xxxiv HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



subsequently coalesced with, the Gaels of the Southern 

 Hebrides worked their way South from the Orkneys and 

 the Outer Hebrides. 



The Sagas distinctly state, that long before the per- 

 manent settlements of the Norwegians in the Orkneys 

 and Hebrides were effected, those islands were the 

 rendez-vous of Vikings, and one account says that prior 

 to the formation of Norse colonies, the Hebrides were 

 uninhabited. This statement, if applied to the Outer 

 section of the group, appears to suggest that the Pictish 

 population, sparse as it probably was, only existed as the 

 thralls of the ferocious sea-rovers. We know that there 

 were in Norway regular slave markets where the captive 

 Picts and Scots were bought and sold, and it is probable 

 that a considerable proportion of the Picts in the Outer 

 Hebrides had been thus disposed of from time to time. 

 It is tolerably clear that the Saxon confederation which 

 gave so much trouble to the Roman arms in Britain 

 included the Scandinavians. According to Boece, the 

 Danes were in Scotland at the time of Agricola. The 

 Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, tells us of incursions 

 by the Northmen to these islands long before the eighth 

 century, which is the period usually assigned to the first 

 appearance of the Scandinavians on our coasts. Irish 

 tradition relates, that centuries prior to the commence- 

 ment of the Christian era, the Hebrides were ruled by 

 the Fomorians or sea-kings, who are generally believed 

 to have been Scandinavian rovers, although, from some 

 accounts, they might have been Phoenicians. We read 

 of a great expedition to Ireland under the two Fomorian 

 chiefs, Balor of the Evil Eye, " King of the Islands," and 

 Tudech son of De-Domnand, who collected all the men 

 and ships lying from Scandinavia westwards, " so that 

 they formed an unbroken bridge of ships and boats from 

 the Hebrides to the northwest coast of Erinn." This 

 expedition, we are told, ended in the defeat of the 

 Fomorians at the great battle of Moytura. We may 

 believe as much or as little of this as we choose, but the 



