Matheson Collection > Popular tales of the west Highlands > Volume 4

366
CKLTIC ART.
it. It is very old, but the style of ornament is not
" Celtic."
ftrt.
Part of the edge of a hollowed stone, found about 1830 under the ruins at
the east end of the chapel on the island in Loch Fionnlagain, the chief
place of the MacDonalds in Islay. The inside of the chapel was a place
of burial, and this looks like a holy-water font.
It is the style which is to be found in wooden Nor-
wegian churches, said to be as old as A.D. 1100, and
which is characteristic of more modern Norwegian
carving, on knife-handles, powder-horns, wooden chests,
and such like articles. A glance at the following
woodcut will show what is meant.
End of a powder-horn, carved by a peasant in Gulbrandsdal, Norway, about
1850. Similar designs are common in Norwegian carvings, even on a
wooden church as old as 1100, according to the dates upon it. I have
never seen a so-called Runic knot in Scandinavia like those which are
common in Scotland.