INTRODUCTION. xxix 



century by a giant named Darg Mac Nu-Aran. It was 

 utilised as a fort during a feud at the end of the sixteenth 

 century between the Morisons of Ness and the Macaulays 

 of Uig. We know also that Moussa in Shetland, which is 

 the most notable example of these brochs in Scotland, was 

 used on two different occasions by Norwegian chiefs, once 

 about the year 900, and again in 1 153, as a place of refuge. 

 It is not clear that the brochs could, under any circum- 

 stances, have been effective fortresses for active hostilities, 

 but they seem to have been sufficiently well-adapted for 

 passive resistance, and that, for want of a better explana- 

 tion, may be accepted as the most plausible theory of their 

 use. But even assuming the correctness of that sup- 

 position, we are no nearer a solution of the difficulty of 

 ascertaining when, and by whom, these brochs were built. 

 Dr. McCulloch and those who agree with him have con- 

 tended that they were constructed by the Norsemen, while 

 others have held, just as confidently, the contrary view. 

 No such remains have been found in Scandinavia, but 

 on the other hand, the Scottish brochs are confined to 

 localities where Scandinavian settlements are known to 

 have been formed. The necessity for building forts of 

 this kind did not exist in Northern Europe, but on the 

 hypothesis that they were built by the Norsemen for pro- 

 tection against the attacks of the natives, or against the 

 depredations of their own countrymen, the Norse pirates r 

 there is something to be said for the Scandinavian theory, 

 which the traditional giant-origin also supports. The fact, 

 however, that tradition gives them the name of Pictish, as 

 well as Danish forts, is suggestive. It is, perhaps, after all, 

 more reasonable to suppose that the Norsemen were the 

 aggressors, and the Picts the defenders, than the contrary 

 view. This likelihood is particularly applicable to the 

 Long Island, where there is every reason to believe that 

 the Scandinavians met with little or no resistance in effect- 

 ing their permanent settlements. In all probability,? the 

 Outer Hebrides, at the time of the Norse occupation, were 

 sparsely peopled, if indeed they had not been practically 



