170 



THE SEA-SHORE. 



duced into the Orkneys, the country-people op- 

 posed it with the greatest vehemence. " Their 

 ancestors had never thought of making kelp, and 

 it would appear that they themselves had no wish 

 to render their posterity wiser in this matter. So 

 violent and unanimous was their opposition to the 

 individuals employed in this work, that it was found 

 needful to obtain protection from the officers of 

 justice for the individuals employed in the work. 

 Several trials were the consequences of these out- 

 rages, which were justified on the plea, ' that the 

 suffocating smoke that issued from the kelp-kilns 

 would sicken or kill every species of fish on the 

 coast, or drive them into the ocean, far beyond the 

 reach of the fishermen, blast the corn and the 

 grass on their farms, and introduce diseases of 

 various kinds.' The influential persons, however, 

 who had taken an interest in the matter, succeeded 

 in establishing the manufacture ; and the benefits 

 which accrued to the community soon wrought a 

 change in the public feeling. The value of estates 

 possessing a sea-coast well stocked with sea-weed 

 increased so much, that, where the plants did not 

 grow naturally, attempts were made, and not 

 without success, to cultivate them by covering the 

 sandy bays with large stones. By this method, a 

 crop was obtained in about three years, the sea 

 appearing to abound everywhere with the neces- 

 sary seeds."* 



The sea-weeds also contain a substance, called 

 Iodine, which is invaluable as a medicine. It 

 derives its name from a Greek work signifying a 

 violet, from the peculiar hue of the vapour which 



* Greville's Algae Britannicae. 



