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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



size required to close the opening, but 

 too huge to be lifted. This fact suggests 

 that the mound may have been intended 

 for a tomb. It is quite possible that it 

 was originally a dwelling and later used 

 for burial purposes. 



RUNIC INSCRIPTIONS TKLL OF CRUSADERS 



On the Avails are many Runic inscrip- 

 tions. Twenty-six of them have been 

 translated, mostly trivial scribblings, as 

 "Hermund Hardaxe carved these Runes," 

 or "Ingigerthr is of women the most 

 beautiful." The only one of importance 

 reads : ''The Jorsalafarers broke open the 

 Orkahaug in the lifetime of the blessed 

 earl," and further intimates that they ex- 

 pected to rind treasure there and were 

 disappointed. 



The "blessed earl," who led an expedi- 

 tion to Jerusalem in 1152, was Rognvald, 

 and many of the names scratched on the 

 rocks are mentioned in the Saga as living 

 in his time. The sagas also record that 

 the "Orkahaug," or Maeshowe, was the 

 scene of a big Yuleday carouse by Earl 

 Harold and his men, who visited Orkney 

 while Rognvald was in the Holy Land. 



A better form of Pictish dwelling is 

 the "broch," of which more than seventy 

 have been found in the Orkneys and as 

 many in the Shetlands. 



The most complete specimen now ex- 

 tant is Mousa, in Shetland, which Sir 

 Walter Scott appropriated as the strange 

 dwelling of Noma of the Fitful Head, 

 transporting it in imagination from a 

 rocky island some ten miles south of 

 Lerwick to the northwestern extremity 

 of the mainland. 



These "brochs," or "burghs," are built 

 of loose stones and without cement or 

 mortar of any kind. Though the build- 

 ers knew nothing of roofs or arches, yet 

 they constructed chambers within the 

 walls, one row above another, encircling 

 the tower for several stories, and con- 

 necting the floors with a rude circular 

 stairway or inclined plane. 



The windows were all on the inside 

 of the tower, the only outside opening 

 being a single low door. 



These rude castles or forts served well 

 for defense against an enemy. The oc- 

 cupant could find sleeping quarters for 

 his family and retainers in the numerous 



