boats; but\ntheir shape does not seem to have been identical with that of the\nkayak. \"Their boats\" (says a visitor to the \"Rosses\" at that\ndate[26]), \"called curraghs, were oval baskets, covered with\nseal-skins; and in such weak and tottering vessels they ventured so\nfar out as was necessary to get fish enough for their families.\"\n\nThese _curraghs_, it would seem, were nearer those still used in\nWales (and also by the Mandans of the Upper Missouri) than the long,\ncovered-in skiff of the Arctic tribes. Or, perhaps, they resemble\nthose _curraghs_ now used in Ireland, which differ chiefly from\nordinary \"boats\" in their frames being covered with skins in place\nof planks. In his Gaelic dictionary, Armstrong states that \"the\n_curach_, or boat of leather and wicker,\" was \"much in use in the\nWestern Isles (Hebrides), even long after the art of building boats\nof wood was introduced.\" As he says that Islemen \"fearlessly\ncommitted themselves, in these slight pinnaces, to the mercy of the\nmost violent weather,\" it seems most likely that the \"decked\" kayak\nis the kind of which he is speaking, and when he gives a diminutive\nform of _curach_ (_curachan_), and defines it \"a little skiff; a\ncanoe,\" it is almost certain that he has in view the \"kayak\" of the\nFinn-man.\n\nWhichever of these two terms may be assumed to indicate the kayak,\nit is scarcely conceivable that the Hebrideans would \"fearlessly\ncommit themselves to the mercy of the most violent weather,\" in an\n_open_ skin-boat. But this is what the _kayakers_ do. \"They do not\nfear venturing out to sea in these boats in the greatest storms,\"\nsays Hans Egede, referring to the Eskimos of the eighteenth century,\n\"because they can swim as light upon the largest waves as a bird can\nfly; and when the waves come upon them with all their fury, they\nonly turn the side of the boat towards them to let them pass,\nwithout the least danger of being sunk.\"[27] Referring to the same\nusage of the Orkney Finnman, Brand says that he does this, \"when _in\na storm_ he seeth the high surge of a wave approaching.\" And\nWallace's annotator has the same remark: \"They [the Finnmen] have\nthis advantage, that _be the Seas never so boisterous_, their boats\nbeing made of Fish Skins, are so contrived that he can never sink,\nbut is like a Sea-gull swimming on the top of the watter.\"\n\nIt appears impossible to ascertain a time when skin-boats were _not_\nused in Europe. In speaking of the Oestrymnic Isles and their\ninhabitants, Dr. Skene quotes the following account of their\nvessels, as given by Rufus Festus Avienus, a writer of the fourth\ncentury:--\n\n \"They know not to fit with pine\n Their keels, nor with fir, as use is,\n They shape their boats; but, strange to say,\n They fit their vessels with united skins,\n And often traverse the deep in a hide.\"\n\nAs Dr. Skene points out, these Oestrymnic Isles were identical with\nthe _Cassiterides_, (_i.e._, \"Tin Islands,\") and, under either name,\nwere famous for their tin mines. But, in identifying them with the\nScilly Isles, Dr. Skene is manifestly in error; as all evidence on\nthis point tends to show that the Oestrymnides, or Cassiterides,\nformed a group of islands lying off the Spanish coast, which, at\nsome period during the Christian era, became submerged. The\nfourth-century writer quoted \"says that the northern promontory of\nSpain was called Oestrymnis, and adds, 'Below the summit of this\npromontory the Oestrymnic bay spreads out before the inhabitants, in\nwhich the Oestrymnic Isles show themselves.'\" The testimony of\nDiodorus is to the same effect: \"Above the country of the\nLusitanians, there are many mines of tin in the little islands\ncalled Cassiterides from this circumstance, lying off Iberia, in the\nocean.\" So also Strabo, who states that \"the Cassiterides are ten in\nnumber, and lie near each other in the ocean, towards the north from\nthe haven of the Artabri.\"[28] All this is consistently borne out by\nthe map of Spain (\"from the Latin Ptolemy, 1478\") which Mr. Elton,\nwho calls Dr. Skene's deduction in question, appends to his \"Origins\nof English History.\"[29] In that map, it will be seen that,\naccording to Ptolemy, the Cassiterides--ten in number--lay off the\nSpanish coast, north-west of Cape Finisterre, and that that portion\nof the mainland was inhabited by the Artabri. Among all these\nwriters and geographers, therefore, there is entire agreement; and\nnone of their statements have any reference to the neighbourhood of\nthe English coast.[30] That these islanders did not know the art of\nbuilding vessels of wood, and were accustomed to cross the sea in\nskin-boats, is regarded by Dr. Skene as corroborative of his belief\nthat they were British and not Iberian islanders. \"But the Iberian\ncoracles were as well known as those of the Britons,\" says Mr.\nElton;[31] and of this we ought perhaps to see a survival in the\n\"_curo_, a small boat used on the Garonne,\" which Armstrong compares\nwith the Gaelic _curach_.\n\nOf the presence of the skin-boat in British waters there is ample\nevidence, and it would be superfluous to enlarge upon this. There\nis, moreover, evidence that certain \"trans-marine nations\" came _to_\nBritain in such craft, in early times. And, half-way between the\nopening centuries of the Christian era and the period of the Orkney\nFinnmen, there is a reference which suggests the skin-boat among the\nFinns of Norway, although it does nothing more than suggest. In the\n_Heimskringla_ (Saga xiv) it is stated that Sigurd Slembe and his\nfollowers passed the winter of 1139 in a cave at Tialdasund, the\nsound which separates the Lofoten Isles from the Norwegian mainland,\nand that on that occasion the Finns (or Lapps, as they are\nindifferently called) constructed two large boats for them. These\nboats were of fir, but the peculiarity about them was that not a\nnail was used in their construction. Like the framework of the\nmodern kayak, the various parts of these boats were fastened\ntogether by _sinews_,[32] a method which, as the saga shows, was\ncertainly not that of Sigurd and his people, who remark upon the\nabsence of nails. Thus, although this incident shows that those\nFinns of the twelfth century were able to build boats of wood, yet\ntheir method of joining the timbers suggests the affinity which they\notherwise bear to the Eskimos. But, while their own boats may have\ndiffered from those they built for their visitors, there is nothing\nin the passage to support this assumption.[33]\n\nThat the round _curach_ or _coracle_, covered with skin, and\nsimilar to that still seen in Wales, was in use in the north of\nScotland in the early part of the last century, is testified to by a\nletter quoted in the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of\nScotland_, 1880-81, p. 179-80, from which it will be seen that the\ntradition already referred to--that the dwellers on the shores of\nthe Dornoch Firth used to employ \"cockle-shells\" as ferry-boats--is\nnothing but a fanciful and imperfect resemblance of this particular\nkind of _curach_. The _curachs_, however, in which the Western\nIslanders \"fearlessly committed themselves ... to the mercy of the\nmost violent weather\" cannot have been of this shape. But either\nvariety of skin-boat was undoubtedly the property of the one race of\npeople. Among the Eskimos, also, there is considerable variety. We\nare told, for example, in a description of the Aleutian Islanders\nduring last century, that \"their vessels consist of two sorts,\" of\nwhich one is the _kayak_, propelled by the double-bladed paddle,\nwhile the other is large enough to hold thirty or forty people, and\nhas \"oars on both sides.\" But both kinds are skin-covered. The\nEskimo tribes have also the smaller open skin-boat, capable of\nholding eight or ten people. And this, like the similar skin-boat of\nthe British Isles, has sometimes sails. These facts are therefore\nquite consistent with the belief that the European tribes using this\nvariety of Eskimo boat used also the slender, decked canoe or\n\"kayak.\"\n\nEnough, then, has been said to indicate the presence of those\nskiff-people in various parts of the British Islands, and in various\nparts of Europe. It may be that the latest _authentic_ records of\nBritish Esquimaux are those given by Brand and Wallace, in the end\nof the seventeenth century.[34] True, the Shetlandic (and perhaps\nother) traditions bring us down to later dates. But traditions are\nnecessarily uncertain. However, we do know that the waters\nsurrounding the Orcadian and Shetland groups were fished in by\nEsquimaux tribes so recently as the year 1700[35]; and we also know\nfrom tradition, that these same \"Finns\" or \"Finn-men\" \"were wont to\npursue boats at sea,\" and to demand a money-tribute from the\nfishermen whom they chased. (In turn, they themselves were pursued\nby the islanders, when they made their appearance singly, near their\ncoasts.) That they were feared by the islanders is evident from the\nShetlandic legends; and it will be noticed that those Shetlanders\nwho are understood to have Finn blood in their veins \"look upon\nthemselves as superior to common people.\" All this suggests that\nthose straggling \"Finn-men\" of the year 1700 were really the\nrepresentatives of a decayed caste of conquerors. The fact that they\nare remembered as wearing armour places them before us as a\ndistinctly military race; and \"the Darts they make use of for\nkilling Fish\" were probably the least important of their weapons.\n\nThe non-Finnish Shetlanders who overheard the captive woman talking\nwith her friends \"could not understand a single word of the\nconversation.\" It is not necessary to assume that this denoted more\nthan a mere dialectic difference; accent being a wonderfully\nimportant consideration in cases of this sort. That Finn settlements\nwere often conterminous with districts occupied by those who\nregarded the Finns as enemies is suggested by the existence of a\n\"Finns' Town\" in Orkney, and a \"Finn Town\" in Donegal.[36]\n\nOf course, those Finns must have one or many historical names.\nIt is probable that they constituted a large proportion of\nthe population of the Outer Hebrides. One of the stories\nrelating to such people is of a mer-woman who \"fell in love with\na young shepherd, who kept his flocks beside a creek _much\nfrequented by these marine people_\"--the locality being somewhere\non the Manx coast. \"She frequently caressed him\" (the account\ncontinues--somewhat superfluously), \"and brought him presents of\ncoral, fine pearls, and every valuable production of the ocean.\"[37]\nNow, this woman may easily have been one of those \"marine people\"\nwho inhabited various parts of the Hebrides, and who used the\nskin-skiff of the Esquimaux \"even long after the art of building\nboats of wood was introduced.\" The coral and \"fine pearls\" which\nthis mer-woman brought to her Manx lover may have come from no\ngreater distance than the Island of Skye: since Martin tells us that\nthe people of that island used to adorn their garments with \"fine\nstones\" and \"pieces of red coral\"--the latter article being found in\n\"great quantity\" on the shores of the Lewis. At that time the\nislanders of Jura dwelt in turf-covered wigwams identical with those\nused by modern Lapps; as may be seen from the illustration here\ncopied from Pennant's second \"Tour.\" And the people of Harris were\ndescribed in the following terms, in the early part of this\ncentury[38]:--\"In general the natives are of small stature,...\nScarcely any attain the height of 6 feet, and many of the males are\nnot higher than 5 feet 3 or 4 inches.\" \"The Harrisian physiognomy\"\nis thus detailed: \"The cheek bones are rather prominent, and the\nnose is invariably short, the space between it and the chin being\ndisproportionately long. The complexion is of all tints. Many\nindividuals are as dark as mulattoes....\" The population thus\ndescribed was greatly mingled at the period when these latter\nobservations were made; but there is nevertheless strong evidence of\nthe possession of Ugrian blood in the people thus portrayed. And\ntheir boats and dwellings do nothing to contradict this theoretical\nconnection with the races we now know by such names as Lapp, Finn,\nSamoyed, and Eskimo.\n\n[Illustration: WIGWAMS OF THE JURA ISLANDERS IN 1772.\n(_From Pennant's Second Tour._)]\n\nThe author of the \"Gallovidian Encyclop\u00e6dia\" gives also a hint of\nthe existence of such a population in Galloway: when (under the name\n\"cutty glies\") he refers to \"a class of females,\" whom he describes\nas \"little\" and \"squat-made,\" and to whom he assigns (without\nexception) the amorous nature of the Manx mer-woman just spoken of.\nAnd, as the Gallovidian chronicler lived near the inlet known as\n\"the Manxman's Lake,\" it is not improbable that this also was \"a\ncreek much frequented by these marine people\"; and that, in short,\nMactaggart's \"little, squat-made females\" were of the same stock as\nthe Mer-women of the Isle of Man and the Hebrides, and the\nFinn-women of the Northern Isles.\n\n NOTE.--For additional information on the subject of\n skin-boats, and the races connected with them, see pp. 174,\n 178-9, _post_, and Appendix B.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[12] This peculiar feat is mentioned by Drs. Rink and Nansen, as\nwell as in connection with the Greenlander of 1816. Another \"kayak\"\ncustom may here be noticed. Brand stated of the Orkney Finn-man,\nthat \"when in a storm he seeth the high surge of a wave approaching,\nhe hath a way of sinking his Boat, till the wave pass over, least\nthereby he should be overturned.\" This manifestly does not refer to\nthe deliberate overturning for amusement, in calm weather. But Hans\nEgede, in describing the Eskimo kayakers of Greenland, during the\neighteenth century, is evidently speaking of the usage referred to\nby Brand, when he says: \"They do not fear venturing out to sea in\nthese boats in the greatest storms; because they can swim as light\nupon the largest waves as a bird can fly: and when the waves come\nupon them with all their fury, they only turn the side of the boat\ntowards them, to let them pass, without the least danger of being\nsunk.\" (Quoted in the _Scots Magazine_ of 1816, p. 654.)\n\n[13] Mr. R. M. Ballantyne; \"Ungava,\" chap. xx.\n\n[14] This illustration appears in Mr. Carstensen's \"Two Summers in\nGreenland.\" London, Chapman & Hall, 1890.\n\n[15] _Gentleman's Magazine_, March 1, 1882.\n\n[16] _Contemporary Review_, September, 1881.\n\n[17] _Contemporary Review_, August, 1881. In the _Arch\u00e6ological\nReview_ (June, 1889, pp. 219-220) Mr. G. L. Gomme gives various\nreferences of this kind, Irish and Shetlandic. One instance\ndescribes the \"Merrow\" ancestress as \"half fish and half woman,\"\nwhich corresponds with the Shetlandic \"s\u00ealkie-wife,\" or seal-woman.\nMore extreme still is the tradition that the Irish clan of Coneely,\nlike the natives of Burra Firth, in Unst, are actually descended\nfrom \"seals.\"\n\n[18] Preface to Leyden's \"Mermaid,\" in \"The Minstrelsy of the\nScottish Border.\"\n\n[19] \"Letters from the Isle of Man.\" London 1847; p. 59.\n\n[20] The allusion in \"Hudibras\" bears more specially on the custom\nof selling the winds in bags or \"bottled;\" which is a variation of\nthe Manx practice.\n\n[21] The preface to Leyden's \"Mermaid.\"\n\n[22] \"Les Travailleurs de la Mer.\"\n\n[23] This boat, and all memory of it, seems quite to have vanished\nfrom Burra. (See \"The Orkneys and Shetland,\" by J. R. Tudor, London,\n1883, p. 341.)\n\n[24] Mr. J. F. Campbell's \"West Highland Tales,\" vol. ii. p. 64.\n\n[25] \"Letters from the Isle of Man.\" London, 1847, p. 63.\n\n[26] Quoted in the \"Annual Register\" of 1788; \"Manners of Nations\"\npp. 77-80.\n\n[27] See foot-note, pp. 12-13, _ante_. The expressions of Egede and\nArmstrong, however, are obviously exaggerated, as no kayak could\nweather a really violent gale.\n\n[28] These citations from Avienus, Diodorus, and Strabo are taken\nfrom Skene's _Celtic Scotland_, I., 165-168.\n\n[29] London, 1882 (Plate I.)\n\n[30] In assuming the Oestrymnides, or Cassiterides, to be the same\nas the Hesperides, Dr. Skene again shows that the locality referred\nto is the Iberian coast. For the writers of the second and sixth\ncentury whom he quotes state that the Hesperides are inhabited by\nIberians, and are situated \"near the sacred promontory where they\nsay is the end of Europe.\" Now, in Ptolemy's map, above referred to,\n\"the sacred promontory\" (_Sacrum Prom[=o]tori[=u]_) is Cape St.\nVincent; which would place the Hesperides at even a greater distance\nfrom England than the Oestrymnic Isles. The islands called\n_Londobries_ and _Deorum Insul\u00e6_ on Ptolemy's map may be those\nreferred to. Neither they nor the Oestrymnic Isles exist at the\npresent day; but in questions of ancient history the fact ought\nnever to be overlooked that the surface of the earth is constantly\nundergoing changes,--at one place the sea encroaching upon the land,\nat another retiring from it.\n\n[31] _Op. cit._, p. 20, _note_.\n\n[32] Dr. Rasmus B. Anderson says \"deer sinews,\" while Dr. Joseph\nAnderson states that the original word may either denote \"sinew,\" or\n\"sen-grass.\"\n\n[33] Misled in some measure by Mr. Laing's too free translation,\nwherein the expression \"skin-sewed Fin-boats\" is used, I had\nassumed that these two vessels were really large open skin-boats,\nlike those of the British Islanders and the Eskimos. But I am\nindebted to Dr. Joseph Anderson for pointing out that the passage\ndistinctly states that the boats were of wood, and that the allusion\nis to the \"sewing\" alone. As an article contributed by me to the\n_Arch\u00e6ological Review_ (Vol. IV., Aug. 1889) contains this erroneous\nassumption, I take this opportunity of stating that my inference is\ncontradicted by the original passage, with which I was not then\nacquainted. Additional references, however, supporting the belief\nthat skin-boats were then and subsequently used in Norway, will be\nfound in Appendix B.\n\n[34] I am informed by Professor Kaarle Krohn of Helsingfors that the\nmodern Lapps employ light skiffs, which they propel with a\ndouble-bladed paddle. But this vessel, which is so light that one\nman can carry it on his head, is made of wood, not _skin_, and is,\nmoreover, open--not decked, like the kayak.\n\n[35] Brand.\n\n[36] And perhaps by many other names of like nature--such as\n_Finsbury_, _Findon_, _Finhaven_, _Fincastle_, etc.\n\n[37] This is quoted from \"Waldron's Works,\" p. 176.\n\n[38] This description is given at p. 550 of Dawson's \"Statistical\nHistory of Scotland.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\nIt is clear that those popular traditions and records, as well as\nthe indisputable statements of Brand and Wallace, indicate two very\ndifferent kinds of people, who, sometimes fighting, sometimes\ninter-marrying, occupied territories that were, in many cases,\nconterminous. That they were often enemies is evident. The Finn-man,\nwhen alone, was hunted from the non-Finnish islands by the natives:\nand, on the other hand, he was \"wont to pursue boats at sea,\" and to\ndemand tribute from the fishermen--when his superior arms, or the\nnumber of his comrades, warranted him to do so.\n\nNow, there is documentary evidence of this state of things during\nthe seventeenth century; though the localities therein referred to\nare the Northern Hebrides, rather than the Orkney and Shetland\nIsles. But the description corresponds, in everything else, with\nthat given by the Islesmen of the North-East. We are told[39] that,\nin the year 1635, certain sections of the Hebridean Islanders \"comes\nin troupes and companeis out of the Yles where they dwell to the\nYles and Loches where the fishes ar tane and there violentlie\nspoyles his Majesteis subjects of their fisches and sometimes of\ntheir victualls and other furniture and persewes thame of their\nlyffes, breakes the schooles of thair herring and comitts manie moe\ninsolenceis upoun thame to the great hinder and disappointing of the\nfishing, hurt of his Majesteis subjects, to the contempt of his\nMajesteis auctoritte and lawes,\" etc. This--even to the detail that\nthey \"by their coming drive away the Fishes from the Coasts\"--is an\nexactly similar account to that given, in the same century, to Brand\nand Wallace, and in the present century (but relating to about the\nsame period) to Dr. Karl Blind. In the one case, the scene is the\nNorth-Western coasts of Scotland: in the other it is the\nNorth-Eastern. But the kind of people described are pretty evidently\nalike.\n\nIn either case, too, the Mer-folk or Finn-men are not spoken of as\nsubjects of the Modern-British kingdom. The Proclamation of 1635,\nquoted above, does not regard \"some of the inhabitants of the Yles\nof this kingdome,\" as being \"his Majesteis subjects.\" The phrase,\n\"Yles _of this kingdome_\" does, indeed, imply something of a common\nnationality; but, as a matter of fact, certain portions of\nNorth-Western Scotland were not strictly under the rule of Charles\nthe First, at that period. That this was so may be seen (if nowhere\nelse) in the papers relating to those territories, of dates ranging\nfrom 1574 to 1635, which are quoted in the _Collectanea de Rebus\nAlbanicis_ (pp. 100-121). One of these is a letter written by\nCharles I. \"to the Privy Council of Scotland directing an inquiry\ninto the exactions by the Heritors of the [Hebridean] Isles from\nthose engaged in the Fisheries; and the bringing in of Foreigners by\nthe Heritors.\" And this letter runs as follows: \"Whereas it is not\nunknown to you with what care we have intendit the good of the\nAssociation of the Fischings within thess our Kingdomes _for the use\nof our subjects_[40] and that we will be provident to protect _them_\nfrom the exaction of the _heritours in the Yles_, who as we are\ninformed without warrant exact sundrie dewteis from them to their\ngreat prejudice, bringing in strangers and loading the vessells with\nfisches and other native commoditeis contrair to our lawis,\" etc.\nThe letter then commands the Scotch Privy Council to learn \"upon\nwhat warrant they [\"the landislordis of the Yles wher the fisching\nis\"] tak thess dewteis.\" In the Report made, six months later, by\nthe Commissioners appointed by the Privy Council, regarding \"the\nduteis exacted be the Ylanders frome his Majesteis subjects of the\nassociatioun resorting in these parts,\" it is stated: \"_that it was\nthe ancient custome_[2] ... to everie ane of thame in whose boundis\nthe herring fishing fell oute, _to exact of_[41] everie barke and\nship resorting thereto\" such-and-such a tribute, in money and in\nkind: \"Being demandit by what warrand they uplift the saids\nexactions and dewteis foresaids, they answer that they ar heretours\nof the ground and so may lawfully take up satisfactioun for ground\nleave and ankerage; it being ane ancient custome and in use to be\ndone past memorie of man.\"\n\nThrough all these documents of this period there runs a feeling (not\ndistinctly formulated) that \"his Majesteis subjects\"--\"his Majesteis\nfrie liegis\"--\"the haill inhabitantis of The Burrowis of this\nRealme\"--were terms that did not strictly apply to \"the heritours in\nthe Yles.\" And that these latter--though nominally the subjects of\nthe British monarch--still exercised a kind of semi-sovereignty in\ntheir own territories; enforcing tribute from \"his Majesty's free\nlieges,\" and carrying on commercial relations with \"foreigners,\"\ncontrary to the wishes of Charles himself. That these independent\nrights were to some extent recognized by Charles may be gathered\nfrom his own expressions in the documents referred to. And the\nexistence of this antagonism to British law was quite distinctly\nacknowledged by Charles' father (James) when, in the year 1608, he\nissued his instructions to a Commission \"appointed for the\nImprovement of the Isles;\" wherein he states his \"desire to remove\nall suche scandalous reproches aganis that state, in suffering a\npairt of it to be possessed with suche wild savageis voide of Godis\nfeare and our obedience.\"[42]\n\nNor was this independence confined to the mere exacting of a\ntribute, according to \"ancient custom,\" from those fishermen who,\nthemselves coming under the denomination of \"his Majesty's\nsubjects,\" resorted occasionally to the coasts of the North-Western\nIsles. The Report of 1634 showed that this tax was rigorously levied\nby those Island kings when the alien fishermen arrived within the\n\"bounds\" of certain islands. But they did not content themselves\nwith this. The Proclamation of the Scotch Privy Council of the\nfollowing year (1635) begins by stating that \"the Lords of Privy\nCouncil ar informed that of lait ther hes been manie great\ninsolenceis committit be some of the inhabitants of the Yles of this\nkingdome not onlie upoun his Majesteis subjects hanting the trade of\nfisching in the Yles but upon the Lords and others of the\nAssociation[43] of the Royall Fishing of Great Britane and Ireland;\nwhiche Ylanders comes in troupes and companeis _out of the Yles\nwhere they dwell_ to the Yles and Loches where the fishes ar tane\nand there violentlie spoyles his Majesteis subjects of their fisches\nand sometimes of their victualls and other furniture and persewes\nthame of their lyffes,\" etc. This statement reveals quite plainly a\ncondition of enmity between \"his Majesty's subjects,\" and certain\nsections of the Hebridean population. And the traveller, Pennant,\nfurnishes additional proof of this state of things, in describing\nthe condition of society in the Island of Skye (or its vicinity) at\nabout the period under consideration. \"Each chieftain (he tells\nus--and the \"chieftains\" of whom he speaks were presumably \"his\nMajesty's subjects\")--each chieftain had his armour-bearer, who\npreceded his master in time of war, and, by my author's account in\ntime of peace; for they went armed even to church, in the manner the\nNorth-Americans [the colonists] do at present in the frontier\nsettlement, and for the same reason, _the dread of savages_.\" Of\nwhich \"savages\" there are many traditions still extant in the\nlegendary lore of the West Highlands.\n\nOf more historical nature is the evidence of Buchanan, who, in\ndescribing the Inner Hebrides, during the seventeenth century,\nstates that the island of Pabbay, close to the Skye coast, was\nthen \"infamous for robberies, where the thieves, from their\nlurking-places in the woods, with which it is covered, intercept the\nunwary travellers.\" Of the island of Rona, lying a little to the\nnorthward of Pabbay, and, at that time, \"covered with wood and\nheath,\" he says: \"In a deep bay it has a harbour, dangerous for\nvoyagers, as it affords a covert for pirates, whence to surprise the\npassengers.\" To the west of Skye, and in the Outer Hebrides, there\nwas the island of Uist, containing \"numerous caves covered with\nheath, the lurking-places of robbers.\" Off the mainland coast to the\nnorth-east of Skye, lay \"the island Eu, almost wholly covered with\nwood, and of service only to the robbers, who lurk there to surprise\ntravellers;\" while \"more to the north lies Gruinort (says the same\nwriter), also darkened with wood, and infested with robbers.\" That\nis to say, all of these districts _belonged_ to certain races who\nwaged war against other populations in that archipelago; and who, in\nall probability, were the \"savages\" referred to by the traveller\nPennant.\n\nIt is not only this latter writer and James VI. of Scotland who\nrefer to certain North British populations in the seventeenth\ncentury as \"savages.\" Nor are such people only visible in the\nHebrides at that date. \"In a curious old book called 'Northern\nMemoirs; calculated for the Meridian of Scotland,' written in the\nyear 1658,\"[44] the following short description occurs with\nreference to the district of Strath Navar, in the north of the\ncounty of Sutherland:--\n\n \"The next curiosity to entertain you with, is the county of\n Southerland, which we enter by crossing a small arm of the\n ocean from Tain to Dornoch. So from thence we travel into\n Cathness and the county of Stranavar, where a rude sort of\n inhabitants dwell (almost as barbarous as Cannibals), who,\n when they kill a beast, boil him in his hide, make a\n caldron of his skin, browis of his bowels, drink of his\n blood, and bread and meat of his carcase. Since few or none\n amongst them hitherto have as yet understood any better\n rules or methods of eating.\"\n\nHere, then, is a community of people, \"almost as barbarous as\nCannibals,\" in the estimation of a civilized writer of 1658. But\nnone of the expressions of this kind, used by writers of the\nseventeenth century, will strike modern men more strongly than that\napplied to the Finn-men of Orkney in the Minute Book of the\nEdinburgh College of Physicians. To the civilized Scotch of two\ncenturies ago those Finn-men were simply savages,--\"barbarous men.\"\nThe term \"savage\" is always a relative one; and what one\ncivilization regards as savagery is really the fag-end of an earlier\ncivilization. Nevertheless, the seventeenth-century Finn-man\nrepresented what must necessarily appear to us as a \"savage\" state\nof society, if that word is to have any meaning at all. And the\npredominant castes of Orkney and Shetland and the mainland of\nScotland were quite in unison upon this point. The Edinburgh\nphysicians, as a matter of course, regarded those kayakers as\n\"barbarous men,\" just as we regard their Arctic kindred to-day. The\nsame view was taken by the predominant castes in the Inner Hebrides,\nat the same period, and apparently with regard to the same race of\npeople. At that period, therefore, the seventeenth century, we see\nthe higher castes of Scotland asserting themselves against an\n\"Eskimo\" race that threatened the safety of the more civilized\npopulations all along the northern and western fringe of the\ncountry.\n\nEven last century, something that modern nomenclature calls \"savage\"\nwas visible in these north-western localities. On one occasion, when\nDr. Johnson and his irrepressible biographer were exploring those\nnorth-western islands, the natives who rowed their boat seemed, to\nBoswell, \"so like wild Indians that a very little imagination was\nnecessary to give one an impression of being upon an American\nriver.\" One of them, he tells us, was \"a robust, black-haired\nfellow, half-naked, and bare-headed, something between a wild Indian\nand an English tar\" (of the eighteenth century). And some of the\nMcRaas of the mainland he describes as being \"as black and wild in\ntheir appearance as any American savages whatever.\"[45]\n\nOther tokens of \"savage\" customs might easily be adduced. For\nexample, decaying specimens of the rude \"dug-out,\" the most\nprimitive of all canoes--a mere hollowed log--are now and then found\nin the depths of some Highland loch, or peat-bog; and are rashly\npronounced to be \"pre-historic;\" whereas these very canoes were in\ncommon use in the north and west of Scotland less than two centuries\nago.[46] However, neither this species of canoe, nor the vague\nreferences of Boswell, point unmistakably to the Ugrian or Mongoloid\ncastes whom we are here considering; although it is not unlikely\nthat these latter were one and the same as the \"wild Indians\" and\nthe owners of the \"dug-outs.\"\n\nWhat is certain is that, when, in the October of 1599, one of the\nships belonging to the Fifeshire colonists of the Lewis was about to\nstart on its homeward trip, it was surrounded by \"a fleet of small\nvessels peculiar to those islands,\" and the natives, swarming on\nboard, put to death all except the captain.[47] Now (although the\nact was simply a legitimate incident in the warfare of the time and\nlocality), these islanders were the people whom King James spoke of\nas \"wild savages.\" And it is tolerably certain that their \"small\nvessels\" were those \"slight pinnaces\" of skin that Armstrong says\nwere \"much in use in the Western Isles\"--in other words, the\n_kayaks_ of the Eskimos or Finn-men. It is not unlikely that the\nresemblance to the modern Eskimo was very close in many details. For\nexample, the West Highland traditions tell of \"savages\" who played\nthe game of chess; which fact in itself argues decidedly a form of\ncivilization. Now, although the art of carving chessmen is extinct\namong modern Hebrideans, the traditional accounts were quite borne\nout by the discovery, in this century, of the now famous Lewis\nchessmen, \"in all fifty-eight pieces, ingeniously and elaborately\ncarved from the walrus tooth.\"[48] Consequently, it would appear\nthat the Finn-man occasionally hunted the walrus, in which pursuit\nhe no doubt employed \"the Dart he makes use of for killing Fish:\"\nexactly like a modern Eskimo.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[39] In a \"Proclamation by the Privy Council of Scotland regarding\nthe Fishing in the Isles\"; given at p. 111 of \"Collectanea de Rebus\nAlbanicis.\"\n\n[40] Not italicized in the original.\n\n[41] In this instance the italics occur in the original.\n\n[42] \"Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis,\" p. 115.\n\n[43] In a letter to the Privy Council of Scotland, of 15th July,\n1632, Charles refers to this Association as \"of new erected by us.\"\n\n[44] See _Blackwood's Magazine_, 1818, p. 674, whence the above\nparagraph is taken.\n\n[45] Others of the same tribe were \"as comely as Sappho;\" and the\ninference is that, ethnologically regarded, these were totally\ndifferent from the others. It must be remembered that the mere\nsurname, borne by all the members of a Highland clan, did not imply\nkinship. The word \"clan\" was originally used to denote only the\nblood-relations of the chief; but latterly it was applied to the\nwhole community. And that the commonalty was frequently composed of\nmen of a wholly different stock from their chiefs may be seen from\nthe fact that the former are specially distinguished as \"the native\nmen\" (_i.e._, aborigines) in several clan documents.\n\n[46] See Armstrong's \"Gaelic Dictionary,\" s.v. _Biorlinn_; also\n\"Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,\" 1880-81,\npp. 179-80.\n\n[47] Anderson's \"Scottish Nation,\" vol. iii. p. 49.\n\n[48] Dr. Daniel Wilson's \"Old Edinburgh,\" vol. i. p. 29.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\nBut, admitting the existence, at so recent a date, of a visibly\n\"Eskimo\" caste in some parts of the Hebrides, what evidence is there\nthat any of these people found their way to Shetland? One writer, we\nhave seen, brings the Shetland Finns all the way from Davis Straits,\nanother draws them from Finland, and the Shetlanders themselves say\nthat they \"came ow'r fa Norraway,\" especially from the neighbourhood\nof Bergen. The correctness of this last belief need not be\nquestioned, as regards some of that caste. But it has been suggested\nin the foregoing pages that many of those \"Finns\" who persecuted the\nShetland fishermen were those kayak-using Hebrideans who avowed\ntheir ancient right to despoil and to exact tribute from others, not\nonly when fishing among \"the Isles where they dwell,\" but in other\nwaters.\n\nWe read[49] of raids made in the Orkneys and Shetland, during the\nlatter part of the fifteenth century, by \"bands of Islemen\" (_i.e._,\nHebrideans), \"Irish, and Scots, from the woods\"; which last term\nstrongly suggests the \"robber\" denizens of the thickly-wooded\nislands spoken of by Buchanan two centuries later. The raiders were,\nno doubt, heterogeneous. But the piratical kayak-men were surely\namong them. There are many traditions extant in some parts of the\nnorth-eastern archipelagos regarding these raids--in the island\nof Westray, in Orkney, for instance, where, at a certain \"Fitty\nHill,\" there was once a great fight between the Westray people\nand the invading Lewismen, all of whom were slain. Now, this Fitty\nHill is associated strongly with the people recognizable as \"Finns,\"\nor at least was so in the year 1701, according to a writer\npreviously quoted (Brand, p. 57), and both he and Wallace (who wrote\nin 1688) mention the frequent visits of Finn-men to the Westray\nfishing-grounds. Indeed, the _kayak_ preserved in Edinburgh seems,\naccording to the latter writer, to have been one of those secured by\nthe Orkneymen; who probably made sure that the Finn himself should\nhave no further use for it.\n\nThus, it is a simple historical fact that certain castes of the\nHebrideans, whose practice of despoiling and exacting tribute from\nothers was a thing beyond question, were very frequent visitors to\nthe Orkney and Shetland groups, whose natives they did their utmost\nto overawe. And, as the skin skiffs of the Hebrideans were of such a\ndescription that the skiffmen \"fearlessly committed themselves in\nthese slight pinnaces to the mercy of the most violent weather,\"\nthey were well qualified to sing the song of the Finn-man:\n\n I am a man upo' da land,\n I am a selkie i da sea.\n\nIndeed, the concluding lines of that verse are peculiarly\nappropriate to the Hebridean. For the \"sh\u00f6ol skerry,\" which is the\nrocky islet of _Sule_ or _Sula_, lying about forty miles N.N.E. of\nCape Wrath, formed a very convenient refuge for him when \"far from\nevery strand,\" during his voyages between Shetland or Orkney and the\nHebrides.[50]\n\nAnd it is in this aspect, as tyrannical sea-rovers, that the \"Finns\"\nare often remembered in Shetlandic tradition. It was their custom to\npursue the boats of the Shetland fishermen, and to exact from them a\ntribute in \"silver money.\" So much were they dreaded that \"it was\ndangerous in the extreme to say anything against them.\" The original\nfeeling of respect must have been very strong, since it has survived\ninto the present century.\n\nThis, of course, relates to the Finns considered as men and as\nfighters. The other side of the question shows us the Finn-women,\nand also the Finn-men in peaceful guise. And here, too, it is\nevident that those people were by no means regarded as an _inferior_\nrace by the non-Finnish section of the Shetlanders (whatever that\nnon-Finnish element may have been composed of), for those who claim\na \"Finn descent\" at the present day regard this line of their\nancestry as wholly superior to that which, for want of a better\nword, may be called \"Shetlandic.\"\n\nThe Finn-women, we are told, very frequently became the wives of the\nislanders: and, consequently, they became the mothers of\n\"half-breed\" families--that is, in those cases where the husband\nhimself was of a wholly different stock. In some instances, owing to\na Finn connection in the previous generation, such children may have\nbeen more Finnish than anything else. Many of the Finn wives seem to\nhave cast in their lot altogether with their Shetland husbands, to\nwhom they brought dowries of cattle which--according to the peasant\ntradition--they \"conjured up from the deep,\" of which the probable\ninterpretation is that they caused them to be sent across from\nBergen. Peaceful memories of the Finn-men may also be traced in such\nthings as the rhyme of the medicine-man who \"came ow'r fa Norraway\"\nto conjure the toothache out of some unhappy Shetlander.\n\nBut these references, and apparently all the more recent of the\nShetlandic traditions, point to Norway, and not to the Hebrides, as\nthe home of the Finns; and it seems quite clear that the Bergen\nneighbourhood was a stronghold of this Mongoloid people within\nrecent times.\n\nMr. H. Howorth,[51] in discussing these Mongoloid, or Ugrian\npeople, remarks: \"The Finns and Laps have been pushed back in\nScandinavia to a very small portion of their ancient holding. In\nLivonia, in Esthonia, and in three-fourths of European Russia the\nUgrians were, even in the eleventh century, the preponderating\npopulation\"; that is, Esthonia and Livonia then formed a part of\n\"Finland,\" and the Gulf of Riga was a Finnish sea. We are not given\na date as to their \"preponderance\" in Scandinavia; but, if they were\nso numerous in the east Baltic districts during the eleventh\ncentury, it may be assumed that they were also of considerable\nimportance in the Scandinavian peninsula at the same time, and even\nmuch later.\n\nThere is, at any rate, a very interesting reference to Finns of\nSwedish nationality, made in connection with these Finns of Orkney.\nA last-century reader of Wallace's \"Description of Orkney\" (whose\noccasional comments upon that book are included in the reprint of\n1883) gives, as his opinion, that the \"Finnmen\" of Orkney, in the\nyears 1682-4, belonged to \"the Finns, or inhabitants of Finland,\npart of the kingdom of Sweden.\" Whether this writer meant the Finns\nof Esthonia and Livonia, or of Finland proper--for all these\nprovinces were under Swedish rule in the seventeenth century--it is\nevident that he went too far afield for his \"Finnmen.\" But what\nreally is important is the statement which he goes on to make,\nincidentally, with regard to the Finns of Sweden. \"They had,\" he\nsays, \"a settlement in Pennsylvania, near the freshes of the river\nDelaware, in the neighbourhood of the Dutch, who were the first\nplanters here\" (and he gives as his authority \"The British Empire in\nAmerica,\" vol. i. p. 309).\n\nNow, this colony of Swedish _Finns_ is clearly that which is\notherwise spoken of as a colony of _Swedes_. When William Penn took\npossession, in the year 1682, of the territory which has ever since\nbeen associated with his memory, those \"Swedes\" were already settled\nthere. \"'He was hailed there with acclamation by the Swedes and\nDutch,' says one authority, who informs us that the Swedes were\nliving in log cabins and clay huts. The men dressed in 'leather\nbreeches, jerkins, and match coats,' the women in 'skin jackets and\nlinsey petticoats.'\"[52] Those _Swedes_, then, of 1682, are\nidentified by an eighteenth-century writer with the Swedish _Finns_\nof that period, and at the same time with the contemporary Finns of\nOrkney: who, also, according to Brand, wore \"coats of leather.\" And\ntheir \"log cabins and clay huts\" were probably very much like the\nsod-covered dwellings of modern Lapps.\n\nIt is an interesting picture. Because this is plainly an infusion\nof unadulterated \"Eskimo\" blood, among the Pennsylvanians of that\ndate, which is quite independent of the representatives of that\nfamily at present occupying Greenland and the northern parts of\nBritish North America. It is \"Eskimo\" blood that was \"European\" only\ntwo or three centuries ago. And it is quite likely that many modern\nAmericans whose descent is drawn from those seventeenth-century\ncolonists of Pennsylvania, referred to as \"Swedes,\" have some of\nthis blood in their veins. That they may have inherited a further\nshare of it through other channels--\"British,\" and perhaps also\n\"Dutch\"--is quite probable.\n\nThere is something very suggestive in the Shetland accounts that,\nseveral generations ago, Shetland fishermen were frequently\nterrorized into paying \"silver money\" as tribute to people who are\nsaid to have come across from Bergen. Many portions of the\nnorth-eastern corner of Scotland appear to have been within the\ndiocese of Bergen, and to have owned the authority of that province\nup to very modern times. Of this there is ample evidence in\ntitle-deeds and other documents. This, of course, was a survival of\nthe Scandinavian suzerainty over the extreme north and west of\nScotland, which in the fifteenth century was actual sovereignty, as\nregards Orkney and Shetland; while, for the Hebrides, the Scottish\nmonarchs had to pay a yearly tribute known as \"The Annual of\nNorway.\" And at an earlier period still, the Sudereys, or South\nHebrides, and the Isle of Man, were included in this tributary\nkingdom. It is certainly worth considering whether the withdrawal of\nthe legendary \"marine people\" from the Isle of Man, and their\ngradual disappearance (as \"marine people\") from the whole western\nand northern extremities of Scotland, which seems to coincide very\nclosely, in time, with the decay of Scandinavian authority in these\nlocalities, ought not to be regarded as signifying that that\nauthority was rooted in Mongoloid supremacy.\n\nHowever, our present purpose is not to guess at the name or names\nby which these people must be known to history, but to emphasize\ntheir existence as a Mongoloid race. That the present British people\nshow traces of such a line of ancestry is the opinion of many modern\nethnologists. In his \"Origins of English History\" Mr. Elton\nrecognizes a type \"not unlike the modern Eskimo,\" as existent in\ncertain parts of England. Mr. J. F. Campbell, in his \"Popular Tales\nof the West Highlands,\" contends strongly for the past existence in\nthat locality of a race akin to modern Lapps. And the Iberian\ntheorists discern a similar type in \"the small, swarthy Welshman,\"\n\"the small, dark Highlander,\" and the \"Black Celts to the west of\nthe Shannon.\" The question of complexion is, of course, but of minor\nimportance, since it is anatomical structure that determines\naffinity. The modern Eskimo races themselves show this, for they\ninclude all shades, from dark or olive to actual red and white;\nalthough plainly of one general stock.\n\nThey exhibited an American-Eskimo chief, \"as a Rarity,\" at some of\nthe eastern seaports of Scotland, a few years ago. But it is\nprobable that a considerable number of the spectators were looking\nat a man who almost exactly resembled one or more of their own\nancestors, not many generations back; not only in the style of his\ndress and in his general appearance, as he shot his slender kayak\nacross their waters, but also, to a very great extent, in his\nphysical features. And it is much the same with many millions of\nEuropeans (and their offshoots), who, chiefly through intermixture,\nand partly on account of altered conditions of life, are no longer\nrecognizable, to a superficial observer, as in any degree connected\nwith this \"Eskimo\" stock.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[49] _See_ pp. 59, 378, and 485 of \"The Orkneys and Shetland,\" by J.\nR. Tudor; London, 1883.\n\n[50] The ballad of \"The Great Silkie [_i.e._, Seal] of Sule Skerry\"\nis given by the late Captain Thomas, on pp. 88-89 of the\n\"Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,\" vol. i.\n(First series). This \"great seal\" figures in the song as the father\nof a Shetland woman's child. It may be added that this islet lies\nabout thirty-five miles in a northerly direction from the Strath\nNavar referred to on a previous page.\n\n[51] In the Ethnological Society's _Journal_, vol. ii. No. 4.\n\n[52] This is taken from an article on the Founding of Philadelphia;\ncontributed by the Rev. Dr. Stoughton to _The Sunday at Home_, 1882.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\nWhen the twelfth-century Norseman, Sigurd Slembe, with his twenty\nfollowers, spent a whole winter with the Lapps or Finns, as stated\nin the \"Heimskringla\" (Saga XIV), it is evident that the two sets of\nmen were in intimate association. Their life at that time is thus\ndescribed in Sigurd's song:\n\n \"In the Lapland tent\n Brave days we spent,\n Under the grey birch tree;\n In bed or on bank\n We knew no rank,\n And a merry crew were we.\n\n \"Good ale went round\n As we sat on the ground,\n Under the grey birch tree;\n And up with the smoke\n Flew laugh and joke,\n And a merry crew were we.\"\n\nIt was at that time, also, that the Lapps made for Sigurd those\n\"sinew-fastened boats,\" in which he and his party voyaged southward\nin spring. In these accounts there is no mention made of the Lapp or\nFinn women, but their presence there must certainly be taken for\ngranted. And there is no reason for supposing that they were less\nfriendly to their guests than the Finn men were. There are\nevidences, indeed, that the Ugrians and the non-Ugrians of\nScandinavia, of either sex, were on a friendly footing two centuries\nbefore Sigurd Slembe's day. When Eric, the son of Harald Haarfager,\nwas in Lapland on one occasion, he there found his future wife,\nGunhild, living in a hut with \"two of the most knowing Laplanders in\nall Finmark.\" She had come there, she said, \"to learn Lapland-art,\"\nin which these two Lapps were deeply versed. The way in which she\nentrapped her hosts, and went off with Eric, is described in the\nSaga (Harald Haarfager's, chap. xxxiv), and it argues something for\nEric's magnanimity or indifference that he chose this lady to be his\nbride. However, the point is that in Gunhild we have a presumably\nnon-Ugrian woman, living in the most friendly way with a couple of\nLapp \"magicians.\"\n\nAgain, we find Harald Haarfager himself actually marrying a Finn\nwoman. We are told (chap. xxv of his _Saga_) how, one winter, when\nHarald was moving about Upland \"in guest-quarters,\" he was induced\nby \"the Fin Svase,\" who announced himself to the king's followers as\n\"the Fin[53] whose hut the King had promised to visit,\" to not only\nfulfil the said promise, but then and there to marry Snaefrid, the\ndaughter of the Finn. Whether he took this step by reason of the\nbeauty of the Finn girl, or of the strength of the mead which she\npoured out to him, or of the \"magic\" which she and her father\nexercised upon him, is a matter of little moment. The fact remains\nthat she became his queen, and in course of time bore to him four\nsons: Sigurd Hrise, Halfdan Haleg, Gudrod Liome, and Rognvald\nRettilbeine: who, consequently, were half-bred Finns--that is,\nassuming that Harald himself was of pure non-Ugrian blood.\n\nThese four sons of Harald's Finn wife are subsequently to be met\nwith in this Saga; which tells how \"they grew up to be very clever\nmen, very expert in all exercises.\" When Harald was fifty years of\nage, he gave to three of them, as to his other sons, \"the kingly\ntitle and dignity,\" assigning to them, as their portion of his\nkingdom, the territories of \"Ringerike, Hadeland, Thoten, and the\nlands thereto belonging.\" But one of the four, Halfdan, did not live\nto attain this dignity. Several years before, he, like Harald's many\nother sons, had resented his exclusion from place and dignity, and\nthe advancement of mere \"earls\" instead; \"for they [Harald's sons]\nthought earls were of inferior birth to them.\" Consequently, Halfdan\nand his brother Gudrod \"set off one spring with a great force, and\ncame suddenly upon Earl Rognvald, Earl of M\u00f6re, and surrounded the\nhouse in which he was, and burnt him and sixty men in it.\" Then,\nleaving his brother in temporary possession of that earldom,\n\"Halfdan took three long-ships, and fitted them out, and sailed into\nthe West Sea.\" The Earl of Orkney at that time was Einar (\"Turf\"\nEinar), and on Halfdan's unexpected appearance he fled. For six\nmonths the Finn woman's son ruled over Orkney. But in the autumn,\nEinar returned, and \"after a short battle,\" totally defeated and put\nto flight Halfdan and his followers. \"Einar and his men lay all\nnight without tents, and when it was light in the morning they\nsearched the whole island, and killed every man they could lay hold\nof. Then Einar said: 'What is that I see upon the Isle of\nRonaldsha?[54] Is it a man or a bird? Sometimes it raises itself up,\nand sometimes lies down again.' They went to it, and found it was\nHalfdan Haaleg, and took him prisoner.\" Einar thereupon killed\nHalfdan, and he and his men raised a mound of stones and gravel over\nthe corpse; which mound, if not yet opened, will no doubt disclose\nto some modern craniologist the exact ethnological status of this\nsemi-Finn.[55]\n\nWith regard to another brother of Halfdan's, Rognvald Rettilbeine,\nit is stated that he ruled over Hadeland, and became famous for his\nskill in witchcraft, in which he was no doubt instructed by his Lapp\nrelatives. This, indeed, was the cause of his death. For, at the\ninstigation of their common father, his half-brother Eric\n(Bloody-axe) \"burned his brother Rognvald in a house along with\neighty other warlocks,\" on account of these same alleged\nmalpractices.\n\nThese are only a few recorded instances, which reveal the Finns\nand the non-Finns as sometimes closely allied not only by\nassociation, but by blood. But from them it may be inferred that\nmany other intermarriages between the two races took place, and that\nthe Finns, although eventually conquered as a distinct people, were\nfrequently men of rank and importance among the Scandinavians of\neight or nine centuries ago. As an instance of a Finn occupying\nan official position (certainly much inferior to that of the\nsemi-Finnish kings of Ringerike, Hadeland, and Thoten), we have the\n\"Finn Sauda-Ulfsson,\" who appears as \"engaged in drawing in King\nInge's rents and duties\" at Viken, Norway, in the twelfth century\n(\"Heimskringla,\" Saga XIV, chap. vii). And a certain notable Ketill\nflat-nose,[56] or Ketill Finn, whose memory is doubtless embalmed in\nKetill's-s\u00e6ter (now Kettlester), in the island of Yell, Shetland,\nwas clearly of Finn blood. When he, and such as he--the semi-Ugrian\nsons of Harald, for example--held sway in Shetland and Orkney, and\nwhen men and women of either race occasionally, perhaps frequently,\nlived together, a state of things existed that closely resembled\nthat described in Mr. Karl Blind's Shetlandic traditions--when\n\"Finns came ow'r fa Norraway\" and practised magic and witchcraft,\nand domineered over the people of the northern islands.\n\nOf course, it is impossible to say what proportion the Finn blood\nbore to the other. Yet it is quite evident that the Finns, while\noften at war with the race that overcame them, were also frequently\ntheir allies, and that the two peoples became to some extent blended\nin blood. Consequently, when one discovers among modern British\npeople physical traces of a race \"not unlike the modern Eskimo,\" in\nlocalities famed as the scene of many a Scandinavian raid, these\ntraces may reasonably be attributed to those very inroads.