therefore no alternative but to make further inquiry. And the more it
was considered, the more did his theory proclaim its reasonableness. He
suggests, for example, that certain "fairy herds" in Sutherlandshire
were probably reindeer, that the "fairies" who milked those reindeer
were probably of the same race as Lapps, and that not unlikely they were
the people historically known as Picts. The fact that Picts once
occupied northern Scotland formed no obstacle to his theory. And when I
learned that the reindeer was hunted in that part of Scotland as
recently as the twelfth century, that remains of reindeer horns are
still to be found in the counties of Sutherland, Ross, and Caithness,
sometimes in the very structures ascribed to the Picts, then I perceived
this to be a theory which, to quote his words, "hung well together."
Further, the actual Lapps are a small-statured race, the fairies also
were so described, and this, too, I found to be the traditional idea
regarding the Picts. Here the identification was closer still. Then
came the consideration: The fairies lived in hollow hillocks and under
the ground: what kind of dwellings are the Picts supposed to have
occupied? The answer to this question still further strengthened Mr.
Campbell's conjecture. There yet exist numerous underground structures
and artificial mounds whose interior shows them to have been
dwelling-places; and these are in some places known as "fairy halls" and
in others as "Picts' houses." (Illustrations of these are shown in the
present volume, and are specially referred to in the annexed paper.)

The examination, therefore, of this interesting theory not only helped
greatly to bear out its probable correctness, but it further began to
appear that by following this method of inquiry new lights might be
thrown upon history--perhaps upon very remote history. It was clear that
the question was not a simple one. All tradition is obscured by the
darkness of time, and genuine fact is mixed up with ideas which belong