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 of Sandness and Aithsting there are traces of no less than nine brochs, several of which have been important structures of their kind. There are three brochs in Whalsay, and in South Nesting district within a radius of two miles no less than six Pictish ruins may be found. And similarly all over the southern mainland, the utmost limit of which (Sumburgh Head) derives its name from these ancient remains.

As to how the Picts supported themselves, we must be left a good deal to conjecture. Their means of livelihood were no doubt very precarious, drawn chiefly from the sheep and cattle that pastured on the hills. They perhaps grew corn, which they made into meal by pounding in a stone mortar, the old knockin’ stane and mell—now obsolete—being an improvement on the original. Some ancient people, presumably the Picts, have occupied the pastures and outruns of Shetland in a manner never subsequently attempted.