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[53] In the edition of 1844, the word \"Laplander\" is used instead of\n\"Fin\" in these two instances, as also in the following chapter,\nwhere \"the cunning of the Fin woman\" is referred to. But the\nadmirable edition of 1889 employs \"Fin\" in each case. Whatever may\nhave been the original distinction between \"Fin\" or \"Finn\" and\n\"Lapp,\" it is evident that these two terms have very often been used\nindiscriminately, from an early period.\n\n[54] It is stated of Einar that, although \"he was ugly, and blind of\nan eye,\" he was \"yet very sharp-sighted withal.\"\n\n[55] Mr. John R. Tudor, in his very interesting book on \"The Orkneys\nand Shetland\" (London, 1883), indicates (p. 364) a certain district\nin the island of North Ronaldshay as the scene of Halfdan's death;\nand suggests that one of \"three curious ridges, or mounds\" is\nprobably that raised over Halfdan's body. The saga certainly says\nthat his death took place on that island. But, of course, there is\nplenty of room for conjecture in the whole story.\n\n[56] Mentioned, for example, in Skene's \"Celtic Scotland,\" i,\n311-312. It is not out of place to refer here to a Mongoloid race of\n\"Flat-noses\" of whom Mr. Howorth speaks. These are the Nogais, who\nare known as \"Manguts\"; the word _Mangut_, or _Mangutah_, being\n\"merely an appellative, meaning flat-nosed.\" \"Dr. Clark says of\nthem: 'They are a very different people from the Tartars of the\nCrimea, and may be instantly distinguished by their diminutive form,\nand the dark copper colour of their complexion, sometimes almost\nblack. They have a remarkable resemblance to the Laplanders,\nalthough their dress and manner has a more savage character.' Pallas\nenlarges also upon their specially Mongolian features. Klaproth\nsays: 'Of all the Tartar tribes that I have seen, the Nogais bear by\nfar the strongest resemblance in features and figure to the\nMongols'\" (Howorth's \"History of the Mongols,\" part ii, p. 2, and\npart iii, p. 71).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\nThe references made in the two preceding chapters bear specially\nupon those Finns who \"came ow'r fa Norraway\" to the islands of\nShetland and Orkney. But if the assumption be correct that many of\nthe Finns who landed in Shetland and fished in Shetlandic waters\ncame thither direct from the Hebrides, it is to be presumed that\nGaelic as well as English tradition has something to say regarding\nthem. And as there are several words in use in Shetland which are\nalso in use among West Highlanders,[57] it is not unlikely that\nthese people may be known in the West Highlands by the same name as\nin Shetland.\n\nIt is quite clear that Highland tradition does bear testimony to\nthe former existence of a special race or caste of people known by a\nname which resembles that of the Finns so closely that it may\nreasonably be regarded as only a variant of \"Finn.\" In a certain\ncharter of Alexander II. of Scotland (A.D. 1214-49), reference is\nmade to a well which is known in Gaelic as _Tuber na Feinn_,\n_Feinne_ or _Feyne_; and an old gloss (date unknown) explains that\nthis term signifies \"the Well of the grett or kempis men callit\nFenis.\"[58] Or, in more modern English, \"The Well of the great men\nor champions called _Feens_, _Fenns_, _Feenies_, or _Fennies_.\"[59]\nHere, then, we have record of a certain race of \"kempies\" or\nfighters, who were known in English as _Feens_, etc., and in Gaelic\nas the _Feinne_. One does not require to know much of Gaelic\ntradition--one need not know anything of it--to be well aware of the\nfact that that legendary lore is fairly alive with stories of the\n\"Feinne,\" whatever may have been the ethnological position of the\ncaste thus named. And, just as in modern Shetland we have people\nproclaiming with pride their descent from the _Finns_, so have we\nWest Highlanders and Hebrideans boasting that the _Feinne_ were\namong their forefathers. Just as Mr. Karl Blind met with a modern\nShetland woman who asserted that she was \"fifth from da Finns,\" so\ndid the late Mr. J. F. Campbell, in 1871, converse with a Skyeman,\n\"Donald MacDonald, styled Na Feinne\"[60]--that is, \"of the Feens.\"\nIf the \"Feinne\" of Gaelic story are really the same people as the\n\"Finns\" of Shetlandic tradition, it will not be for lack of\nstatements made regarding them if we do not learn a great deal more\nabout these people through Gaelic channels.\n\nWithout either hastily accepting or condemning this hypothetical\nidentification, let us look a little further into the circumstances\nof the Gaelic _Feinne_. And it may be as well first to decide upon\nan English equivalent of this Gaelic plural. Mr. J. F. Campbell\nstates that the singular is _Fiann_; but, even when writing in\nEnglish, he prefers to adhere to the Gaelic form of the\nplural--thus, \"the Feinn\" or \"the Feinne.\" However, both Dr. Skene\nand another writer (the late Rev. J. G. Campbell, Tiree), have\nEnglished this into \"the Fians.\" This approaches so closely to the\nmarginal \"Fenis\" of the old charter of Alexander II., that we may\ntake \"the Feens\" as a good enough modern English equivalent for the\nGaelic plural. (For the vowels in _Fians_ and _Feinne_ receive the\nold or Continental pronunciation, these words having the sound of\n\"Feeans\" and \"Fane,\" or \"Fayny,\" according to modern English\nspelling.) In order, therefore, to avoid the confusion that might\narise from Englishing \"the Feinne\" into \"the Finns\" (although we are\ntacitly assuming, in the meantime, that the latter really expresses\nthe ethnological position of the former), let us refer to \"the\nFeinne\" of Gaelic story as \"the Feens.\"[61]\n\nSo lately as the latter part of the seventeenth century, certain\ndistricts of Scotland were recognized as specially \"the land of the\nFeinne.\" Dr. Skene, on the page which tells us of the _Tobar na\nFeinne_, or Well of the Feens, states that Kirke (the Rev. Robert\nKirke, minister of Balquhidder, in Perthshire), in his Psalter,\nwhich was published in 1684, refers to the territory stretching from\nLoch Linnhe north-west to, and inclusive of, the Outer Hebrides[62]\nas \"the generous land of the Feinne.\"\n\n\"The land of the Feens,\" therefore, according to this Scotch writer\nof the seventeenth century, embraced the Outer Hebrides and a\ncertain portion of the opposite mainland, known in the Highlands as\n\"the rough bounds.\" It is thus evident at the outset that we do not\nobviously make a false start in assuming that the _Feens_ of Gaelic\ntradition ought to be regarded as forming a section of the _Finns_\nwho visited Shetland in the seventeenth century. In 1684 Kirke\nregarded the Hebrides as the land of the Feens; in 1688 Wallace\nrecords the occasional arrival of Finns or Finnmen on the coasts of\nOrkney and Shetland. And we have already seen that skin kayaks, such\nas those which bore the Finn visitors to the islands of the\nnorth-east were employed at about the same period by inhabitants of\nthe Hebrides. Certain sections of the Hebrideans are recorded in\nhistory as making warlike descents upon the fisheries of Orkney and\nShetland. And these Hebrideans dwelt in \"the land of the Feens.\"\n\nBut the seventeenth century is much too recent a date for studying\nthe Gaelic accounts of the Feens. These accounts go back to the\nperiod when Gaelic was peculiarly associated with what seems to have\nbeen its earliest home in the British Islands--Ireland. That they\nalso relate to the more recent period of the Irish or Gaelic\nsettlements in Scotland is manifest. But they are substantially\nGaelic (_i.e._, Irish), and they deal with events which cannot be\nlimited to the time of the Irish invasions of Scotland; and they\nrelate to localities which are not merely British, but European.\n\n\"Who were the _Feens_ of tradition, and to what country and period\nare they to be assigned?\" is the question asked by one of the most\nlearned of the authorities from whom these statements are\nobtained.[63] And his answer, after due consideration, is, that \"we\nmay fairly infer that they were of the population who immediately\npreceded the Scots [Gaels] in Erin [Ireland] and in Alban [Scotland,\nnorth of the Forth and Clyde], and that they belong to that period\nin the history of both countries before a political separation had\ntaken place between them, when they were viewed as parts of one\nterritory, though physically separated, and when a free and\nunrestrained intercourse took place between them; when race, and not\nterritory, was the great bond of association, and the movements of\ntheir respective populations from one country to the other were not\nrestrained by any feeling of national separation.\"[64]\n\nDistinct and important as this announcement is, it requires still\nfurther consideration. Our guide in this question has shown us that\nin such modern times as the seventeenth century, the Feens of\nScotland were restricted to a small corner of the West Highlands and\nto the Hebrides; which territory was so far associated with them\nthat an intelligent writer of that century spoke of it as the land\nof the Feens. But Dr. Skene points also to a much earlier period,\nwhen the Feens inhabited, if they did not possess and exclusively\noccupy, the whole of Ireland and Irish-Scotland. And he indicates\nfurther that they had dwelt in these districts before the advent of\nthe Milesians (or Gaels). More than that, he shows us that the lands\nin which they lived included a portion of the continent of Europe.\n\nIn opposition to the theory manufactured by the Irish historians,\nthat the Feens were \"a standing body of Milesian militia, having\npeculiar privileges and strange customs,\" Dr. Skene holds the\nconviction that, \"when looked at a little more closely,\" they\n\"assume the features of a distinct race.\"[65] As a proof of this, he\nquotes three verses from an old poem on the Battle of Gabhra (or\n_Gawra_, as the more softened pronunciation has it). This battle of\nGawra is said to have been fought in Ireland, on the border of the\ncounties of Meath and Dublin, and it is placed by some in the third\ncentury A.D. It appears to have been the outcome of the resolution\nmade by the High King of Ireland, Cormac Mac Art, to renounce for\never the tributary position which he and other kings occupied\ntowards their over-lords, the Feens. The Irish monarch is said to\nhave aimed at the complete extermination of the race in one district\nat least; to have \"Great Alvin [apparently the modern Allen, near\nDublin] cleared of the Feens.\"[66] At any rate, whatever its\nposition in time and place, this battle clearly marks a crisis in\nthe history of that latter race. For to them the battle of Gawra was\na complete and crushing defeat; and thereafter their suzerainty was\nended. \"The kings did all own our sway till the battle of Gaura was\nfought,\" sings the bard of the Feens, \"but since that horrid\nslaughter no tribute nor tax we've raised.\" The chroniclers state\nthat the leader and an immense number of his warriors were killed,\nand only two thousand of the Feens of Ireland were left alive when\nthe battle was over. And their bard sings thus:\n\n \"Fiercely and bravely we fought,\n That fight, the fight of Gaura;\n Then did fall our noble Feinn,\n Sole to sole with Ireland's kings.\"[67]\n\nBut the Feenian army here engaged did not only consist of the Feens\nof Ireland; and this, indeed, is the reason why attention is now\ndrawn to this battle. It is in regarding the battle of Gawra that we\nrecognize the force of Dr. Skene's contention, that however the\nFeens may in later times have become restricted to this or that\nlocality, they at one time formed a very widely spread _race_, the\nvarious divisions of which were ready to hasten to the aid of any\nportion of this great confederacy in time of danger. Whether Dr.\nSkene is precisely correct in stating that \"race, and not territory,\nwas the great bond of association,\" is a mere question of words.\nBecause the Gaelic traditions emphatically show that although\nIreland and other neighbouring lands were occupied by people of\nnon-Feenic race, who were governed by their own kings, yet, as these\nkings were _themselves_ subject to the Feens, who drew tribute from\nthem, the real owners of these various territories were the powerful\nthough scattered overlords, and not the races that were under their\nsway.[68] Mr. J. F. Campbell also states that the Feenic king was\nnot distinguished by any _territorial_ title: \"always 'R\u00ecgh na F\u00eenne\nor F[=e]inne'\" (\"West Highland Tales,\" I, xiii). And in the pedigree\nwhich he gives on page 34 of his \"Leabhar na Feinne,\" and which was\ncompiled by a good arch\u00e6ologist, the title given to three successive\ngenerations of the \"royal family\" of the Irish Feens is \"General of\nthe Feens\" of Ireland; not \"King of Ireland\" itself.\n\nThis battle of Gawra, then, which seems to mark the period when the\ngreat Feenic confederacy was on the point of breaking up, was\nbrought about by the evident resolve of the non-Feenic population of\nIreland to throw off for ever this intolerable yoke. And the three\nverses which Dr. Skene extracts from the poem descriptive of the\nbattle disclose to us that other sections of the Feenic confederacy\nhad come to the help of that division which was resident in Ireland.\nThe poem is supposed to be sung by a Feen of Ireland; and he states\nthat\n\n \"The bands of the Feens of Alban,\n And the supreme King of Britain,\n Belonging to the order of the Feens of Alban,\n Joined us in that battle.\n\n \"The Feens of Lochlin were powerful,\n From the chief to the leader of nine men,\n They mustered along with us\n To share in the struggle.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"Boinne, the son of Breacal exclaimed,\n With quickness, fierceness, and valour,--\n 'I and the Feens of Britain\n Will be with Oscar of Emhain.'\"\n\n\"There was thus in this battle,\" says Dr. Skene, \"besides Feens of\nIreland, Feens of Alban, Britain, and Lochlan.\"[69] Alban, he\nexplains, denoted the whole of Scotland lying to the north of the\nForth and Clyde. Britain, he states in this place, was South-Western\nScotland. But elsewhere[70] he tells us that \"Britain\" signified\n\"either Wales, or England and Wales together\"; and again,[71] that\nthat term included \"England, Scotland, and Wales.\" At the very\nleast, then, it denoted a part of Great Britain, then inhabited--not\nnecessarily to the exclusion of other races--by Feens.\n\nThese two names, \"Alban\" and \"Britain,\" do not, however, take us\noutside of the British Isles. But the third term, \"Lochlan,\" does.\n\"Lochlan,\" says our guide, \"was the north of Germany, extending from\nthe Rhine to the Elbe.\" And the Feens of that territory, the poem\ntells us, \"from the chief to the leader of nine men,\" \"mustered\nalong with us [the Feens of Ireland] to share in the struggle,\" on\nthis fateful day of Gawra.\n\nWhy Dr. Skene should limit \"Lochlan\" to these dimensions is not\nmade quite clear. For Norway, Sweden, and Denmark constituted the\n\"Lochlan\" chiefly known to Gaelic writers. However, he seems to be\nof opinion that the term was \"transferred\" to Scandinavia in the\nninth century, and that previously (as, for example, when the battle\nof Gawra was fought) it peculiarly denoted the more southern\nterritory. If he is right in this, we cannot assume the Lochlan\ncontingent as including the Feens of Norway. On the other hand,\nthere does not seem to be any strong reason for believing that, at\nthe date of Gawra, \"Lochlan\" did not take in the whole of\nScandinavia, as in the ninth century and afterwards. It is at least\nnoteworthy, in this connection, that in the pedigree previously\nreferred to,[72] the ruler of the Feens of Ireland, when the battle\nof Gawra was fought, is stated to have been the grandson of a\n_Finland_ woman. Quite apart from the assumed identity of _Feen_ and\n_Finn_, this indicates a kinship that was not limited even by the\nriver Elbe.[73]\n\nBut really the identity of _Feen_ and _Finn_ seems tolerably clear.\nIndeed, a contemporary writer,[74] who has studied ancient Ireland\nand its \"Feinne\" from his own point of view, appears to regard this\nidentity as a thing perfectly manifest. And when, as tending to\nconfirm this opinion, he embellishes his pages with several\nillustrations from scientific authorities in modern Finland, in\nwhich the ancient forms of art and dress are seen, it is plain that\nthese designs are the same as those which are strongly associated\nwith those portions of Scotland which were once known as The Land of\nthe Feens.\n\nTherefore, it appears probable that the \"Feinne\" of Lochlan, that\nis, of the country lying between the Rhine and the Elbe, who\nassisted their kindred in Ireland at the battle of Gawra, were\nsimply the Finns of that territory. And that, consequently, that\nbattle belongs to a period when the Mongoloid people, instead of\nbeing cut up, as now, into small detachments here and there, or\namalgamated with other races, held a very distinct and important\nposition throughout a considerable area of Europe.\n\nHowever, this identity of \"Feen\" with \"Finn\" may not appear to some\npeople as even a probability, without a fuller investigation into\nthe circumstances of the people known to Gaelic tradition as the\n_Feinne_. It may therefore be desirable to continue to refer to the\n\"Finns\" of Gaelic folk-lore by the name of \"Feens.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[57] Such as _roo_ and _m\u00fbl_ (each used to denote a headland);\n_skerry_, a reef; _couthe_, the \"cuddy\" or coal-fish, and _broch_;\nall of which are found in Gaelic as _ru_ (_rudha_), _maol_, _sgeir_,\n_cudan_, and _brog_.\n\n[58] _See_ p. lxxx of Dr. Skene's Introduction to \"The Dean of\nLismore's Book,\" Edinburgh, 1862.\n\n[59] Perhaps the old Scotch termination \"is\" ought not to be\nmodernized into a separate syllable, as, whatever the force once\ngiven to it, that termination represents the modern plural and\npossessive \"s.\" But if the \"Fenis\" of the gloss was dissyllabic, it\nhas an equivalent in Shetland in the alternative \"Finny,\" sometimes\nused instead of \"Finn.\"\n\n[60] _See_ \"Leabhar na Feinne,\" London, 1872, p. iv.\n\n[61] It may be added, that while Dr. Skene frequently speaks of \"the\nFians,\" and at other times of \"the Feinne,\" he occasionally refers\nto \"the Fenians.\" But, as this term has been recently usurped by a\nquasi-political faction, and as it is, moreover, less accurate than\nthe other, we may at once reject it. The compound \"Fingalian\" has\nalso little to recommend it.\n\n[62] \"The Rough-bounds (_Garbhcrioch_) and the Western Isles\" is the\nexpression used. The former term denoted that portion of the\nmainland between Loch Linnhe and Glenelg. Whether the Island of Skye\nought to be included as one of the \"Western Isles\" is not quite\nclear.\n\n[63] Dr. Skene, p. lxiv of his Introduction to \"The Dean of\nLismore's Book.\" (Here, as elsewhere, I take the liberty of\nsubstituting _Feens_ for the Gaelic plural _Feinne_.)\n\n[64] _Op. cit._, Introduction, p. lxxviii.\n\n[65] _Op. cit._, Intro., pp. lxxiii-lxxiv.\n\n[66] _Op. cit._, p. 36.\n\n[67] For the above references, _see_ pp. 36, 37, and 40 of \"The Dean\nof Lismore's Book.\"\n\n[68] Just as modern India is _British_ India, although it is almost\nexclusively occupied by native races. (In this instance, of course,\nthe position of _native_ and _alien_ is precisely the reverse from\nthat which this \"Feen\" empire seems to denote.)\n\n[69] \"Dean of Lismore's Book,\" p. lxxv. The spelling is here\nslightly modified.\n\n[70] _Op. cit._, p. 8, note 1.\n\n[71] _Op. cit._, p. 49, note.\n\n[72] \"Leabhar na Feinne,\" p. 34.\n\n[73] The Gaelic traditions have a good deal to say regarding a race\nof sea-rovers, styled _Fomorians_; which word is by some believed to\nbe a latinized form of a Gaelic term denoting a seafaring people. As\nit is not improbable that this may be simply another name for the\npeople now under consideration, the following is worth citing here:\n\"That those adventurers whom our writers call Fomorians, have\narrived hither in multitudes from that country whence the Danes,\nSwedes, and Norwegians came, is a circumstance that may be collected\nfrom this account, that the father-in-law of Tuathal is said, in the\ngenealogy of the kings of Ireland, to have been king of the\nFomorians of Finland.\" (O'Flaherty's \"Ogygia,\" Hely's translation,\nDublin, 1793, vol. i, p. 19.)\n\n[74] Mr. Charles de Kay, in the course of several learned articles\non early life in Ireland, contributed to _The Century Magazine_\nduring the year 1889.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\"The Feens, then, belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were\nconnected, not only with Ireland, but likewise with Northern and\nCentral Scotland, England and Wales, and the territory lying between\nthe Rhine and the Elbe.[75] Now, there are just two people mentioned\nin the Irish records who had settlements in Ireland, and who yet\nwere connected with Great Britain and the region between the Rhine\nand the Elbe. These were the people termed the Tuatha De Danann, and\nthe Cruithn\u00e9.\" So says the learned annotator of \"The Dean of\nLismore's Book.\"[76]\n\nThese two last-named races, we are told, are both traditionally\nbrought from the Elbe and Rhine districts to Ireland and Scotland,\nand both are eventually subdued by the later-arriving Milesian\nScots. The period given for the Milesian conquest of the Cruithn\u00e9 of\nScotland, is the ninth century of the Christian era.\n\nLeaving the \"Tuatha De Danann\" out of the question in the meantime,\nlet us look at the contemporary and probably kindred \"Cruithn\u00e9.\" The\nCruithn\u00e9, Cruithneach, or Cruithnigh, are unquestionably deserving\nof study, for Dr. Skene has shown us[77] that this is merely another\nname for those people whom history chiefly knows as \"the Picts.\" The\ntraditional \"Feens,\" therefore, are to be identified with the\nhistorical \"Picts.\"\n\nNow, although these people are, as we have just seen, believed to\nhave come from the Continental country of \"Lochlan\" (Scandinavia, in\nthe largest acceptation of that term, or, in its most restricted\nsense, the region lying between the Rhine and the Elbe), and\nalthough there is every reason to believe that they spread\nthemselves all over the British Isles, yet they seem--regarded as\n\"Picts\"--to be chiefly associated with North Britain. Their memory\nis still preserved, topographically, by the name of _Pentland_\n(formerly _Petland_ or _Pehtland_, and _Pictland_), which is borne\nby the stormy firth separating the Orkneys from Caithness, and also\nby the range of hills lying to the south of Edinburgh. Both of these\nnames are unquestionably derived from the time when there was a\n\"land of the Picts\" in either of these neighbourhoods. But the\nPicts, as such, are remembered all over Scotland, in history and in\ntradition. It is chiefly in connection with Ireland that they are\nspoken of as Cruithn\u00e9.\n\nIf the \"Feens\" of tradition were _Cruithn\u00e9_, or _Picts_, it is\nevident that whatever is known with regard to the history, customs,\nappearance, and language of the Picts will help us to decide as to\nwhether the _Feens_ were really one with the _Finns_ of history,\nethnology, and tradition. This, as already remarked, on general\ngrounds, seems very probable. But, when a very able historian\nassures us that the historical Cruithn\u00e9 or Picts must certainly be\nat least classed with the Feens of tradition, if these three terms\ndo not actually include one people, we are enabled, by proceeding\nupon this assumption, to obtain further proofs in corroboration of\nthis belief.\n\nWhether regarded as Feens or as Picts, these people, we are\ninformed, had settlements throughout the British Isles during the\nearlier centuries of the Christian era, and the country of their\norigin was Northern Germany (or, more vaguely, Scandinavia); in\nwhich country large sections of their kindred continued to dwell,\nand to maintain a system of confederacy with the Western or British\nsection long after the latter had settled in their new home. This,\nat any rate, when viewed as Feens.\n\nOn the other hand, such a writer as Mr. H. Howorth demonstrates\nthat, during the same period, the Mongoloid races formed a most\nimportant, and in some places a preponderating, portion of the\ninhabitants of the countries of Northern Europe. But, during that\nperiod, these Mongolian races have--he points out--been subjected to\nan unceasing process of expulsion from their neighbours on the south\nand south-east. If any race, therefore, arrived in the British\nIslands from the neighbourhood of the Baltic in the centuries\nimmediately preceding or following the birth of Christ, the\nprobability is that that race belonged to one division or another of\nthese dispossessed Ugrian people.\n\nIf this were so--if the Cruithn\u00e9 or Picts, who came to Britain from\nthe Baltic lands, were one with, or closely akin to, the Finns and\nLapps--their characteristics must have been those of such people.\nFor example, their religious beliefs. Now, one cannot read Dr.\nSkene's references to the heathen religion of the Cruithn\u00e9 without\nseeing that it strongly resembles that of the Lapps and Finns.[78]\nWithout quoting these references in detail, it may be pointed out\nthat the power of bringing on a snowstorm and darkness, and\nunfavourable winds, was among the mysteries of the Pictish priests.\nAnd this gift of commanding the elements was peculiarly associated\nwith the Finns and Lapps, as it still is with the Eskimo \"sorcerers\"\nof Greenland. \"In the Middle Ages,\" says a writer on sorcery,[79]\n\"the name of _Finn_ was equivalent to sorcerer.\" And as the same\nwriter observes that \"the old authors often confounded the Finns\nwith the Lapps, and when they speak of Finns, it is very difficult\nto know which of these two peoples they refer to\" (a confusion of\nterms which we have already had occasion to remark), we may here use\nthe term _Finn_ to denote both divisions. Tentatively, at any rate.\nThe actual Lapps appear to have been the most powerful magicians of\nall that caste. \"It is proved by numerous documents,\" continues M.\nTuchmann, \"that the Finns called the Lapps sorcerers, although they\nthemselves were reputed to be great magicians; but they regarded\nthemselves as inferior to their neighbours, for they habitually\nsaid, when speaking of their most famous sorcerers: 'He is a\nveritable Lapp.'\"[80] However, since \"Finn\" has so frequently been\nused to denote the whole group, and since the most recent examples\nof these people in the British Isles, namely, the magic-working\nFinns of Shetland, have borne that title, we may adhere to the\npractice of referring to both divisions as \"Finns.\"\n\nThe Picts or Cruithn\u00e9, therefore, practised the magic of the Finns.\nThat is, the _Feens_ practised the magic of the _Finns_.[81]\n\nAgain, when we look at certain weapons used by the _Feens_, a\nsimilar resemblance is visible. According to a tradition, taken down\nfrom the recital of an old Hebridean, the spears or darts of the\nFeens, which were known in Gaelic as \"_tunnachan_,\" were of this\ndescription: \"They were sticks with sharp ends made on them, and\nthese ends burned and hardened in the fire. They [the Feens] used to\nthrow them from them, and they could aim exceedingly with them, and\nthey could drive them through a man. They used to have a bundle with\nthem on their shoulders, and a bundle in their oxters [under their\narm-pits]. I myself have seen one of them that was found in a moss,\nthat was as though it had been hardened in the fire.\"[82] \"This,\nthen,\" justly remarks Mr. Campbell, \"gives the popular notion of the\nheroes [the Feens], and throws them back beyond the iron period.\"\n\nWhile the fashion of referring to \"periods\" of iron, bronze, etc.,\nis very apt to mislead (since contiguous peoples have been, and are,\nin different \"periods\" of this nature, at the same moment of time),\nit is at least clear from the above tradition that the most\nprimitive form of dart was associated with the Feens. But, although\nthis species of weapon is of great antiquity, it does not follow\nthat a tradition which relates to people who employed it, is\nnecessarily of great antiquity also. Or that those javelin-men were\nat all \"prehistoric.\" We have already seen that a race of people\nemployed darts in exactly the same way when fishing--or, perhaps,\nmore correctly, when seal-hunting--within British waters, only two\nhundred years ago. And the people who in this respect resembled the\n_Feens_ of Gaelic folk-lore are themselves remembered as _Finns_.\n\nBut perhaps the readiest and surest way of obtaining something like\na true conception of these legendary Feens, is to regard them from\nthe ethnological point of view, as well, that is, as our imperfect\ninformation will allow. We shall therefore look at them in this\naspect, whether considered as _Picts_ or _Cruithn\u00e9_ or as _Feens_.\n\nThe great hero of the Feenic legends, and the \"King\" or \"General\" of\nthe Feens of Ireland, was the famous \"Finn\" or \"Fionn.\" If the\nbattle of Gawra was really fought in the third century, as is\nalleged, and if this \"Fionn\" was a real man, and not the type or\n\"eponymus\" of his race, then he ought to be assigned to the third\ncentury. For he is said to have been present at that battle, where\nhis grandson was slain and the supremacy of his race destroyed. At\nany rate, whether he lived at that date or not, and whether he was\nan individual or merely a personification of his race, Fionn figures\nthroughout the tales of these people as a very Feen of the Feens.\n\nNow, among the many stories told of him, there is one, entitled\n\"How Fin[83] went to the Kingdom of the Big Men.\" It is unnecessary\nto give all the particulars of this tale. But Fin is pictured as\nstarting from Dublin Bay in his little coracle (_curachan_) on his\nvoyage to the country of the Big Men. Although he is described as\n\"hoisting the spotted, towering sails,\" they cannot have been very\nlarge, or very many, for the coracle was so small that \"Fin was\nguide in her prow, helm in her stern, and tackle in her middle,\" and\nwhen he landed on the coast of the Big Men's country, he drew his\ntiny vessel, unaided, up into the dry grass, above the tide-mark. It\nought to be added, however, that this coracle was an open boat,\ncapable of holding at least four persons; as is shown on the return\nvoyage.\n\nAfter landing, Fin encountered a \"big wayfarer\" (_tais-dealach\nm\u00f2r_), who informed him that his king had long been in want of a\ndwarf (_troich_), and that Fin would suit him capitally. \"He took\nwith him Fin; but another big man (_fear m\u00f2r_) came, and was going\nto take Fin from him. The two fought; but when they had torn each\nother's clothes, they left it to Fin to judge. He chose the first\none. He took Fin with him to the palace of the king, whose worthies\nand high nobles assembled to see the little man (_an duine bhig_\").\nAnd then and there Fin was installed as the royal dwarf.[84]\n\nIn this story, then, we have the tacit admission that, not far from\nFin's home at the hill of Allen, Kildare, there was a country whose\ninhabitants were so much taller than the race of Fin, that the\nlatter were mere dwarfs beside them. Now, this is precisely _the\nmost striking_ characteristic of the kayak-using Finns of Shetlandic\ntradition.\n\nThe _Finns_ of Shetland folk-lore are, says Mr. Karl Blind,\n\"reckoned among the _Trows_.\" The king of the _Feens_ was hailed in\nthe country of the big men as a _Troich_. And these are simply two\nforms of the same word. _Troich_ or _droich_, among Gaelic-speaking\npeople, is softened into _trow_ or _drow_ among the English-speaking\nShetlanders.[85] In both cases it signifies \"dwarf.\"\n\nAnd, just as the Shetlanders have memories of a race of small men,\nwho, in spite of their mean stature, were a terror to the taller\npeople, whom they oppressed and took tribute from, so have the\nGaelic-speaking people a mass of legends which also tell of similar\ndwarfish but dreaded tyrants. The former designate their dwarfs\n\"Finns\": if the Gaelic traditions are not equally definite, they at\nleast suggest that a caste of \"Feens,\" who levied a tax upon the\nGaelic-speaking people, were themselves dwarfs in stature. And the\nHighland tales abound in stories of fierce and tyrannical dwarfs.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[75] It is to be remembered that \"Lochlan,\" the term used to denote\nthe territory last named, was ultimately applied to the whole of\nScandinavia, and _may_ have been used in its widest sense at the\nperiod here referred to.\n\n[76] Introduction, p. lxxvi. In the above, I have again taken the\nliberty of modifying the various designations.\n\n[77] \"Celtic Scotland,\" vol. i, p. 131; vol. iii, chap, iii, etc.\n_See_ also his \"Chronicles of the Picts and Scots.\"\n\n[78] \"Celtic Scotland,\" vol. ii, pp. 108-16.\n\n[79] M. J. Tuchmann, in \"M\u00e9lusine,\" t. iv, no. 16.\n\n[80] Mr. Charles de Kay, in one of the valuable articles already\nreferred to, remarks (\"Woman in Early Ireland,\" _Century Magazine_,\nJuly 1889, p. 439): \"Although in the Kalewala the tribes of Pohjola,\nor the Lapps, are considered foul magicians, and ever the foe of the\nheroes of Kaleva, or the Finns, yet it is from Pohjola that\nWa\u00efnamo\u00efnen and his comrades always take their brides by force or by\npurchase.\" This quotation not only confirms the above account of M.\nTuchmann, but it also illustrates the fact that even the most\nantagonistic races do not refrain from mixing their blood. Thus it\nmay be seen how Lapps and Finns could eventually become almost\nidentified. And the \"Heimskringla\" shows us how, in turn, this\ncomposite Finno-Lapp race could later on become blended with that of\nthe Haralds and Sigurds of the Sagas.\n\n[81] This has already been propounded by the late Mr. J. F. Campbell\n(\"West Highland Tales,\" iv, 29-30).\n\n[82] \"West Highland Tales,\" iii, 394-5.\n\n[83] So spelt in the English translation given by the Rev. John G.\nCampbell, minister of Tiree, in _The Scottish Celtic Review_,\nGlasgow, 1885, pp. 184-90.\n\n[84] Referring to the component parts of Fin's army on a certain\noccasion, Mr. Charles de Kay remarks (\"Early Heroes of Ireland,\"\n_Century Magazine_, June 1889, p, 200): \"The battalion of\n'middle-sized men' and that of 'small men' we may understand as\nrecruited from the true hunter and fisher tribes, who gave the name\nFenian to the army itself, and Fion to the folk-hero.\"\n\n[85] _Trow_ is the favourite form among the Shetlanders; but other\nforms are given by Edmondston in his \"Glossary,\" such as _drow_,\n_troll_, _troil_, _troilya_, and _trolld_. The Shetland terms are,\ntherefore, also variants of the Scandinavian _troll_, following a\ncommon Scotch tendency, which modifies _boll_, _knoll_, _poll_,\n_roll_, etc., into _bow_, _know_, _pow_, _row_, etc. (the vowel\nsound being as in _now_). But whichever form may be the oldest, it\nis manifest that _trow_ or _drow_, and _troich_ or _droich_, are\nradically one.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\nBut, if the legendary \"Feens\" are identical with, or closely akin\nto, the Picts of history, then the historical Picts must also belong\nto this stunted Eskimo-like race. Let us look at the people called\n\"Picts.\"\n\nAnd, first of all, since the word \"Pict\" is admittedly the result of\na pun or a misapprehension on the part of Latin-speaking people, it\nmay be as well to discard that special spelling. The forms which the\nword appears to have most commonly taken in the mouths of the\ncountry-people of Scotland are _Pik_, _Pech_, _Pecht_, and _Peht_\n(the _ch_ being of course pronounced as in German). Doubtless, other\nforms might be adduced; but perhaps the best compromise is _Pecht_.\nWhat, then, are the accounts given with regard to the stature of the\nPechts?\n\nThe question is practically answered at once in considering the\nnature of the dwellings that the traditions of Scotland unanimously\nassign to these people.\n\n\"The only tradition which I heard current on the subject of the\nformer inhabitants of the country,\" says a writer on Shetland,[86]\n\"was, that the remains of old dwellings were Pechts' houses, and\nthat those who lived in them were little men.\" And, in reporting to\nthe Anthropological Society of London the result of an arch\u00e6ological\ntour in Shetland, Dr. James Hunt[87] remarks of such \"old\ndwellings\"--\"These remains are called 'Pights' or Picts' houses.'\nMr. Umfray [a local arch\u00e6ologist] surmises that they were originally\n'pights' or dwarfs' houses.' Dwarfs, in this locality, are still\ncalled _pechts_.\"[88] And the present writer, when visiting a\n\"Pict's house\" three or four miles north of the place just spoken\nof, and which had also been inspected by Dr. Hunt, obtained similar\ntestimony. The place is known as Saffester, or Seffister, and its\nantiquarian features consist of the remains of a chambered tumulus\nand a separate subterranean gallery. The latter is referred to by\none writer as a \"Pict's house,\" although it is only a passage. As,\nhowever, local tradition alleges that it leads to the chambered\nmound, the name may be correct enough. Now, this tumulus was opened\nfifty or more years ago by the parish minister.[89] And an old man,\nwho was then a boy, informed the writer that the entrance was\neffected by what he and his boy companions had always called \"the\n_trow's_ door.\" Another similar experience of the writer's yields a\nlike result. Near Hamna Voe, at the south end of the island of Yell,\nthere is a small loch and islet, with the remains of a \"broch,\" the\nloch being known as \"the loch of Kettlester.\" The \"broch\" that once\nstood there (for the ruins no longer retain their original shape)\nwas built by \"the Pechts,\" said the intelligent lad (a native of the\ndistrict) who was the writer's guide, and these Pechts he described\nas very small people.[90]\n\nThe popular Shetland notions regarding the Pechts are again\nrepeated by a lady writer, who has the advantage of being herself a\nShetlander[91]: \"The first folks that ever were in our isles were\nthe Picts.... They had no ships, only small boats.... They were very\nsmall [people].\" Indeed, so much has their small stature been\nimpressed upon the popular memory, that, as we have seen, \"dwarfs,\nin this locality, are still called _pechts_.\" Nor is it only in\nShetland that this word has such a meaning. In Aberdeenshire _picht_\ndenotes a dwarfish person, and Dr. Jamieson, in recording the\nfact,[92] suggests its connection with \"the _pichts_ or _pechts_,\nwhom the vulgar view as a race of pigmies.\" In the south of Scotland\nalso, this signification appears to prevail; for the Ettrick\nShepherd, in the \"Noctes Ambrosian\u00e6,\" employs \"pegh\" as an everyday\nsynonym for \"dwarf.\" In point of fact, although it has just been\nstated that dwarfs \"are still called _pechts_\" in Shetland, because\nof the small size of the race so known to history, it is really a\nquestion whether the historical people did not so become\nhistorically remembered _because_ a pre-existing word fitly\ndescribed their dwarfish stature. But this etymological point is of\nlittle importance here.\n\nAlthough Shetland has been chiefly considered in these recent\nremarks, it will be seen that the popular belief regarding the\nstature of the Pechts is apparently common to the whole of Scotland.\nDr. Jamieson evidently thought so when he referred to \"the Pichts,\nor Pechts, whom the vulgar view as a race of pigmies.\" And he does\nnot stand alone. \"Throughout Scotland,\" says another writer, \"the\nvulgar account is 'that the _Pechs_ were unco wee bodies, but\nterrible strang'; that is, that they were of very small stature, but\nof prodigious strength.\"[93] \"Long ago,\" quotes the late Robert\nChambers,[94] and his quotation also applies to the whole of\nScotland, \"there were people in this country called the Pechs;\nshort, wee men they were,\"--and so on.\n\nEnough has been said to show that the ideas held by the \"vulgar\"\n(whose traditions, once contemptuously rejected by scholars, are\nnowadays being rated at their true value), throughout Scotland, with\nrespect to the Pechts, agree in describing those people as decidedly\ndwarfish in stature. And this belief is most convincingly borne out\nby the dwellings which the Pechts are believed to have inhabited;\nthe \"Pechts' houses\" which we glanced at a few paragraphs back, and\nwhich speedily led us to consider the Pechts themselves. No man of\nthe average height of modern British people, who has personally\ninspected these \"Pechts' houses,\" can arrive at any other conclusion\nthan that they were built and inhabited by people of a stature very\nmuch less than his own. This is a point so manifest that it need not\nbe emphasized to those who have stooped, squeezed, and crept among\nthe chambers and passages of a \"Pictish broch.\" A few particulars of\nmeasurement would quickly convince others; but such details need not\nbe entered into here. However, something may be said with regard to\nthe appearance of the dwelling which may best be regarded as the\ntypical \"Pecht's house.\"\n\nIn a \"Notice of the Brochs and the so-called Picts' Houses of\nOrkney,\" submitted to the Anthropological Society of London,[95] Mr.\nGeorge Petrie points out that \"the name Pict's house is applied\nindiscriminately, in the northern counties of Scotland, to every\nsort of ancient structure.\" And as there is certainly a great\ndifference, in degree, between the various structures referred to,\nwe may here accept Mr. Petrie's guidance as to what constitutes the\ntypical \"Pict's house.\" \"The class of buildings to which I have for\nmany years restricted the appellation of _Picts' house_ have been,\"\nsays Mr. Petrie, \"very different from the brochs,[96] both in\nexternal appearance and general structure and arrangements. The\n_Pict's house_ is generally of a conical form, and externally\nclosely resembles a large bowl-shaped barrow. It consists of a solid\nmass of masonry, covered with a layer of turf, a foot or more in\nthickness, and has a central chamber surrounded by several smaller\ncells. The entrance to the central chamber from the outside is by a\nlong, low, narrow passage; while the cells are connected with the\nchamber by short passages of similar dimensions to the long one. The\nwalls of the chambers and cells converge towards the top, where they\napproach so closely that the aperture can be spanned by a stone a\ncouple of feet in length.\"\n\nAnother writer[97] describes a Pict's house--that on Wideford Hill,\nnear Kirkwall--in these terms: \"All that meets the eye at first is a\ngreen, conical mound, with an indescribable aspect of something\n_eerie_ and weird about it, resting silently amid the moorland\nsolitude. On closer inspection we discover an entrance passage,\nabout eighteen inches high and two feet broad, leading from the\nlower side into the interior of the prehistoric dwelling,\"--and so\non.\n\nThe resemblance between this kind of dwelling, or its more modern\nrepresentative, the \"bee-hive\" hut of the Hebrides and Western\nIreland, to the dwellings of modern Eskimos has long been\nrecognized. But it may be permitted to quote here from the accounts\ngiven by two Arctic voyagers of the early part of this century,\nespecially as these accounts, both relating to the most northern\ntribes of Greenland, appear to describe with peculiar exactness the\n\"Pict's house\" of Mr. Petrie.\n\nCaptain Scoresby, in the account of his explorations in the year\n1822, thus describes the deserted dwellings of some of those\nnorthern Eskimos:\n\n \"The roofs of all the huts had either been removed or had\n fallen in; what remained, consisted of an excavation in the\n ground at the brow of the bank, about 4 feet in depth, 15\n in length, and 6 to 9 in width. The sides of each hut were\n sustained by a wall of rough stones, and the bottom\n appeared to be gravel, clay, and moss. The access to these\n huts, after the manner of the Esquimaux, was a horizontal\n tunnel perforating the ground, about 15 feet in length,\n opening at one extremity on the side of the bank, into the\n external air, and, at the other, communicating with the\n interior of the hut. This tunnel was so low, that a person\n must creep on his hands and knees to get into the dwelling:\n it was roofed with slabs of stone and sods. This kind of\n hut being deeply sunk in the earth, and being accessible\n only by a subterranean passage, is generally considered as\n formed altogether under ground. As, indeed, it rises very\n little above the surface, and as the roof, when entire, is\n generally covered with sods, and clothed with moss or\n grass, it partakes so much of the appearance of the rest of\n the ground, that it can scarcely be distinguished from it.\n I was much struck by its admirable adaptation to the nature\n of the climate and the circumstances of the inhabitants.\n The uncivilized Esquimaux, using no fire in these\n habitations, but only lamps, which serve both for light and\n for warming their victuals, require, in the severities of\n winter, to economise, with the greatest care, such\n artificial warmth as they are able to produce in their\n huts. For this purpose, an under-ground dwelling, defended\n from the penetration of the frost by a roof of moss and\n earth, with an additional coating of a bed of snow, and\n preserved from the entrance of the piercing wind by a long\n subterranean tunnel, without the possibility of being\n annoyed by any draught of air, but what is voluntarily\n admitted--forms one of the best contrivances which,\n considering the limited resources, and the unenlightened\n state of these people, could possibly have been\n adopted.\"[98]\n\nScoresby's description fully corroborates that given by Captain Ross\na few years earlier, when relating his visit to the Eskimos living\nabout the north-eastern corner of Baffin's Bay. These people he\ndescribes as \"short in stature, seldom exceeding five feet,\" and he\nmentions that their sorcerers alleged that it was in their power to\nraise a storm or make a calm, and to drive off seals and birds.\"\n\nWith regard to their dwellings, he says:\n\n \"None of their houses were seen, but they described them as\n built entirely of stone, the walls being sunk about three\n feet into the earth, and raised about as much above it.\n They have no windows, and the entrance is by a long, narrow\n passage, nearly under ground. Several families live in one\n house, and each has a lamp made of hollowed stone, hung\n from the roof, in which they burn the blubber of the seal,\n etc., using dried moss for a wick, which is kindled by\n means of iron and stone. This lamp, which is never\n extinguished, serves at once for light, warmth, and\n cooking.\"[99]\n\nIt is not out of place to refer here also to an instructive article\non \"The Arch\u00e6ology of Lighting Appliances,\" read before the Society\nof Antiquaries of Scotland by Mr. J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A.Scot., in\nthe course of which he describes the stone lamps found in the\nhabitations known as \"brochs\" (and popularly assigned to the Picts),\nwith regard to which lamps he states that although not quite\nidentical in shape with those used by modern Eskimos, they are\nsubstantially identical, and must have been used in precisely the\nsame way. Comparing this with Baron Nordenski\u00f6ld's accounts, Mr.\nRomilly Allen observes: \"The picture here given of the domestic life\nof the Eskimos at the present time enables us to form a tolerably\ncorrect idea of the way in which the inhabitants of the Scottish\nbrochs lighted their dwellings during the long winter nights two\nthousand years ago.\" (\"Proceedings of Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.\"\n1887-88, p. 84.)\n\nFrom all these remarks, then, it will be seen that the dwelling of\nthe dwarfish Eskimo and the \"house\" assigned by Scottish tradition\nto the Pechts, or dwarfs, are substantially one. And a consideration\nof the statements also demonstrates clearly that, whatever the age\nof the word \"pecht,\" none but a race of dwarfish stature would have\nbuilt such places of abode. Indeed, the stature of the dwellers in\nthe Pecht's house is doubly impressed upon the memory of the\nNorthern Islanders. When Mr. Gorrie describes its outward\nappearance, he tells us (in similar terms to the Arctic voyagers),\nthat \"all that meets the eye at first is a green, conical mound ...\nresting silently amid the moorland solitude.\" But he really repeats\nhimself, although he is not aware of it, when he refers on another\npage[100] to \"the simple superstition (?) long prevalent among the\ninhabitants of Orkney and Zetland, that the strange green mounds\nrising by the sea-side and on solitary moors, were the abodes of\nsupernatural beings known by the name of Trows.\" Of the\n\"supernatural\" attributes assigned to those people, or claimed by\nthem--in early Scotland, in Lapland, and in Greenland--much remains\nto be said. But the people just referred to under two different, but\nsynonymous, names, are undoubtedly one and the same.\n\nThe Pechts of history, then, were a race of dwarfs. Thus, when Dr.\nSkene identifies the Feens of Gaelic folk-lore with the historic\nPechts, he reveals them to us as a race of dwarfs. Therefore, the\ntraditional story of the Feen chiefs visit to the \"country of the\nbig men,\" where he was regarded by that latter race as a \"droich,\"\nis entirely in accordance with Dr. Skene's belief that the Feens\nwere of the same race as the historic Pechts. It is not at all\nunlikely that this identity was taken for granted long before the\nnineteenth century, and in Scotland. In Allan Ramsay's _Evergreen_,\na collection of Scottish poems written before the year 1600, there\nis a certain \"Interlude of the Droichs,\" also referred to as \"The\nDroichs' Part of a Play.\" Now, the spokesman of these droichs (or\ntrows, or dwarfs) announces himself as a grandson of Fin, the great\nchief of the Feens of Ireland. And he makes a statement which is\nidentical with one contained in a Feenic poem on the battle of\nGawra. This statement need not be particularized here, but it tells\nus unmistakably that these \"droichs\" were regarded as the\nrepresentatives of Fin and his Feens.[101] Therefore, it would\nappear from this poem that Fin and his Feens were regarded by the\nruling class in Scotland, prior to 1600, as dwarfs. That is, as\n_pechts_.\n\nSo far, then, all that has here been said tends to show that the\n_Feinne_ of Gaelic folk-lore, and the Finns of Northern history and\ntradition, ought to be regarded as one and the same people. And that\none section, at any rate, of such people ought to be identified with\nthe Pechts, or Picts, of history.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[86] Rev. J. Russell, \"Three Years in Shetland.\" Paisley and London,\n1887, pp. 135-6.\n\n[87] _See_ the Society's \"Memoirs,\" 1865-6, vol. ii, pp. 294-338.\n\n[88] The spelling _pight_, which Dr. Hunt uses above, must clearly\nrepresent the guttural and vowel sound of _licht_, _micht_, _dight_,\netc., in \"broad Scotch.\" Without this caution, the reader would\nnaturally infer the sound of _pite_.\n\n[89] Rev. J. Bryden: _see_ \"Anthrop. Soc. Mem.\" _ut supra_.\n\n[90] Close to Kettlester there is a noted haunt of the \"trows,\"\nwhich bears the name of _Houlland_. With this may be compared\n_Troil-Houlland_, which adjoins Seffister, of \"trow\" memory. This\nvery common Shetland termination \"ster\" or \"setter\" is the Icelandic\n_setr_, a dwelling; and these two names resolve themselves\nrespectively into dwellings of _Kettle_ and _Seffi_. The former name\nat once recalls the ninth century _Ketil Flat-nose_ of the Sagas,\nand this \"setr,\" still associated with dwarfs (otherwise _trows_ or\n_pechts_), may have been one of his dwellings.\n\n[91] Mrs. Saxby, in \"Folk-lore from Unst, Shetland\" (part v),\ncontributed to _The Leisure Hour_, 1880. (For another reference to\nthe boats of the Picts, _see_ pp. 178-9, _post_.)\n\n[92] \"Scottish Dictionary\" (Supplement), _s. v._ \"Picht.\"\n\n[93] \"The Topography of the Basin of the Tay,\" by James Knox,\nEdinburgh, 1831, p. 108. This writer adds that \"they are said to\nhave been about three or four feet in height\"; and it may be\nmentioned that when I asked my young guide at Kettlester the exact\nheight of the small Pechts he had just been speaking of, he said,\n\"About that height,\" indicating at the same time a stature of three\nfeet or so. Whatever their height really was, this young\nShetlander's ideas were in agreement with those held \"throughout\nScotland.\"\n\n[94] \"Popular Rhymes of Scotland,\" 1870, p. 80.\n\n[95] _See_ the Society's \"Memoirs,\" 1865-6, vol. ii, pp. 216-225.\n\n[96] The term \"broch\" has hitherto been used in a general sense in\nthese pages. This its etymology permits: for it is the same word as\n_borough_, _burgh_, _burg_, _barrow_, etc. But the students of these\nancient structures have recently restricted \"broch\" to the more\nelaborate and superior building of the round or \"martello\" tower\norder. This definition is very convenient, and saves much confusion.\nIn spite, however, of the great difference that Mr. Petrie speaks of\nas between the so-called \"Pictish\" broch and the humbler dwelling\nthat alone is recognized by him as a \"Pict's house,\" it is yet\nevident that the \"broch\" is to a very great extent evolved from the\nmore primitive and rudimentary \"Pict's house.\"\n\n[97] Mr. Daniel Gorrie, in \"Summers and Winters in the Orkneys,\"\nLondon, 1869, p. 117.\n\n[98] This extract is quoted from the review in the _Scots Magazine_\nof 1823 (pp. 457-8) of Captain Scoresby's \"Journal\" (published\n1823).\n\n[99] From an extract contained in the review (_Scots Magazine_,\n1819, vol. iv, pp. 332-3) of Capt. Ross's account (published by John\nMurray, London, 1819).\n\n[100] _Op. cit._, p. 119.\n\n[101] The fact that the \"Interlude\" is allegorical does not at all\naffect the question.