[203]. Flateyjarbók (Christiania, 1860-68), vol. i. p. 225. See the translation in the Appendix, p. [208].
[204]. 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.)
[205]. Detailed accounts of these are printed in the Proceedings and Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
[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.”
[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.
[208]. See the Saga, p. [161].
[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.
[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.)
[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.)
[212]. In the Stockholm edition of Snorro’s Edda, it was Hilda, by her enchantments, who raised the slain, as fast as they fell, to renew the combat, and the episode of Ivar Liomi and the Christian additions do not occur. Allusions to Hogni’s daughter Hilda occur in the stanzas of Eyvind Skaldaspiller (Saga of Harald Harfagri, chap. 13), and in those of Einar Skalaglum (Harald Grafeld’s Saga, chap. 6, and Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, chap. 18).