gb0551ms-36-17-128

Transcription

[Page] 128
[Continued from page 127]

permit me thoroughly to enjoy it. We had tea
at John o' Groats and motored home getting
back just in time for dinner. John
Nicholson is one of the most amusing characters
I have met in my wanderings. He is a
small farmer at Nybster, who has somewhat
neglected farming, it is said, for archaeology,
and makes ends meet by carting ice
and salmon. By nature he is an artist.
He can draw, paint and sculpture. Though
amateurish his pictures are full of humour and
character, and his drawings of antiquities
neat and accurate. He assisted & encouraged
Sir Francis Barry in his excavations, super:
:intended all the work and made the plans
receiving so I am told 2/6d [£0.2.6] per day! He is
a tall lythe man between 50 & 60, with brown
hair, blue eyes twinkling with merriment
and a bronzed complexion. In his con:
:versation pronouns & articles
are freely dispensed with as superfluous and
his descriptions of interviews in the acquisition
of relics delightfully humorous. eg. how he
carted off the Ackengill "Ogham" stone to Keiss
for Dr [Doctor] Anderson's inspection or how with
the help of a bottle of liquor he was allowed
[Continued on page 129]

  Transcribers who have contributed to this page.

Moira L- Moderator, seross