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\nWhile the Picts, or Pechts, are remembered to a great extent as the\nbuilders of the subterranean and half-subterranean dwellings with\nwhich they are associated, these are far from being the only\nstructures which popular tradition has stamped as the work of their\nhands. The architectural skill, of a kind, which they displayed in\nthe construction of their own \"Pechts' houses\" may be seen from such\na casual reference as this, gleaned from among certain specimens of\nClydesdale folk-lore: \"Our milkhouse,\" says a Clydesdale peasant,\n\"whilk stude on the side of a dentie burn, and was ane o' thae auld\nvowts [vaults] whilk the Pechs biggit langsyne, had wa's sae doons\nstrang that ane waud hae thocht it micht hae stude to the last day;\nbut its found had been onnerminit by the last Lammas-spait.\"[102] If\nthe \"Pechts' houses\" lacked, as they certainly did, evidences of\nhigh culture in the designers, or outward beauty of design in\nthemselves, they were at least remarkable for their great strength\nand durability; so that, were it not for such accidents as a\nLammas-flood, they might well have stood \"to the last day.\" But the\ngreat bodily strength of this race, and their turn for masonry, were\nmade use of in other ways than in the construction of the dwellings\nreferred to; that is, if there is any truth in the popular ideas\nupon this subject.\n\nThe late Robert Chambers, in putting together the popular Scotch\nbeliefs regarding these people,[103] not only states that they were\n\"short, wee men,\" but he adds, still speaking as a Scottish peasant:\n\"The Pechs were great builders; they built a' the auld castles in\nthe kintry; and do ye ken the way they built them? I'll tell ye.\nThey stood all in a row from the quarry to the place where they were\nbuilding, and ilk ane handed forward the stanes to his neebor, till\nthe hale was biggit.\" A special example of one of the buildings so\nreared is the Round Tower of Abernethy in Perthshire, well known as\none of the two towers of this class still to be found in Scotland.\n\"The story goes,\" says the Rev. Andrew Small, in his \"Antiquities of\nFife,\"[104] \"that it was built by the Pechts,... and that, while the\nwork was going on, they stood in a row all the way from the Lomond\nHill to the building, handing the stones from one to another....\nThat it has been built of freestone from the Lomond Hill is clear to\na demonstration, as the grist or nature of the stone points out the\nvery spot where it has been taken from, namely, a little west, and\nup from the ancient wood of Drumdriell, about a mile straight south\nfrom Meralsford.\" That Abernethy was long a seat of Pictish power is\nwhat no historian would deny, and the tower referred to is always\ndenominated \"Pictish.\" Of the way in which it was built we have just\nseen the local account.\n\nSimilar ideas are current in Northumberland. \"The erection of\nseveral of these old castles [_e.g._, Dunstanborough Castle] is, by\npopular tradition, ascribed to the Picts.... The building of the\nRoman wall, which is by country people commonly called the Picts'\nwall, is also ascribed to them; and they are said to have formed the\nCatrail on the Scottish border, which is frequently called the\nPicts-work ditch. The Picts are described as men of low stature, but\nof superhuman strength; and on the moors of Northumberland the heaps\nof stone, which are supposed by antiquaries to mark the spot where\n'bones of mighty chiefs lie hid,' are sometimes pointed out to the\ninquiring stranger as places where a Pict's apron-string had broken\nas he was carrying a load of stones to his work.\"[105]\n\nAlthough the tower at Abernethy, and the \"Pechts' houses\" already\nspoken of, may be classed together as having been built for the use\nof the builders themselves, it is quite evident that if these people\nactually reared the many other structures attributed to them, in\nScotland and in Northumberland, they did so in the character of\nserfs, working for people of other races. If Dunstanborough Castle,\nthe Wall of Hadrian, and (perhaps also) the Catrail, not to speak of\n\"a' the auld castles in the kintry,\" were built by the Pechts, the\nbuilders were evidently not working on their own behalf. This\nclearly must have been the case in the instance of the \"Roman Wall,\"\nwhich was raised for the very purpose of checking the southward\ninroads of these fierce warriors. That it actually was a \"Roman\nwall\" is of course beyond question. But that fact does not interfere\nwith the supposition that the drudgery was performed by captive\nPechts, whose immense strength, and intimate acquaintance with the\nart of building such structures, would render them of the greatest\nuse to their conquerors. That they, and not the Romans, were the\nactual _builders_ of the wall, as Northumbrian tradition asserts, is\ntherefore far from improbable. Indeed, there are one or two\nindications that the more northern \"Wall of Antoninus\" may also have\nbeen reared by kindred hands. And as with these early examples, so\nmay the later buildings referred to have actually been unwillingly\nbuilt by Pechts, at the command of other people.[106]\n\nNot only walls and castles, or towers, but churches and cathedrals\nare also said to have been reared by the same dwarfish but powerful\nbuilders, as may be seen from the following instances.\n\nOne part of Scotland that continued to be a \"reservation\" of the\nPechts, after that people had ceased to hold sway, is the hilly\ncountry lying to the south of Edinburgh, and known as \"the\nPentlands.\" Like the \"Pentland Firth\" on the north-east of Scotland,\nthis district was so called because it was associated with the\nPechts. We need not here concern ourselves as to the causes which\nmade the name, in both instances, assume the modern form of\n\"Pentland.\" But, in each case, the name was formerly \"Pehtland,\" and\nit signified \"the land of the Pehts, or Pechts.\" According to Dr.\nSkene, the Angles of Northumbria had, as early as the seventh\ncentury, established themselves pretty securely as the ruling caste\nthroughout the south-east of what is now Scotland, then a part of\n\"Northumbria.\" This territory seems to have reached as far on the\nnorth-west as the modern county of Linlithgow, and one of the chief\nNorthumbrian strongholds in that neighbourhood has ever since been\nknown by the name of the Northumbrian king, Edwin. Edinburgh,\ntherefore, in the seventh century, appears as a seat of the Anglian\nrace, which ruled from the Forth to the Humber. Three or four\ncenturies later, the steadily growing power of \"Scotia\" annexed the\nwhole of Northumbria lying north of the Borders. But the population,\nno doubt, remained little affected by this political change, and its\nspeech and traditions continued the same.[107]\n\nBut, although those Angles were the rulers of south-eastern\nScotland (in modern topography), there still remained a remnant of\nthe Pechts in at least one part of that northern Northumbria.[108]\nAnd it was because of their residence there that the Angles spoke of\nthe hilly region lying to the south and south-west of Edinburgh as\n\"the Peht or Pecht land.\" How long the Pechts maintained some kind\nof individuality in that neighbourhood it is impossible to say. It\nis said that, after Kenneth's great victory over the Pechts at\nForteviot or at Scone, in the middle of the ninth century, many of\nthe fugitives sought refuge in England. And, as the Pentland Hills\nwere then in \"England,\" it is likely that they found shelter among\ntheir kindred there. In other parts of Scotland the Pechts are\nhistorically visible long after the seventh and ninth centuries. At\nthe battle of the Standard, in 1138, the Galloway section formed one\ndivision of the Scottish army.[109] A popular tradition, to be\npresently referred to, also speaks of them as a distinct people in\nthe Clyde valley, during the same century. It is therefore quite\npermissible to suppose that, once the people of the Midlothian\n\"Pecht-lands\" had realized that they were a conquered remnant, with\nno hope of ultimately recovering their lost power, they may have\ncontinued to live, if merely as serfs, not only to the twelfth\ncentury, but for several centuries longer.\n\nThat they did so is to be inferred from the following bit of\n\"folk-lore,\" which relates to a locality that, though not strictly\nincluded in the district of the \"Pecht-lands,\" is quite near enough\nto agree with this hypothesis.\n\nThe hill of Corstorphine, situated a little to the west of\nEdinburgh, is only about three miles north of the nearest point of\nthe \"Pecht-lands.\" Now, the village church of Corstorphine is one of\nthe few churches in Scotland which are of interest to the antiquary.\n\"Ancient it most unquestionably is,\" says a modern writer in the\ncourse of a description of the village and its church, and the\nfoundation of the latter is placed in the year 1429. The fifteenth\ncentury is not very \"ancient,\" as these things go, but perhaps the\nsite has been occupied by a church from a much earlier period. At\nany rate, the writer just referred to, in visiting Corstorphine for\nthe purpose of inspecting both church and village, obtained this\npiece of local tradition, believed to relate to the church of 1429.\n\"Of this [church], in November 1881, an intelligent native assured\nthe writer that it was 'wonderfully ancient, built by the\nHottentots, who stood in a row and handed the stones on one to\nanother from Ravelston quarry'\"--on the adjacent hill of\nCorstorphine.[110]\n\nNow, if one compares this account with the traditional description\nof the _modus operandi_ of the Pechts, already instanced in the case\nof Abernethy, and generally accepted throughout Scotland, one hardly\nrequires the historical testimony of the \"Pecht-lands\" to recognize\nin these \"Hottentots\" the Pechts of tradition. It is not necessary\nto take the expression here used by the Corstorphine villager as\nabsolutely correct. His statement, it may be remarked, succeeded a\nconversation in which our various wars in South Africa had been\ndiscussed,[111] and it is not unlikely that this had suggested to\nthe speaker the term \"Hottentot\" as aptly enough describing a race\nthat to his ancestors, whose ideas he inherited, had seemed savage\nand inferior. That he absolutely believed the labourers who reared\nthe walls of the church to be of a different race from his own is\nunquestionably indicated by the whole tenor of his remarks.[112]\n\nThis Corstorphine tradition points to a body of Pechts still\nsurviving as a distinct type, in the Midlothian of 1429; and then\nregarded by the general population as a caste of drudges. This, too,\nis the position accorded to that race in one phase of Highland\ntradition. \"I am informed,\" says Dr. Jamieson,[113] \"that in\nInverness-shire, the foundations of various houses have been\ndiscovered, of a round form,... and that when the Highlanders are\nasked to whom they belonged, they say that they were the houses of\nthe _Drinnich_ or _Trinnich_, _i.e._, of the _labourers_, a name\nwhich they give to the Picts.\" They may be seen in the Clyde valley,\nin the same position as those of Corstorphine, but three centuries\nearlier, on the testimony of tradition. \"Throughout Scotland,\" says\nan antiquary previously quoted, \"the vulgar account is, 'that the\n_Pechs_ were unco wee bodies, but terrible strang'; that is, that\nthey were of very small stature, but of prodigious strength. It is\ncommonly added [he goes on] 'that the meal (oatmeal) was a penny the\npeck when they built the _Hie_ Kirk [the Cathedral] of Glasgow;' for\nthe building of all the cathedrals, and in general everything very\nancient, is ascribed by the common people to the _Pechs_.\"[114] Now,\nthe present Cathedral of Glasgow is said to have been built in the\ntwelfth century, at which date the Pechts of Galloway formed a\ndistinct and separate population in south-western Scotland.\nAccording to Reginald of Durham, as we have already seen, the town\nof Kirkcudbright was situated in the \"Pecht-lands\" (_terra\nPictorum_), and the _sermo Pictorum_ was still spoken there. In the\nsame century the Galloway Pechts formed the van of the Scottish army\nat the battle of the Standard; and the Pechts of this period are\nremembered in the popular memory, assisted by a homely enough\ndetail, as having been employed in the building of the \"High Church\"\nof Glasgow. Of course, the Clyde valley is not situated in Galloway;\nbut the presence of Pechts in twelfth-century Glasgow may easily be\nexplained by assuming that they belonged to another detachment of\nthe race, or that it was worth while sending to Galloway for such\nfamous builders. Belonging to a period less easily defined are the\nPecht masons of the famous Round Tower at Brechin. Regarding this\ntower a local writer states: \"Tradition, in Brechin, as well as at\nAbernethy, ascribes the erection to the _Peghts_,\" and he adds, that\n\"it has stated they were only allowed a trifle for this work, and\nwere cheated out of part of this trifle.\"[115] In this instance,\nalso, the Pechts are remembered as working for people of another\nrace; which is somewhat remarkable, as the tower itself is one of\nthose which seem to have been built by the Pechts for _their own_\npurposes.\n\nWithout going much out of the way, it may be as well to point out\nthat the popular idea of the Pechts being \"men of low stature, _but\nof superhuman strength_,\" \"unco wee bodies, _but terrible strang_,\"\nis not only supported by tradition on every side, but it is borne\nout by a consideration of the mementos they have left behind them.\nMuch could be said on this subject; but it will perhaps be enough\nhere to point to a hill-fortress in Forfarshire, which history and\ntradition agree in ascribing to these people. This is the stronghold\nknown as the White Cater Thun, situated a few miles north-west of\nBrechin (which possesses the Pictish round-tower just referred to,\nand which was once a seat of Pictish monarchy). The fort crowns a\nhill which rises about 300 feet above the general level of the great\nvalley of Strathmore, and is thus referred to:\n\n \"This is, perhaps, the strongest Pictish fortification\n extant. It is surrounded by a double rampart of an\n elliptical figure, being 436 feet long by about 200 broad,\n and containing about two imperial acres.... But the most\n wonderful thing that occurs in this Pictish fort is the\n extraordinary dimensions of the ramparts, composed entirely\n of large, loose stones, being 26 feet thick at the top, and\n upwards of 100 at the bottom, reckoning quite to the ditch,\n which, indeed, seems to be much filled up with the tumbling\n down of the walls. The vast labour that it must have cost\n to amass so enormous a quantity of large stones, and convey\n them to such a height, is astonishing.... In conveying the\n enormous quantity of large stones to the summit of White\n Cater Thun, the natives must doubtless have expended great\n labour, and much time. They seem, however, to have been\n familiar with a method of removing immense masses from\n considerable distances, and it is supposed they made use of\n hurdles on such occasions; it is not improbable they might\n have some kind of rude windlass for raising the larger\n stones from the bottom to the top of the hill.\"[116]\n\nWhatever the method employed by the builders of this stronghold,\nthe description just given will show the reader, what he cannot fail\nto be impressed with on a study of the Pechts, that these people and\ntheir buildings belonged to what is known as the \"Cyclopean\" type,\nand that they--the people--represented a race now quite extinct, in\nits purity, but which must undoubtedly have been remarkable for a\nprodigious strength of body, a strength that may well be spoken of\nas \"superhuman,\" if it is to be compared with that of any existing\nrace of men. It is this point that must always be borne in mind when\none considers the traditions regarding the buildings of the Pechts,\nand this it is that justifies the very parts of those traditions\nwhich would otherwise appear utterly wild and incredible. Beyond\nquestion, there is much that demands criticism and inquiry in the\ntraditional description of the way in which such edifices as\nAbernethy Tower and Corstorphine Church were reared. But two\nimportant points must not be overlooked. The one is that an immense\nnumber of people may have been simultaneously at work; the other is\nthat the workers were of vast muscular strength.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[102] _Scots Magazine_, vol. iii. 1818, p. 503.\n\n[103] \"Popular Rhymes of Scotland,\" 1870, pp. 80-82.\n\n[104] Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 152-3.\n\n[105] \"Rambles in Northumberland,\" by S. Oliver. London, 1835, p.\n104.\n\n[106] The earliest instance which has come under my notice of such\nwork performed in the British Islands by a subject people, who\ncorrespond in many ways with the Pechts, is that given by Lady\nFerguson (\"The Story of the Irish before the Conquest,\" London,\n1868, p. 32), with reference to the rebuilding of the fort of\nCruachan, in Connaught.\n\n[107] For Dr. Skene's accounts, on which these statements are based,\nsee \"Celtic Scotland,\" vol. i. pp. 236-241; and p. cvii of his\nPreface to the \"Chronicles of the Picts and Scots.\"\n\n[108] It is not meant to be implied that Angles and Pechts were\nexclusively the inhabitants of this territory at that time. But it\nseems clear that the former predominated, and gave to the district\nthe impression of speech and custom which it yet retains.\n\n[109] \"Celtic Scotland,\" vol. i. pp. 203 and 467. \"Reginald of\nDurham, writing in the last half of the twelfth century, mentions,\nin 1164, Kirkcudbright as being in 'terra Pictorum,' and calls their\nlanguage 'sermo Pictorum.'\" (_Op. cit._, p. 203, _note_.) Dr. Skene,\nquoting various authorities, gives us an interesting description of\nthe Scottish army at the Battle of the Standard. It was composed, we\nlearn, of Normans, Germans, English, Northumbrians, Cumbrians, men\nof Teviotdale and the Lothians, Picts (commonly called Galloways or\nGalloway-men), and Scots. This is the statement made by Richard of\nHexham, a contemporary writer, and it seems to agree on the whole\nwith the other accounts. His \"Cumbrians\" are identified with the\n\"Welsh\" of Strathclyde. No doubt his \"Northumbrians\" were those who,\nliving on the north of the Border, belonged to that part of\nNorthumbria which had then been Scottish for more than a century.\nThe Galloway Picts, it may be added, were in the front of the\nbattle, and \"claimed to lead the van as their right.\"\n\n[110] _See_ the _Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1882,\nvol. i. p. 287.\n\n[111] This I am informed by the writer of the lines quoted.\n\n[112] \"The tradition that certain buildings were erected by men who\nstood in a row and handed the stones from one to the other is quite\nfamiliar to me with regard to buildings in Ireland,\" writes a\ncorrespondent (the Rev. J. Ffrench, of Clonegal, Fellow of the Royal\nSociety of Antiquaries of Ireland); and he furnishes one\nexample:--\"Brash, in his 'Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland,'\nwhen describing the Round Tower of _Ardmore_, tells us: 'I have\nbefore stated that the materials of which this tower was built were\nbrought from the Mountain of Slieve-Grian, some four or five miles\ndistant. The local legend is that the stones were brought to the\nspot without \"horse or wheel,\" and laid without the noise of a\nhammer, the meaning of which is that the stones were all dressed in\nthe quarry, and a line of men being stationed along from the quarry\nto the tower, the stones were handed from one to the other.'\"\n\nWhile this Irish tradition does not identify these builders with\nany special race of men, it is noteworthy that their method of\nbuilding is that which Scottish tradition regards as peculiarly\ncharacteristic of the Picts, or \"Pechts.\" Moreover, the building\nreferred to by Brash is of precisely the same order as the Round\nTower of Abernethy, said to have been built after the same fashion.\nAnd the builders of the Round Tower of Abernethy, as also the\nbuilders of the Round Tower of Brechin, are alleged by local\ntradition to have been \"Pechts.\"\n\n[113] In the \"Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language,\"\nprefixed to his Scottish Dictionary.\n\n[114] Knox's \"Topography of the Tay,\" Edinburgh, 1831, pp. 108-9.\n\n[115] \"History of Brechin,\" by David D. Black. Edinburgh and\nBrechin, 1867, 2nd edition, p. 247.\n\n[116] Knox's \"Topography,\" pp. 92-94.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\nIn the immediately preceding pages we have been considering the\npeople known as \"Pechts.\" But it is contended that the \"Feens\" of\nGaelic story ought to be identified with the \"Pechts.\" When the\nleader of the \"Feens\" landed in \"the country of the big men,\" he was\nat once seized upon as eminently fitted to be the court dwarf, into\nwhich office he was duly installed; from which it was reasonably\ninferred that he was a \"pegh,\" or dwarf. Now, in one of the many\nsongs ascribed to the son of this \"pegh,\" Oisin, who is ever\nbemoaning the departed glories of his race, he laments the fact that\nhe finds himself in his old age \"wearily dragging stones along to\nthe church on the hill of the priest.\" \"Here, where he is a drudge,\nhe has seen the Feinne in their glory.... Were they alive,\nshavelings would not hold this mound.\" Thus laments Oisin, the\nrepresentative of the old heathen Feens, bitter in his denunciations\nof Patrick the priest, and the new order which he represents, and\never bewailing the vanished \"glory of the Feinn.\"\n\nWe find Oisin, therefore, accepted universally as the type of his\nrace, unwillingly occupied in \"dragging stones for priests to build\nchurches,\" in his old age and after the downfall of his people. Nor\nwas it only as the serf of another race that he had so worked;\nbecause, he explains to Patrick that this old age of drudgery had\nbeen foretold to him by his leader, Fin, on a previous occasion,\nbefore the coming of Patrick, and on that occasion not only Oisin,\nbut a great number of the Feens of Ireland, were engaged in a\nsimilar task. The great difference was that then they were not\nworking as the drudges of another people, but for themselves, and at\nthe command of their leader. And it was not a church, but a\nhill-fortress, that they were building, \"on Cuailgne's bare and\nrounded hill.\" Oisin speaks of it as Fin's \"famous fort,\" and the\nhill on which it was built is \"said to be in the county of Armagh,\"\nor, as another writer states, in County Louth. According to Oisin,\ntwo-thirds of the materials for the fort were brought thither by the\nFeens of Connaught and the west of Ireland, and the remainder by the\nFeens of Leinster and the east of Ulster, to which section both\nOisin and Fin belonged. Assuming these traditional accounts to be\ncorrect, we thus see the Feens, in the day of their independence,\n\"dragging stones\" to the top of a hill, in order to build a\nfortress; and later on we see them, personified by Oisin, occupied\nin a similar manner, but as the drudges of Christian priests and the\nbuilders of Christian churches. The one account applies to Scotland\nand the other to Ireland; but the Pechts of the White Cater Thun\nhave their counterparts in the Feens who reared the \"famous fort\"\n\"on Cuailgne's bare and rounded hill;\" and the Pechts who built the\nchurches of Glasgow and Corstorphine are also duplicated in the\nconquered Feens, \"weary dragging stones for priests to build\nchurches,\" in Ireland. Consequently, the traditional fame of the\nPechts of Scotland, as a great race of builders, is not at all at\nvariance with the belief that they and the Feens were of one\nnation.[117]\n\nBut, if Fin and his Feens were builders of the hill-forts of the\n\"Pechts,\" and were themselves veritable Pechts, it is evident that\nthe Feens built and inhabited the dwellings known as \"Pechts'\nhouses.\" This is quite borne out when we regard that class of\nbuilding which, although an arch\u00e6ologist already quoted (Mr. Petrie)\ndoes not hold it to be strictly entitled to the designation of\n\"Pecht's house,\" is nevertheless a variety of the same species, and\noften receives the same title. The variety referred to differs from\nwhat has been accepted as the true \"Pecht's house,\" in that it has\nno superimposed covering of earth or turf. But the two varieties\nundoubtedly belong to the same general class. Now, with regard to\nthis second order of \"Pecht's house,\" we have such a statement as\nthe following: \"Glenlyon, in Perthshire, is remarkable for the great\nnumber of remains of aboriginal works scattered through it, in the\nshape of circular castles built entirely of dry stones. The common\npeople believe these structures to have belonged to their mythic\nhero, Fion,... and have a verse to that effect:\n\n 'Bha da chaisteal dheug aig Fionn\n Ann an Crom-ghleann-nan-clach.'\n\nThat is, _Fion had twelve castles in the Crooked Glen of Stones_\n(such being an old name for Glenlyon).\"[118] And a like belief\nprevails in other Perthshire glens, such as Glenshee and Glenalmond,\nbeside the latter of which, as every reader of Wordsworth knows,\nOisin himself is said to be buried.\n\nThe true \"Pecht's house,\" however, is not this dry-stone circular\n\"castle,\" open to air and sun. These \"castles\" are, indeed,\npopularly included among \"Pechts' houses,\" but such an arch\u00e6ologist\nas the one recently referred to prefers to speak of them as\n\"brochs.\" This word \"broch\" (akin to _burgh_, etc.) has been adopted\nby Dr. Joseph Anderson and other eminent students of such buildings,\nto distinguish this special structure; and although, etymologically\nregarded, the distinction is arbitrary, it is very convenient. But\nthe \"broch,\" standing visibly exposed like any other ruin, its stone\nwalls uncovered to the sun, is by no means the same thing as the\n\"Pecht's house\" described by Mr. Petrie and others. This, it may be\nremembered, is almost or altogether identical with the dwellings of\nthe North-Greenland Eskimos, as portrayed by the explorers of\nseventy years ago. It is approached through a long, dark tunnel,\nentered from the face of a bank or brae, so low that one has to\ncrawl along it, its sides and roofs composed of large stone slabs,\nand the roof itself flush with, or even underneath, the surface of\nthe ground. At the end of this long, dark, narrow passage one enters\nthe central chamber of the dwelling of the North-Greenlander and the\nancient Pecht. It, too, would be in darkness, were it not for the\nrude stone lamp, fed with the oil of seal or whale, soaking through\nmoss or the pith of rushes, which hangs from the roof and is always\nburning. Here and there at the side of this central chamber are\nopenings in the wall which lead into small cavities used as\nsleeping-places. Briefly and imperfectly, that is the interior of\nthe Pecht's house.[119]\n\nViewed from the outside, what does it resemble? The underground\npassage of approach is invisible. The \"house\" itself \"is generally\nof a conical form, and externally closely resembles a large\nbowl-shaped barrow. It consists of a solid mass of masonry, covered\nwith a layer of turf a foot or more in thickness, and has a central\nchamber surrounded by several smaller cells.\" Or, as another writer\ndescribes it, \"all that meets the eye at first is a green, conical\nmound ... resting silently amid the moorland solitude.\" The entrance\nto this seeming hillock, situated sometimes at its base, more\nfrequently, perhaps, at the extremity of a narrow, underground\ntunnel, was never very conspicuous, since it was only about a couple\nof feet high. In the days when the Pechts were actually inhabiting\nthese \"green hillocks,\" it is likely they took the precaution to\nconceal this outer orifice, small though it was, as well as\npossible. Thus, the adventurer or colonist of another race, arriving\nat a settlement of Pechts' houses, saw nothing but one or more\ngrassy, conical hillocks rising out of the surrounding moor.\n\nSince the Gaelic term _broch_ (for it is Gaelic, though not\nexclusively so) is used to denote the one variety of these \"Pictish\"\ndwellings, let us employ, if only temporarily, the Gaelic term which\ndenotes the other. That kind of _broch_, then, which is covered over\nwith earth and turf so as to resemble a conical green mound, is\nknown in Gaelic by the name of _sith-bhrog_, or _sith-bhrugh_; that\nis to say, the broch of the _sith_. Still more commonly, it is\nstyled a _sithean_, or _sith_-place. When rendered in our modern\nEnglish spelling, according to its pronunciation, this distinctive\n_sith_ becomes spelt _shee_; as in the case of _Gleann-sith_, which\nis written \"Glenshee.\" And, similarly, _sithean_ becomes _sheean_.\nIt is the \"sheean,\" then, and not the \"broch\" proper, that is\nregarded by such arch\u00e6ologists as Mr. Petrie as peculiarly the\ndwelling of the Pechts.\n\nNow, if any Highlander were asked his opinion as to the former\ninhabitants of the \"sheeans,\" he would have but one answer to give.\nAnd the nature of that answer is very clearly shown by those\nHighlanders who have compiled the leading Scottish-Gaelic\ndictionaries. _Brog_ (_i.e._, \"broch\") is itself defined as an\nobsolete term for \"a house\"; but _bruth_ and other variants connect,\nif they do not identify, the \"broch\" with the \"sheean.\" The various\ndefinitions are these: _Bruth_, \"a house half under the surface,\"\n\"the dwelling of fairies in a hill\"; _sith-bruth_, _sith-bhrugh_, \"a\nfairy hill or mansion\"; _sith-bhrog_, _sith-bhruach_, _sith-bhruth_,\n\"a fairy hill,\" \"a fairy residence,\" \"fairyland\"; _sithean_, \"a\nlittle hill or knoll,\" \"a fairy hill\"; _sithain_, \"a green knoll or\nhillock, tenanted, according to superstitious belief, by\nfairies.\"[120]\n\nThus, the houses of the Pechts or dwarfs were inhabited by the\npeople known as \"fairies.\" As the fairies were \"little people,\"\nthere is here no contradiction in terms. We have, moreover, seen\nthat the same \"conical, green mounds\" are remembered in Orkney and\nShetland as the homes of the \"trows.\" \"Trow,\" however, is itself\nequivalent to _droich_, or dwarf. Therefore, the belief that those\noutward-seeming \"green hillocks\" were the abodes of Pechts is quite\nin agreement with the traditions that refer to those mound-dwellers\nas _trows_ and _fairies_ (otherwise \"the little people\"). Because\n_pecht_ (or _pech_), _trow_, and _fairy_ are all synonyms for\n\"dwarf.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[117] For these references to Oisin and the Feens see Skene's \"Book\nof the Dean of Lismore,\" pp. 12-14 (English version), and 10-11\n(Gaelic). Also Mr. J. F. Campbell's \"Leabhar na Feinne,\" pp. xiii,\n47 and 49.\n\n[118] Chambers's \"Popular Rhymes of Scotland,\" 1870, pp. 254-55.\n\n[119] Although the Pechts made use of stone lamps similar to those\nof the northern Eskimos, it is perhaps too much to assume that the\ndwellings of the former admitted nothing of the light of day. Mr.\nPetrie states that the walls of the Pechts' houses \"converge towards\nthe top, where they approach so closely that the aperture can be\nspanned by a stone a couple of feet in length.\" If this aperture\nremained open during the day, which seems quite likely, then the\nabove reference as to the ever-burning lamp is only applicable to\nthe dwellings of the northern Greenlanders. For the sake of safety,\nwhile their lands were over-run by hostile forces, it is probable\nthat the Pechts did cover the two-foot hole in the roof with a large\nstone, which itself would need to be hidden by earth and turf. But\nthe fact that such an aperture was left in the building indicates\nthat it was frequently uncovered; perhaps always at night, and also,\nduring times of safety, in the day. In the latter case, the interior\nof this underground dwelling would thus receive, through the hole\noverhead, enough light to fill the central chamber with a sort of\ntwilight, although the smaller cells might have been quite in\ndarkness.\n\n[120] See the dictionaries of Armstrong, McLeod and Dewar, and\nMcAlpine. McAlpine also defines the word _digh_ as a \"conical\nmound,\" \"an abode of fairies\"; and that more uncommon term is thus\nemployed in an Islay story of Mr. J. F. Campbell's (_West Highland\nTales_, ii, 48).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\nIn a reference to the popular traditions of Northumberland, the\nPicts are spoken of as \"a race of people who are represented, in\nsuch legends, as endowed with supernatural power, and holding, in\nthe scale of beings, an intermediate rank between men and\nfairies.\"[121] Sir Walter Scott also corroborates this belief as\nexistent in Northumberland (\"Rob Roy,\" ch. xxiii). And the writer\npreviously quoted, in describing the local tradition with regard to\nthe building of the tower at Abernethy by the Pechts, explains that\n\"the people always, when they speak of these Peghs, associate that\nidea with a notion that they were a preternatural sort of beings,\nsuch as fairies and brownies.\" Therefore, without entering into any\ndiscussion as to what is or was meant by \"supernatural power,\" we\nhave ascertained from these extracts that the Pechts were regarded,\nin Northumberland and in Scotland, as a race of people possessing or\nclaiming \"supernatural\" attributes. And that they were akin to\n\"fairies and brownies,\" if they were not identical with them. This\nalso is the position of the \"Feens\" of Gaelic folk-lore, as the\nfollowing references will show.\n\nWhen the celebrated Irish king, Brian Borumha, defeated the Danes\nof Dublin and their allies, in the year 1000 A.D., it is stated that\nhe appropriated all the vast treasures that the Danes had gathered\ntogether:--\"gold and silver, and bronze, and precious stones, and\ncarbuncle-gems, and buffalo-horns, and beautiful goblets,\" as well\nas \"various vestures of all colours.\"[122] And the chronicler\nexplains that \"never was there a fortress, or a fastness, or a\nmound, or a church, or a sacred place, or a sanctuary,\" which the\nDanes had not plundered when it fell to their arms. The first three\nterms, which in the Gaelic are _d\u00fan_, _daingean_, and _diongna_, are\nclosely allied, and each designates something akin to the \"hollow\nmounds\" of which we have been speaking.[123] But the succeeding\nsentence is quite explicit: \"Neither was there in concealment under\nground in Erinn, _nor in the various solitudes belonging to Fians or\nto fairies_, anything that was not discovered by these foreign,\nwonderful Denmarkians, through paganism and idol worship.\" With\nregard to which last allusion, Dr. Todd says: \"The meaning is, that\nnotwithstanding the potent spells employed by the Fians and fairies\nof old for the concealment of their hidden treasures, the Danes, by\ntheir pagan magic and the diabolical power of their idols, were\nenabled to find them out.\"[124] (The Gaelic from which Dr. Todd\ntranslates the above sentences is as follows:--\"Ni raibh imorro\n_d\u00fan_ no _daingean_, no _diongna_, no ceall, no cadhas, no neimedh\ndo gabhadh ris an ngl\u00e1im nglifidhigh, nglonnmair, ngnuismhir do bh\u00ed\nag teaglaim, ocus ag teaccar na h\u00e9dala sin, \u00f3ir ni raibhe ifolach\n_fo thalmain_ in Erinn ina f\u00e1 dhiamhraibh d\u00edchealta ag _fianaibh_ no\nag _s\u00edthcuiraibh_ n\u00ed na fuaratar na Danmargaigh allmardha ingantacha\nsin, tre geintlidhecht, ocus tre iodhaladhradh.\")[125]\n\nLike the Pechts in Northumbrian tradition, the Feens are here not\nabsolutely _identified_ with the fairies, although the two are so\nclosely associated that it is difficult to distinguish between the\none and the other. The traditions of the Feens themselves testify to\na distinction between the two. Thus, in the \"Dan an Fhir Shicair,\"\nor Ballad of the Fairy Man,[126] Fin and his six nobles, while\nwalking out one evening, see a fairy-man coming towards them, who\nannounces that he comes from the neighbouring Golden Doon (_D\u00fan an\noir_), and that his purpose is to cause those Feens to come, by\nenchantment, to dine that day with him and his people in their\n\"hill.\" Here, then, we have the Feens associating, to some extent\n(though not, as it appears, on a very friendly footing) with\nfairies, and yet not themselves regarded as identical with that\npeople.\n\nFrom the foregoing reference to the plunder of the Danes at Dublin,\nin the year 1000, it is evident that \"the Feens and Fairies\" were\nunderstood, in the traditional history of the Gaels, to be then\nactually inhabiting those underground and half-underground\ndwellings known as \"Pechts' houses.\" There is another reference,\nin the same history, that corroborates this belief. The date when\nBrian Borumha became possessor of those \"fairy-hoards,\" which the\nDanes had previously obtained by their well-known process of\n\"how-breaking,\"[127] was the close of the tenth century. Now, a son\nof this same Brian, and also one of his father's chief warriors, are\nboth described as asserting (on a certain occasion, in the reign of\nthe same Brian)[128] that they had been tempted by the fairies to\nforsake their ancestral cause. \"Often,\" says Murchadh, \"was I\noffered, in hills and in fairy mansions [_i sithaib ocus i\nsithbrugaib_], this world and these gifts; but I never abandoned for\none night my country nor my inheritance for them.\" As Murchadh's\nresponse was evoked by a similar statement on the part of Dunlang,\nit thus appears that, in rifling the abodes of the \"how-folk,\" the\nDanes were robbing a race _then alive_, and were not merely\nappropriating unclaimed treasure. And, indeed, the Scandinavian\naccounts of \"how-breaking\" distinctly point out that this pastime\ninvolved a struggle of life and death with the armed inmate of the\n\"how.\"\n\nThe evidence of Murchadh and Dunlang, then, shows that intercourse\nwith \"the fairies\" was not a matter for wonder; and, moreover, that,\nfor one reason or another, the latter desired to seduce the\nGaelic-speaking people from their allegiance. That they were\neventually successful with Dunlang seems pointed out by the\nstatement, made elsewhere, that this Dunlang was himself a fairy\n(_sioguidhe_).[129] And it is well known that \"Fairies,\" as well as\n\"Feens,\" while possessing distinct innate attributes, were not\naverse to obtaining adherents from other races, who thus became\n\"Feens\" and \"Fairies\" by adoption.\n\nIn the instance of Murchadh and Dunlang, however, the _Feens_ are\nnot named; and it is a matter for conjecture whether they ought to\nbe included among the Fairies there spoken of. But, at any rate, the\nincident shows that the Fairies (if not the Feens) formed an active,\nexistent caste or race, subsequent to the date of Brian's famous\nvictory over the Danes; and that the Danish inroads on their doons,\nbrochs, hows, etc., in the neighbourhood of Dublin had not by any\nmeans annihilated them as a people.\n\nOf this robbery of the \"how-folk\" by the Danes in the Dublin\ndistrict, something further may be said in passing. The date of\nthese raids is stated to have been 861 or 862 A.D., when the Danes\noverran the whole district of the Boyne and Blackwater (co. Meath),\nand broke into the \"fairy hills\" of that region; one of which, that\nof New Grange, is probably the most interesting example of its class\nthat is at present known to arch\u00e6ologists.[130] Therefore, the booty\nwhich the Danes thus obtained in 862 must have formed a portion of\nthat captured by King Brian, after his victory, in the year 1000.\nAnd it is clear enough that it was this special treasure that the\nchronicler referred to when he spoke of the hoards which the Danes\nsought out and discovered \"in concealment under ground\" and \"in the\nvarious solitudes (or secret places) belonging to Feens or to\nFairies.\"\n\nOught \"Fairies,\" then, to be identified with the \"Feens\" and\n\"Pechts\" of history and tradition? We have already seen that, both\nin Scotland and in Northumberland, the Pechts are classed with the\nFairies in the popular memory. And from the brief references just\nmade, one would be disposed at the first glance to say that the two\nnames applied to one people. But all the people who form the subject\nof consideration in these pages belong, even in their most modern\nand most modified phases, to the past; and in looking down that long\nvista one is often deceived by the \"foreshortening\" effects of\ndistance, which seems to unite what is really distinct and separate.\nStill, it is evident that \"Fairies\" have so many points in common\nwith \"Feens\" and \"Pechts\" that they must all, at least, be classed\ntogether.\n\nThe Ayrshire term _Fane_, which, according to Dr. Jamieson,[131]\nsignifies \"a fairy,\" offers itself as very probably a variant of the\nGaelic _Fian_ (pl. _Feinne_). But Brittany affords even a better\ninstance. There, we are told, the peasantry have memories of a race\nof _Fions_, who were dwarfs in stature, and are described as \"living\nwith the fairies.\"[132] And although we have endeavoured, as far as\npossible, to restrict these remarks to the British Islands, and even\nto a few special districts, yet the folk-lore of Brittany coincides\nso closely with that of the districts just referred to, and is so\ncorroborative of the theories here stated, that it may be\npermissible to quote a few of the Breton beliefs bearing upon this\nsubject.\n\nOf those whom he states are called the _Christian_ fairies of\nBrittany, M. Paul S\u00e9billot gives several particulars.[133] These\nso-called \"Christian\" fairies were, he says, \"neither wholly\nChristian nor wholly pagan,\" and in the traditions relating to them\nhe dimly recognizes their possible identification with the heathen\npriestesses[134] of Brittany, at the time when they were gradually\nbecoming converted to Christianity. They are celebrated, like the\nPechts of Scotland, as the builders of churches. And just as local\ntradition states that the Pechts who built the Round Tower of\nAbernethy, in the manner already described, accomplished their work\nin the course of a single night, so a certain chapel in the\nC\u00f4tes-du-Nord is said to have been built in one night by the\n\"fairies.\" Moreover, in two of the instances referred to by M.\nS\u00e9billot, the top stone of the building is or was lacking, for the\nreason that the daylight had surprised the builders at their\nwork.[135] Now, this is precisely what is stated of the Pictish\nbuilders of the Round Tower at Abernethy, who are said to have been\nmuch irritated because an early riser in the village discovered them\nat work, and thus deprived the building and its builders of their\nclaim to a \"supernatural\" origin.[136] Further, these Breton\n\"fairies\" are spoken of as carrying the stones in their aprons, like\nthe Picts of Northumberland, the castle-building \"genii\" of\nYorkshire, and the \"witch\" who helped to build the Forfarshire fort\nof Cater Thun.[137] And, as in the two latter instances, as well as\nin several of the others referred to, the stones were carried from\n\"a great distance\" by the Breton fairies, on at least one occasion.\n\nTo this Breton comparison one is tempted to add that of the\nNetherlands. In referring to the dwarfs who once inhabited the\nneighbourhood of Tienen, M. Pol de Mont states that \"they were\nuncommonly small of stature, but of extraordinarily great\nstrength\"[138]; a statement which is paralleled by \"the vulgar\naccount\" in Scotland, \"that the Pechs were unco wee bodies, but\nterrible strang.\" And, in the Journal of Folk-lore just quoted from,\nthe same kind of people are again suggested by the _Gypnissen_;\n\"queer little women,\" who lived in a \"castle\" which had been reared\nin a single night, and who, like the Scotch \"brownies\" (with whom\nthe Pechts are classed by the Scotch), were content to perform such\neveryday drudgery as washing the clothes of the taller race living\nnear them, for no higher remuneration than their daily food.[139]\nThe \"castle\" in which they dwelt is not spoken of as visible at the\npresent day, but the probability is that it was of the same nature\nas the _Aschberg_, near Casterl\u00e9, which M. Pol de Mont states[140]\nis declared by tradition to be a chambered mound, capable of housing\nas many as fifty _bergmannetjes_, or mound-dwarfs (the Dutch term\nbeing equivalent to the Scotch \"how-folk\" or the English\n\"hill-men\").\n\nNor can one omit the following testimony from the island of Sylt,\noff the Schleswig coast, supplied by Mr. William George Black.\nReferring to a story of \"Finn, the king of the dwarfs,\" Mr. Black\nexplains as follows:--\"These were an odd, small, tricky, people whom\nthe Frisians found in Sylt when they took possession. They lived\nunderground, wore red caps, and lived on berries and mussels, fish\nand birds, and wild eggs. They had stone axes and knives, and made\npots of clay. They sang and danced by moonlight on the mounds of the\nplain which were their homes, worked little, were deceitful, and\nloved to steal children and pretty women: the children they\nexchanged for their own, the women they kept. Those who lived in the\nbushes, and later in the Frieslanders' own houses, like our own\nbrownies, were called 'Pucks,' and a sandy dell near Braderup is\nstill known as the Pukthal.... They had a language of their own,\nwhich lingers yet in proverbs and children's games. The story of\nKing Finn's subjects is evidently one of those valuable legends\nwhich illuminate dark pages of history. It clearly bears testimony\nto the same small race having inhabited Friesland in times which we\ntrace in the caves of the Neolithic age, and of which the Esquimaux\nare the only survivors.\" Mr. Black has himself visited one of those\n\"green mounds\" which are said to have been inhabited by this Sylt\n\"Finn,\" and he states that when it was first scientifically\nexamined, in 1868, it was found to contain \"remains of a fireplace,\nbones of a small man, some clay urns, and stone weapons.\"[141]\n\nThese Continental instances may be regarded as relating rather to\nthe \"Feens of Lochlin\" than to those of Ireland and Great Britain.\nBut one thing quite evident from the foregoing references is that\nthe \"Fians and Fairies\" of Ireland, the \"Fions, or Feins, and\nFairies\" of Brittany, and the similar people in the Netherlands and\nin Friesland, were all nearly identical, if they were not quite\nidentical, with the \"preternatural sort of beings\" known to Scotch\nfolk-lore as Pechs, or Pechts, or Piks, and to history in general as\nPicts.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[121] \"Rambles in Northumberland,\" by S. Oliver, London, 1835, p.\n104.\n\n[122] \"The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill,\" edited by J. H. Todd,\nD.D. London, 1867, p. 115. In the above quotation, the word\ntranslated \"bronze\" is _finndruine_. This is referred to as \"a\nmetal, the constituents of which are not well known. O'Clery\ndescribes it as _pr\u00e1s go n-airgead buailte_, 'brass, with silver\nhammered on to it.'\" It is also referred to as \"white silver,\"\n\"silver or white bronze,\" \"brass,\" and \"copper.\" It was employed to\nfurnish such various articles as \"leg armour,\" the rim of a shield,\na royal chessboard, and, further, a bedstead--which surely ought to\nhave been royal also. (_Op. cit._, pp. ciii-civ. _note_, and 50 and\n94; also Skene's \"Celtic Scotland,\" ii. 507.) The passage relating\nto buffalo-horns is given in the Gaelic version (\"War of the\nGaedhil,\" p. 114), \"_ocus do chornaibh buabaill_.\" The word _corn_,\nof which _chornaibh_ is an inflection, is substantially the Latin\n_cornu_. The Scotch-Gaelic dictionaries give it chiefly the\nsignification of \"drinking-horn,\" and \"sounding-horn or trumpet.\"\nArmstrong states that the drinking-cups of the northern nations were\nmade from the horns of the \"urus or European buffalo,\" referred to\nby Latin writers: He adds--\"One of these immense horns, at least an\nox-horn of prodigious size, is still preserved in the Castle of\nDunvegan, Isle of Sky.\" _Buabhall_ itself has the secondary meaning\nof \"trumpet,\" or \"cornet\"; but its true meaning is \"buffalo.\"\nArmstrong subjoins these comparisons--Armorican _bual_, French\n_bufle_, Latin _bubulus_, Greek _boubalos_. Also Cornish _buaval_,\nwith the meaning of \"trumpet.\" And also _buabhull-chorn_, \"a\nbugle-horn,\" with which he compares the Welsh _bual-gorn_. Halliwell\nhas _bougil_, \"a bugle-horn,\" and _bugle_, \"a buffalo\"; and with\nreference to the latter spelling he says, \"hence bugle-horn, a\ndrinking-vessel made of horn; also a hunting-horn.\" Professor Skeat,\nwho cites Halliwell also, defines \"bugle\" as \"a wild ox.\" It is\nclear that these are all merely variants of one word, or rather of\ntwo words. The _u_ in \"bugle\" has originally been broad. The hard\n_c_ of \"corn\" has become a guttural in \"chorn,\" and a mere aspirate\nin \"horn,\" although it is still found as \"corn\" both in English and\nGaelic dictionaries (with a very restricted meaning in the former\ninstance).\n\n[123] Dr. Todd (_op. cit._, p. 40, _note_), in referring to another\ninstance in which these terms occur, says:--\"The words here used,\n_D\u00fan_, _Daingen_, _Dingna_, all signify a fort or fortress. It is\nnot easy to define the precise difference between them. _D\u00fan_ ...\nseems to signify a fortified hill or mound. _Daingen_ (dungeon) is a\nwalled fort or strong tower; hence _daingnigim_, I fortify. _Dingna_\n[which he translates 'mound' in the above instance] is apparently\nonly another form of the same word. Cf. 'Zeuss,' p. 30 n.\"\n\n[124] _Op. cit._, p. 115, _note_.\n\n[125] Even the expression \"_fo thalmain_\" may be held to denote the\n\"conical hill\" of the fairies. _Talmhainn_ is certainly the genitive\nof _talamh_, \"the ground\"; and so \"_fo thalmain_\" signifies \"under\nthe ground.\" But _tolman_ particularly denotes \"a mound.\" And it, or\nthe variant _tulman_, is used in a fairy tale of the island of Barra\n(Campbell's \"West Highland Tales,\" ii. 39) with special reference to\none of those abodes of the \"little people.\" It may be added that the\nword translated the \"solitudes\" of the Feens, etc., might also be\nrendered the \"secret places\" or \"concealed places.\"\n\n[126] \"Leabhar na Feinne,\" pp. 94-95.\n\n[127] The \"fairy mound\" was also known as a \"how\" or \"haug,\" and its\npeople as \"how-folk.\" To \"break,\" or break into a \"how,\" in the hope\nof obtaining treasure (an early form of burglary), was a well-known\ncustom of the Danes.\n\n[128] \"The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill,\" pp. clxxviii-clxxix,\nnote 5, and pp. 172-173.\n\n[129] Dr. Todd, in mentioning this and the other relative\ncircumstances, refers the reader to \"Mr. O'Kearney's Introd. to the\n'Feis Tighe Chonain' (Ossianic Soc.) p. 98 _sq._\"--and to\nO'Flaherty's \"Ogygia,\" iii. c. 22, p. 200.\n\n[130] _See_ Sir W. R. Wilde's \"Beauties of the Boyne,\" Dublin, 1849,\np. 202. The same work refers (p. 24) to \"sidh Nectain, the fairy\nhill of Nechtain,\" where the river Boyne rises, but does not state\nwhether early Dane or modern arch\u00e6ologist has ever investigated it.\n(It is now known as the Hill of Carbury.)\n\n[131] \"Scottish Dictionary,\" s. v. _Fane_.\n\n[132] _See_ the \"Revue des Traditions populaires,\" Nov. 1889,\np. 613. The reader is there referred to M. Paul S\u00e9billot's\n\"Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne\" for those _Fions_; and\nalso to B\u00e9zier's \"Inventaire des monuments m\u00e9galithiques de\nl'Ille-et-Vilaine,\" (p. 26) for certain _Feins_, who seem very\nlikely to be the same people.\n\n[133] \"Revue des Traditions populaires,\" Oct. 1889, pp. 515-519.\n\n[134] These \"Christian\" fairies appear to be remembered as women;\nlike the _banshee_ or fairy woman of Ireland and Gaelic-Scotland.\n\n[135] Another illustration of these special features is afforded by\nthe church at Eckwadt, in Denmark, which is said to have been built\nby a \"hill-man,\" or dwarf. In this case, also, the last stone was\nnot put on. Of this builder, too, it is stated that \"he worked only\nduring the night.\"--(Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, III. 38-39).\n\n[136] In this mysterious method of working,--first preparing the\nstones in a quarry at some distance off, and then conveying them to\nthe chosen site, and erecting them according to a pre-arranged\nmethod, and all in the course of a single night (as the nature and\ndimensions of the buildings rendered quite possible)--one seems to\ndiscern one of the methods by which those dwarf tribes asserted and\nmaintained the \"supernatural\" qualities ascribed to them.\n\n[137] For these latter references, see pp. 99-100 _post_. Of course,\nthe \"aprons\" of the traditional dwarfs, it need hardly be added,\nwere _leather_ aprons.\n\n[138] _Volkskunde_: \"Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Folklore,\" 2^e\nJaargang, 9e Aflevering, p. 182.\n\n[139] _Op. cit._, 2^e Jaar. 5^e Afl., p. 89.\n\n[140] _Op. cit._, 2^e Jaar. 5^e Afl., p. 89.\n\n[141] _Heligoland_; by William George Black, Blackwood & Sons, 1888,\nChapter IV.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\nThe Gaelic accounts do not, of course, refer to the \"Fairies\" under\nthat name. It is therefore unnecessary to add anything here to the\nmany attempted solutions of the etymology of \"Fairy.\" But the Gaelic\nrecords speak of these people as the _Fir Sithe_, or _Daoine\nSithe_--the _Sithe_-folk. As already pointed out, this word is\npronounced as if spelt _Shee_ or _Sheey[)e]_]. It is also written\n_Sidhe_, and this brings us to the older spelling before the dental\nhad been aspirated out of existence. The older form of the word is\n_Side_, presumably pronounced as _Sheed[)e]_. What are the\nconclusions arrived at with regard to these _Fir Sidhe_?\n\n\"We know now,\" says a recent writer, already quoted, \"that the\nSidhe were early peoples and their gods, incorporated into the\nfollowing races.... We find under the Arctic Circle, and among the\nFinns and other 'Altaic' or Turanian tribes of Russia, the same\nbelief in 'Tshuds' or vanished supernatural inhabitants of the land,\npointing to the same mixture of ideas we find in Ireland concerning\ndispossessed peoples of a different tongue but high civilisation,\nwhose record remains only in legend. The 'Shee' of Ireland is the\nsame word we find in Asia, but softened down in pronunciation. Among\nthe early Russians and Irish we can safely infer the Turanian\nunderfolk with its myths and manners of life, its subterranean\ndwellings and repute as magicians; in both we perceive remarkably\nclever members of the Finno-Ugrian women-folk gaining a power over\nchiefs of the conquering hordes, and going down into legend as\nsupernatural Sidhes or Tshuds.