This peculiarity was noticed by Scott when visiting the
"brochs" of Shetland, a kindred class of structures (none of which are
here shown). "These Duns or Picts' Castles are so small," he says,
writing in his Diary in August 1814, "it is impossible to conceive what
effectual purpose they could serve excepting a temporary refuge for the
chief." This reflection was suggested to him by the Broch of
Cleik-him-in (now usually written Clickemin), near Lerwick; and in
describing it he says: "The interior gallery, with its apertures, is so
extremely low and narrow, being only about three feet square, that it is
difficult to conceive how it could serve the purpose of communication.
At any rate, the size fully justifies the tradition prevalent here, as
well as in the south of Scotland, that the Picts were a diminutive
race." Of the Broch of Mousa he says: "The uppermost gallery is so
narrow and low that it was with great difficulty I crept through it,"--a
feat which baffled the present writer.[94] In all those cases, of
course, it is understood one has to crawl. As with the Lapps and the
Eskimos, creeping was much more a matter of course with the builders of
those places than it is with us.
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