FOOTNOTES:
[1] Appended to the collection of "Folk and Hero Tales from Argyllshire" which forms the second volume of the series entitled "Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition" (London, 1890; published by the Folk-Lore Society).
[2] Contributed to The Contemporary Review of 1881, and The Gentleman's Magazine of 1882.
[3] A reprint of 1883: William Brown, Edinburgh.
[4] Antiquitates Americanæ. See Appendix B.
[5] It may be from them that an inlet at Bergen is called "Fens Fiord." Bergen is so much associated with the "Finns" of Shetlandic tradition that it is at least worthy of notice that a special caste, known as Strils (pronounced "Streels"), who are very primitive in character, and who are regarded by the neighbouring Norwegians as of a different stock from their own, still inhabit the numerous islands that protect Bergen from the ocean. "They speak Norwegian after a fashion of their own, but it is very difficult to understand them, and there is reason to suppose that their idioms have a Samoyede root." ("Bergen," by Lieut. G. T. Temple, R.N., in Good Words, 1880, p. 767 et seq.)
[6] A recent visitor to the Greenland branch of that family states that "a skilled Eskimo can, in his kayak, go even eighty miles in one day." The length of the day is, of course, an important matter. Dr. Nansen, the traveller referred to (who made the above statement in his paper read before the Scottish Geographical Society at Edinburgh on 1st July, 1889) gained his experience of kayaks during winter, when the Greenland day is very short. If the eighty miles were done then, the speed is marvellous. It is so, indeed, in any case. When Dr. Nansen reached Godthaab in October, the nearest Europe-bound ship was lying at a place 240 miles to the south, and a "kayaker" was despatched thither to try and detain the vessel, which was to sail in the middle of the month. Though unsuccessful in his mission, he reached the vessel in plenty of time. The dates of his journey are not given. But the mere fact of the man being thus sent as an express messenger argues that a very high rate of speed was relied upon.
[7] "The Eskimo Tribes," Copenhagen, 1887, p. 6.
[8] It may be mentioned that the variety worn by the Alaskan Eskimo is not of seal-skin. It is described as a "peculiar waterproof coat called a camalinkie, made from the entrails of the seal, and is nearly as fine as tissue paper, almost every inch of it being quilted, to strengthen it. The Aleut wears this curious garment when seated in his canoe." ("Seal Hunting in Behring Sea"; contributed to the Scotsman of Sep. 20, 1889, by Edward C. Richards.)
[9] For this extract I am indebted to the courtesy of the President and Council of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
[10] More correctly, the editor and publisher of a previous MS.
[11] It is an unfortunate circumstance that, owing to the lamentable indifference of the custodiers of the Finnman's canoe subsequent to the year 1696, it seems impossible to say whether or not that vessel is still preserved. In 1865 the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art became possessed of the collection of the University, and in that collection were two kayaks, with regard to which nothing definite was known at the time of transference. If the University "preserved" the Finnman's kayak, as the College of Physicians expected, then it must be one of these two, as these were the only kayaks in the University Museum in 1865. (In the hope of obtaining a definite solution of this question, I have given a description of that kayak which appears to be the most likely to be the Finnman's, in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on 10th February, 1890.)
[12] This peculiar feat is mentioned by Drs. Rink and Nansen, as well as in connection with the Greenlander of 1816. Another "kayak" custom may here be noticed. Brand stated of the Orkney Finn-man, that "when in a storm he seeth the high surge of a wave approaching, he hath a way of sinking his Boat, till the wave pass over, least thereby he should be overturned." This manifestly does not refer to the deliberate overturning for amusement, in calm weather. But Hans Egede, in describing the Eskimo kayakers of Greenland, during the eighteenth century, is evidently speaking of the usage referred to by Brand, when he says: "They do not fear venturing out to sea in these boats in the greatest storms; because they can swim as light upon the largest waves as a bird can fly: and when the waves come upon them with all their fury, they only turn the side of the boat towards them, to let them pass, without the least danger of being sunk." (Quoted in the Scots Magazine of 1816, p. 654.)
[13] Mr. R. M. Ballantyne; "Ungava," chap. xx.
[14] This illustration appears in Mr. Carstensen's "Two Summers in Greenland." London, Chapman & Hall, 1890.
[15] Gentleman's Magazine, March 1, 1882.
[16] Contemporary Review, September, 1881.