\"[142] According to this writer, then,\nthe \"Fairies,\" whose treasures were seized by the Danes of Dublin in\nthe ninth century, belonged to the Turanian or Finno-Ugrian race of\nthe Tshuds. And the traditions current in Ireland and Scotland\nregarding the _Fir Sidhe_, are counterparts of those current in the\nnorth of Europe with regard to the _Tshuds_. It does not certainly\ntend to the simplification of a very complex question to discover\nthat the North Europeans, who remember so much about those _Tshuds_,\nare the very people who, of all modern Europeans, seem to have most\nresemblance to the _Fir Sidhe_. In reviewing a recent collection of\nLapp folk-tales, Mr. Ralston states that \"the traditions relating to\nthe constant struggle maintained between the Lapp aborigines and\ntheir foreign enemies\" forms an important portion of the collection.\n\"The first nine stories all refer to the foes known as _Tsjuderne_,\nthe _Tsjuder_--the Chudic Finns of the Baltic and other coasts. When\nthese dreaded enemies appeared, the Lapps would take refuge in their\nunderground retreats.\"[143] Thus, in accepting Tshud as identical\nwith _Side_ or _Sidhe_, we have to recognize that the people so\n_named_ were the bitter foes of the very race that most resembles\nthem--the \"underground\" folk of Lapland. Perhaps the explanation of\nthis apparent contradiction is, that the fact of antagonism existing\nbetween two nations is no proof of any great racial difference\nbetween them.\n\nWhether the word \"Tshud\" is, or is not, a variant of _Sidhe_, there\nseems good reason for believing that such a variant ought to be\nrecognized in the _seid_ of the Sagas. We are told by Thorpe that\nwitchcraft was _seidhr_, which word some derive from _siodha_\n(modern _seethe_), to boil. \"Boiling 'seid,' or the witches' broth,\nwas the chief art in witchcraft,\" says Mr. Du Chaillu; who adds that\n\"the witchcraft songs which were used for the seid\" were called\n_Vard-lokur_,--\"weird or fate songs.\" The \"seid\" platform and the\nrites performed on and around it are described at the same place\n(_Viking Age_, ii., 394-398):--\"_Seid_ was to be performed. A\n_Seid-hjall_, or platform consisting of a flat stone, was laid upon\nthree or four posts, and women were to be found who knew how to\nrecite or sing the so-called Vardlokur. When all this was ready, and\nthe _Volva_ [sibyl] on the platform, the women formed in a circle\nround it, and the effective song was chanted while the seeress, with\nthe strangest gesticulations, made her conjurations and received her\nrevelations.\" \"Once at a feast, according to ancient custom, Ingjald\nprepared incantation (_seid_), that men might know their fates.\nThere was a Finn woman skilled in witchcraft.... The Finn woman was\nplaced high, and splendid preparations made for her; each of the men\nwent from his seat to inquire of her about their fates.\"\n\nSimilar accounts are given by Thorpe, who states that it, _seid_,\n\"was regarded as unseemly for men, and was usually practised by\nwomen only: we nevertheless meet with seid-men.\" And again:--\"On\naccount of its wickedness, it was held unworthy of a man to practise\nseid, and the seid-man was prosecuted and burned as an atrocious\ntrollman.[144] The seid-women received money to make men hard, so\nthat iron could not wound them.\" \"The most remarkable class of\nseid-women were the so-called Valas, or V\u00f6lvas. We find them present\nat the birth of children, when they seem to represent the Norns.\"\n\"That the Norns, who appeared at the birth of children, were of the\nrace of the dwarfs,\" is elsewhere suggested by Mr. Thorpe.[145]\n\nScott, also (_The Pirate_, Note R), quotes from Kaspar Bartholin a\nlong account of one of those \"Valas,\" as given in the _Saga of Eric\nRauda_. From which it is seen that, according to the custom\ndescribed by Thorpe and Du Chaillu, she stood \"on a sort of elevated\nstage,\" when delivering her prophecy.[146] Scott adds that Bartholin\n\"mentions similar instances\" to that of \"the little Vala\" (as this\none was called), \"particularly of one Heida, celebrated for her\npredictions,\" who attended festivals for the purpose of telling\nfortunes, accompanied by \"thirty male and fifteen female\nattendants.\"\n\nIn all these accounts we see the fairies of tradition, notably the\n\"fairy godmother\" who came to the birth or christening of children.\nThe man who practised _seid_ rendered himself liable to be\nprosecuted and burned as a _trow_, \"an atrocious trollman;\" or, in\nthe Gaelic, a _fear-side_. If the words \"seid\" and \"side\" are not\npractically one, it is at least evident that they relate to the very\nsame people. And the _bean-side_ (banshee) of Gaelic tradition is\nsimply the seid-woman, remembered chiefly in her less pleasing\naspect, as the foreboder of death or misfortune.\n\nThus, whether _side_ ought to be held as primarily denoting the\nincantations, or the enchanters themselves, it is this worship that\nis indicated in the metrical life of St. Patrick, which says of him\n(Skene's \"Celt. Scot.,\" II. 108):--\n\n \"He preached threescore years\n The Cross of Christ to the _Tuatha_ [people] of Feni.\n On the _Tuatha_ of Erin there was darkness.\n The _Tuatha_ adored the _Side_.\"\n\nNor is there anything inconsistent with these deductions in the\nappearance of a _Finn_ woman as a celebrated _seid_-woman. For, in\nShetland, the Finns are even yet \"reckoned among the Trows.\"[147]\n\nTo return, however, to the _Sidhe_ people of the British Islands.\nThe Blackwater valley of Leinster, whose \"fairy\" strongholds and\nabodes were entered and plundered by the ninth-century Danes,\nreminds one by its name that the Blackwater valley of Munster is\nalso famous for its fairy associations. In one of Mr. William\nBlack's novels (\"Shandon Bells\") there are frequent references to a\nchief of the Fir Sidhe named _Fierna_,[148] who is remembered as the\nleader of the \"little people\" of the south-west. His chief residence\nappears to have been a certain _Knockfierin_, or Fierna's Hillock,\nwhich has perhaps been investigated by local arch\u00e6ologists. Several\nof the Limerick traditions relating to Fierna have been contributed\nby Mr. David Fitzgerald to the \"Revue des Traditions populaires\"\n(April 1889), and one of these tells how a mysterious stranger one\nnight aroused a poor cripple and gave him a letter to take to\nFierna. The messenger entered the fairy \"hill,\" where he saw the\nchief--an old, white-bearded man. On reading the letter, Fierna\ndeclared it to be a challenge of battle on the part of the \"King of\nthe Sidhfir of the North\"; a challenge which Fierna was loath to\naccept, because, as he explains, \"my people of Munster are the\nweaker party.\"\n\nThis legend, then, shows the Fir Sidhe (or Sidhfir) as a people not\nalways friendly to each other, although of kindred race. Moreover,\nit suggests that those of Ireland were divided into at least two\nsections--the Sidhfir of Munster and those of \"the North.\" When we\nremember that in the ninth century \"Feens and Fairies\" were equally\nregarded as owners of the \"underground\" dwellings which were then\nplundered (and which still remain), it is noteworthy that in this\nvery detail we have another parallel between the two castes--if they\nwere two. For the Feens of Ireland were also divided into sections,\nand it may be remembered that two of these--\"the Feens of Leinster\nand the east of Ulster,\" and those of \"Connaught and the west of\nIreland,\" were referred to on a previous page as engaged in building\na famous hill-fort for their great leader, Fin. If the \"Sidhfir of\nthe North\" were not the same as the Feens of Leinster and the east\nof Ulster, they occupied much of the same ground, and had so many\npoints in common, that it is difficult to say wherein they differed.\n\nNor is this deduction at variance with the belief that the people\njust named were one with the Pechts of history. For the _Cruithn\u00e9_\nof Ulster formed a distinct division of the Pechts; and, indeed, to\nbe still more specific, were latterly associated with the _eastern_\npart of that province. And, as for internecine warfare, that forms\nno obstacle to the identification of the historical Pechts, in their\nlater stages, with the _Sidhfir_ of popular legend.[149]\n\nLike the rivers of the same name in Leinster and Munster, there is a\nBlackwater in Perthshire which has fairy traditions, and, in\nconsequence, the valley through which it flows is known as Glenshee\n(_Gleann-sith_). It is also remembered as a favourite hunting-ground\nof the Feens. Here they used to come, says an ancient poem,[150] to\nchase the deer and elk. The stories of Fin and his Feens are full of\nreferences to their hunting exploits. And an old poem[151] recites\nhow, even while Ireland was chiefly peopled and ruled by another\nrace, the ancient rights of the Feens, in this as in other respects,\nwere still duly acknowledged. Fin, we are told,\n\n \"possessed the old rights\n Which previously were his.\n From Hallowmass on to Beltin,\n His _Feens_ had all the rights.\n The hunting without molestation,\n Was theirs in all the forests.\"\n\nThe \"rights\" possessed by these people between All Hallow-tide and\nBeltin, or from the first of November to the first of May, were,\naccording to Keating,[152] that they were quartered upon the\ncountry-people, who had to support them during all that period. But\nfrom the first of May on to the first of November, the Feens were\nobliged to support themselves, which they did by hunting and\nfishing. It was during this latter period, therefore, that \"the\nhunting without molestation was theirs in all the forests.\" Perhaps\nthe expression \"_all_ the forests\" is too comprehensive. Mr. J. F.\nCampbell, in referring to the Feens,[153] speaks of their\n\"maintaining themselves by hunting deer, extensive tracts of land\nbeing allotted to them for that purpose.\" Perhaps, also, the word\n\"forest\" ought to be understood much in the way that \"deer forest\"\nnow is.\n\n\"It was said at that time,\" says a West Highland tale,[154] \"that\nIreland was a better hunting-ground than the Scotch Highlands; that\nthere were many great beamed deer in it, rather than in the\nHighlands. It was this which used to cause the Feens to be so often\nin Ireland.\" Nevertheless, the poem by Allan MacRuaridh, already\nreferred to, states that the Perthshire Glenshee (or rather, the\nmore important of the two Perthshire glens so named) was famous as a\nhunting-ground of the Feens, for the reason that it abounded in\n\"deer and elk.\" Whether the \"elk\" of the one writer, and the \"great\nantlered deer\" of the other represent the same animal, or two\nseparate species now extinct in these islands, is uncertain. In the\naccount contributed to the (Old) Statistical Account of Scotland,\nthe minister of the parish of Clunie, Perthshire, which is not very\nfar from Glenshee, remarks (ix. 256-7, _note_): \"The head of the\nurus has been dug up in this neighbourhood, as also the palmated\nhorns of the elk, together with the horns and skeletons of large\ndeer, supposed to be the moose-deer.\"[155] One of the tales of the\nFeens, which is common from County Mayo to Sutherlandshire, says Mr.\nJ. F. Campbell, has reference to the hunting of an animal called the\n_lon-dubh_, which word Mr. Campbell, on the suggestion of his\ncollector (Mr. MacLean), believes ought to be translated \"black\nelk.\" This \"black elk,\" then, which the Feens used to hunt, was an\nanimal of much greater size than the deer, on the testimony of these\ntales, told in the degenerate days when the \"black elk\" and its\nhunters had become only a memory. \"These [tales] _may_ date from the\ndays when men hunted elks in Erin, as they now do in Scandinavia,\"\nsays Mr. Campbell.[156] It is to be remembered, however, that at the\nbattle of Gawra, and, indeed, long after that date, the Feens of\nScandinavia were in association with those of Ireland and of\nScotland; and traditions relating to animals long extinct in Britain\nmight really refer to incidents in Scandinavia, within comparatively\nmodern times. But, on the other hand, there is the visible testimony\nof the \"palmated horns of the elk, together with the horns and\nskeletons of large deer, supposed to be the moose-deer,\" dug up in\nthe very neighbourhood which is famous as a favourite hunting-ground\nof the Feens, where they came \"to chase the deer and elk.\" The\ninference is, then, that either the tales which relate to that time\nare very old, or else that the animals referred to did not become\nextinct in these localities at a very remote date.\n\nAnd the latter inference is, in point of fact, the right one; if we\ndo not restrict _lon-dubh_ to the precise meaning of \"black elk.\"\nMr. J. F. Campbell not only tells us that certain \"great antlered\ndeer\" were formerly hunted by the Feens, but he also points out\nSutherlandshire traditions which tell how witches and fairies used\nto _milk_ the female deer. And this statement forms one of the\nreasons which lead him to believe that Fairies, Picts, and Lapps\nwere practically one people; for his deduction therefrom is\nthis:--\"Fairies, then, milked deer, as Lapps do.\" Now, the point of\nthis is that the deer milked by the Lapps is the _reindeer_, and not\nany variety of deer now existing in the British Islands. Mr.\nCampbell's further reference to \"a story published by Grant Stewart,\nin which a ghost uses a herd of deer to carry her furniture,\" quite\nbears out his belief that the reindeer was domesticated, as well as\nhunted, by the little people. And it is an actual historical fact\nthat the reindeer was hunted in Caithness so recently as the twelfth\ncentury. In a very full and exhaustive \"Notice of Remains of the\nRein-Deer, _Cervus tarandus_, found in Ross-shire, Sutherland, and\nCaithness,\"[157] the late Dr. John A. Smith, Sec. S. A., Scot., has\npointed out that the seventeenth-century historian, Torf\u00e6us,\nmentions that it was the custom of two earls of Orkney, during the\ntwelfth century, to cross over to Caithness from the Orkneys, for\nthe purpose of hunting the roe-deer _and the reindeer_. Dr. Smith\nadds that the correctness of Torf\u00e6us' statement having been at one\ntime called in question, the matter was placed beyond all doubt by a\nreference to the work of a learned annotator and editor of Torf\u00e6us\n(of the year 1780), who shows that the original manuscript whence\nTorf\u00e6us derived his information uses the words \"raudd\u00fdri edr\n_hre\u00edna_\" to denote those roes and reindeer of Caithness. Indeed,\nDr. Smith's paper affords plenty of confirmation of this historical\nstatement, since it is chiefly devoted to a consideration of the\nreindeer's horns found in various parts of the north of Scotland;\nsome of them in those very \"brochs\" which are so associated with\n\"the little people.\" And as, even at the present day, the higher\nmountains of Scotland abound in reindeer-lichen, there is nothing in\nthe natural condition of the place to contradict the assertion of\nthe historian. Therefore, Mr. Campbell's hypothesis that the fairy\n\"herds of Glen Odhar\" were herds of reindeer, receives every\nconfirmation from history, tradition, and fact. And, thus, the\nfigure of the reindeer incised on the monumental stone near\nGrantown, in the same quarter of Scotland (of which a representation\nis given on page 122 of Dr. Anderson's \"Scotland in Early Christian\nTimes\"), may have been \"drawn from life\" at that very place, and\nneed not be any older than the twelfth century.[158]\n\n\"Hunting appears all along to have been a favourite amusement\nof the _Seelie Court_,\" says a writer on the fairies of\nClydesdale,[159] \"and innumerable are the stories which are told\nconcerning the magnificence and splendour of the royal retinue.\"\nThere is also a Highland tale[160] which describes how the dwarfs\nused to be seen \"hunting on the sides of Ben Muich Dhui, dressed in\ngreen, and with silver-mounted bridles to their horses which jingled\nas they rode.\" And a writer of the seventeenth century[161] tells\n\"how there was a King and Queen of Pharie, of such a Court, and\ntrain, as they had, and how they had the teind [tithe] and dutie, as\nit were, of all corn, flesh, and meale, how they rode and went\nalongs the sides of hills, all in Green apparel.\" That green was the\nspecial colour of the fairies, everybody knows. And that it was also\nthe colour of the Feens is what certain sections of the people of\nmodern Ireland do not allow one to forget.\n\nThus, in regarding these people as hunters, any distinction between\n\"Feens and Fairies\" seems to vanish altogether. Although it does not\nappear to be stated in so many words that the Feens \"had the tithe\nand dutie, as it were, of all corns, flesh, and meale,\" yet the same\nfact is practically stated when we are told that, during the six\nmonths of autumn and winter, the Feens were kept in idleness by the\npeople of the country (\"billeted upon the country,\" as Keating has\nit), and this as a matter of right. The very dates upon which this\nperiod began and ended--Hallow-E'en and Walpurgis-night--are\npregnant with \"fairy\" associations. And when the green-clad Feens,\ntypified by their dwarf chief, had the exclusive right of hunting,\nduring the spring and summer months, up till the end of October,\nover \"extensive tracts of land allotted to them for that purpose,\"\nthey could not have greatly differed from those little people who\nare even yet remembered as \"hunting on the sides of Ben Muich Dhui,\ndressed in green.\" And it was distinctly understood that this right\nwas theirs \"without molestation.\" There is a real matter-of-fact\nmeaning in the ballad, placed in the mouths of people of a taller\nrace, and relating to that period and those privileged hunters--\n\n \"Up the airy mountain,\n Down the rocky glen,\n We daren't go a-hunting,\n For fear of little men.\"\n\nOf which the historical interpretation, as applied to Scotland,\napparently is, that these popular traditions relate to the time when\nthe Pechts, conquered by the Scots, who subsequently were reinforced\nby various later immigrant races, still retained a certain amount of\nindependence, with special rights in certain districts, reserved to\nthem as \"Pecht lands.\" Their dwarfish stature is seen from the very\nword by which they are known, as well as from the dwellings they\ninhabited. Their small horses are spoken of in the earliest accounts\nof them,[162] and indeed still survive, though no doubt in blended\nforms, as the small breeds of Galloway, Shetland, and various parts\nof England. Their favourite colour gave them, in their earliest\ndays, the title of Green Men or _Virides_; although then the\ncolouring was applied in a more primitive fashion.\n\nApart from all the resemblances specially referred to, there is a\ngeneral association in the popular mind between Pechts and Fairies.\nBoth are regarded as extinct races, and the date of their\ndisappearance, though vague, points to the one period; and\nlocalities known as the abodes of Pechts are also known as the\nabodes of Fairies. For example, an antiquary of that neighbourhood\n(Sir Herbert Maxwell) states that \"the fortified promontory of the\nMull [of Galloway] is locally believed to have been the last\nstronghold to which the Picts of Galloway retired before an\noverwhelming force of Scotic (?) invaders.\" In the same paper,[163]\nand referring to the same promontory, the writer specifies \"a small\nfortification called the 'Dunnan,' credited with having been a\nfavourite haunt of the fairies.\" Again, the famous Pictish hill-fort\nin Forfarshire, known as the \"White Cater Thun,\" is equally famous\nas a fairy stronghold. This celebrated fortress has been described\non a previous page. It crowns a hill in the neighbourhood of the\nancient city of Brechin, the centre of a district which was\nindisputably a territory of the Pechts. Even yet one may discern in\nthe ruins of this fort the traces of the dwellings which so closely\ncharacterize the architecture of the Pechts, the chambers made\nwithin the thickness of the wall. Within the long elliptical\nenclosure of the White Cater Thun there are, indeed, faint traces of\nother buildings; but the great majority of its garrison must have\nbeen housed, after the fashion of the race, in the chambers that are\ntraceable all along the actual rampart itself. And of this chambered\nfortress local tradition states that it was \"the abode of fairies,\nand that a brawny witch carried the whole [of the stones] one\nmorning from the channel of the West Water [a neighbouring river] to\nthe summit of the hill, and would have increased the quantity ...\nbut for the ominous circumstance of her apron-string breaking, while\ncarrying one of the largest! This stone was allowed to lie where it\nfell, and is pointed out to this day on the north-east slope of the\nmountain! This tradition, it may be remarked,\" continues our\nauthority,[164] \"however _outr\u00e9_, is curious from its analogy to\nthat concerning the castles of Mulgrave and Pickering in Yorkshire,\nthe extensive causeways of which are said to have been paved by\ngenii named Wada and his wife Bell, the latter, like the Amazonian\nbuilder of Caterthun, having carried the stones from a great\ndistance in her apron!\" Among all the exaggeration and confusion of\nthese statements two things are quite discernible--the identity of\nPechts with fairies or other \"supernaturals\" in general--and (in\nparticular) the identity of the descriptions given of people so\ndenominated, in the region of Caterthun and of Yorkshire, and the\ndescriptions of the Northumbrian Pechts as quoted on a previous\npage.[165] Indeed, the accounts given of the Pechts in the locality\nlast-named, as well as some features of the traditional builders of\nAbernethy Round Tower, render it impossible to distinguish, in these\ntwo cases, between \"Pechts\" and \"Fairies,\" or \"Witches.\" And this,\nindeed, as we have seen, was the popular belief.\n\nThe conclusion, therefore, to be drawn from what has been said upon\nthis subject is that, although the term _Pict_ or _Pecht_ has been\nchosen by History as that by which a certain race of people, once\nfound in Scotland, ought to be remembered, yet that term indicates\nnothing more[166] than _Trow_ or _Dwarf_, either of which names\nmight as reasonably have been chosen as their synonym _Pecht_. And\nthat when one speaks of _Pechts_, _Trows_, or _Dwarfs_, one is\nspeaking of the same kind of people--the mound-dwellers, or\n\"underground\" races of the past. Further, that the people\ntraditionally remembered in Shetland as _Finns_ belonged to that\ngroup; as also those whom Gaelic folk-lore styles the _Feinne_. And\nthat, along with many other popular terms not here enumerated, one\nof the names by which such people have been widely known is that of\n\"the Fairies.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[142] Mr. Charles de Kay, in _The Century_ of July 1889, p. 437.\n\n[143] See Mr. Ralston's review in _The Academy_ of May 11, 1889.\n\n[144] These trials and executions for \"witchcraft\" were the\nprecursors of those which were carried down almost into our own\ntimes; and the above allusions to the \"wickedness\" of those rites\nonly serve to strengthen the growing belief that the relentless\npersecution of \"witches\" was based upon most reasonable grounds, and\nthat the motives actuating the \"persecutors\" were far higher and\nmore sensible than a mere fanatical and narrow-minded hatred of\npaganism.\n\n[145] For these extracts, see Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, I., 14,\n212, 213, 214, and 238.\n\n[146] The flat stone, supported on three or four posts, or pillars\n(as Thorpe calls them), upon which the seid-woman stood, is very\nsuggestive of the _cromleac_ or _dolmen_. (Cf. the _grottes aux\nf\u00e9es_ of Brittany.)\n\n[147] The magical power of the Finns is still recognized by the\nSwedish peasantry of to-day. An illustration of this appears in an\nanecdote related in the London _Standard_ of 26 January, 1877, with\nregard to a Swedish lady \"who had been so ill-advised as to insult a\nFinn, whose magical powers exceed those of the gipsies.\"\n\n[148] It is no doubt owing to the infusion of Spanish blood in\nSouthern Ireland, still visible in the complexion, as well as in the\nsurnames (such as Costello and Jago, _i.e._, Diego) of people in\nthat neighbourhood, that this Fierna receives the most un-British\ntitle of \"Don\" prefixed to his name.\n\n[149] Compare this tradition, recorded by Thorpe (_Northern\nMythology_, III., 39):--\"In very old times the dwarfs had long wars\nwith men, and also with one another.\"\n\n[150] \"The Death of Diarmaid,\" by Allan MacRuaridh. _See_ the \"Dean\nof Lismore's Book,\" p. 30 (Eng. version), and p. 21 (Gaelic).\n\n[151] \"Dean of Lismore's Book,\" pp. 141-43 (Eng.) and 108-11 (Gaelic\nversion).\n\n[152] \"History of Ireland\"; Reign of Cormac Ulfada.\n\n[153] \"West Highland Tales,\" I. xiii.\n\n[154] The Lay of Osgar: \"West Highland Tales,\" III. 304-5.\n\n[155] He adds:--\"Some of these horns, which are of an amazing size,\nare in the custody of the Duke of Athole, and of Mr. Farquharson of\nInvercauld.\"\n\n[156] \"Tales,\" II. 107. The story referred to is on pp. 102-6.\n\n[157] _See_ \"Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.\": First Series, VIII.\np. 186, _et seq._ (with a special reference to pp. 205-6).\n\n[158] For Mr. Campbell's references, _see_ \"West Highland Tales,\"\nI., ci.-cix., and II., 46. This parallel has also been drawn by Miss\nGordon Cumming (\"From the Hebrides to the Himalayas,\" Vol. I., p.\n183).\n\n[159] _Scots Magazine_, Vol. III., 1818, p. 154.\n\n[160] One of Mrs. Ewing's \"Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales\": The Laird and\nthe Man of Peace.\n\n[161] George Sinclair, in \"Satan's Invisible World Discovered.\"\n\n[162] _See_ Ritson's \"Annals,\" Vol. I. p. 12 (quoted from Dion\nCassius, L. 76, c. 12).\n\n[163] Which appears in the \"Proceedings of the Society of\nAntiquaries of Scotland,\" 1885-86, pp. 76-90.\n\n[164] Mr. A. Jervise, \"The Land of the Lindsays,\" Edinburgh, 1853,\np. 265.\n\n[165] Page 67.\n\n[166] The Latin term _Picti_, though pointing to another\ncharacteristic of the dwarfs, is not here taken into account, as it\nmisinterprets the original word.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n\nThere is one variety of the underground dwellings which, in the\nnorthern counties of Scotland if not elsewhere, is more specially\nindicated by the term \"Earth House,\" or \"Eirde House.\" With regard\nto this class of structure, an experienced arch\u00e6ologist[167] makes\nthe following remarks:--\n\n \"The whole of these have been formed after one idea, viz.\n to secure an unobserved entrance, and to preserve a curved\n shape. From the entrance the first part of these structures\n is generally a low and narrow passage, growing in width and\n height from the point where the direction is changed, and\n terminating in a rounded extremity.\n\n \"The part of them last referred to is generally from five\n to nine feet in width, with a height barely sufficient to\n permit a man to stand erect. In some cases, however, they\n have been found to be of much more contracted dimensions\n throughout. The Eirde House at Migvie, in Cromar, only\n admits a single person to pass along; while that at\n Torrich, in Strathdonan, Sutherlandshire, is barely three\n feet in width.\n\n \"Dr. Mitchell has described another at Erribol, in that\n county, which is more like a large drain than anything\n else.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"These underground houses have occasionally smaller\n chambers, as offshoots from the main one, which are entered\n by openings of small size.\n\n \"They occur at times singly, and at others in groups. On a\n moor near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, a group of nearly\n fifty were discovered.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"It has been doubted if these houses were ever really used\n as places of abode, a purpose for which they seem in no\n degree to be suited.\n\n \"But as to this there can be no real doubt. The substances\n found in many of them have been the accumulated _d\u00e9bris_ of\n food used by man, and indicate his presence as surely as\n the kindred kitchen-middens which have recently attracted\n so much attention, while their occurrence in groups marks\n the gregarious habits of the early people. The bones of the\n ox, deer, and other like creatures have been found, as well\n as the shells of fish, mixed with fatty earth and charred\n wood. Ornaments of bronze have been found in a few of them,\n and beads of streaked glass. In some cases the articles\n found would indicate that the occupation of these houses\n had come down to comparatively recent times, as in the case\n of the Irish crannogs, where objects of the rudest times\n are found alongside of those of the seventeenth century.\"\n\nThese underground passages or galleries are also known as Pechts' or\nPicts' houses; and they unquestionably belong to the same family as\nthe other structures so denominated. But they are the rudest and\nmost primitive of all. Between them and a chambered mound such as\nMaes-how, in Orkney, the difference is great; and still greater is\nthe difference between them and a non-subterranean \"broch,\" such as\nthat of Mousa, in Shetland. Yet all these are so united by\nintermediate forms that it is difficult to say exactly where the one\npasses into the other. The nature of the difference may be expressed\netymologically by saying that they are _burrows_, _barrows_, and\n_brochs_, or _burgs_; the \"drain\"-like Eirde House belonging to the\nfirst class, the chambered mound to the second, and the above-ground\nstructure, such as that of Mousa, to the third. The three terms just\nused are radically one, as the buildings themselves are. But they\nrepresent different phases of one idea; and the last phase is very\nmuch in advance of the first. Whether the superiority of the one\nclass of building over the other has been caused by the gradual\nadvancement of one homogeneous race, during a long stretch of time,\nor by the blending of a higher race with a lower, within a limited\nperiod, must be regarded as an open question.[168]\n\nBut, although that crude form of earth-house which we have\ndescribed as a burrow, is included among the Pechts' houses of\nScotland, it differs in several respects from that variety which has\nbeen regarded as the typical \"Pecht's house,\" namely, the chambered\nmound, or \"hollow hillock.\" One of the salient features of the\nburrow, the \"unobserved entrance,\" is equally a feature of the\nhollow mound; and the latter has also the same narrow, low,\nsubterranean passage of approach, formed of huge stone slabs. In\neach, too, as in the more advanced and elaborate \"broch,\" it is seen\nthat the builders knew of no other kind of arch than that formed by\nthe gradual convergence of the walls, by means of each course\noverlapping the course immediately below it, until only a single\nslab was required to crown the whole by way of \"keystone.\" The\nbetter kind of \"burrow,\" with its \"smaller chambers, as offshoots\nfrom the main one,\" is also closely akin, in that respect, to the\nso-called \"hollow hill.\" But, while having all these points of\nresemblance, the latter differs from the former in that its passage\ndispenses altogether with the curve which distinguishes the\n\"burrow;\" and, greater difference still, in that it is not merely an\nunderground dwelling, but that the earth over it is heaped so high\nabove the level of the adjoining ground that it presents exactly the\nappearance of a conical or rounded green hillock, when looked at\nfrom the outside. Moreover, it is only rendered an \"underground\"\ndwelling by the earth-heap imposed upon the original structure,\nwhich itself was built upon what was then the surface of the ground.\nWhereas the long, curved gallery, which has more specially been\nstyled an \"earth-house,\" is below the surface of the surrounding\nland, and is generally discovered by some ploughman whose plough\nhappens to break or disarrange the stone slabs forming its roof.\n\nThere is no special reason for limiting the term \"earth-house\" to\nthe underground gallery just spoken of, because the chambered mound\nis also as much an \"earth-house.\" In either case, the structure\nitself is of stone. Therefore, we need not here restrict the term\n\"earth-house\" to one of these two varieties, but apply it equally to\nboth. Each variety is popularly known as a \"Pecht's house,\" and the\none is as much an \"earth-house\" as the other.\n\nThe \"hollow hill,\" however, will be the variety of earth-dwelling\nchiefly considered in this place. But, before leaving the ruder\nstructure, reference may be made to a Shetland specimen, examined in\n1865. It is described as \"of a semicircular form, two feet or so\nbeneath the arable land, about thirty feet in length, three feet in\nbreadth and height, widening out at the western extremity to the\nform of a chamber of five feet square; ponderous slabs of mica-slate\nform the lintels. These stones have been transported from Norwick,\nwhich is the nearest dep\u00f4t for such, and distant two miles.\" Like\nother similar structures this was locally known as a \"Fairy\nHa'.\"[169]\n\nThus, the two varieties of earth-house, each known popularly as a\n\"Pecht's house,\" are also both remembered as the dwelling-place of\nfairies. For the chambered mound is equally a \"Fairy Knowe\"; in\nGaelic, a \"sheean\" (_sithean_), or abode of fairies.\n\nAnd as the \"little people\" of Scotland have been chiefly chronicled\nas \"Pechts,\" or \"Picts,\" we may further consider them in that\ntwofold character; continuing also to regard them in the territories\nwhich have already been most frequently named. Of these, none are\nmore worthy of examination than the districts--insulated or\notherwise--in the neighbourhood of the Pecht-land Firth.\n\n\"By an authentic record of Thomas, Bishop of the Orkneys, dated\n1443, and published in Wallace's \"Orkneys,\" edit. 1700; when the\nNorwegians conquered these islands they found them possessed 'by two\nnations, the Pets [Pehts, or Pechts] and Papas'\"[170] (_i.e._, popes\nor priests). The \"popes\" referred to are understood to have been the\nIrish missionaries from Iona, and of them there seems to be no\ndistinct tradition surviving. But the other \"nation\" is well\nremembered in both of the Northern groups. \"The first folks that\never were in our isles were the Picts,\" says Shetlandic folk-lore;\n\"they were very small [people].\"[171]\n\nWhat appears to be a popular tradition relating to the time when\nthe territory of the mound-dwelling Pechts was beginning to be\ninvaded and settled by colonists of another race, is furnished us by\nSir Walter Scott. The ballad of \"Alice Brand,\" in \"The Lady of the\nLake,\" speaks of a \"moody Elfin King, who won'd[172] within the\nhill.\" And we are told in the _Appendix_ that this legend \"is\nfounded upon a very curious Danish Ballad, which occurs in the\n'K\u00e6mpe Viser,' a collection of heroic songs first published in\n1591.\" It begins \"_Der ligger en vold i Vester Haf_,\" which is\nrendered in English, \"There lies a wold in Wester Haf.\" Scott\nsays:--\"As _Wester Haf_ ... means the _West Sea_, in opposition to\nthe Baltic or _East Sea_, Mr. Jamieson inclines to be of opinion\nthat the scene ... is laid in one of the Orkney, or Hebride\nIslands.\" Both in this old ballad, and in Scott's adaptation, there\nis an element of the magical, or impossible, or, at least,\nunexplainable kind; but some of the leading facts are these:--A\n\"husband,\" or yeoman, goes to this \"wold in Wester Haf,\" taking his\nwife and all his belongings with him, and there he proceeds to\nsettle down as a colonist. Like many other \"backwoodsmen,\" he begins\nby felling the trees of the forest[173] for his new home, much to\nthe indignation of the dwarfs who inhabit a certain \"knock\" (Gael.\n_cnoc_), or chambered mound, in that district, and who, indeed, are\nthe owners of the soil.\n\n \"He hew'd him kipples,[174] he hew'd him bawks,[175]\n Wi' mickle moil and haste,\n Syne speer'd the Elf i' the knock that bade,\n 'Wha's hacking here sae fast?'\"[176]\n\nThe dwarfs are discomfited in their attempt to enter the \"husband's\"\nhouse, but finally one of them succeeds:--\n\n \"The huswife she was a canny wife,\n She set the Elf at the board;\n She set before him baith ale and meat,\n Wi' mony a weel-waled[177] word.\n\n \"'Hear thou, Gudeman o' Villenshaw,[178]\n What now I say to thee;\n Wha bade thee bigg[179] within our bounds,\n Without the leave o' me?\n\n \"'But, an' thou in our bounds will bigg,\n And bide, as well as may be,\n Then thou thy dearest huswife maun\n To me for a lemman gie.'\"\n\nHowever, the husband is not even temporarily bereft of his wife;\nand, indeed, after all the threatenings of the \"how-folk,\" the\nsettlers are allowed to remain quietly in possession of their\nhomestead, and their daughter is afterwards married to the dwarf\nvisitor.[180]\n\nThough this song is from a Danish collection, there is another of\nvery similar nature in Unst, Shetland. It begins \"Der lived a king\ninto da aste,\" and it recounts how a certain \"wedded wife\" was\ncarried off by \"the King o' Ferrie.\" Her husband afterwards goes in\nsearch of her; and \"one day, in his wandering quest, he sees a\ncompany passing along a hillside, and he recognizes among them his\nlost lady.\" They go into \"a great 'ha'-house,' or castle,\" which is\nsaid to be _on_ the hillside; but as nothing is visible but \"a grey\nstane,\" after they have entered, it would seem that _the hill\nitself_ was the castle, and the grey stone the entrance door, as in\nthe case of the Orcadian Maes-how, or many another residence of the\n\"how-folk.\" This assumption is quite borne out by the song itself.\nThe same writer[181] indicates that such abductions were quite\ncommon in Shetland, when she states that a \"witch\" who married a\ndwarf returned once to her mother's house, and, while imparting to\nher various other counsels and warnings, \"gave many instructions how\nto provide against the enchantments used by Trows for the purpose of\ndecoying unsuspecting girls into their unhallowed domain.\" And her\nparting injunction was to be sure and have the maidens \"weel c\u00f6st\nabout\" (? protected by charms) \"when the grey women-stealers are\nwandering.\" But instances of such intercourse between the dwarf\nraces and others, the abduction being by no means confined to one\nside, could be quoted almost interminably.\n\nThe celebrated \"how\" known as Maes-how, in Orkney, has just been\nreferred to. It is so admirable a specimen of the \"Pecht's house\"\nproper that no better selection can be made for a more particular\ndescription of such a dwelling. \"It stands about a mile to the\nnorth-east of the great stone ring of Stennis. Its external\nappearance is that of a truncated conical mound of earth, about 300\nfeet in circumference at the base and thirty-six feet high,\nsurrounded by a trench forty feet wide. Nothing was known of its\ninternal structure till the year 1861, when it was opened by Mr.\nFarrer, M.P., but the common tradition of the country represented it\nas the abode of a goblin, who was named 'the Hogboy,' though no one\nknew why.\"[182] In Lincolnshire, this term \"hog-boy\" is pronounced\nas \"shag-boy.\"[183] The word pronounced _shag_ in one place and\n_hog_ in another, is understood to be the same as _haug_ or _how_;\nand the term is therefore a variant of the plural \"how-folk.\" It was\none of those \"shag-boys\" or \"hog-boys,\" then, that local tradition\nremembered as the inhabitant of Maes-how. And nowhere is the\ntenacity of the popular memory more strongly illustrated than in\nthis instance. For, during many centuries prior to 1861, this had\nbeen nothing more, to the passing stranger, than a grassy hillock,\nutterly void of any indication that its interior was \"hollow,\" and\nthat the whole structure--stone-built dwelling, and super-imposed\nearth--was entirely artificial,--the work of a vanished race. And\nyet, so full of vitality is tradition, that the descendants of those\nwho had seen its inmate or inmates, knew, in spite of the lapse of a\nthousand years, that this was no ordinary grassy mound, but that\nonce upon a time it had been the habitation of people of a certain\nrace, whose characteristics are even yet remembered, if only in a\nconfused and imperfect manner.\n\nHowever important and necessary a written description may be, it is\nvery incomplete without a personal inspection of the place\ndescribed, or in lieu of that, the \"counterfeit presentment,\" which\nis almost as serviceable. From the view here given of Maes-how, as\nit appears from the outside, and also from the following diagrams,\none obtains an admirable idea of the exterior and interior of a\n_sheean_, Fairy Hillock, or Fairy Ha'.\n\n[Illustration: SECTIONAL VIEW AND GROUND-PLAN OF MAES-HOW.]\n\nAfter examining these pictures of this famous \"how,\" one is able\nto fully understand the traditional accounts of the \"hollow\nhillocks\" of the dwarfs. One can fit any of the many stories that\ntell of visits paid to such \"hills\" into this particular scene.\nThere is the small, concealed entrance at the base of the hill (at\nwhich, or beside which, the visitor used to knock until \"the hill\nopened\"--revealing a low, narrow, dark passage).\n\n[Illustration: MAES-HOW, ORKNEY.\n(The _Orka-haug_ of the Norsemen.)]\n\nIn this instance the aperture is two feet four inches in height, and\nof exactly the same breadth; and its dimensions continue the same\nfor the first twenty-two and a half feet into the hill (for it will\nbe seen that the mound of stone and earth that surrounded and\ncovered the actual building gave the habitation a fictitious base,\nwhich had to be penetrated by this passage until the walls of the\nmain building were reached--in the centre of the \"hill.\")[184]\n\n[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE \"HOW.\"]\n\nIn Maes-how the passage of approach is fully fifty-three feet long.\nIts height, as already stated, is only two feet four inches, during\nthe first twenty-two feet of length; so that no one, unless an\nactual dwarf, could walk erect along this portion. After this the\nroof of the passage rises to four feet four inches; and it retains\nthis height during the next twenty-eight feet of length. The\nremaining distance--scarcely three feet--is four inches higher; and\nthen the passage \"enters the middle of one of the four sides of a\nchamber which is fifteen feet square, and has, when complete, been\nabout twenty feet high in the centre. The walls of this chamber are\nperpendicular for about six feet, after which the slabs, which\ngenerally extend the whole length of a side, project beyond the\ncourses on which they rest, until in this way the roof has been\ncompleted in the shape of an inverted pyramid formed of successive\nsteps.\"[185] In the three sides of this central hall (excluding the\nside at which the long passage emerges) there are respective\nentrances into three small chambers. The largest of these is less\nthan seven feet long, less than five feet broad, and its roof is\nonly three and a half feet from the floor.\n\nIn assuming that the roof of this building, now open to the sky,\nwas \"completed in the shape of an inverted pyramid formed of\nsuccessive steps,\" Colonel Leslie is at variance with the\ndescription given by an eighteenth-century writer (in connection\nwith similar buildings), and at variance also with tradition. The\ndifference is a slight one, but it ought to be referred to. The roof\nwas not precisely _completed_ in such buildings, according to the\nwriter referred to; it \"was carried on round about with long stones\n[each successive course projecting, and thus gradually narrowing the\norifice], till it ended in an opening at the top, which served both\nfor light and a vent to carry off the smoke of their fire.\" Without\nthis opening the dwelling had very little light or air; for little\nof either could have straggled in from the mouth of the narrow,\nunderground passage, which reached the open air at a distance of\nfifty-three feet from the dwelling, and whose entrance (besides) was\nnearly always closed during the day.[186]\n\nWhile tradition seems clearly to indicate that the roof of the\ndwelling communicated with the open air above, there is necessarily\nsome uncertainty on this point. The writer who speaks of the roof of\nsuch a building being \"carried on round about with long stones, till\nit ended in an opening at the top,\" may have had in view a structure\nmore resembling the open air \"broch\" than the _sith-bhrog_; although\nhe mentions that the kind of building he describes often \"looks\noutwardly like a heap without any design.\"[187] It is undoubted that\nmany such mounds, for example, those of New Grange and Dowth, in the\nBoyne district, have their rude, \"Pelasgian arch,\" crowned with one\nlarge stone as keystone; and that, therefore, any upward exit from\nthe chamber must have led off in a slant from some portion of the\nwall. On the other hand, there are several indications that when one\nascended the outside of a _sheean_, in the days when it was\ninhabited, one found oneself at the edge of a hollow or crater, at\nthe foot of which was the narrow orifice that gave light and air to\nthe chamber below. More than one fairy-hill of the present day, not\nyet explored, has a small hole on its summit, and when a stone is\ndropped therein, it is heard to rumble and fall into some unknown\ncavern below. And the existence of such \"craters\" was well known (we\nare told by Scott, in his Introduction to the _Tale of Tamlane_) to\nthe people of Scotland. \"Wells, or pits, on the top of hills were\nsupposed to lead to the subterranean habitations of the Fairies.\"\nLegendary stories in connection with these there are many--of men\ndescending such \"pits,\" sometimes well knowing what to expect, and\nof having hand-to-hand fights with the natives of these abodes. At\nother times the attack was made by those \"hillmen\" themselves; who\nseem to have emerged by this entrance as often as by the other. \"A\nsavage issuing from a mount\" was once a well-known bearing in\nScottish heraldry. Mr. J. F. Campbell records a Ross-shire tradition\nof a dwarf who inhabited _Tombuidhe Ghearrloch_, \"The Tawny Hillock\nof Gairloch,\" and who was the terror of the neighbourhood (whose\nchief inhabitants, in his day, belonged to another race). Before he\nwas himself slain, this formidable dwarf had killed many of the\nlatter race; none of whom (with one exception) dared to venture near\nhis \"hillock\" after dusk. He was at length killed by a local\nchampion, still remembered as \"Big Hugh\" (Uistean Mor, MacGhille\nPhadrig;) who was celebrated as a slayer of dwarfs; and who appears\nto have devoted himself to their extermination in that particular\ndistrict. And in the story of the killing of this noted dwarf, it is\nstated that Uistean climbed to the top of the hillock (_Tom-buidhe_)\nand attacked its inhabitant, who emerged from the foot of its\n\"crater\" or \"pit\"; in other words, from the roof of his\ndwelling.[188]\n\nSuch a \"_sheean_\" is the Denghoog in the Danish island of Sylt, one\nof the mounds believed to have been the residence of Finn, the dwarf\nking. Mr. W. G. Black, who has visited this \"how,\" describes it\nthus:[189]--\n\n\"Externally merely a swelling green mound, like so many others in\nSylt, entrance is gained by a trap-door in the roof, and descending\na steep ladder, one finds himself in a subterranean chamber some\nseventeen by ten feet in size, the walls of which are twelve huge\nblocks of Swedish granite; the height of the roof varies from five\nfeet to six feet. The original entrance appears to have been a long\nnarrow passage seventeen feet long and about two feet wide and high.\nThis mound was examined by a Hamburg professor in 1868, who found\nremains of a fire-place, bones of a small man, some clay urns, and\nstone weapons.\"\n\nThis example, then, of the abode of one of the \"Feens of Lochlan,\"\ncorresponds exactly with Maes-how and all similar \"_sheeans_.\" And,\nlike them, it is locally remembered as the residence of a dwarf.\n\nThis, of course, is tradition. But the northern sagas (though\n\"tradition\" also) are accepted as \"history,\" in some degree. And the\nsagas bear a like record. Their heroes break into those dwellings,\nmake their entrance by the hole at the bottom of the \"crater,\" and\nattack the inhabitants, who, seizing their weapons, defend their\nlives and (in many cases) their treasures. And before leaving the\n\"hollow hill\" of Maes-how, it may be stated that this particular\n_broch_, or _sheean_, is believed to have been invaded about a\nthousand years ago. It was entered in the twelfth century by some of\nthose North-men who were on their way to the Holy Land; and these\nhave incised various inscriptions on its inner walls. But at that\ndate it was empty--and had been rifled many centuries before. One\nlegendary tale places the date of its original despoliation as far\nback as the year 920; and states that \"Olaf the Norseman\" was its\ninvader; and that he encountered its possessor, whom he\novercame--after a deadly struggle. And, since \"the common tradition\nof the country [up to the year 1861, when it was reopened]\nrepresented it as the abode of a goblin, who was named 'the\nHog-boy',\" it would seem that the prevailing blood of the\ncountry-people in that district is akin to that of this \"Olaf the\nNorseman;\" and that, therefore, in this instance, the popular memory\nreaches back for nearly a thousand years, with the most perfect\nprecision.[190]\n\nThe Ross-shire _Tombuidhe_, the Sylt _Denghoog_; and this Orcadian\n_broch_ are all specimens of the one class; and, both as regards the\ncharacter of the dwellers and the dwellings, they have many\ncounterparts. How many we do not yet know. It is probable that, in\nthe British Islands alone, they may be numbered by thousands (and we\nneed not here speculate as to the continent of Europe, and other\nparts of the globe). Colonel Forbes Leslie, referring only to\nScotland, says that \"even in the present day many a green mound ...\nis shunned by sturdy peasants who would not fear the hostility of\nany mortal\"--and this because that mound once contained one or more\npeople of a race of whom that peasant's ancestors stood greatly in\nawe. That the valleys of the Forth and Teith alone contain a great\nnumber of those \"green hillocks,\" as yet unexamined, has been stated\nby an eminent investigator of the Scotch _brochs_, Dr. Joseph\nAnderson. How many other districts can tell a similar story is a\nproblem that will some day be solved.\n\nThe collector (who is, to a great extent, the exponent also) of the\n\"Popular Tales of the West Highlands,\" appends several very\ninteresting remarks to one of these stories: that of \"The Smith and\nthe Fairies\" (vol. ii. pp. 46-55). Among other things he says: \"The\nbelief that the 'hill' opened on a certain night, and that a light\nshone from the inside, where little people might be seen dancing,\nwas too deeply grounded some years ago to be lightly spoken of; ...\n'In the glebe of Kilbrandon in Lorn is a hill called Crocan Corr ...\nwhere the fairies ... were often seen dancing around their fire.'\"\nAnd reference is also made to \"a certain hill in Muckairn, known to\nbe the residence of the fairies.\" The incident connected with it is\ncapped with a similar one \"told of a hill called Ben-cnock in\nIslay;\" and \"another hill, called Cnock-doun\" (presumably in Islay),\nhas a like history. But such \"hills\" are too numerous to mention in\ndetail.\n\nOwing to the great mass of earth which was heaped over the\ndwelling--the actual \"kernel\" of the mound--it will be seen that\nnew-comers of another race from the mound-dwellers might build\nhouses, or bury their dead, above the homes of the \"little people,\"\nwithout being aware that the hill they were so utilizing was\nentirely of artificial origin. Nor are there wanting illustrations\nof this in fact and in tradition. Legendary lore, indeed, is\nfull of incidents arising from the contact, often unexpected on\nthe one side, of the two races; and many such tales reveal the\nmound-dwellers in a very homely light. The following story from the\nHebridean island of Barra, for example:\n\n \"There was a woman in Baile Thangasdail, and she was out\n seeking a couple of calves; and the night and lateness\n caught her, and there came rain and tempest, and she was\n seeking shelter. She went to a knoll with the couple of\n calves, and she was striking the tether-peg into it. The\n knoll opened. She heard a gleegashing as if a pot-hook were\n clashing beside a pot. She took wonder, and she stopped\n striking the tether-peg. A woman put out her head and all\n above her middle, and she said, 'What business hast thou to\n be troubling this tulman in which I make my dwelling?' 'I\n am taking care of this couple of calves, and I am but weak.\n Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them to\n that breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of grass. If\n thy couple of calves eat that tuft of grass, thou wilt not\n be a day without a milk cow as long as thou art alive,\n because thou hast taken my counsel.'