Shetland Folk-Lore
past. But of these rude monuments we are left with the poet to ask in vain:
“In what age wast raised? at whose command?
If Pictish, or if Scandinavian hand
Sank deep thy base, and bade thee time withstand?”
From the great number of stone implements found in Shetland, it might be supposed that the Stone Age extended over a very long period in these islands. It is probable, however, that even after metal implements were introduced, they did not come into common use for a long period, and that the primitive stone implements were only very gradually displaced. This, it is quite reasonable to suppose, would have been likely to happen in the case of a remote group of islands where we find, even in the present day when there frequent communication with the mainland, that the bismar is still often employed as a weighing machine, and an old world iron fish-oil lamp (the kollie) is still used in out of the way places.
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