NORÏHEEN SCOTLAND. 357 



Notwithstanding a change of religion, these sacred places of the ancient inha- 

 bitants still attract pilgrims. On South Uist the people until recently walked in 

 procession around a huge pile of rocks, turning thrice in following the apparent 

 path of the sun. The small island of lona, at the western extremity of Mull, is 

 one of those places which have been held sacred for generations. Various stone 

 monuments prove that this spot was held in veneration at the dawn of histor}^ 

 and this probably induced the Irish apostle, St. Columba, to found here a monastery 

 — the " light of the western world " — which soon became the most famous in Great 

 Britain. Hence went forth those ascetic Culdees whom the jealousy of the 

 clergy caused to disappear in the course of the thirteenth century.* In the ruined 

 ecclesiastical buildings of this is.let are buried more than sixty Kings of Scotland, 

 Ireland, and the Hebrides, the last interred here having been Macbeth. A 

 prophecy says that one day the whole earth will be swallowed up by a deluge, with 

 the exception of lona. There was a time when this venerated island was 

 interdicted to women, as IVlount Athos is at the present day. Not far from the 

 church lay the " black stones," thus called on account of the malediction attach- 

 ing to him who forswore himself by their side. It was here that the " Lords 

 of the Isles," kneeling on the ground with their hands raised to heaven, were 

 bound to swear to maintain intact the rights of their vassals, f Among the heaps 

 of rocks piled up on the beach, it is said by monks in expiation of their trespasses, 

 are found fine fragments of granite, porphyry, and serpentine, which the inha- 

 bitants employ Scotch -w^orkmen to cut and polish, in order that they may sell them 

 as amulets to their visitors. Formerly these stones were looked upon throughout 

 the Hebrides as the most efficacious medicine against sorcery ; and when about 

 to be married a bridegroom, to insure happiness, placed a stone of lona upon his 

 bare left foot.+ 



The Scotch Highlanders are more or less mixed with Scandinavians, for the 

 Northmen, who for centuries held possession of the Orkneys, gained a footing 

 also upon the mainland, where they founded numerous colonies. Scandinavian 

 family names are frequent in the Orkneys, but the type of the inhabitants is 

 nevertheless Scotch. § The geographical nomenclature of the Shetland Isles is 

 wholly Norwegian. The names of farms terminate in seter or ster, and those of 

 hills in hoy or hole. In 1820 the sword dance of the ancient Norwegians might 

 still be witnessed on one of the islands, and according to GifEord,|| Norse was 

 spoken in a few families as recently as 1786. Sutherland clearly formed jjart of 

 the old domain of the Northmen. That county lies at the northern extremity of 

 Scotland ; but to the inhabitants of the Orkneys it was a Southern land, and the 

 name which they gave to it has survived to our own time. 



A few Scandinavian colonies on the mainland have retained their distinct 

 character. As an instance we may mention the village of Ness on Lewis, the 



* Jameson, " History of the Guidées.'' 



t Forbes Leslie, " Early Races of Scotland." 



X Mercey, Revue des Deux-Mondes, September, 1838. 



§ Hugh Miller, " Footprints of the Creator." 



II •' Historical Description of Zetland." 