\"[191]\n\nThis story exemplifies the well-known prophetic or \"supernatural\"\npowers of the dwarf races, while at the same time it presents the\n\"fairy abode\" to us in a very matter-of-fact light. Equally homely\nand matter-of-fact is this story from Wigtownshire:--\n\n \"A shepherd's family had just taken possession of a\n newly-erected onstead, in a very secluded spot among 'the\n hills o' Gallowa,' when the goodwife was, one day,\n surprised by the entrance of a little woman, who hurriedly\n asked for the loan of a 'pickle saut.' This, of course, was\n readily granted; but the goodwife was so flurried by the\n appearance of 'a neibor' in such a lonely place, and at\n such a very great distance from all known habitations, that\n she did not observe when the little woman withdrew or which\n way she went. Next day, however, the same little woman\n re-entered the cottage, and duly paid the borrowed 'saut.'\n This time the goodwife was more alert, and as she turned to\n replace 'the saut in the sautkit' she observed 'wi' the\n tail o' her e'e' that the little woman moved off towards\n the door, and then made a sudden 'bolt out.' Following\n quickly, the goodwife saw her unceremonious visitor run\n down a small declivity towards a tree, which stood at 'the\n house en'.' [She passed behind the tree, but did not emerge\n on the other side, and the \"goodwife,\" seeing no place of\n concealment, assumed she was a fairy.] In a few days her\n little 'neibor' again returned, and continued from time to\n time to make similar visits--borrowing and lending small\n articles, evidently with a view to produce an intimacy; and\n it was uniformly remarked that, on retiring, she proceeded\n straight to the tree, and then suddenly 'ga'ed out o'\n sight.' One day, while the goodwife was at the door,\n emptying some dirty water into the _jaw-hole_ [sink, or\n cess-pool], her now familiar acquaintance came to her and\n said: 'Goodwife, ye're really a very obliging bodie! Wad ye\n be sae good as turn the lade o' your jaw-hole anither way,\n as a' your foul water rins directly in at my door? It\n stands in the howe there, on the aff side o' that tree, at\n the corner o' your house en'.' The mystery was now fully\n cleared up--the little woman was indeed a fairy; and the\n door of her invisible habitation, being situated 'on the\n aff side o' the tree at the house en',' it could easily be\n conceived how she must there necessarily 'gae out o' sight'\n as she entered her sight-eluding portal.\"\n\nThis story[192] relates to a district that is noted as being one of\nthe very latest to retain a population that was distinctively\nPictish, and it unquestionably offers a parallel to that of the\n\"Gudeman o' Villenshaw,\" and the \"elves i' the knock that bade.\" In\neither case, we have the arrival of a new-comer of another race, all\nunconscious that the place is already inhabited by an earlier,\nmound-dwelling[193] people.\n\nOf houses built upon the summit or the slope of a fairy hill a\nmodern instance is furnished by Hugh Miller, in his reminiscences of\nSutherlandshire (\"My Schools and Schoolmasters,\" 1881 ed., p. 108),\nwherein he mentions that a cousin of his had built his house\n\"half-way up the slope of a beautiful tomhan,\"[194] which was\nregarded as a fairy residence. This \"tomhan\" appears to have been\nnear Lairg, and in \"the Barony of Gruids.\" The neighbouring\ncountryfolk had expected that \"the little people\" inside the hill\nwould resent this intrusion on their privacy, but, of course,\nnothing of this kind happened--as this occurred in the present\ncentury, when the mound-dwelling Pechts lived only in the memory of\nthose by whose forefathers they had once been greatly dreaded. But\nthere are various traditional accounts which point to a time when\nmembers of the intruding race, unaware that the hillock on which\nthey began to build was itself a building, were obliged to desist by\nreason of the opposition of the dwarfs. Thus, a former Grant of\nBallindalloch, in Strathspey, who attempted to build his castle upon\na mound, found every morning that the previous day's work had been\nundone, and the stones removed from the site. One night, while he\nwatched for these disturbers, he heard a voice bid him to \"build on\nthe Cow Haugh,\" or meadow, which he accordingly did, without further\ninterruption.[195] A similar account is given in connection with a\nhill in Aberdeenshire. \"When the workmen were engaged in erecting\nthe ancient church of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, upon a small hill\ncalled Bissau, they were surprised to find that the work was impeded\nby supernatural obstacles. At length the Spirit of the River (says\nSir Walter Scott, who tells the story[196]) was heard to say,--\n\n \"It is not here, it is not here,\n That ye shall build the church of Deer;\n But on Taptillery,\n Where many a corpse shall lie.\"\n\nThe site of the edifice was accordingly transferred to Taptillery,\nan eminence at some distance from the place where the building had\nbeen commenced.\" In this case the interruption merely took the shape\nof a warning, but the midnight work in the former instance is\nentirely in keeping with all that tradition says of the Pechts.[197]\n\nHugh Miller again points out a fairy locality, when referring to a\nboating excursion on Loch Maree, in 1823, on which occasion he\nlearned from the boatman that one of the islands, _Eilean Suthainn_,\nwas the annual rendezvous of the fairies, where they paid to their\nqueen the yearly \"kain\" or tribute, due to \"the Evil One.\" This\nreference is quoted by the author of \"Gairloch,\"[198] who also\nstates:\n\n \"In Gairloch we have Cathair Mhor and Cathair Bheag, names\n applied to several places; and the Sitheanan Dubha on Isle\n Ewe and on the North Point. There is Cathair Mhor at the\n head of Loch Maree, and Cathair Bheag (the Gaelic name of\n the place) at Kerrysdale. These names mean respectively the\n big and little seats of the fairies....\n\n \"The name Sitheanan Dubha signifies the black knowes or\n hillocks of the fairies. It is applied to two places in\n Gairloch, viz., to the highest hill-tops at the north end\n of Isle Ewe, and to a low hill and small round loch a full\n mile due north of Carn Dearg house.\"\n\nFurther south than Loch Maree, and situated in the deer-forest of\nMamore, in the Nether Lochaber district, there is an alleged \"hollow\nhill\" which is also exceptionally famous. It is thus described by a\nlocal gillie:--\n\n \"Coming up the Ulnach, sir, you saw a corrie away to the\n left? Well, that's Corrie-Vinnean; and the round hillock in\n the centre, which you must also have noticed, is a Shi\u00e4n or\n fairy-knowe; and in all the _garbh-chnochan_ (rough-bounds)\n around us, from Kinloch Leven to Ardverikie, there is no\n other shi\u00e4n so famous as this shi\u00e4n, and it is the chief\n palace of the fairies of all these upland wilds, and it is\n always occupied by a company of them. It is never\n altogether deserted even for a day, though many other\n shi\u00e4ns are sometimes unoccupied for weeks together.\"[199]\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[167] John Stuart, LL.D., \"Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.,\"\n1st Series, viii. 23 _et seq._\n\n[168] Examples of those \"burrows,\" or underground galleries, in\nUlster are given by Mr. S. F. Milligan, M.R.I.A. (_Jour. of Roy.\nHist. and Arch. Assn. of Ireland_, No. 80, Vol. IX., Fourth Series,\npp. 245-246), who remarks:--\"These souterraines are good examples of\nthe dwelling-places of a very early race of settlers in this\ncountry.\"\n\n[169] \"Memoirs of Anthropological Society of London,\" vol. ii.\n1865-6, p. 343.\n\n[170] Knox's \"Topography,\" etc., Edin., 1831, p. 211, _note_.\n\n[171] Regarding the original home of the Picts, there is\nconsiderable difference of opinion among ancient writers; but the\nabove traditional belief receives support from the statement that\n\"by Bede, by the 'Historia Britonum,' and by the Welsh traditions,\nthey appear as a people coming from Scythia, and acquiring first\nOrkney, and afterwards Caithness, and then spreading over Scotland\nfrom the north.\"--(Skene's _Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_, p.\nxcvi.)\n\n[172] Dwelt (cf. Dutch _wonen_, Germ. _wohnen_).\n\n[173] This feature does not accord with the appearance of modern\nOrkney or the Hebrides, but both groups were once thickly wooded.\nBuchanan refers to various Hebridean islands as being \"_darkened_\nwith wood\" in the sixteenth century.\n\n[174] Couples.\n\n[175] Balks (cross-beams).\n\n[176] From Jamieson's Scotch version, as given by Scott.\n\n[177] Well-chosen.\n\n[178] The dwarf is here addressing the settler by the name of his\nnew possession.\n\n[179] Build.\n\n[180] It ought to be added that he is only an \"elf\" by adoption; but\nthis does not affect the general situation. He bears all the outward\ncharacteristics of the dwarfs.\n\n[181] Mrs. Jessie E. Saxby, \"Folklore from Unst, Shetland\" (_Leisure\nHour_, 1880).\n\n[182] Dr. Joseph Anderson, in his Introduction to the \"Orkneyinga\nSaga,\" p. ci.\n\n[183] In an article (\"From the Heart of the Wolds\") contributed to\nthe _Cornhill Magazine_ of August 1882, the following is stated with\nregard to the traditions of this part of Lincolnshire:--\"Ghosts,\nbogies, and the supernatural generally have utterly vanished from\nthis commonplace district before schools and newspapers. Even an old\nlady more than ninety years old said to us, 'Fairies and shag-boys!\nlasses are often skeart at them, but I never saw none, though I have\npassed many a time after dark a most terrible spot for them on the\nroad at Thorpe.'\" The identity of \"shag-boy\" with \"hog-boy\" (as used\nin Orkney) is asserted by the writer of the _Cornhill_ article; who\nalso states:--\"In an adjoining field [near Beelsby] lingers one of\nthe few legends of this prosaic district. A treasure is supposed to\nbe hidden in it, and at times two little men, wearing red caps,\nsomething like the Irish _leprechauns_, may be seen intently digging\nfor it.\" These little \"red-caps\" are not identified with the\n\"shag-boys,\" but popular tradition generally would pronounce them to\nbe the same people.\n\n[184] One is apt to talk of this introductory passage as though it\nhad actually _penetrated_ a previously existing mound. But the\nconstruction of all those chambered mounds shows plainly that the\noriginal stone structure, not only the central building but the long\npassage of approach, was originally reared upon the surface of the\nlevel ground, in the open air. And that the \"fairy hillock\" had no\nexistence at all until the builders of the stone structure had\nheaped above it all--chamber and gallery--the mass of earth and\nstones that afterwards transformed the whole exterior into a \"green\nhillock,\" and thus completely disguised its real nature from all but\nthe initiated.\n\n[185] For these details see Colonel Forbes Leslie's \"Early Races of\nScotland,\" vol. ii. pp. 338-40.\n\n[186] Even with this roof-light the interior of the dwelling can\nonly have received a limited supply of daylight. And this explains\nthe statement made by a Scotch peasant who was taken by a \"fairy\"\nwoman into her abode. \"Being asked by the judge [before whom he was\ntried for 'witchcraft'] whether the place within the hill, which he\ncalled a hall, were light or dark, he said '_Indifferent, as it is\nwith us in the twilight_.'\"\n\nAt night, when the abode of the \"hillmen\" was lit up with the glow\nof the fire, the cavity above the building, and the atmosphere\noverhead, must have also received some share of the firelight. This\nwould account for the statement made by Wallace (who wrote at the\nperiod when \"Evil Spirits also called Fairies\" were \"frequently seen\nin several of the [Orkney] Isles dancing and making merry,\") to the\neffect that, \"in the Parish of Evie, near the Sea, are some small\n_Hillocks_, which frequently, in the Night time, appear all in a\nfire.\" And when Mrs. Ewing, in her \"Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales,\" says\nthat _shian_ is \"a Gaelic name for fairy towers, which _by day_ are\nnot to be told from mountain crags,\" she evidently alludes to the\nsame feature.\n\n[187] See the description in an Appendix to Pennant's Tour, written\nby the then minister of the parish of Reay, Sutherlandshire.\n\n[188] \"Popular Tales of the West Highlands,\" vol. ii. pp. 97-101. In\nthe _Book of Clanranald_, a portion of which is translated by Dr.\nSkene, a certain \"Huisdinn,\" whose paternal grandfather was Donald\nof the Isles, is stated to have been also the grandson (through his\nmother) of \"Giolla Phadraig.\" This \"Huisdinn\" appears to have lived\nin the fifteenth century. (See _Celtic Scotland_, III., 408-409.)\n\n[189] \"Heligoland,\" 1888, pp. 84-85.\n\n[190] For fuller information as to Maes-how, and references to more\ndetailed accounts, see Dr. Anderson's \"Orkneyinga Sage,\"\nIntroduction, pp. ci-cviii.\n\nIt may be added that one feature in the first of the Maes-how\ndiagrams conveys a wrong impression of the probable appearance of\nthe mound, when inhabited; because the \"well or pit\" (\"or crater\")\nis represented as being as solid as the rest of the outer covering.\nThat it gradually became filled up with drift and rubbish, after the\ndwelling ceased to be occupied, is evident. But when the edifice was\nnewly reared, and as long as people continued to inhabit it, the\nupper part of the mound was probably a hollow shaft; admitting light\nand air into the dwelling below; \"carrying off the smoke of their\nfire;\" and occasionally serving as a way of ingress and egress.\n\n[191] \"West Highland Tales,\" ii. 39.\n\n[192] Which will be found at pp. 30-32 of \"Legends of Scottish\nSuperstition,\" Edinburgh, 1848.\n\n[193] The Wigtownshire tale perhaps relates rather to an example of\nthe rude underground Fairy Ha', or Pecht's house, described in the\nbeginning of this chapter. While the word \"how\" signifies in Orkney\na _haug_, or mound; the \"howe\" of other parts of Scotland means a\n\"hollow.\" In fact, the story says that the foul water ran _down_ to\nthe entrance of the dwarf's house, which was therefore either an\nunderground gallery of the kind referred to, or else a chambered\nmound placed on a lower level than the shepherd's cottage.\n\n[194] Cf. _tulman_ in the Barra anecdote quoted above. See also p.\n82 _ante_, note 2.\n\n[195] From \"Grantown-on-Spey,\" by the Rev. A. Gordon (in a \"Budget\nof Holiday Letters,\" Edinburgh, 1889).\n\n[196] \"Lay of the Last Minstrel,\" Note M.\n\n[197] Chambers, in his \"Popular Rhymes\" (241-2), has a story\ncorresponding in one feature to that of \"Taptillery.\" This is of a\ncertain Laird of Craufurdland, who had dammed up a stream in order\nto get at a treasure believed to be hidden in its bed, \"when a\nbrownie called out of a bush:\n\n \"Pow, pow!\n Craufurdland's tower's a' in a low!\" [_i.e._, on fire]\n\nwhich sent the laird home to save his tower; and when he returned\nfrom his fool's errand the dam had been destroyed, and the stream\nwas flowing as before.\n\n[198] Mr. J. H. Dixon, F.S.A.Scot. See \"Gairloch,\" Edin.' 1886, pp.\n159-61.\n\n[199] See the modern _Scots Magazine_, Vol. I., No. 1, Dec., 1887\n(\"Damh Bl\u00e0r Bheinn Chrulaist,\" a sporting story).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n\nSo numerous are the mounds that, owing to the traditions attaching\nto them, invite their own destruction at the hands of the\narch\u00e6ologist, that only a limited number of them can be specified in\nthese pages. Among these were, until recent years, two \"fairy\nknowes,\" long known by that term in the adjoining countryside. They\nlie between the rivers Forth and Teith, about four miles to the\nsouth of Doune. One of them was broken into a good many years ago,\nand it is now known to antiquaries as the \"Broch of Coldoch\" (from\nthe estate on which it is situated).[200] It appears to be one of\nthose structures which form a connecting link between the open-air\nbroch, such as that of Mousa, and the more visible \"hill,\" such as\nMaes-how. It is circular in form, has the central chamber and three\nsmall chambers in the thickness of the wall; and the lower portion\nof a winding-stair, also in the wall, which shows it to be the\nremains of an inferior \"Mousa.\" Its dimensions are like those of\nother \"brochs,\" and these are such that, in this case, they evoked\nthe remark from the writer's guide (a native of the district) that\n\"it had never been built for men like him.\" This, indeed, is the\nremark that naturally falls from any visitor to such buildings; as\nthe writer has noticed on several such occasions (nor can he forget\nthat one, at any rate, of his companions, in a recent visit to \"the\nhidden places of the Fians and fairies\" in the valley of the Boyne,\nwas debarred from inspecting these interesting works for the simple\nreason that the underground passage of entrance was so strait, in\nevery way, that for him to worm himself along it, as all visitors\nmust do, was a physical impossibility). The popular belief that such\nmounds were tenanted by dwarfs has no stronger testimony than the\nobvious fact that none but dwarfs would have thought of raising such\nstructures; or could have properly utilized them when erected. And\nalthough the most famous of the Boyne mounds just referred to has\nbeen styled \"the firm mansion of the 'Dagda'\" in ancient records,\nand, by a modern singer,\n\n \"The Royal Brugh,\n By the dark-rolling waters of the Boyne,\n Where Angus Og magnificently dwells,\"\n\nyet such a \"mansion\" would be a most impracticable kind of abode for\nmen of the ordinary height of modern Europeans, if any such felt\ndisposed to imitate the \"magnificence\" of Angus Og.\n\nOf this \"Royal Brugh\" the outward appearance is well delineated in\nthe engraving which constitutes the _Frontispiece_. All that has\nbeen said as to the adaptability of Maes-how to any of the\nwell-known fairy stories is equally applicable to this Irish \"how.\"\nThe Boyne mound, however, as will be seen from its measurements, is\nmuch larger than the Orkney one; though the stone structure in its\ninterior is of much the same dimensions as the other. The interior\nof the \"Broch of the Boyne,\" however, represents a much ruder and\nmore primitive stage in such architecture, and compared with it, the\nOrkney \"how\" is a most finished and elaborate work.\n\nThis, then, is what a fairy hill, of the larger class, looks like to\nthe outsider. And it is clear that, when its entrance is concealed,\nas it once was, no stranger, ignorant of such a thing as a\nmound-dwelling, would ever think that this innocent-looking hill was\nartificially made, and that the chambers within it were the\nresidence of a family or families. One might well begin to build,\nand even to fell trees, upon the outer \"walls\" of such a \"house,\"\nwithout knowing that such a proceeding might be resented by \"the\nmoody elfin king that won'd within the hill.\"\n\nThe entrance to this underground hall, which has been rediscovered\nfor about two centuries, may be discerned almost at the base of the\nhill, slightly to the left of the figures of the man and boy in the\nforeground.\n\n[Illustration: SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE.\n(_From the West._)]\n\nThis entrance or doorway is represented below, and, like the\nothers of this series, it is the work of an artist who is also an\neminent Irish arch\u00e6ologist, than whom no one possesses a more\nintimate acquaintance with the interior and exterior of the Boyne\nmounds. This, then, is an Irish illustration of what the Shetland\nboys used to call a \"trow's door!\"[201]\n\n[Illustration: DOORWAY OF THE BRUGH.]\n\nThe (not too portly) explorer who enters this doorway and creeps,\nsometimes laterally, along the passage, at one point very low and\nnarrow, works his way at length into the comparatively large chamber\nthat forms the main part of the structure. The relation which this\npassage and chamber bear to the mound which was heaped over them\nwill be seen from the transverse sectional view of the \"hill,\" which\nis represented in the accompanying plate. The dimensions and general\nappearance of this underground gallery and \"hall\" will also be fully\nunderstood by an examination of this and the other designs. And one\npoint will be noticed, namely, that no access to the top of the\nmound, as in such a case as Finn's dwelling in Sylt, or the Orkney\nMaes-how, is here visible. But it must be borne in mind that, over\nthose portions of the mound which are represented as solid, the word\n\"Unexplored\" might fitly be written. If this is like some of the\n\"fairy hills\" of tradition, it ought to have a channel, or passage,\nleading upward to the summit, and, indeed, the lower end of such a\npassage, though at present choked up, is suggested at one side of\nthe inner chamber (on the right hand of the explorer), as may be\nseen in the plan of the year 1889.\n\nIt is necessary, however, to discriminate between one kind of\n\"fairy hill\" and another. Maeshow and the Sylt Denghoog appear to\nclosely resemble the modern Lapp _gamme_, as regards the upper\nportion of the structure, for access to both of these may be gained\nfrom the roof. The \"trap-door\" to which Mr. Black refers in the Sylt\ninstance appears to have always existed in one shape or another; and\nits original use may be guessed from the following notice of the\nsame portion of a Lapp _gamme_. The gamme \"is generally circular, or\noblong, having the appearance of a large, rounded hillock, which\nindeed it may be termed,\" says a Lapland traveller of sixty years\nago.[202] And he further states that \"an opening in the roof, nearly\nover the fire-place, served to let out the smoke; and might be\ncovered at times with a kind of trap-door, to retain the internal\nwarmth, when the fire is burnt out. This is always let down at\nnight.\" That this was the usage in the dwelling of Finn, or whatever\nmay have been the name of the Sylt dwarf whose bones were found in\nthe Denghoog, seems very probable. But to such chambered mounds as\nthe Broch of the Boyne, another traditionary egress, whether for the\ndwellers or for the smoke, seems more applicable. It has already\nbeen noticed that \"pits on the top of hills were supposed to lead to\nthe subterranean habitations of the Fairies.\"\n\n[Illustration: ENLARGED SECTIONAL VIEW OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH\nOF THE BOYNE. (_From the West._)]\n\nBut another version says that \"pits on the tops of mountains are\nregarded in the border [_i.e._, the Anglo-Scottish Borders] with a\ndegree of superstitious horror, as the porches or entrances of the\nsubterraneous habitations of the fairies; from which confused\nmurmurs, the cries of children, moaning voices, the ringing of\nbells, and the sounds of musical instruments are often supposed to\nbe heard. Round these hills the green fairy circles are believed to\nwind in a spiral direction, till they reach the descent to the\ncentral cavern.\"[203] Assuming that \"mountains\" ought to read\n\"hillocks,\" and that the spiral passages are akin to those which\nwind down the interior of the walls of such a \"broch\" as that of\nMousa, this tradition would lead one to believe that the Broch of\nthe Boyne has a winding passage to the upper air. A recent visitor\nhas observed that \"on the exterior top of the mound there appears to\nbe a small crater-like depression,\"[204] which he attributes to a\nsubsidence of the structure, but which, on the other hand, may have\nalways been there. The suggestion of an upward passage in the\ninterior has just been referred to. This latter is not indicated at\nall in the plan of the year 1724; but as a matter of fact, this\ndetail was not known until quite recently, when the displacement of\na slab revealed this cavity (as well as some additional spiral\nincisions on the slab).\n\nIt will be observed that the plans of 1724 and 1889 differ\nconsiderably as to the dimensions and outline of the central\nchamber. Although the earlier one was \"delineated with care and\naccuracy, upon the place,\" by \"Mr. Samuel Molyneux, a young\ngentleman of the college of Dublin,\" one must rather accept the\ntestimony of so experienced and careful an arch\u00e6ologist as Mr.\nWakeman. But the plan of 1724 has this great merit, that it was\nexecuted only twenty-nine years after the re-opening of the \"brugh\";\nand, consequently, it shows (marked with the letter H) \"a pyramid\nstone now fallen, but formerly set up erect in the middle of the\ncave.\" Moreover, Mr. Molyneux was able to give a sketch of the\ncarvings above the right hand, or eastern recess, when these were\nmuch fresher than at any period during this century. A fac-simile of\nthis picture is here given; and if the artistic style of the\ndraughtsman is not very admirable it will at least be admitted that\nhis work possesses a high arch\u00e6ological value. But before quitting\nthe subject of the drawing of 1724, it must be pointed out that\nalthough Mr. Molyneux shows, in the northern recess of his\nground-plan, a rude basin similar to those still occupying the\neastern and western recesses, yet the account of Mr. Edward Llhwyd,\nstated to have been written in 1699,[205] distinctly says that that\nrecess was _then_ vacant. If Mr. Llhwyd's statement is correct the\nplan of 1724 is obviously misleading in this respect.\n\nThe statements of those early writers are deserving of full\nconsideration, for they wrote before the effects of the outside air\nand the unscientific tourist could have appreciably altered the\nappearance of the chamber, since it was entered in 1695. Their\naccounts, therefore, are quoted afterwards at greater length.[206]\nBut, from what has been said, and from an inspection of these\nillustrations, a good idea may be gained of the exterior and\ninterior appearance of the habitation in which tradition states that\nAngus Og \"magnificently dwelt.\"\n\nSomething may here be said regarding this personage, and the race to\nwhich he belonged. He is said to have been the King of the Tuatha De\nDanann, a race traditionally believed to have been the immediate\nprecursors of the Gaels in Ireland. They are sometimes spoken of as\n\"the Dananns\" or \"Danaans\"; sometimes also as \"the Tuatha De, or\nDea.\" _Tuatha_ merely signifies \"people\"; but the two other names do\nnot seem to have received any definite interpretation. It is said\nthat they migrated from \"Lochlin\" (Scandinavia, or perhaps also\nNorthern Germany) to the north-eastern Lowlands of Scotland; and Dr.\nSkene notes that the topography of that district supports the theory\nin several details.[207]\n\n[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH OF THE\nBOYNE. (_From a drawing by Mr. W. F. Wakeman_, 1889.)]\n\n[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER, BRUGH OF THE\nBOYNE. (_From a drawing by Mr. Samuel Molyneux_, 1724.)]\n\nAfter living there for several generations, they are understood to\nhave crossed to Ireland, then inhabited by the race of the\n\"Fir-Bolgs,\" whom they subdued.[208] Two centuries later the Gaels\n(or Milesians) came to Ireland--from Spain, it is said. It was at\nthis period that \"Aonghus Mac an Daogha,\" otherwise Angus, son of\n\"the Dagda,\" was king of the Tuatha De Danann. The story goes that\nthe Dananns, recognizing that the Gaels came as powerful and warlike\ninvaders, and as colonizers, told them on their first arrival that\nif they could effect a landing in open day, and in spite of the\nDananns, then one-half of Ireland would be ceded to the new-comers.\nThe Gaels were successful; but the two parties could not agree as to\nthe division of Ireland,--apparently because the Tuatha De Danann,\nwhile willing to surrender one-half of the island, wished to retain\nthe sovereignty of the whole. Then, after the simple fashion of the\nheroes of ancient chronicles, the rival forces came to the agreement\nthat the matter should be laid before the first person whom a party\nof deputies from either side should happen to encounter at the\noutskirts of a certain town, on an appointed day, and this man's\ndecision should be held as final. Now, although the Dananns are\nremembered as \"adepts in all Druidical and magical arts,\" the Gaels\nalso had a _druidh_ (_i.e._, wizard or _magus_) among their number;\nwho proved more than a match for the Dananns. For, between him and\nthe leaders of his party it was arranged that the man whom the\ndeputies should accidentally meet at the appointed place should be\nno other than this _druidh_ of the Gaels, whose person was unknown\nto their opponents. The unsuspecting Dananns walked into the trap.\nThe first man that the delegates met was a strolling harper. \"It is\na great thing thou hast to do to-day, good master of the sciences!\"\nwas the greeting of Angus Mac Dagda, who was one of the company.\n\"What have I to be doing to-day?\" quoth the wise man, \"except to go\nabout with my harp, and learn who shall best reward me for my\nmusic.\"[209] \"Thy task is far greater than that,\" answered Angus,\n\"thou hast to divide Ireland into two equal portions.\" Thereupon the\n_druidh_, having obtained the promise of either side that they would\nabide by his decision, pronounced as follows:--\"This, then, is my\ndecision. As ye, O magical Dananns, have for a long period possessed\nthat half of Ireland which is above ground, henceforth the half\nwhich is underneath the surface shall be yours, and the half above\nground shall belong to the Sons of Miledh (the Milesians, or Gaels).\nTo thee, O Angus, son of the Dagda, as thou art the king of the\nTuatha De Danann, I assign the best earth-house in Ireland, the\nwhite-topped _brugh_ of the Boyne.[210] As for the rest, each one\ncan select an earth-house for himself.\" Against this grotesque\ndecision there was, obviously, no appeal, and the Dananns\nsurrendered the surface of Ireland to the Gaels; \"and retaining only\nthe green mounds, known by the name of Sidh, and then being made\ninvisible by their enchantments, became the Fir Sidhe, or Fairies,\nof Ireland.\"[211]\n\nIn this legend of the \"halving\" of Ireland, Dr. Skene recognizes the\nmemory of a historical fact,--the conquest of Ireland by the Gaels,\nand the terms meted out by them to the natives. The tradition has of\ncourse its defects, like most traditions. The \"earth-houses\"\nreferred to[212] must have already been in existence before they\ncould be spoken of, and particularized, by the magician of the\nGaels.\n\n[Illustration: EASTERN RECESS OF CENTRAL CHAMBER, AS DRAWN BY MR.\nMOLYNEUX IN 1724. (_Fac-simile._)]\n\nThe inference to be drawn from the story is that the Tuatha De\nDanann were themselves mound-dwellers, and that the terms imposed\nupon them by the Gaels restricted the conquered people to their own\nhabitations, presumably with the reservation of a small portion of\nthe adjoining territory. That, in short, the Gaelic conquest denoted\na state of things analogous to the European conquest and settlement\nof North America, where the native races, having once submitted,\nwere allowed to live on \"reservations,\" scattered here and there\nthroughout the country. Thus, as in America, the two races would\nlive side by side, though perhaps, as in America, presenting the\nmost opposite characteristics.\n\nThe above story states that the Fir Sidhe, or Dananns, were confined\nto those \"hollow hills\" by the Gaels, through the instrumentality of\ntheir _druidh_. The version which Mr. William Black indicates as\ncurrent in Southern Ireland, ascribes this act to _the saints_. In\nhis novel of _Shandon Bells_, he introduces the hero and heroine as\nstanding in \"the very headquarters of the elves and the pixies\"; and\nthe girl asks \"'Is this where you said the saints shut up Don Fierna\nand the pixies?' 'No,' he said, 'that was away over there in the\nmountains. But they say the little people can get out into this\nvalley; and you won't catch many of the Inisheen natives about here\nafter dark!'\" Here, then, it is a Gaelic _saint_ and not a Gaelic\n_druidh_ who was instrumental in confining \"the little people\" to\ntheir homes; but, after all, there is perhaps not much difference\nbetween _saint_ and _druidh_. The Fierna here referred to, it may be\nremarked, is that King of the Sidhfir of Munster, who has been\nspoken of on a previous page,[213] and whose dwelling, according to\ntradition, was the hill of _Knockfierin_, in the neighbourhood of\nLimerick.\n\nThe Tuatha De Danann, therefore, are the Sidhfir, or Fairies, of\nIrish tradition. But the Tuatha De Danann have been already referred\nto in these pages.[214] \"Who were the Feinne of tradition, and to\nwhat country and period are they to be assigned?\" This is the\nquestion put by Dr. Skene. And after considering the various Irish\ntraditions relating to \"the Feinne,\" his conclusion is this: \"The\nFeinne, then, belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were\nconnected, not only with Ireland, but likewise with Northern and\nCentral Scotland, England and Wales, and the territory lying between\nthe Rhine and the Elbe. [This last-named territory, being \"Lochlin,\"\nought perhaps to be held as including the whole of Scandinavia.]\nNow, there are just two people mentioned in the Irish records\nwho had settlements in Ireland, and who yet were connected with\nGreat Britain and 'Lochlin.' These were the people termed the\nTuatha De Danann, and the Cruithne.... These two tribes were thus\nthe prior race in each country [Ireland and North and Central\nScotland]. Both must have been prior to the Low German population\nof Lochlan. The Cruithne were the race prior to the Scots [Gaels]\nin North and Central Scotland, and the Tuatha De Danann the prior\ncolony to the Milesian Scots in Ireland. The Feinne are brought\nby all the old historic tales into close contact with the Tuatha\nDe Danann; a portion of them were avowedly Cruithne; and if they\nwere, as we have seen, in Ireland, not of the Milesian race, but\nof the prior population, and likewise connected with Great Britain\nand the region lying between the Rhine and the Elbe, the inference\nis obvious, that, whether a denomination for an entire people\nor for a body of warriors, they belonged to the previous population\nwhich preceded the Germans in Lochlan and the Gaels in Ireland and\nNorth and Central Scotland. This view is corroborated by the fact,\nthat in the old poems and tales the Feinne appear, as we have\nsaid, in close connection with the Tuatha De Danann. They are\nlikewise connected with the Cruithne.... In answering, then, the\npreliminary questions of who were the Feinne? and to what period do\nthey belong? we may fairly infer that they were of the population\nwho immediately preceded the Gaels in Ireland and in North and\nCentral Scotland.\"[215]\n\nThe Feinne, then, belonged to the population which comprised the\nCruithne and the Tuatha De Danann, or Sidhfir, or Fairies. But the\nCruithne, as we have seen,[216] were the Picts of history, and the\n\"Pechts\" of Scottish folk-lore. Thus, the Feinne were of the\npopulation of \"Pechts and Fairies.\" It has already been shown that\nto draw a hard and fast line between these two divisions is\nimpossible. Nevertheless, there seems to have been once some kind of\ndistinction between the two. And if the Feinne must necessarily have\nbeen \"Pechts _or_ Fairies\" (as the above conclusions of Dr. Skene's\nseem to warrant), then they appear to have belonged to the former\ndivision. Or, in other words, they were _Cruithne_ rather than\n_Tuatha De Danann_. It may be remembered that in such a Fenian\nballad as the _Dan an Fhir Shicair_, or Song of the Fairy Man,[217]\nthe Feinne are represented as associating with the Sidhfir (say\nTuatha De Danann), but yet not as _identical_ with them. Again, the\nsame dubiety was seen in the references to the hoards of treasure\nobtained by the ninth-century Danes from \"the hidden places\nbelonging to Fians _or_ to Fairies,\"[218] in the valley of the\nBoyne.\n\nThe Brugh of the Boyne is several times spoken of by Professor\nEugene O'Curry in his \"Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of\nAncient Irish History.\"[219] For example, as an illustration of the\nuse of the word _sidh_ to denote \"a hall or residence\" of the\n_sidh_-folk Mr. O'Curry cites a stanza \"taken from an ancient poem\nby Mac Nia, son of Oenna (in the Book of Ballymote, fol. 190, b.) on\nthe wonders of _Brugh_ (or _Brog_) _na Boinne_ (the Palace of the\nBoyne), the celebrated Hall of the Daghda M\u00f3r, who was the great\nking and oracle of the _Tuata D\u00e9 Danann_. This poem,\" continues Mr.\nO'Curry, \"begins: '_A Chaemu Bregh Brig nad Breg_' ('Ye Poets of\nBregia, of truth, not false,') and this is the second stanza of that\npoem:\n\n '_Fegaid in sid ar for s\u00fail\n Is foderc dib is treb rig,\n Ro gu\u00edd laisin Dagda nd\u00fair,\n Ba dinn, ba dun, amra br\u00edg._'\n\n 'Behold the _Sidh_ before your eyes,\n It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion,\n Which was built by the firm _Daghda_;\n It was a wonder, a court, an admirable hill.'\"[220]\n\nIn the same work we read of an incident, placed in the time of St.\nPatrick and subsequent to the Battle of Gawra, when the conquered\n\"Fianns\" were only represented by a few straggling survivors, one of\nwhom was the well-known _Caeilt\u00e9_ (as the name is here spelt).\n\"Saint Patrick, with his travelling missionary retinue, including\nCaeilt\u00e9 we are told, was one day sitting on the hill which is now\nwell known as Ard-Patrick, in the county of Limerick.\" Questioning\nCaeilt\u00e9 as to the former name of this hill, St. Patrick learned that\nit had been called _Tulach-na-Fein\u00e9_, and obtained also an anecdote\nsuggested by it. \"One day that we were on this hill,\" says Caeilt\u00e9,\nspeaking of himself and his brother \"Fianns,\" \"Finn observed a\nfavourite warrior of his company, named Cael O'Neamhain, coming\ntowards him, and when he had come to Finn's presence, he asked him\nwhere he had come from. Cael answered that he had come from _Brugh_\nin the north (that is the fairy mansion of _Brugh_, on the\nBoyne).[221] 'What was your business there?' said Finn. 'To speak to\nmy nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg,' said Cael. 'About what?'\nsaid Finn. 'Concerning Cred\u00e9, the daughter of Cairbr\u00e9, King of Kerry\n(_Ciarraighe Luachra_),' said Cael?\" And so on. At another\nplace[222] the dialogue goes thus:--\"'Where hast thou come from,\nCael?' said Finn. 'From the teeming _Brugh_, from the North,' said\nCael. ('_As in Brug Braenach atuaid,' ar Cael_).\" And so on, to the\nsame purpose as in the other version. In this story, then, we see\nthe \"Fians and Fairies\" associated with each other, as in _The\nBallad of the Fairy Man_; and the nurse of one of the Fians is\ndescribed as living in the \"brugh\" which was built by the celebrated\nchief of the Tuatha De Danann, and was afterwards tenanted by his\nson, Angus Og.\n\nAmong Mr. O'Curry's notes there is this reference to Angus Og:[223]\n\"In the _Dinnsenchus_ it is stated that '_E\u00f3in Bail\u00e9_' were Four\nKisses of Aengus of _Brugh na Boinn\u00e9_ (son of the _Daghda Mor_, the\ngreat necromancer and king of the _Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann_), which were\nconverted by him into 'birds which haunted the youths of Erinn.'\nThis allusion,\" remarks Mr. O'Curry, \"requires more investigation\nthan I have yet been able to bestow on the passage.\" Whatever the\n\"_E\u00f3in Bail\u00e9_\" may have been, or have been assumed to be, this\npassage brings into prominence the fact that the people known as\nTuatha De Danann, or Fir-Sidhe, were regarded by other races as\npossessed of supernatural power, and were indeed actually revered as\ngods at one era. As the biographer of St. Patrick says of him:--\n\n \"He preached threescore years\n The Cross of Christ to the _Tuatha_ [people] of Feni.\n On the _Tuatha_ of Erin there was darkness.\n The _Tuatha_ adored the _Side_.\"[224]\n\n(Here, of course, the _Fir_ Sidhe, or people of the \"sidhs\" are\ndenoted; the word being sometimes used to indicate the dwellers,\nsometimes the dwellings.) And the exalted character of the inmates\nof the Brugh of the Boyne is indicated also in a verse of a Gaelic\npoem entitled _Baile Suthain Sith Eamhna_, which dates back to the\nyear 1457 at least. The subject of the verse referred to is thus\napostrophized:--\n\n \"Thou, the son of noble Sabia,\n Thou the most beauteous apple rod;\n _What god from Bru of the Boyne_\n Created thee with her in secret?\"[225]\n\nThis exalted position \"the little people\" seem to have retained in\nsome measure long after their subjugation, and even the household\ndrudge or \"brownie\" was feared for his alleged \"supernatural\" power.\nThe fact that the common people of Ireland at the present day speak\nof the inhabitants of the \"brughs\" or \"sheeans\" as \"the gentry,\" may\nalso be regarded as a witness to the superior rank once held by that\ncaste whose mound-dwellings are exemplified by this \"Brugh of the\nBoyne\" and others in its neighbourhood.\n\nOf the undoubtedly historic spoliation of those Boyne \"hillocks\" in\nthe ninth century, something more may be said here. \"We have on\nrecord,\" says Lady Ferguson,[226] \"both in the Irish chronicles and\nthe Norse _Sagas_, that in the year 861 the three earls, Olaf,\nSitric, and Ivar, opened, for purposes of plunder, the sepulchral\nmounds of New Grange, Dowth, and Knowth on the Boyne, and the mound\nof the wife of the Gobaun Saer,[227] the mythic builder, or Wayland\nSmith of the Irish Celts, still a conspicuous object at Drogheda.\"\n\nOne of the Irish chronicles referred to by Lady Ferguson is that\nknown as the \"Annals of Ulster\" (\"compiled in the year 1498,\" says\nDr. Skene), and the passage is as follows: \"Aois Cr. ocht cced\nseascca a haon, ... Amlaoibh, Iomhair, 7[228] h Uailsi, tri toisigh\nGall. 7 Lorcain me Cathail tigerna Midhe, do ionnradh ferainn Floinn\nme Conaing. Uaimh Ach Alda hi Mugdhornaibh Maighen, Uaimh Cnoghbhai,\nUaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath, 7 Uaimh mna an Gobhand ag Drochat atha\ndo croth 7 d orggain las na Gall cedna.\"[229]\n\nThis is rendered into Latin by Dr. O'Conor thus: \"\u00c6tas Christi\nDCCCLXI..... Amlafus, Imarus et Magnates trium Ducum Alienigenarum,\net Lorcanus filius Cathaldi Princeps Midi\u00e6, vastant terras Flanni\nfilii Conangi. Crypta subterranea campi Alda in regione Mugdornorum\nplanitiei, Crypta Cnov\u00e6, Crypt\u00e6 miraculorum Bodani supra Dubath, et\nCrypta foemin\u00e6 fabri apud Droghedam, vastat\u00e6 et destruct\u00e6 ab\nAlienigenis iisdem.\"\n\nNeither Dr. Todd nor Dr. Skene, however, have a high opinion of\nO'Conor's translation.[230] And his rendering of \"Uailsi\" by\n\"Magnates\" is palpably a blunder based upon the acceptance of that\nword as _uaillse_ or _uaisle_, a nobleman; whereas, Uailsi, Oisli,\nOisill, &c., was the name of a comrade (some accounts say a brother)\nof the Olaf and Ivor referred to.[231] Thus, the Annals state that\nin 861, Olaf (or Anlaf, or Aulay), Ivor and Uailsi (or Oisli), three\nchiefs of the Foreigners, and Lorcan, son of Cathal, lord of\nMeath,[232] devastated the lands of Flann, son of Conang; in other\nwords, the territory of \"Bregia,--a district including the counties\nof Meath, Westmeath, Dublin (north of the Liffey), and part of\nLouth.\"[233] And these same \"foreigners\" pillaged and destroyed\ncertain underground chambers, which O'Conor refers to as \"crypts.\"\nThe term is correct enough, signifying, as it does, an underground\nplace of concealment. But the Gaelic term is more suitable, if the\nquickened pronunciation which in many parts of Scotland has\noccasioned the spelling \"weem\" (_i.e._, _uaim_) be adopted. For by\n\"weem\" is understood the subterranean gallery previously described,\nif it is not at any time applied to the actual \"hollow hill.\"[234]\nOf the \"weems\" in the territory of Flann, which the _Annals_ state\nwere plundered, three are easily recognized;--viz., that of\n\"Cnoghbha,\" the modern \"Knowth\" (which is portrayed in the\naccompanying plate), the still more celebrated \"Uaimh Feirt Bodan,\"\ndescribed as \"above Dubath,\"[235] now known as Dowth, which is also\nhere represented, and thirdly, the \"weem\" of the wife of the _Gobban\nSaor_, or \"noble smith,\" at Drogheda. The first-named of all is said\nto be that of the \"Brugh of the Boyne,\" at New Grange; and no doubt\nthere is evidence for this identification, although the term\n\"Mugdhornaibh Maighen\" would otherwise lead one to place this \"weem\"\nat \"Mugornn or Mugdhorn, now Cremorne,\"[236] in the county of\nMonaghan.\n\nTwo of these \"weems\" are mentioned in the Gaelic poem of _Sith\nEamhna_, wherein, as has been seen, \"the son of noble Sabia\" was\nassumed to be equally the son of some god \"from Bru of the Boyne.\"\nIn this poem, whose meaning is somewhat obscure, there are several\nreferences to the Boyne and to various \"broghs,\" of which one is\n\"the cave of Ferna, the fair cave of Knowth (_uaim fhearna_, _uaim\nchaomh cnodhbha_, or _chnoghdha_).\" This _Sith Eamhna_ itself\nappears to have been of the same order, and not improbably was that\nEamhain which was \"the ancient palace of the kings of Ulster.\" \"The\nruins of Eamhain, or, as it is now corruptly called, the Navan Fort,\nare to be seen about two miles to the west of Armagh,\" says Mr.\nO'Donovan, in a note to his \"Book of Rights.\"[237] This is certainly\nfarther north than the territory of Flann Mc Conang, ravaged by the\n\"foreigners\" in 861, as defined on a previous page; but one writer\nstates that that territory of \"Bregia\" (or _Breagh_) extended into\nUlster, in the eighth century;[238] and if the plundered \"weem\"\nfirst-named in the _Annals_ was really in county Monaghan, that\nwould show that a portion of \"Breagh\" was situated in Ulster in 861.\n\nEamhain, or Emania (in the Latinized form), appears to have given\nits name to all Ulster, but in its proper application the term\nrefers to the stronghold itself. Dr. Skene speaks of \"the fall of\nthe great seat of the Cruithnian kingdom called Emania, before an\nexpedition, led by a scion of the Scottish (_i.e._, Gaelic) royal\nrace, who established the kingdom of Orgialla on its ruins.\"[239] It\nis this place that is associated with Oscar, the hero of the\n\"Fians,\" at the time of the Battle of Gawra; and it may be\nremembered that, in a poem describing that battle, a chief of one\nsection of the \"Fian\" confederacy is made to exclaim:--\n\n \"I and the Fians of Breatan\n Will be with Oscar of _Eamhain_.\"\n\nAnd as Oscar is stated to have been slain at the Battle of Gawra,\nand the power of the \"Fians\" destroyed, one is tempted to believe\nthat the legendary battle of Gawra coincides with the historical\ncapture of Oscar's stronghold of Emhain, and the downfall of the\nhistorical Cruithn\u00e9 of Ulster. However, _Sith Eamhna_ has been\nmentioned here not for its own sake, but for the casual references\nin that poem to the \"Brugh of the Boyne\" and \"the cave of Ferna, the\nfair cave of Knowth.\"\n\nThe Gaelic records as well as the Scandinavian have many tales of\n\"how-breaking\" exploits. For, although the accounts of the Feenic\n\"heroes\" have been preserved to us in the Gaelic language, as those\nof the Longobards have been preserved in Latin, it does not follow\nin the one case more than in the other, that the language of the\nchronicle was the language of the chronicled. Whatever may have been\nwrought eventually, by time and intercourse, the Gaelic-speaking\npeople appear originally as the plunderers of \"the hidden places of\nthe Fians and Fairies.\" Professor O'Curry states that among the\nHistoric Tales in the _Book of Leinster_, there are many which deal\nspecially with adventures in \"caves\" or, otherwise, \"weems.\" Tales\nof this class are called _Uatha_.[240] \"These are tales respecting\nvarious occurrences in caves; sometimes the taking of a cave, when\nthe place has been used as a place of refuge or habitation,--and\nsuch a taking would be, in fact, a sort of _Toghail_ [the _Toghail_\nhaving been previously defined as a history 'which details the\ntaking of a fort or fortified palace or habitation by force ... the\nterm always implies the destruction of the buildings taken.'];\nsometimes the narrative of some adventure in a cave; sometimes of a\nplunder of a cave.\" Mr. O'Curry gives a list of the _uatha_ in the\n\"Book of Leinster\"; and of these the most noteworthy is the _Uath\nUama Cruachan_, or the Plundering of the Weem of Cruachan. This is\nreferred to as \"a very curious story,\" and the ravagers are said to\nhave been \"the men of Connacht, in the time of Ailill and Meadhbh,\nas told in the old tale of _T\u00e1in Bo Aingen_.\" This Meadhbh, or Maev,\nof Cruachan, \"the Semiramis of Irish history,\" as Lady Ferguson\ncalls her, has herself been identified with the \"Queen Mab\" of fairy\ntradition. She appears to have occupied this \"Uama Cruachan\" after\nit had been plundered; for it is stated that her husband \"re-edified\nthe Rath of Cruachan, employing for the purpose a fierce tribe of\nFirbolgic origin, the _Gowanree_, who were compelled to labour\nunremittingly at the earthworks, and are said to have completed the\ndyke in one day.\"[241] Mr. O'Curry has another reference to this\nplace. \"I have in my possession,\" he says, \"a poem in the Ossianic\nstyle, which gives an account of a foot race between Cailt\u00e9, the\ncelebrated champion of Finn Mac Cumhaill, and an unknown knight who\nhad challenged him. The race terminated by the stranger running into\nthe Cave of Cruachain, followed by Cailt\u00e9, where he found a party of\nsmiths at work, etc. No copy of the full Tale has come down to us.\"\nThis incident is remarkable for its association of one of the\n\"Fians\" with the underground smiths of tradition. Another _uath_\nmentioned by Mr. O'Curry is the _Uath Dercce Ferna_, regarding which\nhe says:--\"There is an allusion to the trampling to death of some\nsort of monster, in the mouth of this cave, by a Leinsterwoman, in a\npoem on the Graves of Heroes who were killed by Leinstermen,\npreserved in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18, fol. 27, Trin. Coll.\nDubl.).\"\n\n[Illustration: DOWTH (_Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath_), COUNTY MEATH.\n(_From the West._)]\n\nThe same place is the scene of the tale _Echtra Find an\nDeircfearna_, \"The Adventures of Finn in Derc Fearna\"; but\nunfortunately Mr. O'Curry has to add \"This tale is now lost.\" It is\nnot clear why he should identify \"Derc Fearna\" with the \"Cave of\nDunmore in the county Kilkenny.\" One would naturally, considering\nits association with Finn and \"Heroes who were killed by\nLeinstermen,\" assume that this was the same as \"the cave of Ferna,\nthe fair cave of Knowth.\"[242]\n\n[Illustration: PLAN OF DOWTH.]\n\nOf the plans and sectional views of these chambered mounds of the\nBoyne valley which are here given, it is not necessary to say much\nin these pages. \"Dowth\" has been explored and described by others,\nalthough the accompanying pictures, being new, and the work of the\nexperienced arch\u00e6ologist referred to, add very considerably to the\nknowledge of the subject. The main gallery and chamber of Dowth\nresembles generally that of the \"Brugh of the Boyne\" at New Grange;\nbut the central chamber is not nearly so spacious.\n\n[Illustration: PLAN OF PASSAGE AND CHAMBER AT DOWTH, AND TRANSVERSE\nSECTION OF CHAMBER (SAME SCALE).]\n\nThe \"bee-hive\" chamber which the Dowth mound also contains has no\nduplicate at New Grange, but it is quite possible that each of these\nmounds has yet something to disclose. Dowth also reminds the\nexplorer and excavator, by the deep hollow made in the upper\nportion, in the course of a fruitless and abandoned search, some\nyears ago, that to attack these mounds at random is to run the risk\nof much useless and disappointing labour. It moreover shows that any\nupward exit from the central chamber did not in this instance ascend\nperpendicularly as in the Denghoog at Sylt, or the Orcadian\nMaes-how. In trying to find the entrances to such \"hollow hills,\" we\nmoderns have no light to guide us as the Danes had in the ninth\ncentury. It will be remembered that there never was, \"in concealment\nunder ground in Erinn, nor in the various secret places belonging to\nFians or to fairies, anything that was not discovered by these\nforeign, wonderful Denmarkians, through paganism and idol worship.\"\n\n[Illustration: BEE-HIVE CHAMBER, DOWTH.]\n\nThis is otherwise explained by Dr. Todd, \"that, notwithstanding\nthe potent spells employed by the Fians and fairies for the\nconcealment of their hidden treasures, the Danes, by their pagan\nmagic and the diabolical power of their idols, were enabled to find\nthem out.\" What was the \"magic\" of those ninth-century Danes, or of\nthe order generally known as _Magi_, we only imperfectly know. But\nwhat is tolerably evident is that if those ninth-century Danes did\nnot themselves rear similar structures (and Irish and Hebridean\ntradition says they did), they had among them those to whom such\nmound-dwellings were not \"hidden\" places; whether the entrances were\nuniformly made at one side of the mound, or were otherwise indicated\nto the initiated. In the case of \"Knowth\" there is less dubiety; as\nwhat appears to be the entrance to its interior is known to Irish\narch\u00e6ologists. But local difficulties have hitherto stood in the\nway, and the mound is said never to have been entered since the\nninth century; which, however, may be doubted. Dr. Molyneux, at any\nrate, in the tract quoted in Appendix A, states that he had then in\nhis possession a stone urn which \"was twelve years since [_i.e._ in\n1713] discovered in a mount at _Knowth_, a place in the county of\n_Meath_, within four miles of _Drogheda_.\" He does not actually say\nthat this urn, and the \"square stone box, about five foot long and\nfour foot broad\" which contained it, were situated in an interior\nchamber of the mound. But very probably this is what he meant.[243]\n\n[Illustration: KNOWTH (_Uaimh Cnoghbhai_), COUNTY MEATH.\n(_From the South._)]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[200] This \"fairy knowe\" is described in the \"Arch\u00e6ologia Scotica,\"\nvol. v. and the \"Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.,\" 1st Series,\nix. 37-38.\n\n[201] Judging from memory, and also from the repellent smallness of\nthe hole into which one was expected to plunge, it seems to the\npresent writer that the human figure seated at the doorway has been\ndrawn too small. If one compares him with the standing figures in\nthe general view, and with the aperture there seen, this criticism\nwill be borne out.