Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-28

footed and being as much companions as
beasts of burden, are left pretty much to
the freedom OF their own wills when not
required for use.
The ponies are of course used in all
manner of carrying capacities like the
little donkeys of the Azores, but one ir-
resistibly connects them in the thought
with peat carrying. You can hardly
turn your eyes upon any road or pathway
in Shetland without somewhere seeing
Shetland pony halt hidden under great
straw panniers, or 'maysies' as the ma
tlres call them, going for or returning
with peat, while the Shetland guidwifs
OF maiden joys along in company, knit
ting with an almost savage sedulousness
and energy. But there is another car
rier here that 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 OPP
erations of landing and curing, and
large portion of the peat, is carried not
on poCles backs, but on the backs of
women in the universal "kashie' of the
islands. This is creel made of twisted
and woven straw like the ''may-
sies.'' 1t Is also written
c6ssle, anu lis pTouuuCidtiou IL uest
indicated in the spelling 'kyshire or
"kishie. - Shetland women step off
nimtly with from seventy TO eighty
pounds weight in their ''kashies, but
knit, knit, knit forever and forever.
Peat is the principal burden, for there ia
no wood fuel in Shetland. Nearly all the
high interior surface of the islands con-
sists of wild, dreary scattads or peat
r,ossps nomnoD for Dasfura we'll
for peat; and from these nine tenths of
the Shetlauders secure their fuel sup
pies. For peat cutting in Shetland
long, narrow spade with sharp iron
edge, and an iron plate some seven
inches long, placed at right angles, is
used. Peat banks or beds are generally
three peat lengths IN depth, and the size
of the "toysker," as the peat spade is
called, determines che size of the peat.
When cut each block is about one foot
long, six or seven inches broad and
about three inches thick. The
pests are then laid in rowe
on the bank, like unbaked brIokE1
for the first drying. After lying Il
three weeks they are then ERASED,
that is, stood on ends in small plies, for
complete drying. ''Lsading tls
pea,s, is taking them home in the
"maysies'' on the ponies backs, or in,
the "kashies'' on the women's backs
when they are usually "stecked''a
alongside the cabins for winter use, as on
the Scottish mainland.
The stranger will still find many Curl
GUS and interesting relics of olden days
and ways in Shetland. The ancient
village or "toun'' of Sound, two miles
from Lerwick, is a veritabls nest of odd,
old folk and things. The inhabitants
pique themselves on possessing the ex-
act spot of ground on whIehsthsir an
cestors dwelt for more than a thasssnd
years. They show fine scorn for f1ep-
start Lerwiok'' In the oft-au69ed
ceuplet, w
Sound was Sound when Lerwick was name; TS
Sound'll De Sound when LerHick in dunes''@
and the "Sound wives" still visit Ler-'
wick on Saturdays with their ''ksshies
on their backs, their knitting in full
swing, and their noses high IN lofty con
tempt, waiting on one another until al
are done with their errands or shoppina
and then returning to Sound the embon
.nent. of naughty liberation. The o.
implemsnts>of labor and ancient cos
TUNES are yet common in some quarters.
You will still md men tclsd in jackets
and trouser, reaching q little below the
knee. OF roughly tanned sheep-skins,