This physical fact--if it be a fact--would
explain much that is otherwise strange and incredible in the traditions
relating to the Picts--or Pechts, as they were formerly called in
Scotland. However, it is sufficient for my present purpose to note that
this peculiarity associates, and indeed identifies, the Picts with the
dwarfs or fairies of tradition.
Having thus shown that Fians, Fairies, and Picts are so closely
associated as to be, in some aspects, almost indistinguishable from one
another, I shall now refer to the structures which are popularly
believed to have been their dwellings. Some of these are wholly
underground, others partly so, and others quite above ground. In many
other ways, also, they vary. But all of them are unquestionably links
in one special style of structure; of which the most marked feature, or
at any rate that which is common to all, is the use of what is called
the "cyclopean" arch. This is formed by the overlapping of the stones in
the wall until they almost meet at the dome or apex of the building,
when a heavy "keystone" completes this rude arch. The principle of the
arch proper was obviously quite unknown to the originators of such
structures.
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