\n\n[202] A. de Capell Brooke; _A Winter in Lapland_, London, 1827, p.\n320.\n\n[203] Jeffrey's \"Roxburghshire\"; 1859, I., 54-5. (Quoted from\nLeyden.)\n\n[204] \"Journal of Roy. Hist. and Archl. Assocn. of Ireland,\" No. 81,\nVol. IX., Fourth Series, p. 327.\n\n[205] See the \"Jour, of Roy. Hist. and Archl. Assocn. of Ireland,\"\nNo. 81, Vol. IX., Fourth Series, p. 266.\n\n[206] See Appendix A.\n\n[207] _Celtic Scotland_, I., 220.\n\n[208] The Fir-Bolgs themselves, well known to all readers of Irish\ntradition, have many points in common with the people under\ndiscussion. Compare, for example, Lady Ferguson's reference to \"a\nfierce tribe of Firbolgic origin, the _Gowanree_, who were compelled\nto labour unremittingly at the earthworks [the Rath of Cruachan],\nand are said to have completed the dyke _in one day_.\" \"The Story of\nthe Irish before the Conquest,\" London, 1868, p. 32.\n\n[209] The Dananns themselves were notably \"professors of musical and\nentertaining performances\"; and indeed the term _druidh_, applied to\nthem also, seems to have indicated the possessor of many\naccomplishments, in art and in a pseudo-science.\n\n[210] _Brugh barragheal na Boinne_ is the phrase given in \"The\nGlenbard Collection of Gaelic Poetry\" (Haszard, Charlottetown,\nPrince Edward Island, 1888, p. 78) where the above story is told.\nThe term \"white-topped\" is somewhat vague. Had the word been\n_barrachaol_, \"pyramidal,\" the meaning would have been quite clear.\n\n[211] 'Skene's _Celt. Scot._, III., 106-107. See also p. 93 of the\nsame volume, and pp. 178 and 220 of Vol. I.\n\n[212] The words translated \"earth-house,\" as used by the _druidh_,\nare \"brugh\" and \"bruighin.\" These, as already mentioned, signify\n\"fairy hill\" or \"underground dwelling of the fairies.\" But the\nalternative rendering of \"earth-house\" has been preferred, as being\nrather less of an anachronism than the assumption that such\ndwellings were styled _fairy_ hills before ever they had been\nassigned to the \"fairies.\"\n\n[213] Page 93, _ante_.\n\n[214] Page 51, _ante_.\n\n[215] _Dean of Lismore's Book_: Introduction, pp. lxiv,\nlxxvi-lxxviii. (As in former quotations, I have slightly modernized\nsuch terms as \"Erin,\" according to Dr. Skene's own rendering of\nthese terms.)\n\n[216] Page 51, _ante_.\n\n[217] Page 82, _ante_.\n\n[218] The custom of the \"earth-man\" to bury his treasures is known\nall over Europe. A special instance has been cited in these pages\n(p. 107, _ante_, note^2), when \"two little men, wearing red caps\"\nare remembered as \"intently digging\" for their lost treasure, in a\ncertain field in Lincolnshire. Mr. J. F. Campbell, in drawing his\nFairy-Lapp parallel, says (_Tales_, Introd. cviii.): \"Fairies had\nhoards of treasure--so have Lapps. A man died shortly before one of\nmy Tana trips, and the whole country side had been out searching for\nhis buried wealth in vain. Some years ago the old silver shops of\nBergen and Trondhjem overflowed with queer cups and spoons, and\nrings, silver plates for waist belts, old plate that had been hidden\namongst the mountains, black old silver coins that had not seen the\nlight for years. I saw the plate and bought some, and was told that,\nin consequence of a religious movement, the Lapps had dug up and\nsold their hoards.\" Another writer (A. de C. Brooke: _A Winter in\nLapland_, London, 1827, pp. 109-111), in referring to this practice,\nsays that sometimes the Lapp \"forgets himself where he has hidden\nit, and his hoard of silver remains so effectually concealed, after\nhe has been absent some time, that he is unable to discover the\nplace, and it is consequently lost to him for ever.\" And this writer\nrefers to a Lapp of his acquaintance who had concealed his treasure\n\"so securely that, notwithstanding the regular searches he had made\nfor it,\" he could not recover it. This feature offers an explanation\nof the traditions of dwarfs _seeking_ for treasures which they\nthemselves had hidden. It may be added that the custom of burying\nmoney was still so prevalent in Shetland, in the beginning of last\ncentury, that it was held to be illegal, and the offenders were duly\nfined.\n\n[219] Dublin, 1861.\n\n[220] _Op. cit._, p. 505.\n\n[221] This parenthesis appears to be Mr. O'Curry's.\n\n[222] Pp. 596-7; the first version being at pp. 308-9.\n\n[223] _Op. cit._, p. 478.\n\n[224] _Celt. Scot._, II., 108.\n\n[225] _Celt. Scot._, III., 413. The above translation is by Mr. W.\nM. Hennessy, from the following:--\n\n Tusa (tussa) mac Sadhbha saoire,\n As (is) tu an slat (intshlat) abhla as (ar) aille,\n Ca dia do bhru na boinne\n Do roine ria thu a taidhe.\n\n[226] \"The Irish before the Conquest,\" p. 237.\n\n[227] More correctly, _Gobban Saor_ (\"Free or Noble Smith\"). From\nthe description given by Mr. Elton (_Origins_, p. 131) of \"Wayland's\nSmithy\" at Ashbury, Berkshire, it is evident that it also belongs to\nthe same class as the Boyne mounds.\n\n[228] The symbol for the Gaelic _agus_--\"and.\"\n\n[229] Dr. O'Conor's _Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores veteres_, 1824,\nIII., 363-364.\n\n[230] \"Bad translation and wretchedly erroneous topography,\" says\nthe former; \"by no means accurate,\" says the latter.\n\n[231] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, lxxii, 23.\n\n[232] Properly, of one-half only of Meath. (_Wars of the Gaedhill_,\nlxx, n^3.)\n\n[233] _Op. cit._, lxxxviii, xci, _notes_.\n\n[234] For references to Scotch \"weems\" (specially so called), see\nCol. Forbes Leslie's \"Early Races of Scotland,\" 1866, Vol. II., pp.\n351-354. Also _ante_, p. 101.\n\n[235] ? The \"black ford.\"\n\n[236] _Wars of the Gaedhill_, xci, n^2.\n\n[237] Dublin, 1847, p. 22.\n\n[238] \"Book of Rights,\" pp. 11-12, note.\n\n[239] _Dean of Lismore's Book_, Introd., p. xxiii.\n\n[240] \"_Uatha_, plural of _Uath_, a word not easily translated.\n_Uath_ is evidently \"These are tales formed from _Uaimh_, a cave, or\ncellar; and signifies some deed connected with, as the attack or\nplunder of, a cave.\" (O'Curry, _op. cit._, p. 586, note.)\n\n[241] \"The Irish before the Conquest,\" p. 32.\n\n[242] For Mr. O'Curry's various statements, see his _Lectures_, pp.\n257-8, 283, 586-7 and 589.\n\n[243] A more particular description of the Brugh of the Boyne will\nbe found in Appendix A. The three mounds are also described in \"A\nHand Book of Irish Antiquities,\" by William F. Wakeman, Dublin,\n1848; in Wilde's \"Beauties of the Boyne,\" Dublin, 1849, and two of\nthem (Knowth and Dowth) by T. N. Deane, in the \"Proceedings of the\nRoyal Irish Academy,\" December, 1888.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\nSuch barrows as these of the Boyne district belong to the largest\nclass of these structures at present revealed to us. What may be\ntaken as the average \"fairy knowe\" is very much smaller; therefore,\nwhen it is said that houses have, in all likelihood, been frequently\nbuilt upon such artificial eminences, without the more modern\nbuilders being aware of their real nature, it is to be understood\nthat the tumuli of the larger class are indicated. But, while it is\nprobable that newer races very often built thus unconsciously upon\nthe outer crust of the habitations of the mound-dwellers, it is\nstill more likely that, in course of time, the central chamber of\nthe mound became by slow degrees the dungeon of a fort or castle\nthat had evolved itself from it. When a \"how\" of the larger class\nhad been \"broken\" by invaders, and its inmates despoiled and killed\nor enslaved, their conquerors would quickly realize that this\nartificial mound, rising out of a level plain, formed an admirable\nsite for a stronghold; and, indeed, that the only thing immediately\nnecessary was to throw up a rampart round the top of the hill. To\nraces who had no fancy for the subterranean manner of living, the\nstrongholds of their predecessors would not suffice, although they\nwould still prove very serviceable as cellars, or dungeons, or as\nforming a secret way of access to the castle which would eventually\ntower above them. Where the subject race was not exterminated, the\nformer lord of the \"broch\" would still live on as the serf of his\nconqueror, and, on account of his physical peculiarities, he would\nbe remembered as his master's \"dwarf,\" or \"brownie,\" while the women\nof his race, still claiming their inherited \"supernatural\" power,\nwould be represented by the prophetic half-dreaded \"banshee\"\n(_ban-sithe_, or fairy-woman) that foretold the destinies of the\nhouse of her over-lord. It is a significant fact that the possession\nof a family \"banshee\" in Ireland is restricted to these families who\ntrace their descent from the Milesians (Scots), the conquerers of\nthe Cruithn\u00e9 or Pechts. And we are told that, at one time, in\nShetland, where the Pechts became the subject race, \"almost every\nfamily had a _brownie_ ... which served them.\"[244] Innumerable\nreferences of this kind might be given. There is, for instance, the\ncase of the \"brownie\" who was the attendant of Maclachlan of\nStralachlan, in Argyllshire, and who is said to have \"inhabited a\nvault in the dungeons of the castle\" (Castle Lachlan), but who, like\nother \"brownies,\" was accredited with prophetic powers![245] Then\nthere is the \"little chap with a red cap on his head,\" referred to\nin a story told to the late J. F. Campbell;[246] and this \"little\nchap\" is understood to occupy the cellar of a \"haunted house\";\nwhich, as it was inhabited by \"ladies and gentlemen,\" and must be\nassigned to the period when such \"red caps\" existed, was not\nunlikely a \"house\" of the same order as the castles just spoken of.\n\nSuch an example of a medi\u00e6val castle, the flower of a plant rooted\nin the interior of such a mound, may be recognized in Kenilworth.\nAccording to local tradition, the hill upon which Kenilworth Castle\nis built was once inhabited by fairies, who are remembered by the\nsame characteristics as their kindred elsewhere. But the\nconsideration of a Warwickshire mound might lead us too far away\nfrom the dwarfs more specially known as Picts or Pechts, and\ntherefore it is better to continue as much as possible within the\narea already examined. It is enough to note that the Kenilworth\ndwarfs, in the days when their mound was merely a subterranean vault\nof the great castle overhead, and themselves nothing more than the\n\"Redcaps\" of the cellar, formed a marked contrast to the once\ndreaded \"shag-boys\" or mound-dwellers, as these are remembered in\nLincolnshire tradition.[247]\n\nHowever, if Kenilworth is too far south to be recognized as a home\nof the historical Pechts, Ancient Northumbria has not the same\nobjection against it. And in East Lothian, which is a portion of\nthat province, a certain Castle of Yester was once famous for its\n\"Goblin Hall,\" which is thus described in the Appendix to \"Marmion\"\n(note 2 P):--\n\n \"_The Goblin Hall._--A vaulted hall under the ancient\n castle of Gifford or Yester (for it bears either name\n indifferently), the construction of which has from a very\n remote period been ascribed to magic.... 'Upon a peninsula,\n formed by the water of Hopes on the east, and a large\n rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of Yester.\n Sir David Dalrymple, in his annals, relates that \"Hugh\n Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there\n was a capacious cavern, formed by magical art, and called\n in the country Bo-Hall, _i.e._, Hobgoblin Hall.\" A stair of\n twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a\n large and spacious hall, with an arched roof.... From the\n floor of this hall another stair of thirty-six steps leads\n down to a pit which hath a communication with\n Hopeswater....'\"\n\nIn this instance, the \"pit\" which communicated with the\nneighbouring stream was probably the original underground dwelling;\nand if the arch of the \"vaulted hall\" above it is not of the\n\"Pelasgic\" order, it is to be presumed that the \"goblins\"[248] who\nbuilt it had received fresh ideas from a race possessed of a more\nadvanced civilization.\n\nThe castle of Doune, in Perthshire, is another probable instance of\nthe medi\u00e6val castle evolved from the primitive mound. What is\nnowadays known as the castle of \"Doune,\" was formerly spoken of as\n\"The D\u00f9n (or Doon) of Menteith.\" \"Doune (Dun, no doubt) had once,\nwhere its castle now stands, an ancient fortress; but the name is\nall that now remains to bespeak it,\" says a lady-writer on this\nsubject.[249] It is very probable, therefore, that the original\n\"Doon of Menteith\" was the mound upon which the present building now\nstands; and that this was at one time the chief stronghold of the\ndistrict of Menteith. One _doon_, which has apparently never\nadvanced from its earliest stage, is that of Rothiemurchus, in the\ndistrict of Badenoch (Inverness-shire). \"A mound which has every\nappearance of having been used in ancient times for purposes of\ndefence stands at the Doun of Rothiemurchus, and is properly the\n_Doun_ or _Dun_,\" says a modern historian of that district.[250]\nSuch a structure as this seems to combine the dwelling and the\nfort; the \"hollow hill\" having presumably been so constructed as\nto render the \"crater\" on its summit a place of defence. That this\nDoon of Rothiemurchus was once inhabited seems clearly indicated.\nIn speaking of the _ban-sithe_, or fairy woman, already referred\nto as the appanage of old Milesian families, Sir Walter Scott\nstates that \"most great families in the Highlands\" were thus\ndistinguished, and that \"Grant of Rothiemurcus had an attendant\ncalled _Bodach-an-d\u00f9n_\";[251] in other words, \"The Goblin of the\nDoon.\" And when Scott states, in the _note_ immediately preceding\nthat just quoted, that \"a goblin, dressed in antique armour, and\nhaving one hand covered with blood, called from that circumstance\n_Lamh-dearg_, or Red-hand, is a tenant of the forests of Glenmore\nand Rothiemurcus,\" he indicates a tradition that seems to be\nconnected with the \"goblins\" of the Doon of Rothiemurchus.[252]\n\nHowever, although referred to in passing, the Rothiemurchus mound is\nnot one of those on which a stone castle has been subsequently\nreared. But of the latter class an example is furnished by the\n\"Castle Hill\" of Clunie, in Perthshire. It is thus described in Sir\nJohn Sinclair's \"Statistical Account\":--\n\n \"On the western shore of the loch of Clunie stands the old\n castle-hill, a large, green mound, partly natural and\n partly artificial, on the top of which are the ruins of a\n very old building. Some aged persons still alive [in the\n end of last century] remember to have seen a small\n aperture, now invisible, at the edge of one of the\n fragments of the ruins, where, if a stone was thrown in, it\n was heard for some time, as if rolling down a staircase.\n From this it seems probable that were a section of the hill\n to be made, some curious discoveries might be the\n consequence.\"\n\nResembling Fierna's Hillock, near Limerick, in its having this\n\"small aperture,\" communicating with an unexplored vault below, this\nPerthshire mound is also celebrated, like Knock-Fierna, for its\nassociation with the \"fairies.\" The castle which once crowned its\nsummit has more historical memories.\n\nOf this castle, in which, it is said, King Edward I. of England\npassed a night, in the course of his triumphant progress through\nScotland in 1296, almost nothing now remains. But a tradition\nrelating to an earlier period asserts that this place was once a\nhunting-seat of Kenneth McAlpin, the ninth-century conqueror of the\nPicts (whose king he subsequently became). Although Kenneth, and his\nson after him, bore the title of \"King of the Picts,\" it is\ntolerably clear that he was a Scot or Milesian by race, and it is\ncertain that he broke up the power of the Pechts in Central\nScotland. As he was not one of this latter race himself, it is\nprobable that any \"hunting-seat\" possessed by him at this place took\nthe shape of an above-ground building, and that therefore the\nmemories of the \"supernatural\" inhabitants of this mound date back\nto the time when it was still an unconquered stronghold of the\nPechts. As, however, the suggested \"section of the hill\" has never\nyet been made, nothing definite is at present known regarding the\ninterior of this mound.\n\nOne of the incidents relating to the \"goblin\" of Rothiemurchus is\nincluded by Mr. J. F. Campbell among the traditions obtained by him\nfrom the district of Badenoch, in Inverness-shire. \"The Badenoch\naccount of the fairies\" is stated to be \"much the same\" as those\nfrom other parts of the Highlands, and they show \"that according to\npopular belief, fairies commonly carried off men, women and\nchildren, who seemed to die, but really lived underground.\" A tale\nof this kind, \"now commonly believed in Badenoch,\" is to this\neffect:--A man who, returning home after a short absence, found that\nhis wife had disappeared and that another woman had taken her place,\ndemanded from the latter, on pain of death, to tell him where his\nwife had been conveyed to. \"She told him that his wife had been\ncarried to Cnoc Fraing, a mountain on the borders of Badenoch and\nStrathdearn.\" \"The man went to Cnoc Fraing. He was suspected before\nof having something supernatural about him; and he soon found the\nfairies, who told him his wife had been taken to Shiathan Mor, a\nneighbouring mountain. He went there and was sent to Tom na Shirich,\nnear Inverness. There he went, and at the 'Fairy Knoll' found his\nwife and brought her back.\"[253]\n\nMr. Campbell adds that \"the person who related this story pretended\nto have seen people who knew distant descendants of the woman\"--but\nbeyond indicating that the tradition is very old, this does not\nplace these events in any particular century. The localities named,\nhowever, are full of suggestiveness. Of _Cnoc Fraing_, nothing is\nknown to the present writer. But \"Shiathan Mor,\" to which the woman\nis said to have been first taken, signifies \"The Great Hill of the\nFairies.\" Such a name is of very frequent occurrence in the\nHighlands. One who is well versed in these matters says: \"There is\nperhaps not a hamlet or township in the Highlands or Hebrides\nwithout its _shian_ or green fairy knoll so-called. Within half a\nmile of our own residence, for example, there is a _Sithean Beag_\nand a _Sithean Mor_, a Lesser and Greater Fairy Knoll.\"[254] In the\nHebridean island of Colonsay, where Martin, the eighteenth-century\ntraveller, found that \"the natives have a tradition among them of a\nvery little generation of people that lived once here, called\nLusbirdan, the same with pigmies,\" one finds a \"Sheean Mor\" and a\n\"Sheean Beg,\" along with many other traces of those people.[255] But\nit is unnecessary to multiply special instances. It was to a Great\nKnoll of the Fairies, then, that the woman was taken, and thereafter\nto \"Tom na Shirich, near Inverness.\" This name also signifies \"Hill\nof the Fairies.\" _Shirich_, more correctly _Sibhreach_, is\napparently a less common form, equivalent to Sidhfear, Duine Sith,\netc., but it occurs more than once in the \"West Highland\nTales,\"[256] both as a singular and a plural. When the initial \"s\"\nof _sibhreach_ or _sithreach_, becomes aspirated, after the common\nGaelic fashion, the sibilant is no longer heard; and this is\nexemplified in the case of \"Tom na Shirich,\" which is nowadays spelt\nas it is pronounced--_Tomnahurich_ (or _Tomnaheurich_, etc.)[257] Of\nthis Inverness hill much has been written.\n\nIt is sometimes called _Tomman-heurich_, and spoken of as a\n_tomman_, which connects it with the word _tulman_ or _tolman_,\nalready referred to. Hugh Miller, in speaking of \"that Queen of\nScottish tomhans, the picturesque Tomnahuirich,\" employs both forms\nat the same time, which is contradictory. Pennant, who visited it\nlast century, refers to it also as a _tomman_. In his _Tour_ he thus\ndescribes \"the strange-shaped hill of Tomman heurich:\"--\n\n \"The Tomman is of an oblong form, broad at the base, and\n sloping on all sides towards the top; so that it looks like\n a ship with its keel upwards.... It is perfectly detached\n from any other hill; and if it was not for its great size,\n might pass for a work of art.\" \"Its length at top [is]\n about 300 yards; I neglected measuring the base or the\n height, which are both considerable; the breadth of the top\n [is] only twenty yards.\"\n\nCaptain Burt, in his \"Letters from a Gentleman in the North of\nScotland\" (Letter XII.) speaks of it as follows:--\n\n \"About a mile westward from the town [Inverness] there\n rises, out of a perfect flat, a very regular hill; whether\n natural or artificial, I could never find by any tradition;\n the natives call it _tommanheurach_. It is almost in the\n shape of a Thames wherry, turned keel upwards, for which\n reason they sometimes call it Noah's Ark. The length of it\n is about four hundred yards, and the breadth at bottom\n about one hundred and fifty. From below, at every point of\n view, it seems to end at top in a narrow ridge; but when\n you are there, you find a plain large enough to draw up two\n or three battalions of men. Hither we sometimes retire on a\n summer's evening.... But this is not the only reason why I\n speak of this hill; it is the weak credulity with which it\n is attended, that led me to this detail; for as anything\n ever so little extraordinary, may serve as a foundation (to\n such as are ignorant, heedless, or interested) for\n ridiculous stories and imaginations, so the fairies within\n it are innumerable, and witches find it the most convenient\n place for their frolics and gambols in the night time.\"\n\nNow, if this large hill, which \"might pass for a work of art,\" was\nreally, as tradition states, the residence of the little people\nknown as dwarfs or Pechts, it was clearly an important seat of those\npeople. And, on regarding them from the historian's point of view,\none finds that this district was specially so distinguished. \"When\nwe can first venture to regard the list of the Pictish Kings\npreserved in the _Pictish Chronicle_ as having some claim to a\nhistorical character, we find the king having his seat apparently in\nForfarshire; but when the works of Adamnan and Bede place us upon\nfirm ground, the monarch belonged to the race of the Northern Picts,\nand had his fortified residence near the mouth of the river Ness\"\n[Inver-Ness]. And the same historian again observes:--\"Adamnan,\nwriting in the seventh century, tells us of the fortified residence\nof the king of the Picts on the banks of the river Ness, with its\nroyal house and gates, of a village on the banks of a lake, and of\nthe houses of the country people.\"[258]\n\nHitherto, the place which has been regarded as most likely the site\nof this seventh-century stronghold, is the vitrified fort which\ncrowns the summit of Craig Patrick (or _Creag Phadruig_), a hill not\nfar from Inverness. But the top of a hill more than four hundred\nfeet high can scarcely be referred to as a situation \"on the banks\nof the river Ness,\" from which river it is, moreover, two miles\ndistant.[259] The situation of Tomnahurich, on the other hand, does\nexactly answer to the description given. And this \"hill,\" whose\npeculiar appearance has attracted the attention of several\ntravellers, is locally remembered as a celebrated home of the\n\"Pechts.\" Nor is it necessary to confine oneself to the\nconsideration of this hill alone. Adamnan speaks not only of a royal\nresidence, but also of \"the houses of the country people.\" \"The\ncountry people\" of whom he speaks were Pechts, and their \"houses,\"\nof course, were \"Pechts' houses\"; \"houses\" such as the Fairy Knowe\nunearthed at Coldoch, near Doune, already referred to. In other\nwords _sheeans_. Now, when Hugh Miller speaks of \"that Queen of\nScottish tomhans, the picturesque Tomnahuirich,\" he states that it\nbelongs to \"a wonderful group\" of similar mounds \"in the immediate\nneighbourhood of Inverness.\" The \"houses\" of the mound-dwelling\nPechts had one admirable characteristic; they were almost\nindestructible. If the King of the Dwarfs had his residence at\nInverness during the seventh century, with \"the houses of the\ncountry people,\" of the same race, scattered all through the\nimmediate neighbourhood, their dwellings must be there still: and\nany one who wanted to localize them would naturally turn to such\nmounds as the \"wonderful groups\" of \"tomhans\" of which Hugh Miller\nspeaks.[260]\n\nInverness, however, was not the only important centre of Pictish\npower. Among others, there was Abernethy, a few miles south-east of\nPerth. And at this place, says Small, in his \"Roman Antiquities of\nFife,\" the spot wherein the treasures of the Pictish king are\nbelieved to be hidden[261] was guarded by a _droughy_ (_droich_ or\n_trow_) who fiercely assailed any invader. Of the Pechts in that\nneighbourhood there are many traditions.\n\nA few miles to the west of Abernethy is Forteviot, where Kenneth\nMacAlpin, the conqueror and ruler of the Pechts, died in the latter\npart of the ninth century. Prior to the successful invasion of\nKenneth's race, this district--like that of Abernethy and all the\ncountry north to Inverness--had been inhabited by Pechts: and\nForteviot is stated to have been a seat of Pictish royalty. Some\nmiles to the south-west of Forteviot there is a hill called\nTernavie, which has characteristics similar to those of\nTomnahuirich. \"Ternavie has been pronounced 'the most remarkable\nspot in this parish or neighbourhood.' It is a hill or mound of\nearth of a very curious form, occupying, when the Old Statistical\nAccount was written, 'many acres of ground, covered with a fine\nsward of grass, and striking the eye at a distance of several miles.\nIt resembles in shape the keel of a ship inverted.'\" And local\ntradition asserts, says the writer quoted from,[262] that once upon\na time, a countryman attempting to obtain turf on the side of this\nhill, was suddenly confronted by an old man who emerged from the\nhill, \"and with an angry countenance and tone of voice asked the\ncountryman why he was tirring (uncovering) his house over his head?\"\nThis story does not say that the mound-dweller was a dwarf, but here\nwe have a hill whose appearance suggests that it is at least partly\nartificial, and local tradition alleges that it was once inhabited.\nAnd this in the heart of Pictavia, or the country of the Pechts.\n\nIn the same county, but farther to the west, there is a locality\nwhich is remembered, like the island on the Ross-shire loch, as a\ngathering-place or rendezvous of the little people. It is situated\nin the valley of the Forth. The \"Fairy Knowes\" of Coldoch have\nalready been spoken of. One of them, it was stated, has been opened,\nand its interior shows to the most sceptical that the tradition\nwhich told that it was a home of the dwarfs was absolutely correct.\nThe other \"knowe,\" some hundreds of yards distant, has not as yet\nbeen touched.[263] But that it, too, was a dwelling of the same\n\"little people\" is almost as certain as if the spade of the\nexcavator had already done its work.\n\nBut the gathering-place referred to lies nearer the sources of the\nForth than the \"Fairy Knowe\" of Coldoch and the Doune of Menteith.\nLike these places, it is situated in the district of Menteith, and\nbeside the lake of that name, on its south-eastern shore. This\nhillock is known as _Cnoc nam Bocan_, or the Knowe of the Goblins,\nand we are told that it used to be \"the headquarters of the fairies\nof the whole district of Menteith.\" These fairies, it is said, were\nemployed as the drudges of a former Earl of Menteith, in making the\nsmall peninsula known as Arnmauk, which juts out from the southern\nshore of the lake towards the small island of Inchmahome. The earl,\nwe are told, \"in grateful acknowledgment of the work they had done\nin forming the peninsula, and wishing to be on good terms with them,\nmade a grant to them of the north shoulder of Ben Venue; which is to\nthis day called Coir-n'an-Uriskin, that is, the Cove of the Urisks\nor Fairies.\"[264] At this latter place, says another writer,[265]\n\"the solemn stated meetings of the order were regularly held\";\npresumably at a later date.\n\nHowever, \"the north shoulder of Ben Venue\" ought probably to be\nregarded as the latest \"reservation\" accorded to these little\npeople. For, among the many \"knowes\" in the district of Menteith\nwhich are claimed as their homes, there is one pre-eminently\ndistinguished. Some miles to the west of the Lake of Menteith is the\nvillage of Aberfoyle, celebrated by Sir Walter Scott, who says of\nthis locality: \"The lakes and precipices amidst which the Avon Dhu\n[_Abhainn Dubh_; _i.e._, Black-Water], or River Forth, has its\nbirth, are still, according to popular tradition, haunted by the\nElfin people.... An eminently beautiful little conical hill, near\nthe eastern extremity of the valley of Aberfoil, is supposed to be\none of their peculiar haunts, and is the scene which awakens in\nAndrew Fairservice[266] the terror of their power.\" The passage in\n\"Rob Roy\" to which Scott here refers is as follows:--\n\n \"A beautiful eminence of the most regular round shape, and\n clothed with copsewood of hazels, mountain-ash, and\n dwarf-oak, intermixed with a few magnificent old trees,\n which, rising above the underwood, exposed their forked and\n bared branches to the silver moonshine, seemed to protect\n the sources from which the river sprung. If I could trust\n the tale of my companion, which, while professing to\n disbelieve every word of it, he told under his breath, and\n with an air of something like intimidation, this hill, so\n regularly formed, so richly verdant, and garlanded with\n such a beautiful variety of ancient trees and thriving\n copsewood, was held by the neighbourhood to contain, within\n its unseen caverns, the palaces of the fairies--a race of\n airy beings, who formed an intermediate class between men\n and demons, and who, if not positively malignant to\n humanity, were yet to be avoided and feared, on account of\n their capricious, vindictive, and irritable disposition.\n\n \"'They ca' them,' said Mr. Jarvie, in a whisper, '_Daoine\n Schie_--whilk signifies, as I understand, men of peace;\n meaning thereby to make their gudewill. And we may e'en as\n well ca' them that too, Mr. Osbaldistone, for there's nae\n gude in speaking ill o' the laird within his ain bounds.'\n But he added presently after, on seeing one or two lights\n which twinkled before us, 'It's deceits o' Satan, after a',\n and I fearna to say it--for we are near the manse now, and\n yonder are the lights in the clachan of Aberfoil.'\"[267]\n\nTo describe this as a \"_little, conical_ hill,\" as Scott does, is\nmisleading. When viewed transversely, from the opposite bank of the\nBlackwater, it has a conical appearance, certainly, as the gable of\na roof has. But when its true length is seen, as when viewed from\nthe west, this Fairy Knowe of Aberfoyle reveals itself as of the\n\"hog-back\" order, or as was said of Tomnaheurich, like a \"Thames\nwherry, turned keel upwards.\" And as for its height, neither Scott's\n\"little\" nor its local name of \"Fairy _Knowe_\" gives anything like a\ntrue idea of its dimensions. How much of this \"knowe\" is artificial,\nor whether _any_ of it is, remains to be discovered. But if it and\nTomnaheurich have truly had the origin that tradition assigns to\nthem, then they belong to a class of \"hollow hills\" which are as\nmuch greater than New Grange (\"The Brugh of the Boyne\") as New\nGrange is greater than Maes-how, or Maes-how than the Broch of\nColdoch. Such a mound as Maes-how may be held to represent the\nordinary Pecht's House or Fairy Hillock; a structure which, though\nof artificial origin, may be correctly styled a hillock. But the\nBrugh of the Boyne is a \"hill,\" rather than a \"hillock.\" What limits\nthe mound-builders set themselves is not known. But the people who\nwere capable of the ideas and the labour implied in such a structure\nas \"the Brugh of the Boyne\" might as well have reared mounds that\nwere two or three times its size.\n\nThis Fairy Knowe is not only known locally by that name, but also\nas the Doon,[268] or Doon Hill. If that implies that it was a\nfortification, the site was perfect. Protected on its north-eastern\nside by the river, and on the south-west by its own almost\nprecipitous rampart, the Doon of Aberfoyle stands like a sentinel at\nwhat is there called \"The Gate of the Highlands.\" The little valley\nwhich it protects teems with traditions of the dwarfs who are said\nto have once dwelt there, and whose dwellings are yet pointed out.\nEven yet the old people have many a tale of how the ruling family of\nGraham won their possessions there; and one such tale is that which\nhas just been spoken of, wherein a Graham (Earl of Menteith) appears\nas the overlord of the dwarfs. That this family, properly _de_\nGraeme, traces its origin to those Anglo-Normans, such as Bruce and\nhis chief nobles, who were the founders of the Neo-Scottish kingdom,\nis quite compatible with the idea that De Graeme's dwarfish\nlabourers were, historically, Picts; a race distinguished as the\nallies of the English and the enemies of Bruce.\n\nEnough has now been said to illustrate what is really the test of\nthe \"realistic\" theory of the fairy tales. Tradition has truly\nstated, during many generations, that such apparently-natural\nhillocks as Maes-how and Coldoch were inhabited by little people.\nAll arch\u00e6ologists are agreed that many artificial hillocks are at\npresent standing with their secrets unrevealed. But if, by following\nthe lead of tradition, we find it a reasonably safe[269] guide to\nthose primitive habitations, then its statements must deserve a much\nfuller and more serious consideration than they have ever yet\nreceived. Either the \"realistic theory\" is a vain imagination (as it\nis believed to be by those who take the \"mythological\" view of such\ntraditions), or else it is something of the very greatest\nimportance; as others, of whom the present writer is one, believe it\nto be. Should this method of interpreting the past be proved a true\none, the results which would flow from its acceptance would be\nfar-reaching indeed. But tradition has yet to establish its right to\nbe unquestionably regarded as a guide. It may be that every\nchambered mound already opened had long had its real nature foretold\nby the voice of local tradition. But the surest test of the\nauthenticity of tradition lies in its future application. It is\nknown to all arch\u00e6ologists in Western Europe that it is not\nnecessary to go so far east as Mycen\u00e6 to find the chambered mound,\nwith its dry-stone walls and \"Pelasgic\" arch. And tradition points\nto many a seeming \"hillock,\"[270] and says that it, too, is a\n\"treasure-house of Atreus.\" The question to be decided is, How far\nis tradition to be trusted? And the answer can be very easily\nobtained.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[244] For such details see Scott's introduction to \"The Monastery,\"\netc., etc.; Brand's \"Description of Zetland;\" and Armstrong's\n\"Gaelic Dictionary,\" s.v. \"Uruisg.\"\n\n[245] \"Legends of Scottish Superstition,\" Edinburgh, 1848;\n\"Maclachlan's Brownie.\"\n\n[246] \"West Highland Tales,\" I., xlvii.\n\n[247] Although the dwarfs of central England may not rightly be\nconsidered under the name of Picts or Pechts, a chain connecting\nthem with the people thus called is discernible. Scott says that,\n\"according to romantic tradition,\" Kenilworth \"had been first\ntenanted\" by \"those primitive Britons\" who were \"the soldiers of\nKing Arthur\" (\"Kenilworth,\" ch. xxvi). Thus, the early inhabitants\nof Kenilworth are equally \"fairies\" and \"primitive Britons.\" Again,\nin Glamorganshire (according to Mr. Wirt Sikes, \"British Goblins,\"\npp. 6 and 392), there is \"a certain steep and rugged crag\" which\nbears \"a distinctly awful reputation as a stronghold of the fairy\ntribe,\" and, in a secret cavern underneath this crag, \"Arthur and\nhis warriors\" are believed to be sleeping. While an Edinburgh\ntradition, given by Dr. Daniel Wilson (\"Memorials,\" vol. ii. ch.\nxix.), states that \"King Arthur and the Pechts\" have also withdrawn\nto a subterranean retreat in the hill which is still known as\nArthur's Seat. Obviously, Arthur, if he ever lived, cannot have\nretired into all of these places, but there is, nevertheless, a\nvague agreement in these three traditions; and Kenilworth, Arthur's\nSeat, and Craig y Ddinas all testify to an identification of Arthur\nand his \"primitive Britons,\" with the underground \"fairies\" and\n\"Pechts.\" It may be objected that the tradition of Barbarossa, as in\nR\u00fcckert's ballad, asleep in his underground castle, with his dwarf\nbeside him, is evidently of the same origin as those just referred\nto. This is manifest. But, before attempting to reconcile\nContinental with British tradition, it is important to first\ndemonstrate, if that may be done, that the British traditions here\nspoken of are _historical_ and not _mythological_. (The story of the\nKenilworth fairies will be found at p. 218 of \"The Dialect of the\nEnglish Gypsies,\" by B. C. Smart and H. T. Crofton, London, 1875.)\n\n[248] It is impossible to refer here to the many terms used to\ndenote what is really one class of people; as these terms themselves\nshow when analyzed. But this term \"goblin,\" although in recent\ncenturies it has been surrounded with much that is unreal and\nfictitious, appears to have been once used in the most ordinary\nmatter-of-fact way. This will be seen from the following reference\nquoted by Dr. Henry Rink (\"Danish Greenland,\" 1877, p. 16), in the\nnarrative of a Norse visit to Greenland in the eleventh\ncentury:--\"One morning Thorgils went out by himself on the ice, and\ndiscovered the carcase of a whale in an opening, and beside two\n'witches' (or 'goblins,' evidently Eskimo women), who were tying\nlarge bundles of flesh together. Thorgils instantly rushed upon one\nof them with his sword and cut off one of her hands, whereupon both\nof them took to their heels.\" In other words, the eleventh-century\nnatives of Greenland, whom Dr. Rink believes were Eskimos, were at\nonce classed by a Norwegian of that period in the same category as\nthose whom he had been accustomed to call \"goblins\" in Europe.\n\n[249] Miss C. MacLagan, \"Proc. of Soc. of Ant. of Scot.\" (1st\nseries), ix. 39.\n\n[250] A. Mackintosh Shaw, \"History of the Mackintoshes,\" 1880, vol.\ni. p. 24, _note_. This writer also points out that the word\n\"Rothimurcus\" itself indicates a \"fortified mound\" or _Rath_.\n\n[251] Appendix to \"The Lady of the Lake,\" Note 2 H.\n\n[252] See also \"West Highland Tales,\" II., 66, for a reference to\nthis personage.\n\n[253] \"West Highland Tales,\" II., 67.\n\n[254] Rev. Alex. Stewart, F.S.A. Scot., in \"Nether Lochaber,\" Edin.,\n1883, p. 20.\n\nHe adds: \"There is, besides, a _Glacan-t' Shithein_, the Fairy Knoll\nGlade, _Tobaran-t' Shithein_, the Fairy Knoll Well; and a deep\nchasm, through which a mountain torrent plunges darkling, called\n_Leum-an-t' Shithiche_, the Fairy Leap.\"\n\n[255] See \"Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scot.\" 1880-81, 113 _et seq._\n\n[256] See vol. ii. pp. 48 and 52. The latter page mentions a _Ruadh\nna Sirach_, \"the Fairies' Point,\" in the island of Kerrera, near\nOban.\n\n[257] Similarly, a \"Fairy Loch\" in Argyleshire is spelt _Loch na\nHurich_, and a like example is that of _Glennahuirich_, in Nether\nLochaber.\n\n[258] _See_ Skene's \"Celtic Scotland,\" i. 232; ii. 105-6; and iii.\n10.\n\n[259] This discrepancy is pointed out by Dr. Skene, who suggests \"a\ngravelly ridge called Torvean,\" and also \"the eminence east of\nInverness, called the Crown,\" as more probable sites. (\"Celtic\nScotland,\" ii. 106, note.)\n\n[260] Hugh Miller, although he confesses himself puzzled as to their\norigin, undoubtedly regarded those \"tomhans\" as entirely natural.\nAnd if it should appear that he was mistaken, there would, in that\nevent, be a new question opened up; because of the peculiar\ncharacteristics of what he knew as \"tomhans.\"\n\nIt is an unfortunate circumstance that any practical attempt at\ntesting the accuracy of the local tradition regarding Tomnahurich\nitself is out of the question, owing to the fact that for many years\nits exterior has been used as a burying ground--as more than one\n\"hollow hill\" is known to have been. But \"the houses of the country\npeople\" would afford a sufficient test.\n\n[261] A kettle of gold is specially mentioned, and in the \"hidden\nplaces\" of the fairies of White Cater Thun, near Brechin, a kettle\nof gold is also believed to be concealed.\n\n[262] Dr. Marshall, \"Historic Scenes in Perthshire,\" Edinburgh,\n1880, p. 263.\n\n[263] Owing, I believe, to the fact that it is on a different\nestate. The following remarks by M. T. N. Deane, in his paper on the\n\"hollow hills\" of Knowth and Dowth, in the Boyne valley\n(\"Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,\" Dec. 1888, p. 164), may\nbe aptly quoted here:--\"For many years it has been the desire of\nantiquaries to explore Knowth, but I regret to say the owner is\nunwilling to permit a search being made. I am in great hopes that\nwhen it is fully understood that the vesting of a monument does not\ninvolve an infringement of territorial rights the difficulty will be\novercome, and monuments now neglected will be placed under\nsupervision.\"\n\n[264] Marshall's \"Historic Scenes in Perthshire,\" pp. 383-84. Mr.\nGrant Stewart, in his \"Popular Superstitions\" (as quoted in the\n_Scots Magazine_, 1823, vol. 13, p. 40), states that \"the workmen of\nthe great Michael Scott were all Fairies; and it is only in that way\nthat it could be accounted for, that some stupendous bridges in the\nnorth country were built by him in the course of a single night.\"\nWith this compare the above statement as to the Earl of Menteith's\nworkmen, and all the foregoing references to \"Pechts\" and \"Fairies\"\nin similar circumstances; as also the \"fierce tribe of Firbolgic\norigin, the _Gowanree_,\" who are said to have built the earthworks\nof the Rath of Cruachan in a single day, working as the unwilling\nserfs of an apparently Gaelic lord.\n\n[265] Dr. Graham, \"Sketches of the Picturesque Scenery of\nPerthshire,\" Edinburgh, 1806, p. 19.\n\n[266] A slip of Scott's for \"Bailie Nicol Jarvie.\"\n\n[267] See \"Rob Roy,\" chap. xxviii., and Note G.\n\n[268] This spelling is only tentative. On hearing it thus\npronounced, a resident in that district corrected the pronunciation\nto _Doo'n_, or _Doo'an_, which may signify a quite different meaning\nfrom _D\u00f9n_.\n\n[269] One would like to regard tradition as infallible in this\nrespect. But, unfortunately, the age of the \"sheeans\" is so far\nback, that the term may now be used to denote any \"conical hill,\" by\nGaelic-speaking persons. However, a strong and persistent local\ntradition would far outweigh this modern misuse of the term\n_sithean_, in its general application, if such misuse (of which the\ndictionaries give a hint) is really common.\n\n[270] The Continental examples are, of course, very numerous. In\nDenmark alone, according to J. M. Thiele, tradition points out as\nchambered mounds \"two hills, Mangelbierg and Gillesbierg, in the\nenvirons of Hirschholm, on H\u00f6sterki\u00f6b Mark\": \"a hill called\nWheel-hill, at Gudmandstrup, in the Lordship of Odd\": \"a large knoll\ncalled Steensbierg, at Our\u00f6e, near Joegerspriis\": \"the high ridge on\nwhich the church stands, at Kundebye, in the Bailiewick of Holbeck\";\nand, in the same bailiewick, at a place between the towns of Mamp\nand Aagerup, \"near the Strand\": Gultebierg also supplies another to\nthe list: while \"between Jersl\u00f6se and S\u00f6bierg, lies S\u00f6bierg bank,\nwhich is the richest knoll in the land.\" (For similar references in\nthis neighbourhood, see also Mr. W. G. Black's \"Heligoland.\") And\nThorpe's \"Northern Mythology\" specifies many such mounds. M. Pol de\nMont (in his Flemish \"Volkskunde,\" ii. 5, pp. 89-90) points out an\n\"Aschberg,\" at Casterl\u00e9, in the province of Antwerp, which is said\nto have held fifty _bergmannetjes_, or hill-dwarfs. (With this may\nfitly be compared three Eskimo \"mounds\" at Hopedale, Labrador,\nwhich, though they are now deserted, \"more than one hundred persons\nof both sexes and all ages are said to have inhabited.\") But every\nContinental \"Venusberg,\" into which men of the taller race were\ntempted by the attractions of the dwarf women, and every \"berg\" that\nis affirmed to have been the residence of a \"berg-fee,\" comes under\nthe same denomination as the special examples already cited.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n\nIt is manifest that the traditions relating to \"the little people\"\ncontain many statements which at the first sight seem to be\nirreconcilable with one another. In one aspect, the dwarf races\nappear as possessed of a higher culture than the race or races who\nwere physically their superiors. They forge swords of \"magic\"\ntemper, and armour of proof; beautifully-wrought goblets of gold and\nsilver, silver-mounted bridles, garments of silk, and personal\nornaments of precious metals and precious stones, are all associated\nwith them. They are deeply versed in \"magic\" (a term generally held\nto denote the science of the Chald\u00e6an Magi), and this renders them\nthe teachers of the taller race, in religion, and in many forms of\nknowledge. In short, it is only in physical stature that they are\nbelow the latter people: in everything else they are above them. In\nanother aspect, the positions are reversed. The dwarfs are the serfs\nand drudges of the taller race, to whom they are distinctly inferior\nin intellectual capacity. The articles associated with them, such as\nthe primitive arrow-heads of flint, still spoken of as \"elf-shot,\"\nare all indicative of the rudest savagery. They themselves are\naccustomed to go without clothes, which, when offered to them by\ntheir masters, they reject indignantly. As great a contrast is\npresented by their physique. In some tales, they are fair, and\nbeautiful in feature, and yellow-haired; in others they are swarthy\nin complexion and hair; and again they are described as red-, or\nrusset-haired. From such conflicting evidence what is one to infer?\n\nTwo or three solutions of this question may be offered. One that,\nas the Icelander Gudmund said of these people, they were \"subject to\npoverty and wealth,\" like the members of any modern nation, which\ncontains in itself the most violent contrasts. Or, again, that the\nfairy tales belong to various epochs, during a long stretch of time,\nin the course of which those tribes, like any others, underwent\nmarked modifications. But what is probably the best solution is that\nthe dwarf races of the past, like those of the present, were of\nvarious types. That as the South African Bushmen, the dwarfs of the\nCongo region, and the Ainos of Japan, though all included among the\ndwarf races, are really different from each other in many respects,\nso the dwarf races of the past were not one but many. That then,\nas now, there were black, yellow and white dwarfs; dissimilar in\ntheir history and characteristics; but all alike in one important\nrespect. This last explanation, although the two others deserve\nconsideration, is the one that to the present writer seems the most\nimportant.\n\nTo state even a few of the inferences to be drawn from the\nacceptance of these explanations, is more than can be attempted\nhere. It is enough to continue as far as possible to confine these\nremarks within the limits already observed; and to keep specially in\nview that race which is known to British history as that of the\n\"Picts.\" What, then, is the traditional idea of the outward\nappearance of these people, apart from their stature?\n\nScott's \"Rob Roy,\" as he is described in the Glasgow prison, is said\nto have greatly resembled the Picts, as they are remembered in\nNorthumbrian tradition. And when his appearance is again referred to\nin a later chapter (ch. xxxii.), one point of this resemblance is\nbrought out; where it is stated that his legs were \"covered with a\nfell of thick, short, red hair, especially around his knees, which\nresembled in this respect, as well as from their sinewy appearance\nof extreme strength, the limbs of a red-coloured Highland bull.\"\n\nIt matters little whether the historical \"Robert MacGregor or\nCampbell,\" really answered to Scott's various descriptions of him.\n_Rob Ruadh_, or \"Red Rob,\" may no doubt have been fitly applied to\nmany a native of the British Islands, descended from the race of the\nPicts.[271] But this excessive hairiness of skin was one of the most\nmarked characteristics of the Pechts, and forms indeed one of the\nmost distinct clues to their ethnological position.\n\nWhatever the man was like himself, however, \"Rob Roy's country\"\ncontains, among its other features, that \"shoulder of Ben Venue\"\nwhich we have seen a former Earl of Menteith is said to have\nassigned to the dwarfs, and which is remembered in local tradition\nas a great resort of theirs. And a spot specially known as their\ngathering-place is called the Coire-nan-Uruisgean, which is rendered\n\"the Corri, or Den, of the Wild or _Shaggy_ men.\"[272] Now the same\nword here held to represent a \"shaggy\" man is also a synonym for a\n\"brownie,\"[273] and when we regard such a specimen of that class as\nthe particular \"brownie\" that was an attendant of the chief of the\nGrants, we find her (for this was a _ban_-sithe, or fairy-_woman_)\nknown as \"May _Mollach_,\" which signifies \"hairy May\"; it being\nasserted by tradition that this May was distinguished for the\nhairiness of her arms.[274] The adjective _molach_ signifies\n\"hairy,\"[275] and, among other uses, it is appropriately given, as a\nname, to many a shaggy little \"Scotch terrier.\" But in that part of\nArmstrong's \"Dictionary\"\n\nwhere this adjective is spelt _maildheach_ and _mailgheach_ (of\nwhich the pronunciation is still _m\u00e2l'yach_), its meaning is\ndefined as \"having large shaggy eyebrows.\" And this, it will be\nseen, is specially a characteristic not only of the traditional\ndwarfs, but of a race known to ethnology. But it is probable that\nthe general meaning of \"hirsute\" is signified when the derivative\nnoun _mailleachan_ is used as an equivalent of _brownie_ or\n_uruisg_;[276] and that a _mailleachan_ was a \"hairy one.\"\nSimilarly, a special brownie, known as _Pcallaidh an sp\u00f9it_, or\n\"Peallaidh of the waterfall,\" once well known \"at those congresses\"\n\"in a certain district of the Highlands,\"[277] may be Englished into\n\"The Shaggy One of the waterfall.\" Thus, although _uruisg_ does not\nliterally mean \"a shaggy man\" (as Scott says), yet there is nothing\nwrong in saying that _Coir-nan-Uruisgean_, on Loch Katrine, was \"the\nDen of the Wild or Shaggy Men\"; because various terms and\ndescriptions applying to those _uruisgean_ show that they were\nactually \"shaggy men.\"[278]\n\nNo one had a better opportunity of imbibing the traditional idea of\na brownie than the late Mr. J. F. Campbell; whose birth and\nupbringing, combined with his great studies in later life, gave him\nevery chance of learning the various Highland traditions regarding\nthe appearance of those people. And when, during his stay in\nLapland, he saw a certain Lapp \"of the old school,\" he speaks of him\nthus:--\"He was an old fellow with long, tangled elf-locks and a\nscanty beard, dressed in a deerskin shirt full of holes, and\nexceedingly mangy, for the hair had been worn off in patches all\nover. He realized my idea of a seedy Brownie, a grua-gach [another\nsynonym] with long hair on his head; an old wrinkled face, and his\nbody covered with hair.\"[279] Of course,\n\nit is not to be understood that the _Lapp_'s body was \"covered\nwith hair.\" But the deerskin shirt, worn with the hair outwards, was\none of the things that helped out the \"brownie\" appearance of the\nman; for Mr. Campbell's traditional brownie had _his_ body covered\nwith hair, like the other \"shaggy men\" we have just been speaking\nof. Again, the traditional _brollachan_ or _fuath_ of Sutherland is\ndescribed as \"rough and hairy.\"[280] Mr. Campbell also points out\nthat the _glashan_ of the Isle of Man[281] was the same as those\n\"shaggy men\" of the Scotch Highlands. \"He wore no clothes, and was\nhairy; and, according to Train's history, Phynoddepee, which means\nsomething hairy, was frightened away by a gift of clothes,--exactly\nas the Skipness long-haired Grua-gach was frightened away by the\noffer of a coat and a cap. The Manks brownie and the Argyllshire one\neach repeated a rhyme over the clothes; but the rhymes are not the\nsame, though they amount to the same thing.\"[282] In a certain story\nof South-Western Scotland, a brownie is described as a naked, hairy\nman; and in a Scotch \"chap-book\" of the eighteenth century, an old\nwoman is made to state that the brownies are \"a' rough but the\nmouth,\" and that they \"seek nae claes\" (do not wish any\nclothes).[283] The dwarfs of Northumbrian tradition, whether spoken\nof by that name or as \"Picts,\" are hairy; and, as just mentioned,\nthe Isle of Man contains similar evidence. The same thing is\nrecorded in Wales. In his \"British Goblins,\" Mr. Wirt Sikes not only\ndescribes the _coblynau_ as hairy of skin, but he cites the\nwell-known account of a sixteenth-century race of \"Red Fairies\" who\n\"lived in dens in the ground,\" and bore several other resemblances\nto the Picts of Scotland. These \"Red Fairies\" have also been\nrecently cited by Mr. G. L. Gomme, in the course of an article which\npoints out the survival of savage customs and savage people, within\nthe British Islands, during recent centuries.[284] The \"Red Fairies\"\ninhabited a certain part of Merionethshire, where it is said that\npeople inheriting some of their blood are still pointed out. They\nare remembered as a race of much-dreaded marauders, their\ndepredations being carried on in the night time, \"and scythes were\nfixed in the chimneys of the nearest houses, to prevent the\nnocturnal descent of these plundering ruffians.