[17] Contemporary Review, August, 1881. In the Archæological Review (June, 1889, pp. 219-220) Mr. G. L. Gomme gives various references of this kind, Irish and Shetlandic. One instance describes the "Merrow" ancestress as "half fish and half woman," which corresponds with the Shetlandic "sêlkie-wife," or seal-woman. More extreme still is the tradition that the Irish clan of Coneely, like the natives of Burra Firth, in Unst, are actually descended from "seals."
[18] Preface to Leyden's "Mermaid," in "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border."
[19] "Letters from the Isle of Man." London 1847; p. 59.
[20] The allusion in "Hudibras" bears more specially on the custom of selling the winds in bags or "bottled;" which is a variation of the Manx practice.
[21] The preface to Leyden's "Mermaid."
[22] "Les Travailleurs de la Mer."
[23] This boat, and all memory of it, seems quite to have vanished from Burra. (See "The Orkneys and Shetland," by J. R. Tudor, London, 1883, p. 341.)
[24] Mr. J. F. Campbell's "West Highland Tales," vol. ii. p. 64.
[25] "Letters from the Isle of Man." London, 1847, p. 63.
[26] Quoted in the "Annual Register" of 1788; "Manners of Nations" pp. 77-80.
[27] See foot-note, pp. 12-13, ante. The expressions of Egede and Armstrong, however, are obviously exaggerated, as no kayak could weather a really violent gale.
[28] These citations from Avienus, Diodorus, and Strabo are taken from Skene's Celtic Scotland, I., 165-168.
[29] London, 1882 (Plate I.)
[30] In assuming the Oestrymnides, or Cassiterides, to be the same as the Hesperides, Dr. Skene again shows that the locality referred to is the Iberian coast. For the writers of the second and sixth century whom he quotes state that the Hesperides are inhabited by Iberians, and are situated "near the sacred promontory where they say is the end of Europe." Now, in Ptolemy's map, above referred to, "the sacred promontory" (Sacrum Promōtoriū) is Cape St. Vincent; which would place the Hesperides at even a greater distance from England than the Oestrymnic Isles. The islands called Londobries and Deorum Insulæ on Ptolemy's map may be those referred to. Neither they nor the Oestrymnic Isles exist at the present day; but in questions of ancient history the fact ought never to be overlooked that the surface of the earth is constantly undergoing changes,—at one place the sea encroaching upon the land, at another retiring from it.
[31] Op. cit., p. 20, note.
[32] Dr. Rasmus B. Anderson says "deer sinews," while Dr. Joseph Anderson states that the original word may either denote "sinew," or "sen-grass."
[33] Misled in some measure by Mr. Laing's too free translation, wherein the expression "skin-sewed Fin-boats" is used, I had assumed that these two vessels were really large open skin-boats, like those of the British Islanders and the Eskimos. But I am indebted to Dr. Joseph Anderson for pointing out that the passage distinctly states that the boats were of wood, and that the allusion is to the "sewing" alone. As an article contributed by me to the Archæological Review (Vol. IV., Aug. 1889) contains this erroneous assumption, I take this opportunity of stating that my inference is contradicted by the original passage, with which I was not then acquainted. Additional references, however, supporting the belief that skin-boats were then and subsequently used in Norway, will be found in Appendix B.
[34] I am informed by Professor Kaarle Krohn of Helsingfors that the modern Lapps employ light skiffs, which they propel with a double-bladed paddle. But this vessel, which is so light that one man can carry it on his head, is made of wood, not skin, and is, moreover, open—not decked, like the kayak.
[35] Brand.
[36] And perhaps by many other names of like nature—such as Finsbury, Findon, Finhaven, Fincastle, etc.
[37] This is quoted from "Waldron's Works," p. 176.
[38] This description is given at p. 550 of Dawson's "Statistical History of Scotland."
[39] In a "Proclamation by the Privy Council of Scotland regarding the Fishing in the Isles"; given at p. 111 of "Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis."
[40] Not italicized in the original.
[41] In this instance the italics occur in the original.
[42] "Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis," p. 115.
[43] In a letter to the Privy Council of Scotland, of 15th July, 1632, Charles refers to this Association as "of new erected by us."
[44] See Blackwood's Magazine, 1818, p. 674, whence the above paragraph is taken.
[45] Others of the same tribe were "as comely as Sappho;" and the inference is that, ethnologically regarded, these were totally different from the others. It must be remembered that the mere surname, borne by all the members of a Highland clan, did not imply kinship. The word "clan" was originally used to denote only the blood-relations of the chief; but latterly it was applied to the whole community. And that the commonalty was frequently composed of men of a wholly different stock from their chiefs may be seen from the fact that the former are specially distinguished as "the native men" (i.e., aborigines) in several clan documents.
