The following enumeration of the known sites of the “Pictish Towers,”
Borgs, or Brochs, will give some idea of their number and
distribution. In Shetland there are, in the island of Unst, 7; in
Whalsay, 3; in Yell, 9; in Fetlar, 4; in Mainland and its outlying
islets, 51; in Foula, 1—total, 75. In Orkney, in the island of North
Ronaldsay, 2; in Papa Westray, 2; in Westray, 5; in Sanday, 9; in
Eday, 1; in Stronsay, 3; in Shapinsay, 1; in Gairsay, 1; in Rousay, 3;
in Mainland, 35; in South Ronaldsay, 4; in Hoy, 1; in Hunday, 1; in
Burray, 2—total, 70. In Caithness, 79. In Sutherland, 60. In Lewis and
Harris, 38. In Skye, 30. (For detailed descriptions of Mousa, and many
others of these Towers, and lists of their sites, so far as known, see
the Archæologia Scotica, “Transactions of the Scottish Society of
Antiquaries,” vol. v.)
Footnote 205:
Detailed accounts of these are printed in the Proceedings and
Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Footnote 206:
No instance of a flint arrow-point, a flint celt, a polished stone
axe, or perforated stone hammer, has yet been found in a Broch or
“Pictish Tower.”
Footnote 207:
As the people of the islands did universally to a comparatively recent
period, and as in some of the islands they do to this day.
Footnote 208:
See the Saga, p. 161.
Footnote 209:
_Scat_ still remains _the_ Orkney grievance. “Scalds” were got rid of
in the 17th century, having been then solemnly abolished by the
kirk-session of Kirkwall, on pain of 40s. penalty and four hours in
the cuckstool, as slanderers and persons offensive to their
neighbours.
Footnote 210:
Fasti Eccles. Scot. v. p. 441. This statement must be taken _cum grano
salis_. There can be no doubt, however, that the old language was in
use in Shetland at that date. The latest known document in the Norse
language, written in Shetland, is dated 1586, and among those
mentioned in it is “Mons Norsko minister i Jella”—Magnus Norsk,
minister in Yell. (Mem. de Soc. Antiq. du Nord, 1850-60, p. 96.)
Footnote 211:
See Lyngbye’s Faeroiske Qvæder, with Muller’s Introduction: Randers,
1822. The old man, William Henry, of Guttorm, in Foula, from whom Low
took down the Shetland ballad, spoke to him of “three kinds of poetry
used in Norn and recited or sung by the old men—viz., the Ballad, the
Vysie or Vyse, now commonly sung to dancers, and the simple song. By
the account he gave of the matter, the first seems to have been valued
chiefly for its subject, and was commonly repeated in winter by the
fireside; the second seems to have been used in public gatherings, now
only sung to the dance; and the third at both.” (Low’s MS.)
Footnote 212:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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