\" The writer whose\nwords have just been quoted, contributed an account of these people\nto the _Scots Magazine_ of 1823,[285] and he states in this\nconnection, that \"scythes were to be seen in the chimney of a\nneighbouring farm-house about thirty years ago, but they have been\nsince removed.\" After referring to their various characteristics,\nthe same writer goes on:--\"It appears that the enormities of the\nGwylliaid Cochion Mowddwy [the Red Fairies, or Banditti,[286] of\nMowddwy] had arrived at such a pitch as to render necessary the\ninterposition of the most prompt and vigorous measures. To this end,\na commission was granted to John Wynne ab Meredith, of Gwedir, and\nLewis Owen, one of the Barons of the Welsh Exchequer, and\nVice-Chamberlain of North Wales. These gentlemen raised a body of\nmen, and, on Christmas Eve, 1554, succeeded in securing, after\nconsiderable resistance, nearly a hundred of the robbers, on whom\nthey inflicted chastisement the most summary and effectual, hanging\nthem on the spot, and, as their commission authorized, without any\nprevious trial.\"[287]\n\nA similar race to these \"fairies\" of Merionethshire seems to be\nsuggested by the \"gubbings\" or \"gubbins\" of Dartmoor. Those people\nare described by Fuller, in his \"Worthies of England,\" published in\n1662. Readers of Kingsley's \"Westward Ho!\" will remember \"how\nSalvation Yeo slew the King of the Gubbings,\" and the description\ngiven at that place. Mr. R. D. Blackmore seems also to have had the\nsame race in view in his \"Maid of Sker\"; although that novel is\nplaced in the eighteenth century. \"Cannibal Jack,\" or \"Jack\nWildman,\" the most civilized of those Devon savages, is made to\nstate:--\"I was one of a race of naked people, living in holes of the\nearth at a place we did not know the name of. I now know that it was\nNympton in Devonshire.\" As to the origin of the term \"gubbing,\"\nFuller confesses himself ignorant.[288] But those Devonshire\ngubbings were, like the Red Fairies of Wales and the Picts of\nScotland, underground people, or earth-dwellers. It does not seem to\nbe stated anywhere that the \"gubbings\" were hairy of skin; but both\nin Devon and in Cornwall the underground people otherwise designated\nare so described.[289] Altogether the savage \"gubbins\" of Dartmoor,\nas described by Kingsley and others, seem to be practically the same\npeople as the cave-dwelling \"pixies\" of Dartmoor, whose occasional\nraids into the town of Tavistock are still remembered in local\nfolk-lore.\n\nThis nakedness of the brownie is referred to again and again in the\nfolk-lore of Scotland. The general belief seems to be that when he\nwas offered clothes in return for his labour he left the place where\nhe had been working, in high dudgeon. Other accounts indicate that\nhe accepted the clothes without demur. But the indications that the\n\"shaggy men\" were naked men, are numerous. And when Mr. Campbell\nsays that \"the Highlanders distinguish between the water and land or\n_dressed_ fairies,\"[290] he clearly infers that one section of the\nlittle people was remarkable for the entire absence of dress.\nIndeed, it was this peculiarity that, as the various stories show,\noffended the delicacy of the womenfolk at those farms where\n\"brownies\" worked, and so led to the offer of clothing, by way of\nwages. And, of course, the reason why their special hairiness of\nskin is so well remembered is because their own shaggy coats formed\nall their clothing; and probably answered the purpose very well.\n\nOutside the British Islands there are plenty of similar traditional\naccounts. The Scandinavian trolls, or dwarfs, of the Eddas were\nhairy; and so was the German dwarf. The latter has one name, that of\n_Bilwiz_, said to be derived from a word denoting matted hair; and\nwe are told that \"the Bilwiz shoots like the elf, and has shaggy or\nmatted hair.\"[291] And he, there can be little doubt, is the same as\nthe \"little forest-man.\" For the same authority[292] states that\n\"little forest-men, who have long worked in a mill, have been scared\naway by the miller's men leaving clothes and shoes for them.\" And if\nthese nude and hairy \"little people\" were not of the same race as\nthe hirsute brownies of Scotland, they were remarkably like them in\nseveral striking characteristics. With them also may be compared the\nshaggy dwarfs remembered in Brittany under the name of _viltansou_,\nwho are doubtless the same as the long-bearded _barbao_ of the same\nprovince. (_See_ M. S\u00e9billot's list of such names in the \"Revue des\nTraditions Populaires,\" Feb. 1890, pp. 101-104.)\n\nThe German traditional idea of the mound-dwelling, metal-working\ndwarf people, is nowhere more perfectly given than in the etching\nwhich is here reproduced, and which is the work of a German\nengraver. It forms the base of a title-page, executed about thirty\nyears ago,[293] consecrated to the memory of the great Barbarossa,\nwhose figure occupies the centre of the title-page, and whose\nachievements are otherwise symbolically indicated. It is understood\nto be a facsimile of the base of Barbarossa's statue. The little\ngnomes, then, underneath him, are clearly meant to represent his\ncompanions in the \"berg\" where he and they are popularly believed to\nbe still living--whether that be the Thuringian Kyffh\u00e4user, or the\nUntersberg, near Salzburg. And the hairiness of skin, so\ncharacteristic of the Scottish _brownie_ or _pecht_, is equally\nmarked in this case. The term \"shaggy men\" could be applied to them\nwith very great appropriateness. And if the artist has not made them\nas destitute of clothing as the \"brownies\" and \"forest-men\" are said\nto have been, yet what they do wear only serves to remind one of the\nred-cap of the traditional Lincolnshire dwarfs, and others of the\nsame class, and of the \"apron\" so often mentioned in connection with\nthe dwarfish builders of England and Scotland. It is not to be\nsupposed that this picture represents in every detail the dwarfs of\nGerman or other traditions, nor is it to be supposed that any single\naccount gives an absolutely correct idea of the appearance of those\nprimitive races, but this will be generally recognized as being, on\nthe whole,[294] a wonderfully good representation of the dwarfs of\nGerman folk-lore.\n\nBut this characteristic of the dwarfs of Scottish tradition and of\nthe \"Picts\" of history does not tend to show that such people were\n_identical_ with the modern Lapps. Nor, indeed, is this to be looked\nfor.\n\n[Illustration: THE DWARFS OF GERMAN FOLK LORE.]\n\nA race which was in its prime two thousand years ago may have\nmany points in common with one or another of the modern races\n(presumably its own descendants, in some measure); but absolute\nidentity of type can hardly be expected, if one considers the\ncrossing, re-crossing, and in some cases almost the extermination of\nthe various races of Europe during that period. At any rate, this\nmarked hairiness of skin, attributed to the Pict, or Pecht, or\ndwarf, is not a Mongoloid characteristic. It is certainly not\n_Mongolian_; and although some divisions of the Mongoloid\ngroup--such as the Eskimos of Labrador--are described as wearing\nmoustaches and beards, this fact, even if it be not exceptional,\ngoes a very little way towards suggesting an actually hirsute\nancestor. Had there been less doubt about the matter, one might have\nsupposed that the hairy skin-garments of those Northern races had\nbeen erroneously assumed in the traditional tales to be the natural\nskin of their owners; and, indeed, the pictures of the modern\nEskimos in their winter dress of skins with the hair outside, gives\nquite the appearance of a race of hairy little men. But the nudity\nof the historical Picts, and certain sections of the traditional\ndwarfs, or brownies, is beyond all doubt. To the Latin writers, as\nto the housewives of legendary history, this was equally an\nunmistakable and objectionable fact.\n\nThere is, however, an existing race that offers itself as akin to\nthose traditional dwarfs in this respect, as well as in some others;\nalthough the modern Lapps, in several of their characteristics, also\nsuggest that a not insignificant line of their ancestry is traceable\nto the same origin. The race referred to is that of the \"hairy\nKuriles,\" or Ainos of Japan; included by ethnologists among the\nmodern dwarf races.\n\n\"Twelve hundred years ago,\" says Mr. E. B. Tylor, \"a Chinese\nhistorian stated that 'on the eastern frontiers of the land of Japan\nthere is a barrier of great mountains, beyond which is the land of\nthe Hairy Men.' These were the Aino, so named from the word in their\nown language signifying 'man.' Over most of the country of these\nrude and helpless indigenes the Japanese have long since spread,\nonly a dwindling remnant of them still inhabiting the island of\nYezo. Since the early days when a couple of them were sent as\ncuriosities to the Emperor of China, their uncouth looks and habits\nhave made them objects of interest to more civilized nations.\"[295]\n\nOf their own traditions, another writer states:--\"To them the past\nis dead, yet, like other conquered and despised races, they cling to\nthe idea that in some far-off age they were a great nation. They\nhave no traditions of internecine strife, and the art of war seems\nto have been lost long ago. I asked Benri [a chief] about this\nmatter, and he says that formerly Ainos fought with spears and\nknives, as well as with bows and arrows, but that Yoshitsun\u00e9, their\nhero god, forbade war for ever, and since then the two-edged spear,\nwith a shaft nine feet long, has only been used in hunting\nbears.\"[296] Yoshitsun\u00e9, it may be explained, is stated (_op. cit.\ninfra_, II. 94, _note_) to have been the brother of a Japanese\ngeneral of the twelfth century, famous for his victories over\n\"barbarians.\" This tradition, therefore, if accepted without\nreserve, would place the conquest of the Ainos by the Japanese, with\nthe consequent disarming of the former, somewhere about the twelfth\ncentury. And the scene of this struggle may be placed south and west\nof their present home. \"The inference from records and local names,\nworked out with great care by Professor Chamberlain, is 'that the\nAinos were truly the predecessors of the Japanese all over the\nArchipelago. The dawn of history shows them to us living far to the\nsouth and west of their present haunts; and ever since then, century\nby century, we see them retreating eastwards and northwards, as\nsteadily as the American Indian has retreated westwards under the\npressure of the colonists from Europe.'\"[297]\n\n\"As is well known, the hairiness of the Ainos marks them sharply\noff from the smooth-faced Japanese. No one can look at photographs\nof Ainos without admitting that the often-repeated comparison of\nthem to bearded Russian peasants is much to the purpose. The\nlikeness is much strengthened by the bold quasi-European features of\nthe Aino contrasting extremely with the Japanese type of face.\"[298]\n\"The expression of the face and the manner of showing courtesy are\nEuropean rather than Asiatic,\" says Miss Bird, who has lived among\nthese people; and she again remarks, on a later page, \"I am more and\nmore convinced that the expression of their faces is European.\"[299]\n\n\"The men are about the middle height,[300] broad-chested,\nbroad-shouldered, 'thick-set,' very strongly built, the arms and\nlegs short, thick, and muscular, the hands and feet large. The\nbodies, and specially the limbs, of many are covered with short\nbristly hair. I have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur\nas fine and soft as that of a cat.\" \"The 'ferocious savagery' of the\nappearance of the men is produced by a profusion of thick, soft,\nblack hair, divided in the middle, and falling in heavy masses\nnearly to the shoulders. Out of doors it is kept from falling over\nthe face by a fillet round the brow. The beards are equally profuse,\nquite magnificent, and generally wavy, and in the case of the old\nmen they give a truly patriarchal and venerable aspect, in spite of\nthe yellow tinge produced by smoke and want of cleanliness.\" \"The\nbeard, moustache, and eyebrows are very thick and full.\" \"At a deep\nriver called the Nopkobets,\" says the same writer, \"we were ferried\nby an Aino completely covered with hair, which on his shoulders was\nwavy like that of a retriever, and rendered clothing quite needless\neither for covering or warmth. A wavy, black beard rippled nearly to\nhis waist over his furry chest, and, with his black locks hanging in\nmasses over his shoulders, he would have looked a thorough savage\nhad it not been for the exceeding sweetness of his smile and eyes.\nThe Volcano Bay Ainos are far more hairy than the mountain Ainos.\"\nAgain--\"These Lebung\u00e9 Ainos differ considerably from those of the\neastern villages, and I have again to notice the decided sound or\n_click_ of the _ts_ at the beginning of many words. Their skins are\nas swarthy as those of Bedaween, their foreheads comparatively low\n[the Aino forehead being in general remarkably high], their eyes far\nmore deeply set, their stature lower, their hair yet more abundant,\nthe look of wistful melancholy more marked, and two, who were\nunclothed for hard work in fashioning a canoe, were almost entirely\ncovered with short, black hair, specially thick on the shoulders and\nback, and so completely concealing the skin as to reconcile one to\nthe lack of clothing. I noticed an enormous breadth of chest, and a\ngreat development of the muscles of the arms and legs. All these\nAinos shave their hair off for two inches above their brows, only\nallowing it there to attain the length of an inch.\" \"Their voices\nwere the lowest and most musical that I have heard, incongruous\nsounds to proceed from such hairy, powerful-looking men.... These,\nlike other Ainos, utter a short, screeching sound when they are not\npleased, and then one recognizes the savage.\"[301]\n\n[Illustration: AN AINO PATRIARCH.]\n\nThe picture of \"An Aino Patriarch,\" which is here reproduced from\nMiss Bird's book,[302] does not enable one to fully\n\nrealize the purest type of Aino; partly owing to the fact that the\nfigure is clothed, and partly because this man appears to have\nbelonged to one of the more modified sections of the race. However,\nas he is, he is not a very bad representative of the bearded dwarf,\nwith disproportionately large head, so familiar in tradition; and\nthat he is one of the race of \"shaggy men,\" we know without fuller\nevidence. His beard does not fall down to his waist, like that of\nhis kinsman who figures as a ferryman in the foregoing quotation;\nbut the heavy moustache and beard, and the shaggy eyebrows, strongly\ncharacterize this living race as well as the legendary dwarfs. The\nlatter are again and again referred to as \"little old[303] men, with\nlong beards\"; and, indeed, in one of Grimm's tales (\"Snow-White and\nRosy-Red\"), a dwarf has a beard so long that it gets caught in the\ntrunk of a tree that has been felled. The artist who drew the\npicture of Barbarossa's dwarfs has not forgotten this marked\ntraditional feature.[304] Such dwarfs are all remembered as\npossessed of supernatural powers, enchanters, magicians, etc.; and,\nconversely, the magicians (Gaelic _druidhean_) of early Britain are\nfamous for their flowing beards.\n\nAn earlier Aino than those pictured by Miss Bird is that which\nBaron Nordenski\u00f6ld gives in his \"Voyage of the Vega.\" With regard to\nit he says:--\"The drawing is taken from a Japanese work, whose\ntitle, when translated, runs thus--'A Journey to the North Part of\nJapan (Yezo), 1804.'\"\n\n[Illustration: AINO OF 1804.]\n\nIn this picture, which is here annexed, there are several notable\nfeatures. Not only has this Aino of 1804 the short, thick-set\nfigure, heavy beard, and \"bull-necked\" appearance of the traditional\ndwarf, but he is represented as driving a reindeer. Now, this seems\nat once to connect the Aino with the Samoyed and the Lapp. For,\nalthough the reindeer is hunted by the Eskimos of North America,\nthese people have never domesticated it. Moreover, the Aino is\nstanding on runners, which appear to be very similar to the \"skies\"\nof the Lapps. Both of these details are distinctive of the Aino and\nthe Lapp (for although the \"skies\" are used to the south of Finmark,\nthey are peculiarly associated with the Lapps, who excel all other\nNorwegians in this accomplishment). \"The deer-hide moccasins which\nthey wear for winter hunting\"[305] form another link of custom\nuniting the Aino to the Lapp and the Eskimo. So also does the\nharpoon and line which the Ainos use, or used, in seal-hunting, as\nis evidenced by two of Professor Chamberlain's tales.[306] Thus,\nalthough the Aino differs very much, in some respects, from the\nEskimo type of man, he cannot be regarded as wholly different from\nhim.[307] As regards stature, the two are\n\nmuch alike; and several usages have just been cited that distinctly\nunite the two. If one might discriminate, it might be said that the\nrelationship extends westward from the Kurile Islands, rather than\neastward into North America. That the Aino should remind travellers\nso strongly of certain European types, is very suggestive of a line\nof ancestry which is shared by Europeans. Indeed, those hirsute\nqualities which distinguish the Aino exist, though in much more\nmodified forms (even in the instance of Russian peasants) among the\npeople of Europe; sufficiently to mark off the average European from\nthe races of other continents. That one line of European ancestry\nshould lead back to a race strongly resembling the modern Ainos is\ntherefore a belief that the outward appearance of the modern\nEuropean rather tends to strengthen.\n\nIn speculating upon the appearance of the European \"cave-man\" of\nthe past, a writer in the \"Cornhill\"[308] (? Mr. Grant Allen) states\nas his opinion that \"at any rate, he was distinctly hairy, like the\nAinos, or aborigines of Japan, in our own day, of whom Miss Isabella\nBird has drawn so startling and sensational a picture.\" Again, after\nremarking that those cave-men \"seem to have been in most essential\nparticulars almost as advanced as the modern Eskimo, with whom\nProfessor Dawkins conjecturally identifies them,\" Mr. Grant Allen\ngoes on to say[309]--\"But if Professor Dawkins means us to\nunderstand that the cave-men were physically developed to the same\nextent as the Eskimo, it is necessary to accept his conclusion with\ngreat caution. It does not follow because the Eskimo are the nearest\nmodern parallels of the cave-men, that the cave-men therefore\nresembled them closely in appearance. Several of the sketches of\ncave-men, cut by themselves on horn and bone, certainly show (it\nseems to me) that they were covered with hair over the whole body:\nand the hunter in the antler from the Duruthy cave has a long\npointed beard and high crest of hair on the poll utterly unlike the\nEskimo type.\" And although Mr. Allen admits, on a later page, that\n\"it is possible enough that the cave-man was the direct ancestor of\nthe Eskimo,\" yet he qualifies this admission by observing that \"it\ndoes not at all follow that in physical appearance the earlier\ncave-men were the equals of the Eskimo, or, indeed, that the Eskimo\nare any more nearly related to them than ourselves.\"[310]\n\nOf course, it is understood by the writer of these lines that the\nremarks upon \"cave-men\" just quoted, were made in the belief that\nall those cave-men lived at a period immensely removed from the\npresent time. But the classification of man's history into so many\n\"periods\" and \"ages\" is admittedly vague. And the recognition of a\nvisible relationship between certain races of living men, and those\nothers who are called \"pre-historic,\" is practically a recognition\nof the possibility that the not very remote ancestors of such races\nmay be remembered with comparative clearness in the popular memory\nof those who are mainly descended from races of a higher type.\n\nThat this is really the case is what all the evidence adduced in\nthese pages tends to show. And, indeed, the actual picture of a\nliving Aino of about ninety years ago, reproduced above, is by no\nmeans remarkably different from the traditional figure given below,\nwhich represents the magician, or \"good fairy,\" as he appears in the\npopular memory, when arriving from the far North, on Yule Eve, laden\nwith gifts for his vassals. The annexed woodcut gives the idea of\n\"Santa Claus,\" as he figures in the American fancy, and that, as the\ntitle given to him indicates, is really the German idea. The German\nidea, then, of this good magician is that he is a thick-set,\nbearded, little man, whose heavy furs denote that his home lies in\nthe North, and whose reindeer team, harnessed to the sledge in which\nhe has travelled, indicates that, like the Lapp and the Aino, he not\nonly lives in a country where reindeer abound, but he has learned to\ntame them and make them serve his purposes. In this traditional\nfigure one seems to see the type of a race that was even more like\nthe Aino than the Lapp, or the Eskimo, although closely connected in\nvarious ways with all of these. Neither this figure, nor those of\nBarbarossa's dwarfs, need be regarded as absolutely correct; but in\nboth we see that the popular memory is wonderfully faithful to what\nappears to be the actual truth.\n\n[Illustration: A \"GOOD FAIRY\" OF TRADITION.]\n\nThe existence in Europe of such a race, neither Lapp nor Aino,\nthough akin to both, seems indicated by as recent a geographer as\nOlaus Magnus. In his map of Northern Europe,[311] the extreme north\nof Norway is neither \"Lappia\" nor \"Finmarchia\" (although both of\nthese are shown), but a country which borders them on the north, and\nwhich he calls \"Scricfinnia.\" This name appears to have been\notherwise spelt \"Scritfinnia\" or \"Scridfinnia,\" and one writer\nstates that its people, the \"Scridfinni,\" \"derived their name from\nthe word _skrida_, which in the Danish and Swedish languages means\nto slide.\"[312] This refers to the snow-skates, or \"skies,\" which\nthey are described as using, but as Olaus Magnus pictures the people\nof \"Lappia\" as also using \"skies,\" it does not seem that that usage\nwas distinctive of the \"Scridfinni.\" But what appears to be of much\nmore importance than this etymological point is the fact that the\ngloss which Olaus Magnus places opposite \"Scricfinnia\" is to this\neffect:--\"_Hic habitant P\u00ffgmei Vulgo Screlinger dicti_.\" The\nearliest cited mention of the _Screlinger_, or _Skr\u00e6lings_, occurs\nin the accounts of the Norse visits to North America, at the end of\nthe tenth century; and the people thus referred to are generally\nidentified with the Esquimaux. \"The Northmen were used to call the\nEsquimaux Skr\u00e6lings, a term of contempt, meaning, says Crantz,\n'chips, parings, _i.e._, dwarfs.'\" And the North American Skr\u00e6lings\nof the tenth century, who are described as paddling about in\nskin-canoes, \"skimming the surface of the water in their swift\nflight,\" are quite obviously either of the same race as the modern\nEskimos, or else closely allied to them.[313] In the course of eight\nor nine centuries, the \"Skr\u00e6lings\" may have become modified to some\nextent; and, indeed, modern travellers[314] are wonderfully\nunanimous in remarking upon the effect that nineteenth-century\nintermixture has had upon Asiatic and Greenland Eskimos, and upon\nthe Ainos. But whatever the exact appearance of the tenth-century\n\"Skr\u00e6ling,\" the map of Olaus Magnus denotes that, five or six\ncenturies later, the extreme north of Norway was inhabited by a race\nof \"Skr\u00e6lings\"; and that these people were the same as the \"pygmies\"\nof classical writers. It has already been pointed out[315] that the\nGreenland \"Skr\u00e6lings\" were also spoken of as \"goblins,\" and this\nagain shows that that American type, whether most akin to the modern\nEskimo or to the Aino, was not a _new_ type to those European\nexplorers,--whose legendary history was already teeming with stories\nof encounters with \"goblins.\"[316]\n\nWhatever may have been the ethnical position of the tenth-century\n\"Skr\u00e6ling\" of America, this sixteenth-century map of North Europe\ncertainly signifies that the \"pigmies,\" \"Screlings,\" or\n\"Scric-Finns\" of the extreme north of Scandinavia were neither\n\"Finns\" nor \"Lapps,\" but a race that ultimately yielded place to\nthese. There are similar indications in the extreme north of Asia.\nThe Chukches of Siberia undoubtedly connect the Lapp in the west\nwith the Eskimo in the east. But these Chukches have traditions of a\nrace called _Onkilon_, _i.e._, \"sea-folk,\" whom the Chukches, moving\nnorthward, displaced or annihilated. \"Tradition relates that upwards\nof two hundred years ago these Onkilon occupied the whole of the\nChukch coast, from Cape Chelagskoj to Behring's Straits; and indeed\nwe still find along the whole of this stretch remains of their\nearth-huts, which must have been very unlike the present dwellings\nof the Chukches; they have the form of small mounds, are half sunk\nin the ground and closed above with whale ribs, which are covered\nwith a thick layer of earth.\" Baron Nordenski\u00f6ld, who is here\nquoting Wrangel's \"Reise\" (1825), gives himself a representation of\none of those Onkilon earth-dwellings, seen by him at Cape\nNorth.[317] In these now-extinct \"Onkilon,\" then, we have a race of\npeople who, like the Finns and sea-trows of Shetland, were famed as\n\"sea-folk,\" and who at the same time were underground-people or\nmound-dwellers.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[271] There is a Rob Roy's Town in Lanarkshire, celebrated as the\nscene of Wallace's capture, and even if the name is no older than\nHarry the Minstrel (who uses it), it indicates a \"Rob Roy\"\nante-dating Sir Walter Scott's by a couple of centuries.\n\n[272] Scott, who gives this definition (\"Lady of the Lake,\" Note 2\nQ), says it is the _literal_ one. This, however, is not the\n_literal_ meaning of \"Uruisgean.\" But it is enough to know that the\npeople so named were believed to be wild, \"shaggy\" men.\n\n[273] Armstrong's \"Gaelic Dictionary,\" s.v. _Uruisg_.\n\n[274] _See_ Note 2 H to \"The Lady of the Lake.\" This May Mollach is\nwell known in the legendary history of the Grants. Scott again\nrefers to her in his Introduction to \"The Monastery,\" where he\nasserts that she \"condescended to mingle in ordinary sports, and\neven to direct the Chief how to play at draughts.\" With this may be\ncompared Thorpe's statement (\"Northern Mythology,\" I., 145) that the\nScandinavian dwarfs, who were also hairy, used to \"play at tables.\"\nThere is also a story in the Island of Skye of a \"brownie\" who\nwatched over and instructed one of the players in a game of\n\"tables.\" (_See_ Defoe's \"Duncan Campbell,\" London, 1856, p. 106.)\n\"Tables\" seems to have been a comprehensive name for draughts,\nchess, and other games played on a chess-board; and these remarks\nrecall the set of chessmen, carved out of walrus tusk, already\nreferred to as having been found in the Hebrides in 1826, and of\nwhich eleven are in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of\nScotland. \"Chess-playing was one of the favourite amusements of the\nIrish chieftains,\" says O'Donovan (\"Book of Rights,\" Dublin, 1847,\np. lxi), and he gives illustrations of an Irish chess-man, which he\nstates is exactly similar, \"as well in style as in material,\" to the\nHebridean specimens just mentioned.\n\n[275] It may be seen again in the name given in former times to a\nsection of the Clan Mac-Ra, \"Clann ic Rath _Mholach_\" or \"Hairy Mac\nRaas.\" The surname _Malloch_ also represents the same word.\n\n[276] Armstrong's \"Gaelic Dictionary,\" s.v. _Mailleachan_.\n\n[277] _Ibid._ s.v. _Uruisg_.\n\n[278] Scott says (\"Letters on Demonology,\" London, John Murray,\n1830, p. 115) that Rob Roy once gained a victory by disguising a\npart of his men, by means of goat-skins, as \"ourisks,\" and so\nterrifying their opponents. But if that Rob Roy, or any section of\nhis followers, presented the appearance which Scott himself\nportrays, or if any remnant of the ancient \"Pechts\" survived in that\nneighbourhood, it does not seem that any disguise was necessary to\ngive them the appearance of \"wild, or shaggy men.\"\n\n[279] \"West Highland Tales,\" II., 386.\n\n[280] \"West Highland Tales,\" II., 189-192. For further references to\nthe _fuath_, or _duine fuathasach_, see pp. 97-101 of the same\nvolume. It may be added that Armstrong simply defines _brollachan_\nas \"a ragged person.\" Similarly, McAlpine states that in the West\nHighlands _uruisg_ signifies \"a savage, ugly-looking fellow.\" Both\nof these definitions point to the _real_ and matter-of-fact aspect\nof the traditional _uruisg_ or _brollachan_.\n\n[281] Gaelic _glaisean_, from _glas_, grey. Cf. the Shetland\nallusion to the dwarfs as \"the _grey_ women-stealers.\"\n\n[282] \"West Highland Tales,\" Introduction, pp. liv, lv.\n\n[283] With the above use of \"rough,\" as also in relation to the\n_brollachan_, compare the statement in Defoe's \"Duncan Campbell\"\n(London, 1856, p. 129) that the brownie \"appeared like a rough man.\"\n\n[284] _The Arch\u00e6ological Review_, Jan. 1890, pp. 433, 434.\n\n[285] _See_ Vol. 13, pp. 424-6 (_Nug\u00e6 Cambrica_).\n\n[286] It is to be noted that this writer renders \"Gwylliaid\" by\n\"Banditti,\" and never refers to them as \"goblins\" or \"fairies,\"\nthough this is the usual meaning given to the word. There is no good\nreason for objecting to the less usual translation, except that,\nwhile it denotes one recognized characteristic of the dwarfs, after\nthey had been cut up into small confederacies, it loses sight of\nother notable features of such \"banditti.\"\n\n[287] The difference between these people and the intangible\n\"fairies\" created by the imagination (but originating in reality) is\nnowhere brought out more strongly than in this passage. A hanged\nfairy would be quite a novelty in poetry.\n\n[288] In her \"Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy\" (London, 1879, Vol.\nI., Letter xiv.), Mrs. Bray speaks of these \"gubbins,\" referring to\nthe account given by Camden as well as Fuller. Halliwell also cites\n\"Milles' MS.\" As for the derivation of the word itself, it seems\nclearly to be connected with Welsh _coblyn_, English _goblin_ and\n_gub_, and Italian _gobbo_--pigmy. Compare also _gobban_ (_ante_, p.\n134); and note the etymology quoted by Fuller (_op. cit._) \"that\nsuch who did 'inhabitare montes gibberosos' were called Gubbings.\"\n\n[289] _See_ Mrs. Bray's work just cited, Vol. I., Letter x.: also a\nreference to the goblin or \"bucka\" as hairy, in Mr. Whitley Stokes'\n\"Gwreans an Bys,\" pp. 124, 125.\n\nIn Mr. Hunt's \"Popular Romances of the West of England\" (London, J.\nC. Hotten, 2nd edit., pp. 217, 218), there is a weird story of a\nwrestling-match by night, at a certain cairn near Penzance. The\nwrestlers were believed by the two onlookers to be supernatural\nbeings:--\"They were men of great size and strength, with savage\nfaces, rendered more terrible by the masses of uncombed hair which\nhung about them, and the colours with which they had painted their\ncheeks.\" They had appeared to issue out of the rocks of the cairn.\nAlthough the term \"great size,\" if it denotes _stature_, does not\ninclude these men among dwarfs, yet they are represented as _Picti_;\nand as \"supernatural,\" hirsute cave-dwellers.\n\n[290] \"West Highland Tales,\" II., 64. (For a general reference to\nthe nudity of those drudges _see_ Ritson's \"Fairies,\" London, 1831,\np. 46.)\n\n[291] Thorpe's \"Northern Mythology,\" I., 244.\n\n[292] Thorpe: _op. cit._ I., 252.\n\n[293] In Edinburgh, for the firm of Messrs. Schenck and McFarlane,\nlithographers.\n\n[294] There is at least one detail overlooked in this picture by the\nartist. And another detail, which he has introduced, has not been\nreferred to in these pages, viz., the miner's lamp worn by the\ndwarfs. In Cornwall, the earliest miners are understood to have been\nthose \"little people,\" whose subterranean habits would undoubtedly\nrender them early acquainted with the use of metals. And the miner's\nlamp may reasonably be regarded as an inheritance from the dwarf\nraces. It is noteworthy that the typical miner's dress, in\nseventeenth-century England, appears to have been \"canvas breeches,\nred waistcoats and red caps,\" a garb closely in agreement with some\nversions of the dwarf attire. (See Hone's \"Ancient Mysteries,\" p.\n259.)\n\n[295] Introduction to \"Aino Folk Tales,\" by Basil Hall Chamberlain,\nProfessor of Philology at the T[=o]ky[=o] University. (Privately\nprinted for the Folk-Lore Society, 1888.)\n\n[296] \"Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,\" by Miss Isabella L. Bird. London,\n1880, II., p. 103.\n\n[297] Introduction to \"Aino Folk Tales,\" vi.-vii.\n\n[298] _Ibid._, v.\n\n[299] \"Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,\" II., 9, 107. (Also p. 75.)\n\n[300] The writer here refers to a less pure type of Aino.\n\n[301] See \"Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,\" II., 9, 75-6, 106, 118, 136-7,\nand 143-4.\n\n[302] For the use of this block I am indebted to Mr. John Murray,\nAlbemarle Street.\n\n[303] This adjective can be otherwise accounted for.\n\n[304] One might multiply special instances without end. But it is\nappropriate to notice that the \"Arabian Nights\" tales are, in this\nrespect, in keeping with those of the West. For example, Schaibar,\nthe brother of the fairy Pari-Banou, is a powerful dwarf, possessing\na tremendous beard and moustache (his strength, the smallness of his\nstature, and his beard are all vastly exaggerated, but they are all\ndistinguishing features). And again, in the Third Voyage of Sindbad,\nhis vessel approaches an island of which he says:--\"The captain told\nus that this island was inhabited by hairy savages, who would come\nto attack us; and although they were only dwarfs, we must not\nattempt to make any resistance; for, as their number was\ninconceivable, if we should happen to kill one, they would pour upon\nus like locusts, and destroy us. No sooner had he said this than we\nsaw coming towards us an innumerable multitude of hideous savages,\nentirely covered with red hair, and about two feet high. They threw\nthemselves into the sea, and swam to the ship, which they soon\ncompletely encompassed. They spoke to us as they approached, but we\ncould not understand their language. They began to climb the sides\nand ropes of the vessel with so much swiftness and agility, that\ntheir feet scarcely seemed to touch them, and soon reached the\ndeck.\"\n\n[305] \"Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,\" II., 143.\n\n[306] xxvii. and xxxiii. The harpoon tip is said, in one tale, to\nhave been \"made half of iron and half of bone.\"\n\n[307] Miss Bird met with some Ainos of whom she says (II., 37):--\"I\nthought that they approached more nearly to the Eskimo type than to\nany other.\" This, of course, was exceptional; but the remark is\nnoteworthy.\n\n[308] March, 1885, \"A Very Old Master.\"\n\n[309] _Fortnightly Review_, September, 1882, p. 312.\n\n[310] Opinions still more antagonistic to those of Professor Dawkins\nwere expressed by Professor Flower, in commenting upon a paper read\nby Dr. John Rae at the Anthropological Institute, July 7th, 1886,\nwherein Dr. Rae had referred to this subject.\n\n[311] A reprint of which is appended to Mr. Elton's \"Origins\" (Plate\nIV).\n\n[312] Brooke's \"Travels in Lapland,\" London, 1827, p. 3.\n\n[313] For these references see Appendix B and the \"Antiquitates\nAmerican\u00e6\" (Copenhagen, 1837), conveniently condensed in W. C.\nBryant and S. H. Gay's \"History of the United States,\" Chap. III.\n\n[314] Such as Nordenski\u00f6ld, Carstensen, Joest, &c.\n\n[315] _Ante_, p. 144, _note_.\n\n[316] Further statements upon this point will be found in Appendix\nB.\n\n[317] \"Voyage of the Vega,\" I. 443.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n\nThere is yet another characteristic of the modern Aino which\nsuggests the dwarf of the British Isles. \"Mention must also be made\nof an anatomical peculiarity of the Aino skeleton, consisting of a\nremarkable flattening of the arm-and leg-bones.\"[318] This\npeculiarity, which is known scientifically as \"platycnemism,\" forms\na part of Herr von Siebold's \"Ethnologische Studien \u00fcber die Aino,\nauf der Insel Yesso.\"[319] Much may be learned with regard to\nplatycnemism in a paper \"On the Discovery of Platycnemic Men in\nDenbighshire,\"[320] by Professors Busk and Boyd Dawkins; and the\nsubject of platycnemism generally has been very fully discussed in\nDr. L. Manouvrier's \"M\u00e9moire sur la Platycn\u00e9mie.\"[321] The question\nis full of interest; but what we are here concerned with is the fact\nthat, characterizing the dwarfish, hairy Ainos of the nineteenth\ncentury, this flattening of the leg-bones is also associated with\nthe dwarfs of Britain. Those cave-dwelling, \"platycnemic men\" of\nDenbighshire, though not actually dwarfs, were of no greater height\non an average than five feet, or a trifle over. Again, the skeletons\nfound in the underground dwellings of Wiltshire, which have been so\nclosely studied by General Pitt-Rivers, exhibit marked platycnemism\nin several instances, and of these the average height was 5 ft.,\n1^.3 (among eleven males), and (among three females) 4 ft., 10.[322]\nIn Wigtownshire, also, the bones of certain cave-men have yielded at\nleast one tibia which has been pronounced to be \"highly\nplatycnemic.\" The locality where these remains were found has been\nspoken of on a previous page,[323] as a locality famed as the last\nrefuge of the \"Pechts,\" and, at the same time, as a home of the\n\"fairies.\" These are a few special instances; but if once we\nrecognize the probability that platycnemism was specially a\ncharacteristic of \"the little people,\" then there will be small\ndifficulty in accepting as true the forecast with which Mr. Boyd\nDawkins concludes his remarks in the paper above mentioned:--\"I have\nnot the slightest doubt that platycnemism will be recognized in\nremains from chambered tombs in many parts of Britain, and that\neventually the men found in Denbighshire will be proved to belong to\na race that spread over Britain and Ireland, and a large area on the\nContinent.\"\n\nThe effect of this flattened tibia or leg-bone is to give to the\n\"platycnemic man\" an unusual degree of agility. Thus one reads that\nthe Ainos who drew Miss Bird's _kuruma_ raced \"for a considerable\ndistance\" with some mounted Japanese, drawing the _kuruma_, of\ncourse, at the same time. Similarly, the mountain-ponies of the\nPicts \"could hardly excel the speed of the troops on foot.\"[324] The\ntraditional accounts of the \"Fians\" have much to say of their\nmarvellous swiftness of foot. The same thing is noted of the\nDartmoor _gubbins_ of the sixteenth century: \"Such their fleetness,\nthey will outrun many horses.\"[325] And the earth-dwelling \"Red\nFairies\" of Merionethshire \"were also remarkable for their swiftness\nand agility.\"[326] There is a Scotch story of a brownie who\nsuccessfully \"herded\" a hare; and the lightness of foot of the fairy\nin general is proverbial. From all these references, then, there is\nevery reason for believing that the little people were \"platycnemic\nmen.\"\n\nThis identification of the traditional dwarfs with the Ainos on the\none hand and the Eskimos on the other, amounts to an assumption that\nthe dwarfs were not only hirsute like the first of these, and\nmound-dwellers like the second, but also that, like the extinct\n_Onkilon_ of Siberia, they were in a distinct sense \"sea-folk.\" In\nother words, that, while showing a strong _affinity_ with the two\nmodern types chiefly referred to in these pages, they were\nnevertheless not _identical_ with either. That they were the\nancestors of both seems probable, bequeathing to each division some\nof the qualities and customs of the original stock; which might be\ndescribed as Aino-Eskimo.\n\nSo far as tradition goes, there is every indication that the hairy\ndwarf was of a sea-faring race. The Gaelic _ur-uisg_ was rightly\ncalled a \"wild or _shaggy_ man\" by Sir Walter Scott, but literally\nhe was a \"_water_-man\"; which term has many equivalents, such as\nwasser-man, mer-man, and others. The Guernsey \"King of the\n_Auxcriniers_\" previously mentioned,[327] may also denote this\nidentification of the _zee-woner_ with the \"shaggy man\"; unless the\nname _auxcriniers_ bears a less obvious meaning than it appears to\ndo. But no better illustration of this union can be found than the\nhistorical Picts. Tradition has told us of their shaggy skins, and\nthe \"small boats\" which they used. And both of these are indicated\nby the sixth-century Gildas, in his account of the inroads of the\nPicts and Scots, after the withdrawal of the Romans, where he\nsays:--\"Itaque illis ad sua revertentibus, emergunt certatim de\ncuricis, quibus sunt trans Cichicam[328] vallem vecti, quasi in alto\nTitane incalescenteque caumate de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis\nfusci vermiculorum cunei, tetri Scotorum Pictorumque greges, moribus\nex parte dissidentes, sed una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate\nconcordes, furci-ferosque magis vultus pilis, quam corporum pudenda,\npudendisque proxima, vestibus tegentes.\"[329]\n\nThere is complete agreement among the commentators of Gildas that\nthe word \"curicis\" is a Latinized form of the Celtic _curach_, a\nskin-boat. And the expression \"de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis\"\nis singularly confirmative of the assumption that the variety of\nskin-boat denoted was the narrow kayak with its small round\nman-hole, and covered \"hold,\" out of which the invading Pict\n\"eagerly emerged\" in his haste to attack the Romanized and civilized\npeople in the neighbourhood of the Wall. The reference to their\nappearance generally is, moreover, very much like the terms used by\nthe Norse writers in speaking of the tenth-century \"Skr\u00e6lings.\"\n\nThat the historical Picts were as \"amphibious\" as any other\n\"sea-folk\" of the kind here discussed, is further testified by such\na statement as this:--\"They passed their days in the water, swimming\nin the northern estuaries, or wading with the stream as high as the\nwaist. Dion Cassius adds, with his characteristic vivacity, that\nthey would hide in the mud for days together, with nothing but their\nheads out of the water.\"[330] Although the custom of hiding from an\nenemy in the fashion just described was practised quite recently by\nthe \"bog-trotters\" in Ireland (see _Rokeby_, Note 2 R), it is\ndoubtful how far these statements ought to be accepted literally.\nBut at least they point to the Picts as a race as much at home on\nsea as on land; and the reference to their \"wading\" in the water\nwaist-high is again suggestive of the traditional mer-man or Triton,\nand the actual Eskimo (as he appears at a distance).\n\nThus, although the dwarfs of Shetland tradition are separately\nremembered as \"sea-trows\" and \"hill-trows\" (otherwise \"hill-people,\"\nor \"h\u00f6gfolk\"), it seems quite evident that these two names simply\nrefer to two different aspects of one race. The memory of them, in\nconnection with their homes in chambered mounds (\"hows,\" \"h\u00f6gs,\" or\n\"pechts' houses\"), has gradually become dissociated from the memory\nof them in their character of sea-rovers, when in their swift\n\"sea-skins\" they darted after and easily overtook the heavy wooden\nboats used by the rival race. Nevertheless, although popular\ntradition, in thus remembering them, has almost transformed them\ninto an actually amphibious race, it yet asserts that these\nseafaring \"Finns\" \"are reckoned among the Trows.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nSuch are some of the deductions to be drawn from a comparison of\ntraditional accounts with those of history, taken in connection with\nthe ethnical features and the customs of certain races of people.\nThere are many more inferences which could be made, but these may\nreasonably be deferred until the true value of tradition has been\ntested. The way in which this can be done has been pointed out in\nthe foregoing pages. Should tradition prove itself reliable as a\nguide to the dwellings of \"the little people,\" then _all_ its\nstatements regarding them will merit the closest consideration.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[318] This statement, made by Professor Tylor in his Introduction to\nthe \"Aino Folk-Tales,\" is based upon the accounts of others; for a\nreference to one of which (Von Siebold's) I am indebted to Mr.\nTylor.\n\n[319] Berlin, 1881.\n\n[320] Jour. Ethnol. Soc. of London, Jan. 1871.\n\n[321] Paris, 1888.\n\n[322] See General Pitt-Rivers' \"Excavations in Cranborne Chase,\"\n1887. (Privately Printed.) II., 206-7.\n\n[323] Page 99. See specially pp. 87-8 of the volume quoted (1885-86)\nof the Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland.\n\n[324] Elton's \"Origins,\" p. 169; quoted from Dion Cassius.\n\n[325] Fuller, as quoted by Kingsley.\n\n[326] _Scots Magazine_, 1823, Vol. 13, pp. 424-6.\n\n[327] Page 16.\n\n[328] This is variously spelt \"Aticam,\" \"Styticam,\" and \"Tithicam\"\n(Petrie's _Monumenta historica Britannica_); and the solutions are\nas various as the spellings. If by \"Tithicam vallem\" is denoted the\nvalley of the River Teith, this variant appears preferable to any;\nand the district referred to would be the whole of the Teith or\nForth basin, which at that period was probably a mixture of land and\nwater,--a northern Bedford Level, or fen-country.\n\n[329] Gildas' \"De Excidio Britanni\u00e6,\" Stevenson's edition, London,\n1838, pp. 24-25.\n\n[330] Elton's \"Origins,\" p. 169. The first sentence is from\nHerodian.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX A.\n\nTHE BRUGH OF THE BOYNE, NEW GRANGE.\n\n\nThe descriptions of the New Grange mound given by Llhwyd and\nMolyneux are of much importance, since they both belong to about the\nbeginning of the eighteenth century; and as they are not very\naccessible to the general reader they may suitably be quoted here.\nThe two writers do not altogether agree in their account of the\nappearance of the chamber, and their theories as to its origin are\ncertainly different; but whatever may be the value of the latter,\nthere can be no doubt that descriptions which were made at a time\nwhen the interior of this mound was fresher by two centuries than it\nnow is have a value that is lacking in the descriptions of modern\nwriters, however accurate. The following is\n\n\"_An Account of a large Cave nigh_ Drogheda, _by Mr._ Edward\nLlhwyd.\"[331]\n\n\"The most remarkable curiosity we saw by the way, was a stately\nmount at a place called _New Grange_ near _Drogheda_; having a\nnumber of huge stones pitch'd on end round about it, and a single\none on the top. The gentleman of the village (one Mr. _Charles\nCampbel_) observing that under the green turf this mount was wholly\ncomposed of stones, and having occasion for some, employ'd his\nservants to carry off a considerable parcel of them; till they came\nat last to a very broad flat stone, rudely carv'd, and placed\nedgewise at the bottom of the mount. This they discovered to be the\ndoor of the cave,[332] which had a long entry leading into it. At\nthe first entering, we were forced to creep; but still as we went\non, the pillars on each side of us were higher and higher; and\ncoming into the cave, we found it about twenty foot high. In this\ncave, on each hand of us, was a cell or apartment, and another went\non straight forward opposite to the entry. In those on each hand was\na very broad, shallow bason of stone, situated at the edge. The\nbason in the right hand apartment stood in another; that on the left\nhand was single; and in the apartment straight forward there was\nnone at all. We observed that water dropt into the right hand bason,\ntho' it had rain'd but little in many days; and suspected that the\nlower bason was intended to preserve the superfluous liquor of the\nupper, (whether this water were sacred, or whether it was for blood\nin sacrifice) that none might come to the ground. The great pillars\nround this cave, supporting the mount, were not at all hewn or\nwrought; but were such rude stones as those of _Abury_ in\n_Wiltshire_, and rather more rude than those of _Stonehenge_: but\nthose about the basons, and some elsewhere, had such barbarous\nsculpture (_viz._, spiral like a snake, but without distinction of\nhead and tail) as the forementioned stone at the entry of the cave.\nThere was no flagging nor floor to this entry nor cave; but any sort\nof loose stones everywhere under feet. They found several bones in\nthe cave, and part of a stag's (or else elk's) head, and some other\nthings, which I omit, because the labourers differed in their\naccount of them. A gold coin of the emperor _Valentinian_, being\nfound near the top of this mount, might bespeak it _Roman_; but that\nthe rude carving at the entry and in the cave seems to denote it a\nbarbarous monument. So, the coin proving it ancienter than any\ninvasion of the _Ostmens_ (_sic_) or _Danes_, and the carving and\nrude sculpture, barbarous; it should follow, that it was some place\nof sacrifice or burial of the ancient _Irish_.\"\n\nFrom the account given by Dr. Thomas Molyneux,[333] the following\nextracts may be taken:--\n\n\"'Tis situated in the county of _Meath_ and barony of _Slaine_,\nwithin four miles of the town of _Drogheda_; from its largeness and\nmake, from the time and labour it must needs have cost to erect so\ngreat a pile, we may easily gather 'twas raised in honour of some\nmighty prince, or person of the greatest power and dignity in his\ntime. I have not heard of any thing of this kind that equals it in\n_Ireland_: 'tis a thousand foot in the circumference at the bottom,\nand round the flat surface at the top measures three hundred foot,\nit rises in the perpendicular about a hundred and fifty foot; and is\nseated so advantageously upon a rising ground, that it is seen from\nall parts round at a vast distance, and from its top yields a\ndelightful prospect of all the adjacent country.\n\nRound the bottom of the mount, at some distance from it, are raised\nin a circular order, huge unwrought stones, rudely expressing\npyramids, fixt with their basis in the ground, now at unequal\ndistances, because some I suppose have been removed in length of\ntime, and others faln down; neither do they answer one another in\nheight, some being eleven, others not four foot high;...\n\nThe mount it self is composed of small round paving stones, heapt\ntogether so as to form a pyramid, within whose center lies a cave\nthat's somewhat round in figure: to this you can only pass through a\nnarrow hole placed on the north[334] side of the mount, so strait,\nit does allow an entrance but to one man, and that when on his hands\nand feet: it seems they industriously contrived this hole should lye\nconcealed, for 'twas but lately discovered, and that by accident in\nremoving part of the stones to make a pavement in the neighbourhood.\n\nThis strait entrance leads into a narrow gallery of 80 foot in\nlength, 3 foot wide, gradually rising in height, still the further\nit advances from the narrow passage where you enter, there 'tis\nabout 4 foot high, and from thence rises slowly till it is 10 foot\nin height: the differing heights in this gallery at several\ndistances from the first entrance, must be occasioned by the passage\nsuiting its figure to the outward conical shape of the mount, which\nobliged the contriver to make the gallery lower as it was nearer the\noutside of the pyramid, but the farther it advanced from thence\nallowed him still to raise its height more, and most of all about\nthe middle of the mount.[335] The walls or sides of this strait\ngallery are made of large flag stones set broad-ways with their\nedges close to one another, not hewn or shaped by any tool, but rude\nand natural, as when they were at first dug from the quarry; they\ndiffer in their sizes as the several heights of the gallery require,\nthe top of which is covered over with the same flag stones laid\nalong; some of those in the covering measure full nineteen foot in\nlength.\n\nThe furthest end of this long narrow passage lets you into the dark\nhollow cave, of an irregular figure, nineteen or twenty foot high,\nand in the middle about ten foot broad. As you enter the vault, on\neach hand you have a hollow cell or nich, taken out of the sides of\nthe cave, and a third straight before you, these three cells each\nare about five foot every way, and ten in height: the walls round\nthe circumference of the cave, and of these side apartments are\ncomposed like those of the long gallery, of huge, mighty flag stones\nset end-ways in the ground, of seven or eight foot high; these\nupright stones support other broad stones that lay along or\nhorizontally, jetting their ends beyond the upright stones; and over\nthese again are placed another order of flat stones in the same\nlevel posture, advancing still their edges towards the center of the\ncave, further than those they rest upon, and so one course above\nanother approaching nearer towards the middle, form all together a\nrude kind of arch, by way of roof, over the vault below; this arch\nis closed at top by one large stone that covers the center, and\nkeeps all fixt and compact together: for through the whole work\nappears no sign of morter, clay, or other cement, to join or make\nits parts lye firm and close, but where a crevise happens, or an\ninterstice, they are filled up with thin flat stones, split and\nwedged in, on purpose with that design.\n\nThe bottom of the cave and entry is a rude sort of pavement, made of\nthe same stones of which the mount is composed, not beaten or joined\ntogether, but loosely cast upon the ground only to cover it. Along\nthe middle of the cave, a slender quarrey-stone, five or six foot\nlong, lies on the floor, shaped like a pyramid, that once, as I\nimagine, stood upright, perhaps a central stone to those placed\nround the outside of the mount; but now 'tis fallen down....