52 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



foes but staunch friends ; men of action rather than men 

 of speech ; superstitious to a degree, yet eminently practical ; 

 glorifying physical prowess, yet not despising mental 

 attainments ; cruel, remorseless, and domineering, yet 

 truthful, honourable, and generous ; men of many moods ; 

 children of Nature ; such are some of the characteristics 

 and incongruities presented by a study of the " hardy 

 Norsemen " of yore. Incomparable sailors, they submitted 

 to the voice of authority, but resented the hand of tyranny ; 

 the wide expanse of ocean, canopied by the blue vault of 

 Heaven, was their home ; and children of such a home 

 refused to permit the shackling of their liberties. De- 

 mocracy was the only form of government which they 

 would tolerate ; government by and for the people was their 

 political creed ; a love of justice was ingrained in their 

 nature ; and despotism and oppression were abhorrent to 

 their souls. Truly there was much to admire in these Sons 

 of the Sea. They were emphatically men; and if a softening 

 of their manners, a repression of their passions, a smoothing 

 of the rough corners of their character, would have served 

 to present them in a more favourable light to history, they 

 were at least saved from the enervating luxuries, the 

 calculating craftiness, and the blunted sense of honour, so 

 prevalent among more refined contemporaries. While 

 their ferocity is to be deplored, their virtues are to be com- 

 mended. The former is blazoned on the pages of history ; 

 the latter are too frequently overlooked. 



That the present inhabitants of the Long Island have 

 inherited many of the characteristics of their Norse fore- 

 fathers goes without saying. Physically, the Lewismen of 

 the Norse type are the superiors of their fellow-islanders. 

 It would indeed be difficult to find finer specimens of 

 manhood anywhere than the Butt of Lewis fishermen and 

 crofters, who retain in a remarkable degree the Norse phy- 

 siognomy of their progenitors. That the Norse character 

 has impressed itself in a marked degree upon the tempera- 

 ment of the Long Islander admits of no reasonable 

 doubt. That the fatalistic tendencies, the melancholia, 



