Oe eee NP EP eB. oS; 
blown away the incumbent ftrata of fand or gravel with which they have been 
covered. They are lodged in a morafly ground, and often ten feet beneath the 
peat. Some ftand in the pofition in which they grew ; others lie horizontally, 
and all the fame way, as if they had either been blown down, or overturned by a 
partial deluge. Yet at prefent no kind of wood can be made to grow ; and even 
the loweft and moft common fhrub is cultivated with the greateft difficulty. The 
hazel, the herbaceous, reticulated, creeping, and common willow, are the only 
fhrubs of the ifland, and thofe are fcattered with a fparing hand. I fhall, in an- 
other place, confider the decreafe of vegetation in this northern progrefs. 
- The great quantity of turf which Providence hath beftowed on all thefe iflands, 
excepting Sanda, is another proof of the abundance of trees and other vegetables, 
long fince loft from the furface. The application of this humus vegetadilis for the 
purpofe of fuel, is faid to have been firft taught the natives by Einar, a Nor- 
wegian, {urnamed, from that circumftance, Torf einar, Einar de Cefpite*.. Had 
he lived in Greece, he could not have efcaped deification for fo ufeful a dif- 
covery> 
Before I quit the laft of Britis ifles, I fhall, as fupplemental to the antiquities 
mentioned:in my Tours ia Scotland, give a brief account of others found in thefe 
groups. ? 
The Orknies, the Schetlands, Cathnefs, Sutherland, and Rofs-fhire, with the He- 
brides, were, for centuries, poflefled by the Noriwegians; and, in many inftances, 
they adopted their cuftoms. Of the antient monuments ftill remaining, feveral 
are common to Scandinavia and the old inhabitants of Britain: others feem 
peculiar to their northern conquerors. Among thofe are the circular buildings, 
known by the names of Préti/ houfes, Burghs, and Duns’: the firft are of mo- 
dern date, and to be exploded, as they never were the work of the Pzés ;. 
the fecond are affuredly right, and point out the founders, who at the fame time 
beftowed on them their natal name of Borg, a defence or caitle +, a Sueo-Gothic 
word.;. and the Highlanders univerfally apply to thefe places the Ce/tic name 
Dun, fignifying a hill defended by atowert. This alfo furnifhes the proof of 
their ufe, was there no other to be difcovered. They are confined:to the coun- 
ties once fubject to the crown of Norway. With few exceptions, they are 
built within fight of the fea, and one or more within fight of the other ; fo 
that on a fignal by fire, by flag, or by trumpet, they could give notice of ap- 
proaching danger, and yield a mutual fuccour. In the Schetland and Orkney 
* Torfeus Rer. Orcad. lib. i. c. 7. + See Ihre Gloffarium Sueo-Gothicum, where the 
word is defined, smunimextum, derived from Berga cuflodire, or Byrgia claudire, } Baxter. 
Glof, Antiq. Brit. 109. 
iflands, 
X%XI 
ANTIQUITIES, 
