"[53] Now, as the "Picts' houses" are, to outward appearance,
"small verdant hillocks," the parallel is very exact. With these two
references compare also the mention, in a quaint old gazetteer printed
at Cambridge in 1693,[54] of the tribe of the "Germara," defined as "a
people of the Celtae, who in the day-time cannot see." Although the
author usually gives the sources of his information, in this instance he
gives none. But the statement agrees perfectly with the belief found
everywhere throughout Northern Europe that "the dwarfs could not bear
daylight, and during the day hid in their holes."[55] It really seems
impossible to avoid the inference that all this was perfectly true. When
Leif went down into the underground house in Ireland, he could not see
at first, though at length he saw in the obscurity the glimmer of his
opponent's sword. Consequently, the denizens and builders of these
subterranean retreats must either have had something very like "cat's
eyes," or else they must in general have had numerous lamps burning.
This will be understood by an examination of one or two of the
accompanying diagrams. It seems to me beyond question that a people
living this underground life must have differed very distinctly from
ourselves in the matter of vision; and to them the brightness of noonday
must have been blinding.
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