THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLAXDS 



201 



minister to the Picts, 

 as the earliest known 

 inhabitants w ere 

 called. 



The first mystery 

 to be solved is, there- 

 fore, what became of 

 these Picts, who had 

 so completely disap- 

 peared by the end of 

 the eighth century 

 that the Norsemen 

 found only their 

 dwelling's and graves 

 and no human beings 

 except, perhaps, an 

 occasional C u 1 d e e 

 hermit ? 



Although the ques- 

 tion cannot be an- 

 swered, the visitor of 

 today may step inside 

 of a very complete 

 "house'' or dwelling- 

 place which was there 

 when the Norsemen 

 first arrived, m ore 

 than eleven centuries 

 ago. 



This is the mound 

 known as Maeshowe, 

 on the island of Po- 

 mona, or the main- 

 land of the Orkney 

 group. It is a circu- 

 1 a r, grass - covered 

 mound 90 feet in di- 

 ameter and 30 feet in 

 height, on one side of 

 which is a narrow 

 doorway about four 

 feet high. We found the custodian at a 

 neighboring farm-house and were con- 

 ducted into a passageway 54 feet long, 

 through which we walked in a stooping 

 posture until at last we were able to 

 stand erect in a room 15 feet square and 

 13 feet high (see page 200). 



The most surprising feature of this 

 mound is the size of some of the stones 

 of which it is built. One of them is 

 estimated to weigh eight tons ! 



In an age when men possessed no iron 

 tools, no drills, no means of blasting, no 

 derricks, no wagons nor trucks — none of 

 the things now deemed indispensable in 

 the quarrying, transportation, and placing 



THE WATCH-STONE, 



Photograph by Charles S. Olcott 



OR SENTINEL, ERECTED BY A PEOPLE 

 <>E MYSTERY 



This is one of the famous Stones of Stenness. which stand about two 

 miles from the mound of Alaeshowe (see page 200), 



of much smaller monoliths — how was it: 

 possible to cut such rocks out of the 

 earth's surface, shape them into rect- 

 angular building stones, carry them long 

 distances, and finally set them up to form 

 a humble dwelling-place? 



The huge stones which in Egypt 

 formed the tombs of the ancient kings 

 were quarried and built into pyramids 

 by the labor of myriads of slaves ; but 

 no such conditions existed here. It is 

 possible that Maeshowe was a typical 

 Pictish dwelling. It has three lateral 

 chambers, each large enough for two or 

 three persons to lie in, and on the floor 

 in front of each is a stone of the exact 



