This much, however, is clear, that the whole of the north and west coast of Sutherland was once colonized by Norwegians. Besides various names of places west of Halladale, which likewise end in _dale_, such as Armadale, Swordale, and Torrisdale, it is surprising that we should still meet with pure Norwegian names on four of the largest firths of the north-west of Sutherland; viz., on the north coast the “Kyle of Tongue” (from “túnga,” a tongue of land, a naze), together with the adjoining village, Kirkiboll (Kirkebolet); further, Loch Eriboll, with the large farm of Eriboll (the _bol_ on the Eir, or tongue of land, from the _Old N._ “eyri”); the Kyle of Durness, or Dyrnæs, with the _bol_, or dwelling, of Crossboll; and lastly, on the west coast, not far from Cape Wrath, Loch Laxford (Laxfjorden, or the Salmon Firth; _Old N._, “Laxafjörðr”). “Loch” is the Gaelic name for a lake or firth, and consequently, in Loch Laxford, expresses tautologically the existence of a fiord or firth; just as the name “valley” is twice expressed in Strath Helmsdale and Strath Halladale. The last three of the above-mentioned firths seem to have been of much importance to the Norwegians. There is an excellent harbour in Loch Eriboll, which is still frequented by numerous ships. The neighbourhood round Loch Durnes afforded excellent opportunities for hunting the deer, particularly on Durnæs itself, which extends between Loch Durnes and the Atlantic up to Cape Wrath (_Old N._, “Hvarf”), and which, still later in the middle ages, was celebrated for its excellent deer. Loch Laxford, which obtained its name from the salmon (Lax) in the river and at its mouth, is commonly known to the present day as one of the rivers in Scotland most abounding with that fish. Several isolated rocks in the sea by the coast of Sutherland are called, as in the Shetland Isles, “stacks;” and in several names of islands we meet with the Scandinavian _sker_ or _skjær_; such as Skerroar (Skjæröerne, the rock islands); and in Loch Eriboll, Dhusker, Skerron, and others. A little island near the middle of the west coast is called Calva (_Old N._, “Kálfey,” or the Calf Island), a name frequently given by the Northmen to small islands that lay in the neighbourhood of a larger one (for instance, the Calf of Man). For the rest, Calva is one of the last decidedly recognisable Scandinavian names of places on the west coast of Sutherland. The real Norwegian population evidently ceased at Laxfjord. Norwegian names of places are scarcely to be found on the coasts of the Highlands to the south of Sutherland. The country there was so wild, rocky, and remote, that foreign conquerors could only with the greatest difficulty have maintained a position against the Highlanders, who were always prepared to make sudden and dangerous attacks from the mountains in the interior. Aware of this, the Norwegians seem to have limited themselves, on the western shores of the