276 A Trip to the Island of Hoy. [Sess. 



species may be present. Mr Evans concludes his part of the 

 Eeport in these words : " So far as the insects themselves are 

 concerned, they may safely, I think, be considered as quite 

 harmless ; but their presence in such numbers in the hydrants is 

 evidence that they find an ample food-supply there, and herein 

 lies the danger." The ball hydrant, Dr Williamson states, has 

 been for some years past in process of abolition, being replaced, 

 as opportunity occurred, by the superior valve hydrant ; but 

 some 2300 of the old form were said to be still in use. 

 These it was proposed to get rid of " within a period of 

 about six years " ! This dilatory mode of procedure, it is under- 

 stood, has been now departed from, and the old ball hydrant 

 will soon have disappeared altogether from our streets. Dr 

 Williamson's Eeport furnishes very instructive reading, and 

 from it various conclusions may be drawn.] 



VI.— ^ TRIP TO THE ISLAND OF HOY. 

 Br Mr TOM SPEEDY. 



{Read March S8, 1906.) 



Among the wealthy classes in America it is nowadays con- 

 sidered fashionable to rent a Highland shooting-box and to 

 spend the latter part of summer and the months of autumn 

 in Scotland. Among the American middle classes, again, the 

 person is regarded as a nobody who has not visited this 

 country, and especially the scenes depicted by Sir Walter 

 Scott. It is surprising that, as far as my experience goes, 

 the Waverley Novels are much more read and appreciated in 

 America than they are in the country in which their great 

 author first saw the light. Why people should wish to see 

 any part of another country before they have seen what is 

 best worth seeing in their own is, to my mind, difficult of 

 explanation. Surely one's own land ought to be dearest to 

 all. Perhaps in no part of the world is there a greater 

 variety of beauty and sublimity than in the northern and 



