Dr. Mac Culloch on the Chart of Shetland. 2l 



ations by the aid of instruments. Nor indeed can any correct 

 notion of the heap of errors which it displays, be given in words. 

 In a nautical view, this species of error is certainly of far less 

 importance than those already pointed out ; yet it is not the less 

 discreditable, that so large a portion of the British dominions, 

 remote as it may be, should have remained so long neglected as 

 it is, but as it cannot now continue much longer. The interior 

 geography is, in fact, not merely little better, but somewhat 

 worse than a blank ; as that which is given is incorrect, and as 

 the record of any one object only tends to mislead, by causing 

 the traveller to suppose, that where nothing is laid down, 

 nothing is therefore present. Near Sumburgh Head, it is not 

 indicated that the connexion between this promontory and the 

 main land is so slight that it is almost insulated by a tract of 

 loose sand scarcely higher than the level of the sea ; nor would 

 the near approach of the voes on the east side to Quendal Bay, 

 be supposed, from the outline in the chart. There is no incor- 

 rectness of much moment, as far as the objects of the chart are 

 concerned, from this point to the Naull of Eswick, where a small 

 but deep inlet is entirely omitted. I may remark indeed, once 

 for all, to avoid tedious repetitions, that throughout the chart 

 in general, the voes are rarely carried to a sufficient depth within 

 the land, and are often equally contracted in their lateral dimen- 

 sions. 



The incorrectness of the outlines of Whalsey Island, and of 

 the Out Skerries, were already mentioned in speaking of the 

 anchorage in these places ; but it is fair to remark, in extenua- 

 tion of these and other errors, that Oure Voe and Vidlon Voe 

 are, on the whole, very well delineated. In Yell there is a deep 

 bay at Quyon which is very slightly marked in the chart ; but 

 as it is not used as an anchorage, on account of some rocks at 

 the entrance, the error is of the less moment. The extraordinary 

 incorrectness of the coast and the harbours immediately to the 

 northward of this, was already mentioned in speaking of these 

 harbours, and of the misplacement of Hascosea Island. 



The outline of Balta is extremely faulty, but there is a much 

 less pardonable error here in representing the northern passage 



