The Testimony of Tradition

by David MacRitchie

CHAPTER VIII.

But, if the legendary "Feens" are identical with, or closely akin to, the Picts of history, then the historical Picts must also belong to this stunted Eskimo-like race. Let us look at the people called "Picts."

And, first of all, since the word "Pict" is admittedly the result of a pun or a misapprehension on the part of Latin-speaking people, it may be as well to discard that special spelling. The forms which the word appears to have most commonly taken in the mouths of the country-people of Scotland are Pik, Pech, Pecht, and Peht (the ch being of course pronounced as in German). Doubtless, other forms might be adduced; but perhaps the best compromise is Pecht. What, then, are the accounts given with regard to the stature of the Pechts?

The question is practically answered at once in considering the nature of the dwellings that the traditions of Scotland unanimously assign to these people.

"The only tradition which I heard current on the subject of the former inhabitants of the country," says a writer on Shetland,[86] "was, that the remains of old dwellings were Pechts' houses, and that those who lived in them were little men." And, in reporting to the Anthropological Society of London the result of an archæological tour in Shetland, Dr. James Hunt[87] remarks of such "old dwellings"—"These remains are called 'Pights' or Picts' houses.' Mr. Umfray pechts."[88] And the present writer, when visiting a "Pict's house" three or four miles north of the place just spoken of, and which had also been inspected by Dr. Hunt, obtained similar testimony. The place is known as Saffester, or Seffister, and its antiquarian features consist of the remains of a chambered tumulus and a separate subterranean gallery. The latter is referred to by one writer as a "Pict's house," although it is only a passage. As, however, local tradition alleges that it leads to the chambered mound, the name may be correct enough. Now, this tumulus was opened fifty or more years ago by the parish minister.[89] And an old man, who was then a boy, informed the writer that the entrance was effected by what he and his boy companions had always called "the trow's door." Another similar experience of the writer's yields a like result. Near Hamna Voe, at the south end of the island of Yell, there is a small loch and islet, with the remains of a "broch," the loch being known as "the loch of Kettlester." The "broch" that once stood there (for the ruins no longer retain their original shape) was built by "the Pechts," said the intelligent lad (a native of the district) who was the writer's guide, and these Pechts he described as very small people.[90]

The popular Shetland notions regarding the Pechts are again repeated by a lady writer, who has the advantage of being herself a Shetlander[91]: "The first folks that ever were in our isles were the Picts.... They had no ships, only small boats.... They were very small [people]." Indeed, so much has their small stature been impressed upon the popular memory, that, as we have seen, "dwarfs, in this locality, are still called pechts." Nor is it only in Shetland that this word has such a meaning. In Aberdeenshire picht denotes a dwarfish person, and Dr. Jamieson, in recording the fact,[92] suggests its connection with "the pichts or pechts, whom the vulgar view as a race of pigmies." In the south of Scotland also, this signification appears to prevail; for the Ettrick Shepherd, in the "Noctes Ambrosianæ," employs "pegh" as an everyday synonym for "dwarf." In point of fact, although it has just been stated that dwarfs "are still called pechts" in Shetland, because of the small size of the race so known to history, it is really a question whether the historical people did not so become historically remembered because a pre-existing word fitly described their dwarfish stature. But this etymological point is of little importance here.

Although Shetland has been chiefly considered in these recent remarks, it will be seen that the popular belief regarding the stature of the Pechts is apparently common to the whole of Scotland. Dr. Jamieson evidently thought so when he referred to "the Pichts, or Pechts, whom the vulgar view as a race of pigmies." And he does not stand alone. "Throughout Scotland," says another writer, "the vulgar account is 'that the Pechs were unco wee bodies, but terrible strang'; that is, that they were of very small stature, but of prodigious strength."[93] "Long ago," quotes the late Robert Chambers,[94] and his quotation also applies to the whole of Scotland, "there were people in this country called the Pechs; short, wee men they were,"—and so on.

Enough has been said to show that the ideas held by the "vulgar" (whose traditions, once contemptuously rejected by scholars, are nowadays being rated at their true value), throughout Scotland, with respect to the Pechts, agree in describing those people as decidedly dwarfish in stature. And this belief is most convincingly borne out by the dwellings which the Pechts are believed to have inhabited; the "Pechts' houses" which we glanced at a few paragraphs back, and which speedily led us to consider the Pechts themselves. No man of the average height of modern British people, who has personally inspected these "Pechts' houses," can arrive at any other conclusion than that they were built and inhabited by people of a stature very much less than his own. This is a point so manifest that it need not be emphasized to those who have stooped, squeezed, and crept among the chambers and passages of a "Pictish broch." A few particulars of measurement would quickly convince others; but such details need not be entered into here. However, something may be said with regard to the appearance of the dwelling which may best be regarded as the typical "Pecht's house."

In a "Notice of the Brochs and the so-called Picts' Houses of Orkney," submitted to the Anthropological Society of London,[95] Mr. George Petrie points out that "the name Pict's house is applied indiscriminately, in the northern counties of Scotland, to every sort of ancient structure." And as there is certainly a great difference, in degree, between the various structures referred to, we may here accept Mr. Petrie's guidance as to what constitutes the typical "Pict's house." "The class of buildings to which I have for many years restricted the appellation of Picts' house have been," says Mr. Petrie, "very different from the brochs,[96] both in external appearance and general structure and arrangements. The Pict's house is generally of a conical form, and externally closely resembles a large bowl-shaped barrow. It consists of a solid mass of masonry, covered with a layer of turf, a foot or more in thickness, and has a central chamber surrounded by several smaller cells. The entrance to the central chamber from the outside is by a long, low, narrow passage; while the cells are connected with the chamber by short passages of similar dimensions to the long one. The walls of the chambers and cells converge towards the top, where they approach so closely that the aperture can be spanned by a stone a couple of feet in length."