[46] See Armstrong's "Gaelic Dictionary," s.v. Biorlinn; also "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," 1880-81, pp. 179-80.
[47] Anderson's "Scottish Nation," vol. iii. p. 49.
[48] Dr. Daniel Wilson's "Old Edinburgh," vol. i. p. 29.
[49] See pp. 59, 378, and 485 of "The Orkneys and Shetland," by J. R. Tudor; London, 1883.
[50] The ballad of "The Great Silkie [i.e., Seal] of Sule Skerry" is given by the late Captain Thomas, on pp. 88-89 of the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," vol. i. (First series). This "great seal" figures in the song as the father of a Shetland woman's child. It may be added that this islet lies about thirty-five miles in a northerly direction from the Strath Navar referred to on a previous page.
[51] In the Ethnological Society's Journal, vol. ii. No. 4.
[52] This is taken from an article on the Founding of Philadelphia; contributed by the Rev. Dr. Stoughton to The Sunday at Home, 1882.
[53] In the edition of 1844, the word "Laplander" is used instead of "Fin" in these two instances, as also in the following chapter, where "the cunning of the Fin woman" is referred to. But the admirable edition of 1889 employs "Fin" in each case. Whatever may have been the original distinction between "Fin" or "Finn" and "Lapp," it is evident that these two terms have very often been used indiscriminately, from an early period.
[54] It is stated of Einar that, although "he was ugly, and blind of an eye," he was "yet very sharp-sighted withal."
[55] Mr. John R. Tudor, in his very interesting book on "The Orkneys and Shetland" (London, 1883), indicates (p. 364) a certain district in the island of North Ronaldshay as the scene of Halfdan's death; and suggests that one of "three curious ridges, or mounds" is probably that raised over Halfdan's body. The saga certainly says that his death took place on that island. But, of course, there is plenty of room for conjecture in the whole story.
[56] Mentioned, for example, in Skene's "Celtic Scotland," i, 311-312. It is not out of place to refer here to a Mongoloid race of "Flat-noses" of whom Mr. Howorth speaks. These are the Nogais, who are known as "Manguts"; the word Mangut, or Mangutah, being "merely an appellative, meaning flat-nosed." "Dr. Clark says of them: 'They are a very different people from the Tartars of the Crimea, and may be instantly distinguished by their diminutive form, and the dark copper colour of their complexion, sometimes almost black. They have a remarkable resemblance to the Laplanders, although their dress and manner has a more savage character.' Pallas enlarges also upon their specially Mongolian features. Klaproth says: 'Of all the Tartar tribes that I have seen, the Nogais bear by far the strongest resemblance in features and figure to the Mongols'" (Howorth's "History of the Mongols," part ii, p. 2, and part iii, p. 71).
[57] Such as roo and mûl (each used to denote a headland); skerry, a reef; couthe, the "cuddy" or coal-fish, and broch; all of which are found in Gaelic as ru (rudha), maol, sgeir, cudan, and brog.
[58] See p. lxxx of Dr. Skene's Introduction to "The Dean of Lismore's Book," Edinburgh, 1862.
[59] Perhaps the old Scotch termination "is" ought not to be modernized into a separate syllable, as, whatever the force once given to it, that termination represents the modern plural and possessive "s." But if the "Fenis" of the gloss was dissyllabic, it has an equivalent in Shetland in the alternative "Finny," sometimes used instead of "Finn."
[60] See "Leabhar na Feinne," London, 1872, p. iv.
[61] It may be added, that while Dr. Skene frequently speaks of "the Fians," and at other times of "the Feinne," he occasionally refers to "the Fenians." But, as this term has been recently usurped by a quasi-political faction, and as it is, moreover, less accurate than the other, we may at once reject it. The compound "Fingalian" has also little to recommend it.
[62] "The Rough-bounds (Garbhcrioch) and the Western Isles" is the expression used. The former term denoted that portion of the mainland between Loch Linnhe and Glenelg. Whether the Island of Skye ought to be included as one of the "Western Isles" is not quite clear.
[63] Dr. Skene, p. lxiv of his Introduction to "The Dean of Lismore's Book." (Here, as elsewhere, I take the liberty of substituting Feens for the Gaelic plural Feinne.)
