the Shetland Islands. S55 
turn we to the gentle pair in the fortress, that we may speak of 
v/hat pain they must there endure, what cold, what hunger,, and 
what thirst. In such a dog-hole,— a conjurer’s circle gives 
content, above it ; — a hawk’s mew is a princely palace to it.” — 
But Harold had powerful foes in other places wherewith to con- 
tend, and, on this account, he gave heed to the advice of his 
followers, that Erlend should be retained as a friend and not as 
an enemy, and that he ought not to despise the new family al- 
liance. A reconciliation took place, and then, with great joy, 
returned the parties to their several pursuits, well satisfied with 
each other. Such is the story chronicled by Torfaeus, concern- 
ing the siege of Moseyaburgum and the loves of Dame Marga- 
reta and Erlend, her last leman*«. 
VI. Method of Bloodletting in Shetland. 
In Shetland there are several native popular medicines. 
Scurvy grass, for instance, is used in cutaneous complaints, 
butter-milk in dropsy, the shells of whelks calcined and pound- 
ed for dyspepsia, and a variety of steatite named in the country 
Meher^ for excoriations. But the mode of letting blood, known 
from time immemorial, deserves the most particular notice. 
When the native chirurgeon is called in, he first bathes the part 
from which the detraction is to be made, with warm water, and 
then draws forth his cupping-machine, which consists of nothing 
more than the upper part of a ram’s horn perforated at the top, 
and bound round with a soft piece of cotton or woollen rag. 
In applying it to the skin, he sucks out a little of the included 
air, takes ofp the horn, makes upon the surface of the part that 
has thus been gently raised six or seven slight incisions, again 
fixes the cupping instrument, freely draws out the air by the 
reapplicatioh of his lips to it, and, either by insinuating his 
tongue within the perforation, or by twisting round it a piece of 
leather or bladder, prevents the ingress of fresh air. He next 
uses coarse cloths, wrung out with warm water, to stimulate the 
flowing of the blood, and when the horn is half filled, it leaves 
the skin and falls down. The same process is repeated several 
times, until a sufficient depletion has been made. It is worthy 
of remark, that the African negroes, described by Park, have a 
similar mode of cupping. 
