Dr. Mac Culloch on the Chart of Shetland. 9 



errors are of important consequence in this chart, as far as it is 

 intended for a guide to navigators ; not only tending to mislead 

 them respecting their position with regard to any given point of 

 the coast, but further endangering their safety, in thick wea- 

 ther, by the unexpected occurrence of land where they expected 

 to find sea. 



An island which lies off Scant Ness is entirely omitted ; and 

 this is the more unpardonable, as it is the southernmost point 

 of all Shetland, and therefore sufficiently remarkable. Two 

 small islands to the north of Rovie Head, near Grumister, have 

 also been forgotten. The same occurs at the entrance of Cat- 

 firth Voe ; where one of the two Glitness Islands is left out of 

 the chart. The How Stack, near them, which is a green island, 

 is also laid down as a naked rock. In Oure Voe there- is also 

 an island omitted ; and another has been forgotten near Hog 

 Island, not far off from its entrance. At the north end of Whalsey 

 are two islands, only one of which is noticed ; but the confusion 

 of small islands on the eastern coast of this spot is utterly un- 

 accountable. There are four islands where only one is marked : 

 three of them called the Holms of Ibister, and another, de- 

 tached, of which I have lost the name. The Rumble and the 

 Grief Skerry are also utterly misplaced ; the former being a mile 

 or more out of its true position, to the southward, and the lat- 

 ter appearing to have been transposed from the north to the 

 south side of East Linga, over a space of more than three miles. 



The Out Skerries are represented in nearly as incorrect a 

 manner; the three larger islands being either displaced or 

 omitted, so as to produce the most inextricable confusion. In 

 consequence of this confusion, it would be quite impossible for 

 any vessel to recognise these islands, or to attempt to make the 

 anchorage. The geologist is equally puzzled in attempting to 

 reconcile the physical geography of the stratification which he 

 is examining, with the political geography which the map-maker 

 has thought fit to assign to the remote tenants of this melan- 

 choly and stormy spot. 



To compensate for the loss of an island in one quarter, the 

 same artist has conferred on Unst one which has no existence ; 



B 



