88 DOMESTIC USE OF LICHEN DYESTUFFS. 
the Long Island, in respect of the customs of the peasantry as regards 
the domestic manufacture of clothing, and the application of Crottle, 
and other native dye-siuffs. In the neighbourhood of Strathy, for 
instance, the cloth called “ home-scourings "—the equivalent of the 
Lewis “ kelt "—whereof the shepherds’ coats are fashioned, is commonly 
woven, and the stockings worn by all classes of the community are 
constantly being knitted; the yarn used being usually dyed with 
Crottle, Heather, or other native dyes, similar to, or identical with 
those of Lewis and Harris. Some of the Thurso merchants barter 
with the peasantry for their surplus woollen produce, just as in Stor- 
noway; and, as around that seaport also, Crottle is rare, and is col- 
lected on the hills and moors of the interior of Sutherland, where it 
would appear to abound. 
The only other illustration I consider it of interest to bring under 
your notice is that of the hosiery of Fair Isle, one of the Shetland 
group, which is unique in Scotland on account of the peculiarity alike 
of the colours, which are extremely bright and gaudy, and of the 
patterns, which differ remarkably from those that are the common 
characteristics of hosiery, not only in Shetland, but in all other parts of 
Britain. These Fair Isle goods are apparently in great demand in the 
southern markets, such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, and even London. 
The long stockings, the nightcaps and caps for men, of which they 
chiefly consist, are largely sold in Lerwick and Kirkwall; and I have 
seen à similar exhibition of Fair Isle produce in the Shetland ware- 
houses of Edinburgh. Local tradition, both in Orkney and Shetland, 
points to the Spanish Armada as the source of the teaching of the 
weaving of the peculiar patterns, if not of the application also of the 
parti-coloured dyes; and my friend the Rev. Biot Edmonstone, of 
Blair-Drummond, who is a Shetlander, and has travelled moreover in 
Spain, tells me that the gaudy variegations of yellow, red, and blue, in 
Fair Isle stockings are exactly the characteristic of the long stockings 
still worn by the Spanish peasantry. I see no good ground for doubt- 
ing that these unique patterns originated in the wreck of the Spanish 
Armada in 1588 ; and if this origin is accepted, the peculiar character 
of the Fair Isle hosiery is a most interesting example of an exotic 
manufacture holding ground in a most limited area, and apparently 
most unlikely field, for an unusually long period. 
I have collected a considerable mass of materials relating to the pre- 