\n\nWhen first the cave was opened, the bones of two dead bodies entire,\nnot burnt, were found upon the floor....\n\nIn each of the three cells was placed upon the ground a broad and\nshallow cistern, somewhat round, but rudely formed out of a kind of\nfree-stone; they all were rounded a little at the bottom so as to be\nconvex, and at the top were slightly hollowed, but their cavities\ncontained but little; some of their brims or edges were sinuated or\nscolopt, the diameter of these cisterns was more than two foot wide,\nand in their height they measured about eighteen inches from the\nfloor.\n\nThe cell that lay upon the right hand was larger, and seemed more\nregular and finish'd than the rest; for rude as it was, it shewed\nthe workman had spent more of his wild art and pains upon it, than\nthe other two: the cistern it contained was better shaped, and in\nthe middle of it was placed another smaller cistern, better wrought,\nand of a more curious make; and still, for greater ornament, the\nstone that lay along as lintal, o'er the entrance of this cell, was\ncut with many spiral, circular, and waved lines, that with their\nrude and shallow traces, covered the surface of the stone. This\nbarbarous kind of carving I observed in many other places of this\ncave, promiscuously disposed of here and there, without the least\nrule or order; but it was exprest no where with so much industry and\nprofuseness, as on the stones belonging to this cell: yet tho' they\nwere so lavish of their art, not the least footsteps of writing, or\nany thing like characters were found in the whole work....\n\n * * * * *\n\nBut the true genuine figure of the cave, and the description of the\nniches in its sides, and the long entry leading to it, will be far\nbetter understood by a plan which Mr. _Samuel Molyneux_, a young\ngentleman of the college of _Dublin_, delineated with care and\naccuracy, upon the place, last summer.[336]\n\n_A_ is the entrance, from _A_ to _B_ the long narrow gallery or\npassage, eighty foot in length, leading to the cave _C_. _D D D D D_\nthe great flag-stones that make the sides or wall both of the cave\nand entrance. _E E E_ the three cells or apartments let into the\nsides of the cave, for the convenient reception of the three altars\nor shallow cisterns, _F F F_. _G_ a second altar, raised upon the\nlower altar in the right hand cell. _H_ a pyramid stone now fallen,\nbut formerly set up erect in the middle of the cave. The situation\nof the cave, as to its length, stands north and south, its entrance\nlies directly south; but whether this position may be observed in\nlaying out the caves, and passages that lead to them, in other\n_Danish_[337] mounts, and so may be some mark or direction to find\nout the hidden entrance, to other sepulchres of this kind, further\nenquiry may inform us.\n\nFigure the 7th [reproduced p. 126, _ante_] shows more particularly\nthe manner and contrivance of the altar in the right hand cell, ...\nexpressing all the rudeness of its work, _a a a a_ the upright\nflag-stones that compose the side-walls. _b b b_ the lintal-stone\nthat's laid a-cross over the entrance of the cell; upon the surface\nof this stone, the artist has exprest abundance of rude barbarous\nsort of sculpture, _c c_ a lower altar serving as a basis to _d_,\nanother lesser altar raised upon it.\"\n\nDr. Molyneux also describes \"two _Roman_ golden coins\" (Llhwyd only\nmentions _one_) which \"about ten or twelve years since\" were found\n\"near the surface,\" on the exterior of the mound; but these have\npractically as little to do with the structure itself as if they had\nbeen found in the neighbouring meadow.\n\nIn comparing these two eighteenth-century accounts, one observes a\nfew points calling for observation. But, before referring\nparticularly to these, it may be convenient to add some of the\nstatements made by Col. Forbes-Leslie with regard to the same mound.\nThis writer, in his \"Early Races of Scotland\" (Edin., 1866, Vol.\nII., pp. 331-341), makes several interesting remarks upon the mound\nof New Grange, and others of a similar nature, and among his\nillustrations are two of New Grange, drawn by himself. These,\nhowever, do not supply any additional information. On the subject of\nthis and similar mounds, Colonel Leslie remarks thus:--\n\n\"Neither historical evidence, nor that derived from an examination\nof these monuments, appears sufficient warrant for the decision that\nall these chambers were exclusively intended for places of\nsepulture. Certainly in some of these chambers the massive materials\nused in their construction have apparently been designed and\nemployed for other purposes. The following questions are suggested\nby peculiarities in these specimens of chambered tumuli--Were they\nintended to be occupied by the living, or as sepulchres for the\ndead? Were they originally used as temples, and afterwards turned\ninto tombs? Or, on the contrary, although raised for tombs, were\nthey afterwards used as habitations?...\n\n\"An examination of the remarkable tumuli above mentioned gives rise\nto the above questions, and they are not answered by any theories or\nexplanations regarding these monuments which have yet been offered\nto the public. It may be admitted, although it cannot be proved,\nthat all or most of these monuments have at some period been used as\nsepulchres, and that the mound of stones or earth in which they are\nenveloped is sepulchral.\" But, in a foot-note, Col. Leslie adds:\n\"There is no authentic record of human remains having been\ndiscovered either in New Grange, in the tumulus of Gavr-Innis\n[Brittany], or in that of Maeshow.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\n\"What are usually called sarcophagi in the chamber at New Grange may\nmore correctly be designated as very shallow trays of a circular or\nrather oval form. In the eastern recess there are two--one placed\nabove another of somewhat larger dimensions, the uppermost being 3\nfeet long. The position and appearance of all of them are very\nunlike anything intended for the reception of sepulchral deposits.\"\n\n... \"New Grange cairn is about 70 feet in height, and is said to\ncover an area nearly two acres in extent. Composed of loose stones,\nslightly covered with earth and partly overgrown with trees, this\nmound formerly had little appearance of being artificial, except\nthat at a few yards' distance it was encircled by a line of single\nstones of great size fixed upright in the ground. The entrance to\nthe chamber in this mound was accidentally discovered in 1699 by\nlabourers who were removing stones to repair a neighbouring\nroad.\"...\n\n\"In each of the three recesses of the chamber were the shallow trays\nalready mentioned, which by different writers have been variously\ndesignated as 'basins,' 'rude bowls,' 'urns,' 'typical urns,'\n'sarcophagi.'[338] There was one in the northern and one in the\nwestern recess, but the most remarkable are two in the eastern\nrecess. The uppermost of these is somewhat oval in shape, slightly\nconcave on its surface, and 3 feet in length: in it are two small\nartificial cavities. This tray lies on another, which is rather\nlarger and less concave than that which rests on it. The tray in the\nwestern recess, although but slightly hollowed, has a well-defined\nrim on the edge of the upper surface....\n\n\"New Grange was first described by Edward Llhuyd the antiquary,\nwho, writing in 1699, makes no mention of any human remains being\nfound in it, but notes 'a great many bones of beasts and some pieces\nof deers' horns' lying under foot.\"\n\nIt will be seen that these accounts vary in several respects. One\ncurious discrepancy is that relating to the shallow stone \"trays\" in\nthe recesses of the central chamber. Dr. Molyneux states that the\nnorthern recess contained one of these, and his young namesake shows\nsuch a \"tray\" in his plan; and yet Llhwyd, writing twenty-five years\nearlier, distinctly says that \"in the apartment straight forward\nthere was none at all.\" That this is the case at the present day\nwill be seen from the plan by Mr. W. F. Wakeman. It is noteworthy\nthat Colonel Leslie also gives the number as three; but he speaks in\nthe past tense when referring to the north recess, and he probably\nonly echoes Molyneux. But Llhwyd's statement is so distinct that,\nconsidering his priority of date, his version must be accepted as\nthe true one, in spite of the fact that young Molyneux (who,\nalthough he is stated to have drawn his plan \"on the place,\" may\nhave supplemented it from memory) represents the inner \"apartment\"\nas occupied by one of those \"trays.\"\n\nAs for the theories of the two earlier writers, on the subject of\nthe origin and purpose of this \"mount,\" it will be observed they\ndiffer widely. Molyneux has no doubt about its being the work of the\nninth-century Danes, while Llhwyd, arguing from the discovery of\nRoman coins on the outer crust, infers that it was erected by \"the\nancient Irish.\" Although the coins cannot be held to constitute a\nstrong reason for accepting Llhwyd's conclusions, other good grounds\nfor doing so are obvious to every reader of the foregoing pages.\n\nAgain, while Molyneux states very definitely that \"when first the\ncave was opened, the bones of two dead bodies entire, not burnt,\nwere found upon the floor,\" Llhwyd merely remarks that \"they found\nseveral bones in the cave, and part of a stag's (or else elk's)\nhead, and some other things,\" and Forbes-Leslie asserts that \"there\nis no authentic record of human remains having been discovered\" in\nthis chambered mound.\n\nAll of the writers quoted differ also as to the uses to which this\nstructure was put. It was \"some place of sacrifice or burial,\"\naccording to Llhwyd; Molyneux is sure that it was a \"sepulchre\"; and\nForbes-Leslie regards the whole matter as undecided. But, although\nthe last-named writer is of opinion that this, and similar mounds,\nmay have been dwellings, he nevertheless admits that undoubtedly\nmany of them, if not all, have also been used as places of burial.\nAnd these two beliefs are quite reconcilable, if one accepts what\nProfessor Boyd Dawkins refers to as \"the hypothesis of the origin of\nchambered tombs invented by Prof. Nilsson.\" \"Chambered tombs,\naccording to that great authority, were originally the subterranean\nhouses in which the deceased lived, and there the dead were laid\nliterally each 'in his own house.'\" Whether human skeletons were\nreally found in \"the Brugh of the Boyne\" or not, it seems clear that\nthe mound at Dowth was ultimately, at any rate, a place of\nsepulture. \"The most remarkable difference\" between it and its more\nfamous neighbour was, says Colonel Leslie, \"that in Dowth fragments\nof burned human bones were discovered.\" And it is to be noted that\ntradition speaks of this place as \"the cave (or 'weem') of the\n_grave_ of Bodan, above Dowth:\" (_Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath_).\nDowth, or Dubath, may have denoted the mound itself; in which case\nthe word signifying \"above\" or \"upon\" might refer to an exterior\nburial, in the \"crust\" of the mound, of which there are many\nexamples. For instance, although tradition speaks of the Inverness\n_Tomnahurich_ as an inhabited \"brugh,\" yet its exterior was used as\na place of burial at a very early date, as is testified by the\ndiscovery, a few years ago, of a stone \"kist,\" containing a human\nskeleton, buried some feet below the surface of the mound.[339]\nHowever, the word _Dubath_ (conjectured on a previous page to have\nsignified _dubh-ath_, \"the black ford\") probably did not originally\ndenote the mound itself, and _it_ therefore was \"above Dubath,\" and\nthe central chamber of the mound constituted \"the weem of the grave\nof Bodan,\" who was presumably the owner of the \"burned human bones\"\nreferred to by Colonel Leslie.\n\nBut, while a description of the \"Brugh of the Boyne\" would be very\nimperfect without a reference to the subject of burial in chambered\nmounds, the various traditions which have been collected in these\npages (themselves a minute fraction of the whole) show that such\nmounds, whatever their secondary use, are pre-eminently\ndistinguished in the memory of the people as the _dwelling-places_\nof a certain peculiar \"underground\" race.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[331] This paper forms the last of \"A Collection of such Papers as\nwere communicated to the _Royal Society_, Referring to some\n_Curiosities_ in Ireland. _Dublin_: Printed by and for George\nGrierson, at the Two Bibles in Essex-Street, M, DCC, XXVI.\" (The\n\"Collection\" forms Part II. of \"A Natural History of Ireland,\"\nissued from the same press.)\n\n[332] Either this describes a slab which was subsequently destroyed\nor carried away, or it relates to the carved slab fixed in the\nground below the doorway (as portrayed by Mr. Wakeman, at p. 121,\n_ante_).\n\n[333] In the volume already referred to as containing Llhwyd's\ndescription, and other papers.\n\n[334] A slip for \"south.\"\n\n[335] The writer has evidently overlooked his previously expressed\nbelief that the whole \"mount\" was artificial; or else he has assumed\nthat the builders _first_ raised a solid \"pyramid\" of stones, and\nthen burrowed into it; which is obviously absurd.\n\n[336] This tract was published in 1725. The \"young gentleman's\"\nillustrations have been re-produced in the present volume, in the\nplates facing pp. 124 and 126.\n\n[337] Dr. Molyneux assumes throughout that such \"mounts\" were\nerected by the Danes; and this origin is very often ascribed to them\nby Irish and Hebridean tradition. But Lady Ferguson's observation\nthat the \"Danes\" and the \"Dananns\" or \"Tuatha De Danann,\" are\nevidently confounded in the popular memory, is worth considering\nhere. It is clear, at any rate, that the \"Danes\" of the year 861 who\nplundered those Boyne mounds cannot have been the people who reared\nthem.\n\n[338] Of all these terms the \"shallow tray\" (or \"saucer,\" if a new\none may be added) is the most appropriate. From the plan of the\nDowth mound (_ante_, p. 138) it will be seen that the central\nchamber there also has one of those large stone \"trays.\" No\nsatisfactory solution has yet been offered of the purposes for which\nthese \"trays\" were made.\n\n[339] Described in the Edinburgh _Courant_ of January 6, 1886.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX B.\n\nTHE SKR\u00c6LINGS.\n\n\nThere are many references to the North American Skr\u00e6lings in Rafn's\ngreat work entitled \"Antiquitates American\u00e6: sive Scriptores\nSeptentrionales Rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America,\" published\nunder the auspices of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries\n(Copenhagen, 1837). This is a collection of the accounts in the old\nNorthern chronicles, relating to the Northmen's (_gamle Nordboers_)\nvoyages of discovery to America, between the tenth and fourteenth\ncenturies. And from these accounts it is seen that the tribes then\ninhabiting the territories on either side of the Gulf of St.\nLawrence, and as far south as Massachusetts, were the Skr\u00e6lings;\nwith whom the Northmen occasionally fought, and at other times\ntraded, giving them pieces of red cloth in exchange for furs.\n\nThat the term by which they are chiefly known to modern writers was\nnot the only one given to them by the Northmen is seen from a remark\nmade by one of the chroniclers of Thorfinn Karlsefne, who states\nthat \"these people are called Lapps in some books (_th\u00e6r thj\u00f3dhir\nkalla sumir b\u00e6kr Lappa_).\"[340] On the other hand, the map of Olaus\nMagnus, referred to in the foregoing pages, shows that the northern\ncorner of Norway was then inhabited by a race of _Scric-Finni_,\n\"commonly called 'Screlings,'\" who at least were the neighbours of\nLapps.\n\nIn connection with the North American \"Lapps\" or \"Skr\u00e6lings,\" the\neditor of _Antiquitates American\u00e6_ supplies the following note (p.\n45):--\"Skr\u00e6lingos appellatos autumat Buss\u00e6us ob humilem staturam;\nquam ob rem et interdum ab Islandis _Sm\u00e6l\u00edngjar_ (homunculi)\naudiunt. H\u00e6c vero communis appellationis ratio vix esse potest.\nArnas Magn\u00e6us in collectaneis ad novam editionem Schedarum Arii\npolyhistoris, vocem _Skr\u00e6l\u00edngjar_ interpretatur errones, incertum\nqua ratione, cum ipse nullam attulerit. Suhmius (_Kj\u00f6benhavnske\nSelskabs Skrifter_, VIII., pag. 81) eos ita propter vilem armaturam\nappellatos putat. Nonne potius nomen istud ob ora macilenta adepti\nsunt, ab _at skr\u00e6la_, arefacere? Nota, Petrum Clausenium Undalinum,\nin descriptione Norvegi\u00e6, ed. Hafn. 1632, pag. 375-6, hoc nomen\nscribere _Skregklinge_ et _Skreglinge_, qs. a _skr\u00e6kja_, clamare,\nejulare, cfr. Partic. de Karlsefnio, cap. 10 infra.\"\n\nWhatever may be the etymology of this word (which in some of its\nforms approaches the \"_Scric_-Finni\" of Norway), it is quite clear\nfrom the _Antiquitates American\u00e6_ that those tenth-century natives\nof what is now New England and New Brunswick strongly resembled the\nmodern Eskimos. \"H\u00e6c descriptio Skr\u00e6lingorum accurate quadrat in\nhodiernos Gr\u00e6nlandos sive Eskimoos,\" is the observation made by the\neditor (p. 149, _n_.) on a description of some of those people\nencountered by the Northmen. And, similarly, the note relative to\ntheir skin-canoes, or kayaks, is as follows:[341]--\"_h\u00fadhkeipr_,\nspecies navigii, acatium coriaceum vel corio contextum, quo usi sunt\nindigen\u00e6, ut etiamnunc Gr\u00e6nlandi ex genere Eskimoorum; itaque per\ncarabum redditum, qui secundum Isidorum Hispal. in Orig. Libr. 19,\ncap. 1. est 'parva scapha ex vimine facta, qui contexta crudo corio\ngenus navigii pr\u00e6bet.'--Vocem illustrat vir doctissimus Gunnar\nPauli, f. in annotationibus, insertis indici vocum _Orkneyinga sag\u00e6:\n'H\u00fadhkeipr_, navis sutilis, vel, si mavis, corio obducta vel\ncircumdata. Nam phocarum ad hunc usum pelles adhibere Gr\u00e6nlandos\nnotum est, quorum naves _h\u00fadhkeipar_ nostratibus olim sunt\nappellat\u00e6.'\"\n\nIn these references there is much that is suggestive. One would like\nto know the occasions on which the Latin term \"acatium\" was used;\nand also the circumstances which induced an editor of the\n_Orkneyinga Saga_ to enlarge upon the appearance of the _h\u00fadhkeipr_.\nTaken in connection with the existence of kayak-using Finnmen, in\nthe Orkney Isles, less than two centuries ago, this latter allusion\nis very striking. Similarly, an explanation of the term\n\"Skregklinge\" or \"Skreglinge,\" occurring in a description of\n_Norway_, of the year 1632 (above referred to), arouses equal\ninterest in that work.\n\nThat the Skr\u00e6lings, wherever situated, were \"pigmies,\" is evident\nfrom the testimony of Olaus Magnus,--and the accounts of the\neleventh-century Northmen fully corroborate this. One of their\nreferences is as follows: \"They were small, ugly men, with horrible\nheads of hair, great eyes, and broad cheek-bones: (_Their voru sm\u00e1ir\nmenn ok illiligir, ok \u00edllt h\u00f6fdhu their h\u00e1r \u00e1 h\u00f6fdhi, eygdhir voru\ntheir mj\u00f6k ok breidhir \u00ed kinnunum_).\"[342] Another description\noccurs in the _Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne_ which relates how,\nin the year 1011 A.D. (three years after his first encounter\nwith the American Skr\u00e6lings), he and his people arrived at\nMarkland,--a country identified with the modern New Brunswick and\nother lands lying round the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here they\nencountered five Skr\u00e6lings, one man, two women and two boys:\n(\"... _ok funnu thar Skr\u00e6lingja 5, ok var einn skeggiadhr; konur\nvoru 2, ok b\u00f6rn tv\u00f6_;\" in which passage it may be noted that the man\nwas distinguished by the term \"bearded,\"--_skeggjadhr_). They\ncaptured the two boys, \"but the others escaped, and sank beneath the\nground:\" (\"_Verosimile est, Skr\u00e6lingos in cavernas subterraneas se\nabdidisse_,\" is the explanation given by the commentator in\n_Antiquitates American\u00e6_).[343] Karlsefne's people took the boys\naway with them, had them baptized, and taught them Icelandic. These\nstated that their father and mother (no doubt, the \"bearded one\" and\none of the two women, then lamenting them in their underground\ndwelling) were respectively named Uv\u00e6ge and Vethillde;[344] and that\ntheir people had no houses, but lived in dens and caves: (\"_\u00ed hellum\nedha holum_\"). The country of the Skr\u00e6lings, they said, was governed\nby two kings or chiefs, one named Avalldamon (or Avalldumon) and the\nother Valldidida.\"\n\nIt will be seen from these references that although those Skr\u00e6lings\nof nine centuries ago are rightly regarded as probable progenitors\nof modern Eskimos, there were some differences between the two. The\nterm \"shaggy\" or \"bearded,\" used to distinguish the man from his two\nfemale companions, certainly does not indicate that the latter were\nthemselves hirsute. But the previous reference to the \"ugly\" or\n\"horrible\" heads of hair, and the description of their eyes as very\nlarge, are two points that seem to denote a race not wholly\nidentical with modern Eskimos.\n\nMoreover, the rapid disappearance of the adults underground, on the\noccasion when the two boys were captured, is more suggestive of the\ndwarfs of tradition (such as those who similarly escaped from\nSuafurlami when he attempted to smite them with his magic sword)\nthan of the Greenlanders of to-day.\n\nAlthough the accounts of the two boy prisoners might be held to\ndenote that the manners they described were new to the Northmen,\nyet an incident of earlier date shows clearly that the latter\nquite understood the subterranean ideas of those North American\n\"Lapps.\" The incident referred to is this: In the year 1004,\nThorwald Ericson and his followers had surprised a small party of\nnine Skr\u00e6lings at the entrance to Plymouth Harbour, on the coast of\nMassachusetts,[345] and of these they killed eight. The ninth sped\naway in his skin-canoe to the inner end of the bay, out of which\nthere presently emerged an infuriated swarm of kayakkers. But before\nthey appeared, the Northmen had had time to note a group of\n\"hillocks\" on the beach (apparently on the interior curve of the\npromontory terminating in the modern \"Gurnet Point,\") and these\n\"hillocks\" they assumed to be the abodes of the Skr\u00e6lings.[346] This\nwas seven years before the capture of the boys by Karlsefne's party,\nand the inference clearly is that they were accustomed to regard\nkayak-using dwarfs as mound-dwellers. Indeed, the very fact that\nthey styled the natives \"Lapps\" and \"goblins,\"[347] as well as\nSkr\u00e6lings, shows that they regarded them as belonging to the same\nrace as similar people well known to them in Europe.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[340] _Antiq. Amer._ p. 182_n_.\n\n[341] P. 43, note _a_.\n\n[342] Pages 180-1. It ought to be added that the version which is\ngiven on p. 149 has _svartir_ (\"swarthy\" or \"black\") instead of\n_sm\u00e1ir_. But whichever of these versions has the correct word, the\nsmall stature of the Skr\u00e6lings is beyond dispute.\n\n[343] Page 162, note _a_. The account above referred to is given at\npp. 161-2, and again at pp. 182-3.\n\n[344] According to the version on p. 162. That of p. 182 makes both\nnames feminine, and indicates that the boys were not sons of one\nmother. A footnote on p. 162 gives many variants of these names,\n_e.g._, \u00c6gi, Ov\u00e6gi, etc., Weihilldi, Veinhildi, etc.\n\n[345] That, at any rate, is the locality agreed upon by those who\nhave tracked the routes of the Northmen.\n\n[346] _Op. cit._, p. 43.\n\n[347] See p. 144_n._, _ante_.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nAagerup, Denmark:\n reputed chambered mound near, 155.\n\nAberfoyle, Perthshire:\n reputed chambered hill at, 152-3.\n\nAbernethy, Perthshire:\n Round Tower of, said to have been built by Pechts, 67, 86.\n A. district a former territory of the Pechts, 150.\n\nAinos:\n A dwarfish race, 165;\n their past history, 165-6;\n their characteristic hairiness, 166-172;\n their platycnemism, 176;\n their speed, 177;\n their \"short, screeching\" cry, 168;\n A's. make use of reindeer, moccasins, \"skies,\" and harpoons,\n all of which show affinity of custom, if not of blood,\n with Eskimo families, 169-171.\n\nAlaskan, or Aleutian Eskimos, 9_n_, 22.\n\nAll-Hallows. (_See_ Hallowmas.)\n\n_Almhain_ or Allen, Hill of, Kildare:\n Fin's dwelling at, 56.\n\n_Almhain_ or Almond, Glen, West Perthshire:\n resort of Fians, 77.\n\nArdmore, Waterford:\n Round Tower of, said to have been built in the manner ascribed\n to the Pechts, 71_n_.\n\nArgyleshire. (_See under_ Mounds.)\n\nArthur, and \"primitive Britons\" or \"Pechts,\" 142-3_n_.\n\nArthur's Seat, Edinburgh, 143_n_.\n\nAschberg, Casterl\u00e9, province of Antwerp.\n A reputed chambered mound, 86-7, 155.\n\nAshbury, Berkshire. A chambered mound, 132_n_.\n\n_Auxcriniers_ of Guernsey tradition, 16, 178.\n\n\n_Baile Thangasdail_, Island of Barra:\n story of a chambered mound near, 82_n_, 115.\n\nBallindalloch (near), Banffshire:\n reputed chambered mound, 117.\n\nBeelsby, Lincolnshire:\n tradition of dwarfs wearing red caps, 107_n_.\n\nBeltin.\n A Fian date, 94.\n A Fairy date, 98.\n\nBen-cnock, Islay:\n reputed chambered mound, 114.\n\nBen Muich Dhui, Aberdeenshire:\n Dwarfs of, 97.\n\nBergen, Norway:\n a celebrated resort of the Shetland Finns, 5, 13:\n suzerainty of B. over N.E. Scotland, 37.\n The _Strils_ of B., 7_n_.\n\nBissau, Aberdeenshire:\n reputed chambered mound, 117.\n\nBlackwater, Leinster, 92.\n\nBlackwater, Munster, 92, 127.\n\nBlackwater, East Perthshire, 94-5.\n\nBlackwater, West Perthshire, 152.\n\nBolg. (_See_ Fir-Bolg.)\n\nBraderup, Sylt:\n the _Pukthal_ at, 87.\n\nBrechin, Forfarshire:\n Round Tower at B. said to have been built by the Pechts, 72.\n\nBrittany:\n church in B. said to have been built by Fairies, 85-6;\n _Feins_ or _Fions_ of B., 85.\n\n_Broch_, _Brog_, etc., 43_n_, 61, 77-79.\n\nBroch of Coldoch, Perthshire:\n a chambered mound, 119, 149-151, 153.\n\nBrownies, 80, 141-2, 158-164. (_See_ also Fairies, etc.)\n\nBrugh of the Boyne, County Meath, 84, 111, 119-133, 153.\n\nBugle, Buffalo, or Urus, 80-81_n_, 95.\n\nBuildings said to have been reared in a single night:\n Abernethy Tower, 85-6;\n Chapels in Brittany, 85;\n Castle of the _Gypnissen_, 86.\n\nBurray, Orkney. Finnman's boat once preserved there, 6.\n All trace of it now lost, 17_n_.\n\n\nCanoe. (_See_ Skin-Boat.)\n \"Dug-out,\" 31.\n\nCassiterides. (_See_ Oestrymnic Isles.)\n\nCater Thun, Forfarshire:\n said to be Pictish, 73, 76, 86, 99;\n alleged to have been built by a witch, and inhabited by\n Fairies, 99-100:\n a kettle of gold believed to be hidden there, 150_n_.\n\nCathair Mhor } Gairloch, Ross-shire: fairy residences, 118.\nCathair Bheag }\n\n\"Catrail\" in S. of Scotland, said to have been built by\n Pechts, 67.\n\nCave-Men:\n in Uist, Hebrides, during 17th century, 29.\n\n\"Cavern\" at Yester, or Gifford, East Lothian, 143.\n\nChambered Mounds. (_See_ Mounds.)\n\nChessmen of Walrus Ivory, found in Hebrides, 32, 158_n_.\n\nClunie, Perthshire, Castle Hill of:\n reputed chambered mound, 145-146.\n\nClydesdale.\n Pecht's house in C., 66;\n Glasgow cathedral said to have been built by Pechts, 72;\n traditional description of dwarfs of C., 97.\n\nCnock-doun, Islay:\n reputed chambered mound, 114.\n\nCnoc Fraing, Inverness-shire:\n a home of fairies, 146.\n\n_Coir-nan-Uruisgean_, Perthshire, 151-152.\n\nColdoch _broch_, Perthshire, 119, 149-151, 153.\n\nColonsay, island of:\n Macphail of C. and his (?) Finn lover, 15-16;\n tradition of dwarfs living in C., 147;\n _Sithean Mor_ and _Sithean Beag_, 147.\n\nConnaught, Fians of, 76, 93.\n\nCorryvreckan, Argyleshire:\n The (?) Finn woman of C. and her Colonsay lover, 15-16.\n\nCorstorphine Church, near Edinburgh;\n said to have been built by the \"Hottentots,\" 70-71.\n\nCraig Patrick, Inverness-shire, 149.\n\nCraig y Ddinas, Glamorganshire, 143_n_.\n\nCrocan Corr, Kilbrandon, Argyleshire:\n reputed chambered mound, 114.\n\nCromar, Aberdeenshire;\n underground gallery at, 101.\n\nCrown, Inverness, 149_n_.\n\nCruachan _rath_:\n re-built by a servile race, 68_n_, 125_n_, 136, 152_n_;\n \"a party of smiths at work\" in its interior, 136.\n\nCruithne. (_See_ also Picts, etc.)\n Were pre-Milesian, 51.\n Were connected with the \"Lochlin\" territory, 51.\n Their connection with Feens and Fairies, 128-9.\n\nCuailgne: Fin's fort on, 75-76.\n\n\"Cyclopean\" character of Pictish buildings, 73.\n\n\nDananns (_Tuatha De Danann_):\n classed with the Cruithne as of Continental origin, and\n \"pre-Milesian\" in settling in British Isles; and\n consequently to be classed with the Fians, 51.\n Known also as the _Fir Sidhe_ or Fairies, 126;\n account of their rivalry with the Milesians, 124-127;\n description of the dwelling assigned to the King of the\n Dananns, 120-130 and Appendix A.\n\nDanes;\n their ravages in the Boyne Valley in 861, when they plundered\n the underground chambers of the \"Fians and Fairies,\" 81-84.\n\nDanish ballad of dwarfs and colonists, 105-6.\n\nDartmoor;\n its gubbins and pixies, 161-2.\n\nDavis Straits.\n Conjectured by some to be the home of the Orkney Finnmen, 7.\n Eskimo of D. S. at Leith in 1816, 8, 12.\n\nDeer. (_See_ also Reindeer and Elk.)\n Hunted in Glenshee, East Perthshire, by the Fians, 94-5;\n \"great-beamed\" D., 95;\n D. milked and used as beasts of burthen, 96.\n\nDenghoog:\n chambered mound in Sylt, 87, 112-113, 122.\n\nDenmark. (_See_ also Lochlin.)\n Eckwadt church said to have been built by a \"hill-man,\"\n 85-86_n_.\n (_See_ also \"Mounds reputed to be chambered.\")\n\nDevonshire, 161-2.\n\n_Digh_;\n an equivalent for _sithean_, 79_n_.\n\nDonegal.\n Skin-boats used by natives of \"The Rosses,\" 18;\n Finn Town, D., 23.\n\nDoon, or Doo'n, of Aberfoyle, 152-154.\n\nDoon of Menteith, 144.\n\nDoon of Rothiemurchus, 144-145.\n\nDornoch Firth:\n Fairies ferried themselves across D. F. in\n \"cockle-shells,\" 17, 22.\n\nDowth, or Dubath; chambered mound, 84, 111, 119, 132-3, 137.\n\n_Drinnich_, or _Trinnich_, a Gaelic term applied to the Picts,\n signifying \"labourers,\" 71-72.\n\nDrudges.\n Cruachan _rath_ re-built by an enslaved race, 68_n_,\n 125_n_, 136, 152_n_.\n Similar references, 68-74, 151-2.\n _Gypnissen_, 86.\n\nDruids, 125-127.\n\nDunnan, in Galloway;\n a fairy fort, 99.\n\nDunstanborough Castle, Northumberland, said to have been built by\n the Picts, 67.\n\nDwarfs. (_See_ also Pechts or Picts.)\n D's of Shetland tradition, otherwise Finns, 56; also 59.\n D's of Scottish tradition generally, otherwise Pechts, 58-60;\n D's of Highland tradition, 57, 97;\n D's of Clydesdale, 97.\n D's of Northumberland, 67, 80, 86, 99.\n D's of Yorkshire, 100.\n D's of Lincolnshire, 107_n_.\n D's of Wales, 160-2.\n D's of Cornwall, 162.\n D's of Devon, 161-2.\n Fin of the Fians a D., 55-56.\n D's of Brittany (_Fions_, etc.), 85.\n D's of Antwerp, 86-87.\n D's of the Netherlands, 86.\n D's of Denmark and Danish tradition, 85-86_n_, 105-106.\n D's of Sylt, 87, 112-113.\n D's of Scandinavia, 91.\n D's of Germany, 163-4, 172-3.\n D's of Greenland and North America, 63.\n D's of Japan, 157, 165 _et seq._\n D's of Africa, 157.\n Great bodily strength ascribed to the Scotch Pechts, 72-73;\n to the Northumbrian Picts, 67, 73-4;\n to the dwarfs of Tienen, in the Netherlands, 86.\n D's at war with each other, and with men, 94_n_.\n Green the colour of the D's, 97.\n Tribute exacted by the D's, 97.\n Magic of the D's, 106.\n Hidden treasures of the D's, 107_n_, 129_n_, 150_n_.\n D's as serfs or drudges, 151-2.\n D's in one aspect civilized, in another savage, 156-7.\n Hairiness of skin of D's, 157-164, 169_n_.\n\n\nEamhain, or Eamhna, 49, 133-4.\n\nEckwadt, Denmark;\n residence of a \"hill-man\" near, 85_n_.\n\nEday, Orkney:\n Finnman seen there in 1682, 5.\n\nEdinburgh.\n Finnman's skiff preserved there 6;\n Corstorphine church said to have been built by the\n \"Hottentots,\" 70-71;\n Pecht lands near E., 68-71;\n King Arthur and the Pechts believed to have entered a\n subterranean chamber at Arthur's Seat, 143_n_.\n\nEilean Suthainn, Loch Maree;\n a fairy resort, 118.\n\nElk.\n Hunted in East Perthshire by the Fians, 94-95;\n horns of E. found there, 95;\n _lon-dubh_=\"black elk,\" 95.\n\nErribol, Sutherlandshire:\n Weem, Pecht's House, or Fairy Hall at, 101.\n\nEskimos.\n Compared with Shetland Finns, 7-8;\n with Pechts, 53, 77-78;\n with Finns and Lapps, 53;\n with \"Skraelings,\" Appendix B;\n with Ainos, 169-171.\n E. or Skraeling chambered mounds in Greenland, Labrador, and\n Massachusetts, 62-4, 77-78, 155, and Appendix B.\n Kayaks:\n their speed, 8;\n feat of oversetting kayak, 12.\n Kayakker, at some distance, resembles triton or mer-man, 13.\n Open skin-boats of E., 22.\n Dwarfish stature of E., 63.\n E's of Alaska, 9_n_, of Greenland, 12-13_n_, 53, 62-4, 142_n_.\n E. magicians believe they can control the winds, 53, 63.\n An E. type in modern Britain, 37-8.\n\nEu, island, Ross-shire;\n a haunt of 17th c. \"pirates,\" 29.\n\nEvie, Orkney:\n reputed chambered mounds at, 111_n_.\n\n\nFairies. (_See_ Dananns, Fians, Pechts, Dwarfs, &c.)\n F's inhabited the _bruth_, _sith-bhrugh_ or _sheean_,\n otherwise the \"Pecht's house,\" 79.\n F's associated with Pechts, 80;\n with Fians, 81-84;\n with Fions, 85.\n As Dananns (_q. v._), F's associated with Cruithne, 51,\n 127-129.\n Builders of a church in Brittany in circumstances suggestive\n of the Pechts, 85.\n Inhabitants of the White Cater Thun, an alleged stronghold of\n the Pechts, 99-100.\n \"Dancing and making merry\" in the Orkneys, c. 1700 (cf.\n Shetland Finns, 3), 14, 111_n_.\n Frequently seen at Fitty Hill, Westray, at same period, 33.\n \"Fairy Ha'\" in Shetland, 104.\n \"In armour\" in Orkney, 14;\n at war with each other in Ireland, 93.\n Tithes due to F., 97.\n \"Good\" F's of christenings, etc., 91-2;\n \"Christian\" F's, 85.\n F's of Clydesdale, 97.\n F's as serfs or drudges, 151-2.\n\nFairy Knowe of Aberfoyle, 152-4.\n\nFairy Knowe beside Broch of Coldoch (itself a _\u00e7i-devant_ Fairy\n Knowe), 119, 149, 151.\n\nFearna, Weem of, 136-7.\n\nFens Fiord, Bergen, 7_n_.\n\nFians, or Feens, or Feinne of Gaelic lore:\n The Land of the F's, 45.\n The Well of the F's, 43.\n The Hillock of the F's, 130.\n Other F. localities, 46, 49, 51, 52.\n Dr. Skene's belief as to the historical position of the F's, 46.\n F's preceded the Milesians in Ireland, 46, 51.\n F. Confederacy not restricted to Ireland, but included the\n following divisions:--\n F's of England and Wales;\n of Northern and Central Scotland;\n and of Lochlin, understood to be the Rhine-Elbe region, 47-51.\n Irish F's divisible into:--\n F's of Connaught and West;\n F's of Leinster;\n and F's of Eastern Ulster, 76, 93.\n F's referred to in Scotland in Perthshire (Glenlyon,\n Glenal-main-with-Glenshee, and Glenshee or Blackwater) 77,\n 94-95.\n Outer Hebrides and part of West Highlands specially the Land\n of the F., 45.\n (?) Referred to in Ayrshire, 85.\n F's exacted tribute from Irish kings, 47.\n Their ancient rights of hunting and of free-quarters, 94.\n Overthrow of F's at Battle of Gawra, 47.\n Vanished glory of the F's, 75-76, 130.\n Fin, their chief, court dwarf to the king of the \"big men,\" 56.\n F's as the drudges and serfs of another race, 75.\n F's inhabited \"Pechts' houses,\" 76-77.\n F's as builders of stone forts, 75-76.\n F's regarded as dwarfs, 65.\n F's associated with Dananns, Fir Sidhe, or Fairies, 51, 81-84.\n F's regarded as Cruithne or Picts, 51-2, 54.\n Their assumed identity with historical and traditional Finns,\n 44-50, 54-5, 65.\n Their magic identified with that of the Finns, 54.\n Their \"great-antlered deer,\" 95.\n Their darts, 54-5.\n Their swiftness of foot, 177.\n A descendant of the F., 44.\n\nFierna, or Fierin, King of the Sidhfir of Munster, 93, 127.\n His \"hillock\" near Limerick, 93, 145.\n\nFin, Finn, or Fionn, a chief of the Feens of Gaelic tradition:\n Grandson of a Finland woman, 49-50.\n Described as going in his skin-boat to the Kingdom of the Big\n Men, where he became the court dwarf, 55-6.\n A dwarf in a Scotch poem of _ante_ 1600, styled a grandson\n of F., 65.\n His stone fort on Cuailgne, 75-6, 93.\n His \"castles\" in Glenlyon, Perthshire, 77.\n\nFinland.\n Alleged to be the home of the Orkney Finnmen (6),\n of the grandmother of \"Fin\" (49-50),\n of the Fomorians (50_n_).\n\nFinn, a chief of the dwarfs of Sylt tradition, 87, 112-113.\n Chambered mound of Denghoog said to have been his dwelling,\n 87, 112-113.\n\nFinnmen of Orkney:\n Used to fish in Orkney waters in 17th century, 5-6.\n Their seal-skin boats described, 6.\n The great speed of these skin-boats, 5-6.\n Specimens of their boats at Burray and Edinburgh, 6, 10,\n 11_n_, 17_n_.\n F's said to have come from Finland, 6.\n Regarded as \"barbarous men\" by Edinburgh physicians of 1696,\n 10, 30-31.\n \"The Dart he makes use of for killing fish,\" 6.\n\nFinns of Shetland tradition:\n Their \"sea-skins or seal-skins,\" 1.\n The great speed of these \"skins,\" 4-5.\n F's said to have come from Norway, and also from \"Shool\n Skerry,\" 2-4.\n Sea-rovers or pirates, 3, 34-35\n Magicians, soothsayers, and doctors, 1-5.\n Inter-married with Shetlanders, 1-4, 34-35.\n Descendants of such marriages \"lucky,\" and proud of their\n descent, 1, 2, 5.\n Cattle of the F's, 4.\n F's regarded as dwarfs, 56, 92.\n Dancing on the sands \"every ninth night,\" 3 (cf. Fairies,\n 14, 111_n_.)\n Identified with Feens, 43-44, 54, 65.\n\nFinns and Lapps:\n Their territory formerly greater than now, 35.\n Inter-marriages with non-Finnish races, 39-42.\n A semi-Finn lord of Orkney, 40-41.\n F. or L. type in modern Britain, 37-38.\n F's of Lofoten neighbourhood in 12th century, 21, 39.\n Boats made by them, 21.\n Skiffs of modern L's, 22_n_.\n Swedish-F. settlement in Pennsylvania, U.S. in 17th\n century, 36-37.\n \"Lapp\" natives of North America in 10th century, Appendix B.\n F's or L's as magicians, \"selling winds,\" etc., 16, 41, 53,\n 91-92.\n Identified with Fairies, 96-97;\n with Feens, 50;\n with Dwarfs, 129_n_ and Appendix B.\n\nFions, etc. on the Continent:\n Fions of Brittany (dwarfs who lived with the fairies), 85.\n Feins, 85_n_.\n\nFir-Bolg, or Firbolgs.\n Cruachan _rath_ re-built by a race of F., 68_n_, 125_n_,\n 136, 152_n_.\n\nFitty Hill, Westray. (_See_ Westray.)\n\nForteviot, Perthshire, 69.\n\nForth, River.\n Chambered mounds of Forth valley, ascertained and reputed, 114,\n 119, 151-154.\n\n\nGabhra, or Gawra, Battle of, 47-50.\n\nGaels. (_See_ Milesians.)\n\nGairloch, Ross-shire.\n _Tombuidhe Ghearrloch_, 112;\n Big and Little \"Cathairs\" of G., 118;\n _Sitheanan Dubha_, 118.\n\nGalloway:\n probable Finns in G., 25;\n Picts commonly called \"Galloway-men,\" 69-70_n_;\n last stronghold of Picts in G., 99;\n stronghold of Fairies in G., 99.\n\n_Garbhcrioch_:\n translated as \"the rough bounds,\" and defined as the country\n between Loch Linnhe and the Hebrides, formed a portion of\n the \"Land of the Feens,\" 45.\n Called also _Garbh-chnochan_, 118.\n\nGermany. (_See_ under Lochlin.)\n\nGillesbierg, Denmark: reputed chambered mound, 155_n_.\n\nGlac-an-t-Shithein, Nether Lochaber, 147_n_.\n\nGlasgow Cathedral, said to have been built by the Pechts, 72.\n\nGlenlyon, Perthshire, a home of the Feens, 77.\n\nGlen Odhar, Sutherlandshire:\n its fairy herds believed to have been reindeer, 97.\n\nGlenshee and Glen Almain, West Perthshire, a home of the\n Feens, 77.\n\nGlenshee, East Perthshire, a favourite hunting-ground of the\n Feens, 94.\n\nGlen-na-Shirich, Nether Lochaber, a glen of the Fairies, 147_n_.\n\nGobban, Goblin, Gubbin, etc., 113, 144_n_, 162_n_.\n\nGobban Saor (The Noble Smith), 84, 132-3;\n his chambered mound, 132.\n\nGoblin Hall, East Lothian, 143.\n\nGoblin Knowe (_Cnoc nam Bocan_), Perthshire, 151-152.\n\nGoblins of Greenland, 144_n_.\n\nGowanree.\n An enslaved tribe of Firbolgic origin, 68_n_, 125_n_, 136,\n 152_n_.\n\nGreen, the colour of the Fairies or Dwarfs, 97;\n of the Feens, 97-8;\n of the Pechts, 99.\n\nGruids, near Lairg, Sutherlandshire;\n reputed chambered mound at, 116-117.\n\nGruinard, Ross-shire:\n resort of 17th-century pirates, 30.\n\nGubbins of Dartmoor, 161-2;\n their swiftness of foot, 177.\n\nGultebierg, Denmark:\n a reputed chambered mound, 155_n_.\n\nGurnett Point, Massachusetts:\n reputed chambered mound near, Appendix B.\n\n_Gwylliaid Cochion Mowddwy_, an underground race in\n Wales, 160-1;\n \"their swiftness and agility,\" 177.\n\nGypnissen, or Dwarf-women of the Netherlands, 86.\n\n\nHadeland, Norway, ruled by a semi-Finn, 40-42.\n\nHadrian's Wall said to have been built by the Picts, 67.\n\nHairy Men. (_See_ Shaggy Men, Ainos, etc.)\n\nHalfdan Haleg, a semi-Finn noble:\n was lord of Orkney for some months: slain at North\n Ronaldshay, 40-41.\n\nHallowmas.\n A Feen date, 94.\n A Fairy date, 98.\n\nHebrides:\n Outer H. regarded as part of the \"Land of the Feens,\" 45.\n Some parts of H. thickly wooded in 16th century, 105_n_.\n Raids made by Lewismen on Orkney and Shetland in 15th\n century, 33-35.\n Certain Hebrideans not properly subjects of British monarch\n in 1608, 26-32.\n Some of the Hebrideans styled \"savages\" by James I. (28),\n and by Skyemen (29);\n and these, or others, referred to as \"robbers\" or\n \"pirates\" by a 17th-century writer (29-30).\n Chessmen of walrus ivory found in H., 32, 158_n_.\n Wigwams of Jura islanders in 1772, 24.\n \"The Harrisian physiognomy\" and stature, 24.\n\nHill-men, how-folk, _bergmannetjes_, hog-boys, shag-boys,\n etc., 85_n_, 107, 111-113.\n\n\"Hottentot,\" builders of Corstorphine church, 70.\n\n\nIberians:\n used skin-boats, 19-20;\n Iberian type in modern Britain, 38.\n\nInverness, 146-149.\n\n\nJura, island of; wigwams of islanders, 24.\n\n\nKaempe Viser, 105.\n\nKayaks. (_See_ Skin-boats.)\n\nKempies or Champions, 43.\n\nKenilworth, Warwickshire;\n underground dwarfs of, 142-3.\n\nKettlester, Shetland;\n remembered as a dwarf abode, 59.\n\nKildrummy, Aberdeenshire;\n group of Weems, Pechts' Houses, or Fairy Halls at K., 101.\n\nKirkcudbright:\n \"_in terra Pictorum_,\" 69_n_.\n (_See_ also Galloway.)\n\nKnowth (_Cnoghbha_), County Meath;\n chambered mound, 84, 132-4, 137, 140, 151_n_.\n\nKundebye, Denmark;\n reputed chambered mound at, 155_n_.\n\n\nLapps. (_See_ Finns and Lapps.)\n\nLeinster:\n Feens of, 81-2;\n Fairies of, 81-2, 92.\n\n_Leum-an-t'-Shithiche_, 147_n_.\n\nLimerick:\n Knockfierin, 93, 145.\n\nLincolnshire;\n shag-boys, fairies and red-caps in, 107_n_.\n\nLochlin or Lochlan;\n believed to denote the territory between the Rhine and the Elbe,\n but also applied to Scandinavia, 49.\n\nLofoten;\n Finns or Lapps of L. neighbourhood in 12th century, 21, 39.\n\n\nMaes-how, Orkney. (_See_ Mounds.)\n\nMagic:\n of the Shetland Finns, 1-5, 14;\n of the Norwegian Finns or Lapps, 16, 41, 53;\n of Manx women, 16;\n of Picts, 53;\n of Eskimos, 53, 63;\n of traditional dwarfs, 91, 106.\n\nMan, Isle of:\n Inter-marriages of land-folk and sea-folk, 15;\n witches selling winds to sailors, 16;\n traditional description of departure of fairies, 17.\n\nMandans of Upper Missouri;\n skin-boats of, 18.\n\nMangelbierg, Denmark. (_See_ Mounds.)\n\nMer-men and Mer-women. (_See_ Sea-Folk.)\n\nMigvie, Aberdeenshire;\n Weem, Pecht's House, or Fairy Hall at, 101.\n\nMilesians:\n A name given to the Gaelic-speaking race, 46, 51;\n conquered the \"Cruithne\" or \"Pechts\" of Scotland in the\n ninth century, 51;\n conquered the \"Dananns\" of Ireland at an earlier period, as\n described in tradition, 125-126;\n the possession of a dwarf restricted in Ireland and\n Gaelic-Scotland to families of Milesian descent,\n 141-142, 144.\n\nMounds.\n Chambered M's of the Pechts described, 61-2, 64;\n of the Eskimos, 62-3;\n of both, 77-8.\n The _sithean_, _sithbhrog_, etc., 78-79.\n The \"Pelasgic arch\" of the chambered mound, 62, 78_n_.\n\nMounds ascertained to be chambered:\n Brugh of the Boyne, county Meath, 84, 111, 119-133, 153.\n Dowth mound, County Meath, 84, 111, 119, 132-3, 137.\n Maes-how, Orkney, 106-110, 113, 114, 121, 153.\n Mound on Wideford Hill, Orkney, 62.\n Coldoch \"broch,\" Perthshire, 119, 149-151, 153.\n Ashbury, Berkshire, 132_n_.\n Denghoog, Sylt, 87, 112-113, 122.\n Eskimo Mounds in Labrador and Greenland, 62-4, 155.\n Mycen\u00e6 \"treasure house,\" 153.\n\nMounds reputed to be chambered:\n In the British Isles:--\n \"Some small hillocks\" in Evie, Orkney, 111_n_.\n \"Tomhan\" near Lairg, Sutherlandshire, 116-117.\n _Tombuidhe Ghearrloch_, Ross-shire, 112, 114.\n _Sitheanan Dubha_, Gairloch, Ross-shire, 118.\n Specimens of the \"Cathair Mhor\" and the \"Cathair Bheag\"\n in the district of Gairloch, Ross-shire, 118.\n _Tomnahurich_, Inverness-shire, 146-149, 153.\n _Cnoc Fraing_, Inverness-shire, (? \"mountain\"), 146.\n _Shiathan Mor_, Inverness-shire, (? \"mountain\"), 146.\n Doon of Rothiemurchus, Inverness-shire, 144-5.\n _Sithean_ in Corrie-Vinnean, Nether Lochaber,\n Inverness-shire, 118.\n _Sithean Mor_ and _Sithean Beag_, in Nether\n Lochaber, Inverness-shire, 147.\n \"Tulman\" near Baile Thangasdail, Barra, Inverness-shire, 115.\n At Ballindalloch, Banffshire, 117.\n Bissau, Aberdeenshire, 117.\n _Sithean Mor_ and _Sithean Beag_, in island of Colonsay,\n Argyleshire, 147.\n \"Digh\" at Borra-cheill, in island of Islay, Argyleshire\n (? the \"_Digh mh\u00f2r Thallanta_\" of McAlpine's Dictionary),\n 79_n_.\n _Ben-cnock_, island of Islay, Argyleshire, 114.\n _Cnock-doun_, (?) island of Islay, Argyleshire, 114.\n _Crocan Corr_, Kilbrandon, Lorn, Argyleshire, 114.\n \"Hill\" at Muckairn, Argyleshire, 114.\n \"Fairy Knowe\" or \"Doon\" of Aberfoyle, Perthshire, 152-154.\n \"Goblin Knowe\" (_Cnoc nam Bocan_), Menteith, Perthshire,\n 151.\n \"Fairy Knowe\" beside Broch of Coldoch, Perthshire, 119,\n 149, 151.\n Ternavie, Perthshire, 150-151.\n \"Castle Hill\" at Clunie, Perthshire, 145-146.\n Kenilworth, Warwickshire, 142-143.\n Knowth (_Cnoghbha_), County Meath, 132-140, 151_n_.\n _Sidh Nectain_, or Hill of Carbury, (? its summit), W.\n Meath, 84_n_.\n Knockfierin, County Limerick, 93, 145.\n In Denmark:--\n Mangelbierg, Hirschholm, H\u00f6sterki\u00f6b Mark, 155_n_.\n Gillesbierg, Hirschholm, H\u00f6sterki\u00f6b Mark, 155_n_.\n Wheel-hill, Gudmandstrup, Lordship of Odd, 155_n_.\n Steensbierg, Our\u00f6e, Joegerspriis, 155_n_.\n Kundebye, Holbeck, 155_n_.\n Gultebierg, 155_n_.\n S\u00f6bierg, 155_n_.\n Mound (or underground gallery) between Aagerup and Mamp,\n 155_n_.\n The residence of a certain \"hill-man\" near Eckwadt, 85_n_.\n In Belgium:--\n Aschberg, Casterl\u00e9, province of Antwerp, 86-7, 155_n_.\n In North America:--\n Group of \"hillocks\" situated, it is believed, on the\n northern side of Plymouth Harbour, assumed to be the\n residences of tenth-century \"Skraelings\" or \"Lapps\" of\n America, Appendix B.\n\nMounds, and other localities, referred to as homes or resorts\n of dwarfs, fairies, Feens, gubbins, etc.:--\n Norwick, Shetland, 103-4.\n Unst, Shetland, 106.\n Villenshaw, (?) Orkney, 105, 116.\n _Eilean Suthainn_, Loch Maree, 118.\n _Tobar na Feinne_, 43.\n _Tobar an t' Shithein_, Nether Lochaber, 147_n_.\n _Glac an t' Shithein_, Nether Lochaber, 147_n_.\n _Leum an t' Shithiche_, Nether Lochaber, 147_n_.\n _Glen-na-Shirich_, Nether Lochaber, 147_n_.\n _Ruadh na Sirach_, Kerrera, 147_n_.\n White Cater Thun, Forfarshire, 99, 150_n_.\n Abernethy, Perthshire, 150.\n Glenshee (2) and Glen Almond, Perthshire, 77, 94-5.\n _Coir-nan-Uruisgean_, Perthshire, 151-2.\n \"Cavern\" at Yester, 143.\n Hill-country of Galloway, 115-6.\n Thorpe, Lincolnshire, 107_n_.\n Beelsby, Lincolnshire, 107_n_.\n Mowddwy, Merionethshire, 160-1.\n _Craig y Ddinas_, Glamorganshire, 143_n_.\n Nympton, Devonshire, 162.\n Dartmore, Devonshire, 162.\n Penzance, Cornwall, 162_n_.\n _Sith Eamhna_, Armagh, 133-4.\n Cruachan _rath_, Connaught, 68_n_, 125_n_, 136, 152_n_.\n Tienen, The Netherlands, 86.\n (_See_ also \"Underground Galleries.\")\n\nMulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, 86, 100.\n\nMunster. Fairies of M., 93.\n\n\nNetherlands. Resemblance of Tienen dwarfs to Scotch and\n Northumbrian Picts, 86.\n\nNine.\n Shetland Finns held festival every ninth night, 3.\n \"Nine men\" apparently the smallest division of a Feenian\n army, 48.\n\nNorns identified with dwarfs, 91.\n\nNorthumberland.\n Traditional ideas regarding the Picts, 67, 157.\n\nNorway.\n Finns from N., 2-5;\n Annual of N., 37;\n Lofoten Finns, 21, 39;\n Ringerike, Hadeland, and Thoten governed by semi-Finns, 40-42.\n\n\nOestrymnic Isles; skin-boats used by natives of, 19-20.\n\nOisin, 75-77.\n\nOrkney.\n Picts were early inhabitants of O., 104;\n O. governed by a semi-Finn in tenth century, 41.\n (_See_ also Burray, Eday, Evie, Finnmen, Maes-how,\n Ronaldshay, Stronsay, Westray.)\n\nOscar of Emhain, 49.\n\n\nPabbay, Hebrides, a haunt of 17th-century pirates, 29.\n\n\"Pelasgic arch\" of chambered mound, 62, 78_n_, 103, 110-111.\n\nPickering Castle, Yorkshire, 86, 100.\n\nPicts, Piks, Pechs, Pechts, etc. (_See_ also Cruithne.)\n P's said to have been first settlers in Orkney and Shetland,\n 59, 104.\n Their small boats, 59, 178-179.\n Their dwarfish stature, 58-60, 65.\n Their great strength, 60, 66-7, 74.\n Their mounds or underground houses, 58-66, 77-78.\n Their method of building, 67.\n White Cater Thun, Brechin Tower, Abernethy Tower, Glasgow\n Cathedral, Dunstanborough Castle, the Catrail, the Wall\n of Hadrian, and many old castles, popularly believed to\n have been built by P's, 67-74, 99-100.\n Their last stronghold in Galloway, 99.\n P's, or Gallowaymen, at the Battle of the Standard, 69-70_n_.\n P's popularly regarded as magicians and supernatural beings, 53,\n 79-80, 99.\n P's associated with Feens, 51, 64-5;\n with Fions, Feins, and Fairies of Brittany, 85;\n and with a Danish \"hill-man,\" 85-6_n_.\n P's as serfs or drudges, 67-74, 76.\n P's identified by J. F. Campbell with Lapps and Fairies, 96.\n P's and King Arthur, 143_n_.\n Hairiness of P's, 157-8.\n Their swiftness of foot, 177.\n\nPict or Pecht-land, 52, 68-73.\n\nPixies of Cornwall and Devon, 162.\n\n\"Pucks\" of Sylt, 87.\n\n\nRed-caps.\n In Sylt, 87.\n In Lincolnshire 107_n_.\n (_See_ also 129_n_ and 142.)\n\nReindeer in Scotland, 96-97.\n\nRingerike, Norway, 40-2.\n\nRona, Hebrides, and its \"pirates,\" 29.\n\nRonaldshay (North), 41.\n\nRoss-shire;\n in 17th century, 29-30, 45;\n a legendary mound in, 112.\n\n\nSamoyeds.\n Bergen _Strils_ conjectured to have linguistic affinity with\n S., 7_n_.\n Skin-boats of S., 18.\n\nSavages:\n Orkney Finnmen spoken of as S., 10, 30-31.\n Certain Hebrideans referred to as S., 28, 29, 31.\n Strathnaver people in 1658 \"barbarous,\" 30.\n Term \"Hottentot\" applied to traditional builders in\n Mid-Lothian, 71.\n\nSea-Folk.\n Their inter-marriages with land-folk:--\n In Shetland, 1-5, 15;\n in Hebrides, 15;\n in Ireland, 2, 15;\n in Isle of Man, 15;\n in Wales, 2, 15.\n Mer-women as wives and mothers of land-folk, 1-5, 13, 15.\n\nSeal-men and Selkie-wives, 1-5, 12, 13, 15_n_, 34_n_.\n\nSeelie court, The, 97.\n\nSeffister, Shetland, and its \"trow's door,\" 59.\n\nShag-boys, hog-boys, or how-folk, 107.\n\nShaggy Men.\n Pechts, 157-8;\n Traditional dwarfs generally, 158-164;\n Ainos of Japan, 166 _et seq._\n\nSheeans or _Sitheanan_. (_See_ Mounds.)\n\nShetland.\n Dwarf abodes in S., 59, 102-3, 106.\n Picts early inhabitants of S., 104.\n (_See_ also Finns of S.)\n\nShool Skerry, or Sule Skerry, 3, 34_n_.\n\nSithe-folk. (_See_ also Fairies.)\n _Sidhe_ and _Tshud_, 89-90.\n Seid-men, 90-91.\n Worship of S., 92.\n S. of North of Ireland and Munster, 93.\n Identified with Dananns, 126.\n Associated with Feens, 128-9.\n Former high rank, 132.\n\nSkin-boats:\n \"Sea-skin or seal-skin\" of Shetland Finns, 1-5, 8.\n Kayaks of Orkney Finnmen, 5-11, 18-19.\n Skin-boats of Iberians, Hebrideans, Irish, Welsh, Scotch,\n Samoyeds, Skraelings, Eskimos, Mandans, 8, 12-13, 18-22.\n Fin's skin-boat, 55-6.\n Skin-boat of Picts, 178-9.\n Skin-boat of North American \"Lapps\" or \"Skraelings,\" 7,\n Appendix B.\n\nSkraelings, 7, Appendix B.\n\nSmiths, Underground:\n The \"Noble Smith\" and his chambered mound, 132-4;\n Wayland Smith's chambered mound, 132_n_;\n Smiths working in \"cave\" of Cruachan, 136;\n German traditional idea of such people, 163-4.\n\nStronsay, Orkney.\n Finnman seen there about year 1700, 6.\n\n\nTeith valley.\n Mounds of, 114.\n Assumed to be the \"vallis\" referred to by Gildas, as\n traversed by the Picts, 178_n_.\n\nThorpe, Lincolnshire; shag-boys at, 107_n_.\n\nThoten, Norway, 40-2.\n\nTialdasund, Norway, 21.\n\nTienen, Netherlands; dwarfs of, 86.\n\n_Tombuidhe Ghearrloch_;\n a reputed chambered mound, 112.\n\nTrows, Trolls, or Trollmen. (_See_ Dwarfs.)\n\nTshuds, 89-90.\n\n\nUgrians. (_See_ Finns, Lapps, Skraelings, etc.)\n\nUist, Hebrides 29.\n\nUlster.\n Feens of, 76, 93;\n Cruithne or Picts of, 93;\n skin-boats of, 18.\n (_See_ also Eamhain.)\n\nUnderground Chambers. (_See_ also Mounds.)\n Indications, apart from those of tradition, that these were\n dwelling-places, 101-2, 113 (fire-place).\n\nUnderground galleries, not having mounds over them, 101-4.\n\nUnst, Shetland, 106.\n\n_Ur-uisg_, or Water-man, 142_n_, 158-164, 178-9.\n\nUrus. (_See_ Bugle.)\n\n\nValas, or V\u00f6lvas, 90-2.\n\nVillenshaw: (?) a locality in Orkney, 105.\n\n\nWalpurgis Night. (_See_ Beltin.)\n\nWeems. (_See_ Mounds and Underground galleries.)\n\nWestray, Orkney.\n Finnman seen near W. _circa_ 1700, 5, 6, 33-4;\n Fairies said to be seen at Fitty Hill _circa_ 1700, 33;\n defeat of Hebrideans at Fitty Hill, 33.\n\nWideford Hill, Orkney; chambered mound at, 62.\n\nWitchcraft. (_See_ Magic.)\n\n\nYorkshire tradition as to \"supernatural\" labourers at Mulgrave\n and Pickering Castles, 86, 100.\n\n\nZee-Woners. (_See_ Sea-Folk.)\n\n\nWoodfall & Kinder, Printers, 70 to 76, Long Acre, London, W.C.\n\n....\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nMany words in this text have alternate spellings due to language\ndifferences or variations within languages.\n\nOriginal spelling has been preserved, as have any inconsistencies.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired.\n\nIn this etext a superscript character is represented by ^","title":"The Testimony of Tradition","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":78311}