152 THE SHETLANDS IN THE 



foals beside them, and were kept well in hand by their 

 shaggy lord and master, who, when he thought we had 

 looked long enough, gave the order to move off, and 

 when one mare lingered behind the rest with a tiny 

 foal not many days old, which skipped about like a 

 lamb, and looked scarcely bigger, he cantered down and 

 at once drove her up. The stallions' place as they 

 move is last in the herd. The standard height for a 

 Shetland pony is 40 inches, and the present value of a 

 fairly good one not taller, from 15 to 20. Many of 

 them, poor little creatures, leave their island to spend 

 the rest of their lives in coal-mines ; but there has 

 lately been a considerable demand from America, and 

 many now go there. 



On leaving the castle we made a circuit to the south- 

 east, gathering a few common eggs for cooking, and 

 crossing a beautiful bay of shining sand composed 

 entirely of powdered shells of every shade of white, 

 pink, yellow, and blue. 



The cliffs here are very irregular. In places little 

 caves, running in some way, have been bored by the 

 waves and loose rocks ; and as we walked near the 

 edge, from underneath our feet came uncanny sounds 

 whisperings of young Starlings and underground 

 rumblings and boomings of the sea, as if Trolls and 

 imprisoned giants still lingered on the island. 



Once a Lark rose close by us from a nest so well 

 concealed that we looked without finding it, until, as 

 if by magic, four Kingcups the wide-opened orange 

 mouths of as many little birds just hatched with 



