THE ORKNEYS TO THURSO. 23 



to nearly six thousand in ; 63 ; and Mr. Balfour 

 has also a large number of tenants in the adjacent 

 islands, which he visits twice or three times a year 

 in his yacht, with Marcus Calder, his factor. Some 

 of the Shapinsey holdings, which are let on im- 

 provement rentals to begin with, range from one or 

 two hundred acres down to twenty-five, but many 

 are limited to one of the ten- acre fields into 

 which the island is parcelled. The fence-lines are 

 drawn with mathematical regularity, and every farm 

 has a name, be it Quholm, Inkermann, Balaklava, 

 Lucknow, Ganderbreck, or Bashan. The Orcadians, 

 except on provocation aforesaid, are a peculiarly quiet 

 race, and no oath, blow, or drunkenness has ever been 

 known in the Shapinsey revels, which principally re- 

 solve themselves into Highland games, sack races, 

 and rifle-shooting. They are also of a highly- 

 studious turn, and very fond of astronomy and as 

 for " Allison's History of Europe" they have fairly 

 read it to tatters. 



Gudin delighted to paint the deep, yellow sunsets; 

 and strangers and even natives are restless under the 

 great length of Midsummer twilight. Mr. Balfour 

 takes it calmly enough in those lovely " Lapland 

 nights," and has often needed no reading-lamp 

 near a south window, at two o } clock a.m. Vegeta- 

 tion is seldom at rest, and the yellow jessamines for the 

 Christmas decorations of '59 were plucked in the 

 open air. The grass season is "longer than a Syrian 

 harvest ;" a fifth crop was once cut late in Decem- 



