The morning call., 1890-12-28


rather than acquired. His sodden fatalism.
despite his almost fierce religious faith. is
the outcome of those curious superstitions
Oh all lowly races living alongside the
material relics and remains of pagan pro-
nature, which cheerilv contemplates most
OF the burdens of hOme-Iife and croft-toil
falling upon his faithful Spouse is the
trauitlonai one existing among all seafaring
people. Inc Islands being. deeply indented
with woes, or arms of the sea, the crofts
are generally. situated along the shores of
these. Croft holdings comprise from three
to ten acres of arabic land, with hill-pasture
IN common. The latter is known here as
scattaid, pronounced by the natives scat
holds" but the land is reckoned by so many
merks value, the merk being an old Morse
coin worth about So 22-thus '5-merk
croft 20-merk croft etc, the value,
rather than the size Of the croft being thus
indicated. sss7es
The truck" system. that barbarous in
iquity still prevalent in some portions of our
own country, which formerly kept Shet-
landers III precisely the same abhOrrent con-
dition OIL slavery as that suffered by the
miners OF Pennsylvania, Indiana and Hi
nols having a few years since been extir-
pated from Shetland by the same British
puolc sentiment which fixed "fair rents"
ior Scottish crofters generally, the Shetland
FIsHER-CRoFTERs
are prosperous and content upon their bits
~ A.hu do tuC IeSull Vi LABOR upon the
cfo1ts and in fishing, for every Shetland
peasant is both fisher and crofter. At each
cro1thome will be found few sheep, great
Hooks oil geese, often a COW and always the
stump little Shetland pony and cart. The
ponies are very hardy, wondrously sure
iooted, and. being as much companions as
beasts of burden, are left pretty much to the
freedom of their own wills when not re-
qulred for use.
These ponies are, of course, used in all
manner OF carrying capacities like the little
donkeys OF the Azores, but one irresstibly
connects them in the thought with peat-car-
rying. You can hardly turn your eyes upon
any road or pathway in Shetland without
somewhere seeing Shetland pony half hid
zen under great straw panniers or may
sizes, as the natives call them, going for or
returning with peat, while the Shetland
guldwife or maiden joys along in company,
knitting with an almost savage sedulous-
ness and energy. But there is another car
yer mere tina. does almost the work of the
Shetland pony. That is the Shetland
woman. All the manure for the crofts,
comprising thousands of tons of gathered
seaweed, the millions of fish in the opera
tlons OF landing and curing, and large por-
ton OF the peat is carried not on ponies
backs, but on the backs of women in the
universal 'kashie" Of the islands. This is
creel made OF twisted and woven straw
ike the "maysies." 1t is also written
cassie" and its pronunciation is best in
H.S"tSN an tIC optlIiIR hySHlTt OF
klshie. Shetland women step off nimbly
with from seventy to eighty pounds weight
in their "kashies," but knit, knit, knit for
ever and forever. Peat is the principal
burden. for there is no wood-fuel In Shet-
land. Nearly all the high interior surface
of the islands, consists of wild, dreary
scattaldS, or peat-moSses, common for pas
ture as well as for peat; and from these nine
tenths OF the Shetlanders secure their
FUEL SUPPLIES.
For peat-cutting in Sheatnd a long, mar
row spade with sharp iron edge. and an
iron plate some seven inches long, placed at
right angles, are used. Peat-banks or beds
are generally three peat-lengths in depth,
aud the size of the "toySker" as the peat
spade is called, determines the size of the
peat. When cut each block is about one foot
long, SIX or seven inches broad and three
inches thick. The peatS are then laid in
rows on the hank, like unbaked brick, for
the first drying. After laying for three
weeks they are then ''raised"-that is stood
on end in small piles--for complete drying.
the "maysies" on the ponies backs, or In
the 'kasies" on the women's backs, when
they are usually stacked" alongside the
cabins for winter use, as on the Scottish
mainland.
The stranger will still find many curious
and Interesting relies of olden DAYS and
ways in Shetland. The ancient village or
tom" OF Sound, two miles from Lerwick,
is a veritable nest of odd old folks and
things. The inhabitants pique themselves
on possessing the exact spot of ground on
which their ancestors dwelt for more than
thousand years. They show fine scorn for
"oopstart Lerwick'' in the oft-Quoted COUP
let:
Sound Sound when Lerwfck was name:
Sound'li be Sound when Lerwiek is dune.
And the Sound wives" still visit Ierwick
on Saturdays, with tlieir ''kashies'' on their
backs, their knitting in full swing and their
noses high In. lofty contempt, waiting on one
another until all are done with their errands
or shopping, and then returning to Sound
the embodiment Of naughty liberation. The
old implements of labor and ancient cos
tunes are yet common in Sop.a quarters.
You will still find men clad 10 isegets and
trousers reaching little below she knee, of
roughly tanned sheepskins, the large Blue
bonnetS Of the
TAM O. sHANTER
Variety On their heads, and their feet in
cased in ''rivlins," the '.pampootas" of the
haif-naked wretches of the Irish ArIan
hide tied over the feet with thongs. The
hair is next the loot, and the soles and sides
only are covered. The ancient ''clivins" or
fre-tongs frequently weigh twenty pounds.
Grain is universally cut with the sickle,
threshed with the fail, and winnowed BY
by being tossed in the breeze. The old
wooden harrow is common crooked wooden
plows are still seen; many households pos
sess the quern or stone hand-mill as old as
Aryan history; and little huts of water
mills, where larger Querns are whirled
about by rude wheels against which water
from little rills is shot horizontally, and
where the grain is fed into the upper stone
by hand. are numerous in the islands.
The Shetanders as people are most
frank, engaging and courteous, though un-
derDeath it all thero is wise canniBess of
reserve far exceeding that of The mainland
Scotch. A genuine charm to the stranger
is their softness and almost liquidity of
speech, although it is at first difficult for
even Scotchman to wholly understand the
language of the country people and fisher
men. A few illustrations may be given: A
grandfather is ''gutcher." house is
"ljora," "crus" is a sheep-fold, ''clivin"
is the tongs. the thole-pin for boat is
"kabe." dog-fish are ''hoes," buoy is a
.'bow," and fish-gall has no other name than
.'huggie-s taft" The use of ''du" and de-
for thou and you" is universal, and an
answer by a bright guild wife, to whom l
had applied for one or two Shetland super
stitiOns. is the best example which could be
given of the Shetland dialect:
'Guid truth. gin wild tell de onything,
de wild shune surely haze it in prent; an da
guild OF ia me wild be dune ~
Copyright EDGAR L. wAKEMAN.
SPONGE OUT THE HEADACHE.