The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

XOETHEEN SCOTLAND. 357
Notwitlistanding a change of religion, these sacred places of the ancient inha-
bitants still attract pilgrims. On South TTist 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 historj',
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 fortli 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 islet 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 Mount Athos is at the present day. Not far from the
church lay tbe " 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, wei'e
bound to swear to maintain intact the rights of their vassals, t 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 workmen 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.
J
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 /loi/ or Iiole. In 1820 the sword dance of the ancient Norwegians might
still be witnessed on one of the islands, and according to Gi£Eord,|| Norse was
spoken in a few families as recently as 1786. Sutherland clearly formed part 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, "Ilistorv of the Culdees."
t Fortes Leslie, " Early Races of Scotland."
X Mercey, Sevm des Dtux-Mondes, September, 1838.
§ Hugh lliUer, " Footprints of the Creator."
"Historical Description of Zetland."
II