[64] Op. cit., Introduction, p. lxxviii.
[65] Op. cit., Intro., pp. lxxiii-lxxiv.
[66] Op. cit., p. 36.
[67] For the above references, see pp. 36, 37, and 40 of "The Dean of Lismore's Book."
[68] Just as modern India is British India, although it is almost exclusively occupied by native races. (In this instance, of course, the position of native and alien is precisely the reverse from that which this "Feen" empire seems to denote.)
[69] "Dean of Lismore's Book," p. lxxv. The spelling is here slightly modified.
[70] Op. cit., p. 8, note 1.
[71] Op. cit., p. 49, note.
[72] "Leabhar na Feinne," p. 34.
[73] The Gaelic traditions have a good deal to say regarding a race of sea-rovers, styled Fomorians; which word is by some believed to be a latinized form of a Gaelic term denoting a seafaring people. As it is not improbable that this may be simply another name for the people now under consideration, the following is worth citing here: "That those adventurers whom our writers call Fomorians, have arrived hither in multitudes from that country whence the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians came, is a circumstance that may be collected from this account, that the father-in-law of Tuathal is said, in the genealogy of the kings of Ireland, to have been king of the Fomorians of Finland." (O'Flaherty's "Ogygia," Hely's translation, Dublin, 1793, vol. i, p. 19.)
[74] Mr. Charles de Kay, in the course of several learned articles on early life in Ireland, contributed to The Century Magazine during the year 1889.
[75] It is to be remembered that "Lochlan," the term used to denote the territory last named, was ultimately applied to the whole of Scandinavia, and may have been used in its widest sense at the period here referred to.
[76] Introduction, p. lxxvi. In the above, I have again taken the liberty of modifying the various designations.
[77] "Celtic Scotland," vol. i, p. 131; vol. iii, chap, iii, etc. See also his "Chronicles of the Picts and Scots."
[78] "Celtic Scotland," vol. ii, pp. 108-16.
[79] M. J. Tuchmann, in "Mélusine," t. iv, no. 16.
[80] Mr. Charles de Kay, in one of the valuable articles already referred to, remarks ("Woman in Early Ireland," Century Magazine, July 1889, p. 439): "Although in the Kalewala the tribes of Pohjola, or the Lapps, are considered foul magicians, and ever the foe of the heroes of Kaleva, or the Finns, yet it is from Pohjola that Waïnamoïnen and his comrades always take their brides by force or by purchase." This quotation not only confirms the above account of M. Tuchmann, but it also illustrates the fact that even the most antagonistic races do not refrain from mixing their blood. Thus it may be seen how Lapps and Finns could eventually become almost identified. And the "Heimskringla" shows us how, in turn, this composite Finno-Lapp race could later on become blended with that of the Haralds and Sigurds of the Sagas.
[81] This has already been propounded by the late Mr. J. F. Campbell ("West Highland Tales," iv, 29-30).
[82] "West Highland Tales," iii, 394-5.
[83] So spelt in the English translation given by the Rev. John G. Campbell, minister of Tiree, in The Scottish Celtic Review, Glasgow, 1885, pp. 184-90.
[84] Referring to the component parts of Fin's army on a certain occasion, Mr. Charles de Kay remarks ("Early Heroes of Ireland," Century Magazine, June 1889, p, 200): "The battalion of 'middle-sized men' and that of 'small men' we may understand as recruited from the true hunter and fisher tribes, who gave the name Fenian to the army itself, and Fion to the folk-hero."
[85] Trow is the favourite form among the Shetlanders; but other forms are given by Edmondston in his "Glossary," such as drow, troll, troil, troilya, and trolld. The Shetland terms are, therefore, also variants of the Scandinavian troll, following a common Scotch tendency, which modifies boll, knoll, poll, roll, etc., into bow, know, pow, row, etc. (the vowel sound being as in now). But whichever form may be the oldest, it is manifest that trow or drow, and troich or droich, are radically one.
[86] Rev. J. Russell, "Three Years in Shetland." Paisley and London, 1887, pp. 135-6.
[87] See the Society's "Memoirs," 1865-6, vol. ii, pp. 294-338.
[88] The spelling pight, which Dr. Hunt uses above, must clearly represent the guttural and vowel sound of licht, micht, dight, etc., in "broad Scotch." Without this caution, the reader would naturally infer the sound of pite.
[89] Rev. J. Bryden: see "Anthrop. Soc. Mem." ut supra.
