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There can be no manner of doubt, I think, that St Kilda was inhabited close upon, if not quite, a thousand years ago; for in digging out and restoring an underground dwelling known amongst the natives as the "fairy house," which had been only partially explored and to a great extent destroyed by a previous visitor, we came across the objects represented below. The particulars about the choicest of our finds have been kindly supplied to me by my friend Dr Anderson, Curator of the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, whither they were sent by the chief, MacLeod, who owns the island, and who generously insisted upon defraying the entire cost of excavating and restoring the subterranean dwelling.
The iron spear-head on the right hand side of the picture is a weapon of war belonging to Viking times, and is in all probability a thousand years old. The conical-shaped stones belong to the same period, and were used, it is thought, as net sinkers or loom weights. They were cracked and split, a condition due no doubt to some extent to the kind of stone from which they had been made, but probably exaggerated in the case of one of them (which we were obliged to tie together with string before it could be photographed) by the fact that it had been heated, as it bore traces of having lain in the remains of a peat fire. The St Kildans said that these stones were used in former times for putting into the foot of a stocking and dashing out the brains of invading enemies, some of whom called to kidnap able-bodied men to serve in their ships in place of hands washed overboard during stormy weather.
We found a lot of fragments of earthenware vessels half an inch thick, and so blackened on the outsides as to lead us to suppose they had been placed on a fire for cooking purposes. They were in all probability made on the island and used in the Viking times. Such vessels were manufactured and used all over the Western Isles of Scotland, from a very early period down to the time when the steamers brought Staffordshire ware into fashion.
The other implements figuring in the picture consist of hammer-stones, whetstones, rubbing-stones, or grain-crushers, and hollowed stones which may have been used as lamps. Curiously enough one of the lamp-stones we found was almost exactly similar in size and shape to one still in use on Borrera.
The entire credit of properly investigating and restoring this interesting home of primitive man belongs to our friend, Mr John Mackenzie, jun., who takes a great deal of interest in the history of the place. Some idea may be gathered of the condition of this strange relic of bygone days from the picture taken of it before we commenced digging, and the fact that four or five feet from the entrance the passage was completely blocked up with earth and stones, which were overgrown with ferns of the most delicate green tint I have ever seen. As I was anxious to possess some these undamaged, I wriggled my way inside and secured a few, which are now growing in my little Hertfordshire garden.
Antiquities from underground dwelling
The dwelling is something in the form of a huge drain, some thirty or forty feet in length, four feet in height, and three in width, with a passage of somewhat similar capacity, but only about nine or ten feet in length, running at right angles to it on the left hand side, and about half way from the entrance. This is, I believe, supposed to have formed the bedchamber of the people who inhabited the rude house, the entrance to which commands an excellent view of Village Bay. This last fact was, no doubt, of great importance, in order that the people might have early knowledge of the approach of enemies. Neither had the owners of this underground mansion been unmindful of the benefits of some sort of sanitary arrangement, for we found a drain beneath the floor, made, no doubt, to carry off the slops from their crude earthenware bowls. We also came across a lot of limpet shells and bones of sheep and birds of various kinds.
Many theories have been advanced as to the origin of the inhabitants of this lonely rock, and a curious tradition exists as to its acquisition by members of the outside world. The inhabitants of Harris and Uist agreed to make it the prize for a boat race, and accordingly set out to row across the intervening waste of waters. So equally matched were the crews in regard to pluck and endurance that they arrived at St Kilda almost at the same moment. The Uist men, however, led by a few strokes, and hopes of winning ran high amongst them when Colla MacLeod, the chief of the Harris gang, chopped his left hand off and flung it ashore over the heads of his competitors, and secured St Kilda and its satellites to himself and his descendants for all time.
Entrance to underground dwelling
My friend Mackenzie says that the progenitors of the St Kildans were undoubtedly transported from Skye by the Chief of MacLeod for various offences, and in evidence of this points out that whenever there is a row in that island the restorers of peace will still threaten to send the disturbers to St Kilda. Further, that mothers say to their children when they are troublesome, "If you don't be quiet, I'll send you to St Kilda," just as a Lancashire dame will terrify her unruly offspring by threatening them with the bogie man.
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