Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

I)ANJ;« OF LRWIS. 277
flie nalive Cths. Even in SIuthuKJ, aiid Orkney, where a
separate northern breed might have been more naturally
expected, nothing- of this kind occurs, nor do the natives
of these islands present, by any means, such distinct
traces of a Scandinavian origin as this little community.
The characteristic circumstance of the matted hair, is pe-
culiar to these few individuals, yet scrupulously pre-
served ; and it must have descended, with them, from
the most ancient times. That the whole of this island, or
at least the greater part, was originally Norwegian, is not
improbable; and Macleod, to whom as Chief, it be-
longed, was unquestionably of northern descent. I have
mentioned the facts more in detail elsewhere. It is a
circumstance not less remarkable, that, in thus retaining
their purity, they should have lost their language. It is
true enough, that, even in cases of extended and rapid
conquest, the conquerors, if less numerous, sooner or
later acquire the language of the conquered ; but this
ought only to happen where the breeds or the people in-
termix. When they remain separate, different languages
often remain for a long time singularly separated ; and
it is well remembered that even to a late period in the
town of Nairn, and in Dunkeld, both bordering on the
Low Country, one part of the population spoke Gaelic
and the other English ; so that, even at different extre-
mities of the same town, the inhabitants were unintelli-
gible to each other. A similar fact occurs at Dieppe;
and the history of the Poltese of that town, bears indeed
a very strong resemblance to the people of the Butt of
Lewis; except that, in addition to their other distinc-
tions from their neighbours, they preserve that distinct-
ness of language which my friends had lost. They inter-
marry, exclusively, in their own colony, their dresses are
still those of the sixteenth century, and they are abso-
lute foreigners to the people ; while they are stationary.