[90] Close to Kettlester there is a noted haunt of the "trows," which bears the name of Houlland. With this may be compared Troil-Houlland, which adjoins Seffister, of "trow" memory. This very common Shetland termination "ster" or "setter" is the Icelandic setr, a dwelling; and these two names resolve themselves respectively into dwellings of Kettle and Seffi. The former name at once recalls the ninth century Ketil Flat-nose of the Sagas, and this "setr," still associated with dwarfs (otherwise trows or pechts), may have been one of his dwellings.
[91] Mrs. Saxby, in "Folk-lore from Unst, Shetland" (part v), contributed to The Leisure Hour, 1880. (For another reference to the boats of the Picts, see pp. 178-9, post.)
[92] "Scottish Dictionary" (Supplement), s. v. "Picht."
[93] "The Topography of the Basin of the Tay," by James Knox, Edinburgh, 1831, p. 108. This writer adds that "they are said to have been about three or four feet in height"; and it may be mentioned that when I asked my young guide at Kettlester the exact height of the small Pechts he had just been speaking of, he said, "About that height," indicating at the same time a stature of three feet or so. Whatever their height really was, this young Shetlander's ideas were in agreement with those held "throughout Scotland."
[94] "Popular Rhymes of Scotland," 1870, p. 80.
[95] See the Society's "Memoirs," 1865-6, vol. ii, pp. 216-225.
[96] The term "broch" has hitherto been used in a general sense in these pages. This its etymology permits: for it is the same word as borough, burgh, burg, barrow, etc. But the students of these ancient structures have recently restricted "broch" to the more elaborate and superior building of the round or "martello" tower order. This definition is very convenient, and saves much confusion. In spite, however, of the great difference that Mr. Petrie speaks of as between the so-called "Pictish" broch and the humbler dwelling that alone is recognized by him as a "Pict's house," it is yet evident that the "broch" is to a very great extent evolved from the more primitive and rudimentary "Pict's house."
[97] Mr. Daniel Gorrie, in "Summers and Winters in the Orkneys," London, 1869, p. 117.
[98] This extract is quoted from the review in the Scots Magazine of 1823 (pp. 457-8) of Captain Scoresby's "Journal" (published 1823).
[99] From an extract contained in the review (Scots Magazine, 1819, vol. iv, pp. 332-3) of Capt. Ross's account (published by John Murray, London, 1819).
[100] Op. cit., p. 119.
[101] The fact that the "Interlude" is allegorical does not at all affect the question.
[102] Scots Magazine, vol. iii. 1818, p. 503.
[103] "Popular Rhymes of Scotland," 1870, pp. 80-82.
[104] Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 152-3.
[105] "Rambles in Northumberland," by S. Oliver. London, 1835, p. 104.
[106] The earliest instance which has come under my notice of such work performed in the British Islands by a subject people, who correspond in many ways with the Pechts, is that given by Lady Ferguson ("The Story of the Irish before the Conquest," London, 1868, p. 32), with reference to the rebuilding of the fort of Cruachan, in Connaught.
[107] For Dr. Skene's accounts, on which these statements are based, see "Celtic Scotland," vol. i. pp. 236-241; and p. cvii of his Preface to the "Chronicles of the Picts and Scots."
[108] It is not meant to be implied that Angles and Pechts were exclusively the inhabitants of this territory at that time. But it seems clear that the former predominated, and gave to the district the impression of speech and custom which it yet retains.
[109] "Celtic Scotland," vol. i. pp. 203 and 467. "Reginald of Durham, writing in the last half of the twelfth century, mentions, in 1164, Kirkcudbright as being in 'terra Pictorum,' and calls their language 'sermo Pictorum.'" (Op. cit., p. 203, note.) Dr. Skene, quoting various authorities, gives us an interesting description of the Scottish army at the Battle of the Standard. It was composed, we learn, of Normans, Germans, English, Northumbrians, Cumbrians, men of Teviotdale and the Lothians, Picts (commonly called Galloways or Galloway-men), and Scots. This is the statement made by Richard of Hexham, a contemporary writer, and it seems to agree on the whole with the other accounts. His "Cumbrians" are identified with the "Welsh" of Strathclyde. No doubt his "Northumbrians" were those who, living on the north of the Border, belonged to that part of Northumbria which had then been Scottish for more than a century. The Galloway Picts, it may be added, were in the front of the battle, and "claimed to lead the van as their right."