THE NORTH ISLES. 



NOKTH KONALDSAY. 



THIS island is one of the smallest of the principal ones, being only 

 about three and a half miles long by one and a half at its broadest 

 part. Besides being the most northerly of the group, it is also the 

 lowest lying, being only some fifty feet high at its greatest elevation. 

 It possesses no sea-cliffs at all, the beach being composed of shingle, 

 well worn and rounded by the action of the waves, with patches of 

 sand here and there, which latter is apt to drift a good deal. The 

 foundation, so to speak, of the island, is rock. 



The soil of North Konaldsay is light, but the whole island is 

 well cultivated, and gives fairly good crops, the grain being prin- 

 cipally a native black oat. 



Though only separated from it by a narrow firth, the climate is 

 said to be milder than in Sanday, and Mr. Harvey told us that the 

 late Dr. Traill, who was an excellent botanist, could grow plants 

 that required a comparatively warm atmosphere as, for instance, 

 the New Zealand flax better at Holland House, his residence 

 there, than in Sanday. 



There are four small lochs in the island, but they contain no 

 trout, their bottoms being excessively muddy, which gives a 

 decided tinge to the water. Their edges are in places covered with 

 reeds and coarse herbage, the resort of Dunlins, and in some places 

 the surface is covered with a plant bearing a pretty white flower. 



One of these lochs is so overgrown with reeds and rushes that 

 there is little or no water visible. We saw a few Wild Ducks in 

 some of the little open spaces at the edge, but the whole of the 

 centre was occupied by one of the largest colonies of Black-headed 



