84 Transactions of the 



interesting of the group. It may be best, first, to give an outline of 

 its natural features, and then to speak of the antiquities and local 

 observations in the form of excursions through the island. 



Physiography. — Unst is of oblong shape, eleven and a half miles 

 long and five miles broad, and is hilly throughout, though none of its 

 eminences can be called very high. Saxaford, though composed of 

 mica schist, is the highest hill, reaching 938 feet. It stands on the 

 northern extremity of the island, and is visible fourteen leagues out 

 at sea. 7allafield Hill, with its serrated peaks of gneiss, runs parallel 

 to the west coast, starting within a mile and a half of the southern 

 shore and running up north as far as "\Yoodwick, from whence its con- 

 tinuous chain is kno\^n under different names, such as Hevda Hill, 

 Libber's Hill, an 1 Hermaness. The island is divided down the middle 

 into two nearly equal parts, by a long valley lying north and south, 

 forming the basin of several lochs, the largest of whicli is the Loch 

 of Cliff, or North Loch, long and narrow in shape, into which runs 

 Balliaster Burn that connects it with Watley Loch, further south. 

 Cliff Loch opens into Burra Fiord by Cliff' Burn. Belmont Loch 

 lies in the south-west. The hills of the eastern division are Vord 

 Hill and Verdefield Hill, along the south-east coast, and to the north 

 of Balta are the sharp peaks of Heyog and Crucifield Hill, standing 

 at right angles to Vallafield. Along the north-eastern shore Keen 

 Hill and Niov Hill are conspicuous. There are no rivers of any size 

 in Unst, except the one mentioned as connecting the Lakes of 

 Cliff and Watley. The latitude of Hermaness, the northermost 

 point, IS 60° 52' N, but the detached rocks of Burrafirth lie farther 

 out at sea. The most southerly part lies in latitude G0° 4u' N, and 

 the first meridian passes close along the west of the island. Unst is 

 separated from Yell Island by Blue Mull, or Blomel Sound, while the 

 open Atlantic washes its northern and western shores. No very per- 

 ceptible difference in temperature can be seen in the waters of either 

 shore, that of Balta Sound, in September, being bo' F. 



The predominating aspect of the western side of the island is that 

 of peat bogs and heath, and the eye is struck by the total absence of 

 trees, for Unst, and indeed most of Shetland, contains not a single 

 tree, large or small, which is accounted for by the stormy winds that 

 sweep over the land, diffusing the salt sea spray. The serpentine 

 country to the east is bare and sterile, but herbage diminishes in 

 poverty towards the south-east. 



The whole coast displays fine examples of tidal action on various 

 rocks ; thus on the west, the hard gneiss, mutilated by the heavy 

 surge of the Atlantic, is cut up into a number of narrow " voes ;" and 

 isolated rocks, called "holmes" and stacks, stand out in the sea, all 

 probably once connected with the mainland and with the opposite 

 Island of Yell. But here the waves are not so effective in their siege 

 as on the northern coast, where the long inlet of Burra Fiord is 

 formed in the mica schist. Again, on the eastern shore, the yielding 

 nature of the serpentine rock is verified by the large encroachments 



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