Callbost, Habost, Luirbost, Crossbost, Melbost, Garrabost, and others (in all about thirteen). Further, we find such names as Laxay (Laxá, Laxaa; _Eng._, Salmon river), Laxdale, Nether Holm and Upper Holm, Tong (túnga), &c. These Norwegian names of places are met with as well towards the south and west as on the east coast, where they are most numerous about Loch Seaforth (Sæfjörðr), and in the vicinity of the little town of Stornoway. But they are chiefly concentrated at one point, the most northern in the island, in a district which still retains the pure Norwegian name of “Ness.” On this Naze, or promontory, are the lakes Langavat and Steapavat; the valleys Dibidale, Eorodale, North Dell, and South Dell; the manors and towns Skegersta, Swainbost, Habost, Cross, and at the farthest extremity Oreby or Eoropie (“Eyribœr,” the town on the Eir or Naze?); with the adjacent headland of Raven, which may possibly have been called after Odin’s sacred bird. At all events, there is good ground for assuming, from these names of places, that the promontory had a pre-eminently Norwegian population, which, indeed, is unmistakably apparent even at the present day. Throughout Harris and Lewis, for instance, the Gaelic inhabitants are small, dark-haired, and in general very ugly. But no sooner do we arrive at Ness, than we meet with people of an entirely different appearance. Both the men and women have in general lighter hair, taller figures, and far handsomer features. I visited several of their cabins, and found myself surrounded by physiognomies so Norwegian, that I could have fancied myself in Scandinavia itself, if the Gaelic language now spoken by the people, and their wretched dwellings, had not reminded me that I was in one of those poor districts in the north-west of Europe where the Gaels or Celts are still allowed a scanty existence. The houses, as in Shetland, and partly in Orkney, are built of turf and unhewn stones, with a wretched straw or heather roof, held together by ropes laid across the ridge of the house, and fastened with stones at the ends. The houses are so low, that one may often see the children lie playing on the side of the roof. The family and the cattle dwell in the same apartment, and the fire, burning freely on the floor, fills the house with a thick smoke, which slowly finds its way out of the hole in the roof. The sleeping-places are, as usual, holes in the side walls.