The swords and helmets of the vanquish’d foe;
Some the known shields their brethren bore in vain,
And unsuccessful jav’lins of the slain.”
Pitt’s Virg. lib. I. xi. 266.
It has been long since observed, that the two extremes of heat and cold are alike unfavourable to the growth of such animals as may be considered indigenous to the temperate zone. Excessive heat in the one case induces relaxation; while the contrary extreme diminishes the vital principle, and stunts the growth of the animal. The animals common to Britain are, in the Shetland Isles, of a greatly reduced size. Their horses, familiar to us by the name of shelties, are very numerous, and seldom more than nine or ten hands high. They are covered with long hair, and are remarkably strong, spirited, and not unhandsome. They are chiefly used for carrying home peats, and never receive any food but what they gather from the scanty herbage of the ground. Neither are they ever put into a house, so that many of them die in the winter.
The steadiness with which these ponies travel through the most rugged paths is surprising. In both 1806 and 1807, I made several expeditions into the country mounted on them. An islander preceded me to point out the way. At first I thought my brains must have been dashed out, but I soon recovered from this panic. In the most wretched and precipitous paths, the animal never made a single false step, and also travelled with considerable agility.
The Shetland cows are also very small, and, owing to the scarcity of fodder, give but little milk. They are kept close in the house, summer and winter; and are littered with heath, and sometimes with peat mould.
The women of Shetland are, in general, ignorant of making cheese; but their butter, when manufactured for sale, is equal to any that can be found elsewhere. That made for the payment of rent is of a much inferior quality.
It was an old custom here to pay their rent one half in grease butter at Lammas, and the other half in money at Martinmas. This custom, however, is generally relinquished, and the butter converted into money.