Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/63

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Shetland Folk-Lore

opinions expressed by Mr. Jamieson, I have quoted from his communication at considerable length, as his remarks, like all he wrote, are exceedingly vivid and suggestive. As will be seen from the following extract, Mr. Jamieson appears to have held some very extraordinary opinions with regard to the early inhabitants:

“Unless old men and women in several parishes wilfully lied, or were more liable to be deceived than we are, the mound-dwellers existed in Shetland up to the beginning of the present century.”

I have not attempted to treat of those brochs which have been described by writers of books on Shetland and in the Procedings of learned Societies. The most notable of these is the Broch of Mousa, around which the romantic interest clings that it on two occasions proved a place of refuge for runaway lovers. However romantic the tall tower on the lonely islet may appear, it could hardly have been

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