SHETLAND MIDSUMMER 147 



The evenings are long. There is practically 

 no darkness. Our own larks sing late and early ; 

 not stopping till eleven, and beginning again at 

 two. But the Shetland larks are said to fill 

 up even the short interval, and sing all night. 

 The farther north, the more lingering the twilight. 

 Night overtakes the morning, and the lips of dark 

 and fair meet. 



The latest development of golf was a match at 

 midnight, in which the competitors seem to have 

 experienced no difficulty in finding their balls. 

 Happier they than many who play by day. 



The natives, when a distinct type, become inter- 

 esting, and fall within the limits of natural 

 history. Among the hills one is always arrested 

 by a pure, trousered Celt, as distinguished from 

 a kilted, and mongrel Sassenach ; or by the small, 

 dark, long-headed type not uncommon on the 

 west coast. 



The Norse strain is comparatively pure, although 

 not without an admixture of suspicious names, and 

 complexions; certainly it is much purer than in 

 Orkney. For one thing there is little to tempt 

 settlers. Any London debutante might have envied 

 the girls, who sat at some of the cottage doors, their 

 transparent skin, and sunny, or golden hair ; and 



